Stay by Magnolia Robbins

Author:Magnolia Robbins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Published: 2019-08-31T23:00:00+00:00

The faint drumming of Alice’s fingers against a Tupperware container filled the otherwise quiet car. She sat in the driveway of an old Portland Foursquare house that was painted a shade of trout gray with cream white trim. It was bright and cheerful outside, a perfect day for a barbecue. Inside the blue handled dish was freshly made southern potato salad. It was a staple food at her parents’ table growing up, and her mother’s prized secret recipe that she’d only recently learned. It was Alice’s favorite dish to make for gatherings like this.

Alice had arrived early, at the insistence of Lou, who wanted her to mingle with her family before the rest of the guests arrived. Seeing Steve and Kelly and their daughter again was making it very difficult to get out of the car, nevertheless get up the stairs to the house.

This was all happening so fast. It felt as if the past eight years had just disappeared. As if things had picked up just the way they were before. And unresolved feelings were bubbling to the surface that Alice hadn’t felt in years. She missed those stirring emotions, more than she cared to admit.

But at the same time, the feelings petrified her.

After a long final deep breath, Alice worked up the nerve to exit the car and make her way up the cobblestone path, up seven steps, to the front porch. Three stories, with a walk out porch on the second level and an attic room up top. It was a marvelous looking house. There was a smooth, cushioned Amador rocking chair that sat out front. Alice recognized it as Adam’s chair. She remembered the day it had come, shipped all the way from Nicaragua after he’d gotten back from a trip there. It was older now, a little aged, but it brought back memories of days sitting with Lou on her front porch—Lou in a hammock and Alice rocking in the chair. Memories that were distant now.

It took a minute, but Alice finally rang the doorbell. As she waited, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, fiddling with the container in her hands. Before long, the door cracked open.

Lou stood inside, and the sight of her caused Alice’s breath to hitch in her throat. The girl who was always adorned in T-shirts and jeans had dressed up for the day. Alice couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen Lou in a blouse but thought maybe it had been for a presentation in college. The striped blue and green crew neck shirt was conservative, but the cut accentuated the slight curve of her hips and her long slender arms. Lou’s gorgeous red hair had been piled up on her head and little pieces hung lose framing her face.

Alice’s tongue drew in one delicate motion across her lips, feeling rather parched in that moment. Lou was smiling at her, drawing the door open farther. “You came,” she said, ushering her inside.

“I did,” Alice replied, shifting the bowl around in her hands, which were now starting to perspire.

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