“Are you sure you should be sticking with me?” Stella said finally, staring down into her mug. “Maybe Eva would be the better person to protect. Just in case.”
“If you’re concerned about your daughter’s safety, we should bring in a second person to cover her as well,” Nate said firmly. “From what I’ve seen, you’re the primary target of Todd’s interest. Do you have any reason to think that Eva is in danger?”
Stella let out a long sigh. “No,” she said finally. “Todd’s never been very interested in her. Even when we were together, he mostly just ignored her. Which I probably should’ve taken as a bad sign and broken up with him before any of this happened.”
“Hey,” Nate said, getting her attention. “Listen to me. None of what Todd is doing is your fault. You didn’t do anything to make it happen, and you’re not responsible for anything he does. His actions are on him. Plenty of guys get broken up with, cry into their beer for a while, and go on with their lives. The fact that he chose to stalk you instead? That’s his own responsibility and any consequences are completely, one-hundred-percent on him.”
Stella’s eyes were wide and startled. As he spoke, he could see tears rising in them.
When he finished, though, she blinked them away, turning her head, and saving him from the decision of whether he should offer to comfort her or maintain a professional distance.
“I just—” She shook her head. “I’ve always tried so hard to live life without regrets. But somehow...it’s harder than it used to be. That’s all.”
“I’m with you there,” Nate said with total honesty.
She lifted her head, and smiled, the tears gone. “Okay. You’re right, I don’t actually think Eva’s in any danger from Todd. I just worry about her because I’m her mother.”
“That’s only right,” Nate assured her.
“So then, I suppose we should start getting ready for work.” Stella’s voice had firmed, the fragility fading away.
Nate took his cue from her. “Let’s get to it.”
But he had to wonder if those tears were truly gone, or if she’d just put a brave face on over them.
***
Stella
Having Nate sitting at the diner was a totally different experience from having Todd there.
He hadn’t come in right away. When Stella had gotten to work, ready to open up, Nate had said he’d stay out in the parking lot, check out all the entrances and exits, investigate the surrounding territory. Stella had imagined him prowling around, maybe shifting—what kind of shifter was he? She was dying to know.
And ordinarily, she’d throw manners and shifter custom to the wind and just ask. If he’d been any other man, she would have already.
But she wasn’t treating him like any other man. She was treating him like someone who had a real, important job to do. So she kept her mouth shut, and imagined.
After he’d investigated all the terrain, though—whatever form he’d been in when he did it—he’d come in and sat down at one of their small, two-person tables, back out of the way in a corner. Which also afforded him a good view of the door and all the windows, Stella had to notice.
“Don’t mind me,” he’d said. “And if it gets busy enough that you’d rather have the table for another customer, just let me know, and I’ll take up a post outside.”
He’d ordered breakfast, but even when he ate, his eyes were alert. Stella had no trouble believing that if there was any hint of trouble, his eggs would be abandoned and he’d be between her and Todd without a second thought.
It felt...safe.
Nice.
It was weird. Stella had always hated it when people tried to protect her—Lynn, their grandmother, the occasional boyfriend. She chafed under it, yearned to get away from whatever it was they wanted her to do. It felt stifling and limiting
.
But with Nate...maybe it really was just that he was a professional doing his job.
Maybe it was more than that, though. As she put together breakfast orders, she thought about how he was acting. He talked to her about what Todd had been doing. He asked her what her usual schedule was. He told her what he'd be doing.
But there wasn't any sense that he was—frustrated with her. That he thought she was doing anything wrong. He'd said in so many words that this wasn't her fault. And he wasn't trying to change her behavior at all.
That was as much down to her as him, Stella had to admit. When she'd been younger, she'd done a lot of dumb, reckless stuff. She understood why Lynn, their grandmother, and even the occasional boyfriend had tried to calm her down, get her to make better choices.