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“So. Florida, huh?”
Ray is smirking. This in itself, Stella thinks, is not unusual. The fact of the smirk. But there’s a new edge to it. Something she hasn’t seen before. She isn’t sure what to make of it.
“Florida,” she replies. And then counters, “Canada?”
The smirk widens. “Oh, not just Canada. We’re talking extreme Canada.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” Ray leans forward, bracing his forearms in the table between them. “The kind of Canada where, some parts of the winter, you don’t even see the sun at all. For a whole month—well, not exactly a month. A little more or a little less. I can’t remember which.”
“Still,” Stella says. “That’s a lot of time to go without sunlight.”
“No, no, you still get the light,” says Ray, his face going serious as he begins to explain. “It’s like, whaddya call it, god, what’s the word? When there’s light but you can’t see the actual sun.”
Stella shakes her head. She’s never had occasion to learn such a thing.
“Well, whatever,” Ray continues. “You get some light. Not much, but some. Just no sun. And it’s the opposite in the summer. Sun stays up for two months straight. You have to get blackout curtains or you go nuts.”
Stella tries to imagine such a thing, and finds that she can’t. Lifting her coffee mug for another sip, she shakes her head. “Sounds like it’ll be a hard life.”
The smirk returns. “Fraser’s used to it. He’ll get me used to it, too.”
That’s when Stella realizes what’s different. What separates this smirk from the ones she’s used to seeing on Ray. Nearly an hour of sitting across this coffee-shop table from her ex-husband—time during which she agreed to take custody of the turtle, he agreed to be civil to her new boyfriend, they both agreed to stay in touch—and only now does it hit her.
“You look happy,” she says.
He barks a quick laugh. “Don’t sound so surprised about it.”
“No, sorry,” she says quickly. “It’s just… it’s been a while since I’ve seen you happy.”
“Might be I could say the same thing about you, Stel.”
“Touché.”
“So, Vecchio…” Ray trails off, and Stella tenses for a second, ready for a fight despite their agreement of only twenty minutes ago. But all he says is, “He treat you good?”
Stella thinks of Ray Vecchio’s fingers in her hair. The sparkle in his eyes when he looks at her, the way his voice softens when they’re alone.
“Yeah,” she says.
Ray—the Ray in front of her, not the Ray she’s moving to Florida for—wrinkles his nose. Then unwrinkles it, just as fast.
“You think it’s gonna last?” he asks. “And I don’t mean that in a snotty way. I’m really asking.”
Stella pauses. It’s not that she doesn’t have an answer for this. It’s that she has far too many answers, and each of them depends on how she feels, in any given moment, about a great number of things. Her past romances, each of them a success until it wasn’t. Her feelings about children, which haven’t changed all that much since the divorce. Her career, which she used to love so much.
She shrugs and turns the question around: “Do you think it’ll last between you and Fraser?”
“Dunno,” Ray says. “I hope so. But it’s… you know, that thing where… where even if there’s a chance it won’t work, you gotta try it anyway? Just turn your whole life upside down and go after that thing you want, because the chance probably won’t ever come around again? That’s where I am. Throw everything away and start over and hope for the best. You know what I mean?”
Stella finds herself smiling. Maybe even grinning. “I know all too well.”
He raises his eyebrows at her. “Oh yeah?”
“I’m moving to Florida, Ray. Did you ever think of me as the sort of person who’d move to Florida?”
“Ha! Not before you’re eighty-five, at least.”
“I’m doing the same thing you’re doing,” Stella says. “Turning everything upside down and hoping for the best. Mine’s just the warmer version.”
Ray’s coffee cup is long empty, but he raises it anyway. “To the warmer version.”
“To the colder version,” she says, and they clink.
“Oh, hey, there’s Fraser.” Ray peers out the window, eyes alight—and sure enough, Ray’s new beau is fast approaching.
The bell over the door gives a little jingle as Fraser enters the coffee shop. He’s wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. Stella isn’t sure she’s ever seen him out of uniform before.
“Stella,” he says pleasantly, touching the edge of his… what do they call them? Not cowboy hats. Something similar, though.
Not that it matters.
“Good to see you, Fraser.” She gestures to one of the two empty chairs at their table. “Sit?”
Fraser shakes his head. “I’m afraid we’re in something of a hurry. I do apologize.”
Ray looks at the clock on the wall. “Aw shit. Yeah. Sorry, Stel, we gotta boogie.”
He stands up, and she follows suit—and when they lean in for a hug, Ray squeezes her tight and then… lets go. Doesn’t hold on for a few extra seconds, like he would’ve done a couple years ago. Doesn’t let his hands wander, like he would’ve done a couple months ago. It’s just a good, solid hug with a good, solid end. It makes her feel warm.
She smiles at him. “Don’t freeze to death, all right?”
“Hardy-ha-ha,” he replies. “Oh! Hey. Fraser, you gotta remind me, what’s that thing called?”
“That thing?” Fraser says politely.
“The thing, you know, the thing.” Ray squints. “When there’s sunlight but no sun.”
“Civil twilight?” Fraser suggests.
“Civil twilight!” Ray repeats, snapping his fingers. “Yeah, that’s the one. Civil twilight, civil twilight, gonna remember that next time.”
Fraser smiles and reaches out to touch Ray’s back. It’s the lightest of touches in the smallest of moments, so quick that Stella could easily have missed it. But it happens, and she sees, and the effect it has on Ray…
Ray is a kinetic person. He always has been. Constantly in motion, even if it’s just a knee jiggling under the table or a hand that won’t stop drumming. But at this one simple touch from Fraser, his fingers stop snapping. His smirk melts into an ordinary smile. And for one quick moment he just… goes still.
Stella revises her earlier assessment. Ray isn’t just happy with Fraser. Ray is content.
Surprising even herself, Stella surges forward, this time hugging them both at once. Fraser makes a small noise of astonishment; Ray just laughs.
“Take care of each other, you two,” she says as she pulls away.
Ray and Fraser look at one another. Fraser’s cheeks go slightly pink. Ray waggles his eyebrows.
“Don’t think that’s gonna be a problem,” says Ray.
Fraser insists that they really must be going, and the three of them say their goodbyes. The bell jingles again as they leave, and Stella sits down, watching them through the window as they walk away: her ex-husband and his new… boyfriend? Partner? Life mate? She doesn’t know what terminology Ray prefers, and she didn’t think to ask. Either way, though, Stella is happy for them. She wasn’t sure she would be, but she is.
She drains the last of her coffee in one sip, sets the cup in the saucer, and leaves. It’ll only take her ten minutes to get to the Vecchio home. Ray—her Ray—will be there, packing the last of his things for the long drive south. She has things to pack, too, but she figures she’ll stop by and see how things are going.
Besides, she should probably let him know that they’ll soon be adopting a turtle.