Five Feet Apart(49)

“I almost threw a lobster at you,” Poe says, laughing.

Everyone laughs with us, and we all dig in. It is by far the best pasta I have ever eaten, and I’ve been to Italy. “Poe!” I say, holding up a forkful. “This is incredible!”

“You’re going to be the best chef in the world one day,” Stella says in agreement, and Poe gives her a big smile, blowing a kiss in her direction.

Pretty soon, we’re all swapping stories. Jason tells a story about how we convinced our entire school to wear nothing but underwear the day before summer vacation two years ago. Which was especially impressive considering we’d get detention if our tie wasn’t straight.

That’s the one thing I don’t miss about school. The uniforms.

Stella starts talking about all the mischief she and Poe used to get into here at the hospital, from trying to steal the milk-shake machine in the cafeteria to holding wheelchair races in the children’s ward.

It sounds like I’m not the only one Barb nearly killed on a regular basis.

“Oh, have I got one for you guys!” Poe says, looking over at Stella. “Halloween that one year?”

She starts cracking up already, her eyes warm as she shakes her head at him.

“We were, what, Stella? Ten?”

Stella nods, taking over the story. “So, we put on sheets and . . .” Poe starts making ghostly OOOOHHH sounds, holding out his arms and floating around the room. “We snuck into the dementia ward.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I start coughing because I’m laughing so hard. I slide my chair back from the table, waving my hand for them to continue while I catch my breath.

“No!” Jason says. “No, you didn’t.”

“Oh, man,” Poe says, wiping away a tear. “It was absolute pandemonium, but it was by far the best Halloween ever. We got in so much trouble.”

“It wasn’t even our idea!” Stella starts to say. “Abby . . .”

Her voice trails off, and I watch her struggle to speak as I apply some Cal Stat from my travel bottle. She meets my gaze from across the table, and I see how hard it is for her.

“I miss her,” Camila says. Mya nods in agreement, her eyes teary.

“Abby was wild. Free,” Poe says, nodding. “She always said she was going to live wide open because Stella wasn’t able to.”

“And she did,” Stella says. “Until it killed her.”

The room goes completely quiet. I watch as she meets Poe’s gaze, both of them sad but smiling as they share a moment, remembering her.

I wish I could’ve met her.

“But she lived big. A lot bigger than we do,” Poe says, smiling. “She would’ve loved a clandestine party like this one.”

“Yeah,” Stella says finally. “She really would have.”

I hold up my glass. “To Abby,” I say.

“To Abby!” everyone else chimes in, holding up their glasses. Stella looks at me across the table, the look in her hazel eyes by far the best birthday present I could ever get.





CHAPTER 21


STELLA


I lean against the counter, smiling at Poe as he pulls a freshly baked pie out of the oven, totally in his element. He glances up at me, thick eyebrows raised.

“I wanted to see the master at work.”

He winks at me, taking his oven mitts off, and I watch as he confidently twirls his chef’s knife, deftly slicing the pie into eight even pieces with a flourish.

I clap as he grabs a fresh strawberry and squints. He leans over it, cutting here, snipping there, in absolute and total concentration. He holds it up in his gloved hand after only a few seconds, a big smile on his face. The strawberry is completely transformed into an intricate, beautiful rosette, which he puts on the side of the pie.

My jaw drops open. “Poe! That’s incredible.”

He shrugs casually. “I’ve been practicing for next month when Michael and I visit my mom,” he says, giving me a look that clearly is telling me this is no big deal.

So, of course, I shriek in excitement. Finally!

“Yep,” he says, grinning from ear to ear. “You’re right, Stella. He loves me. And these past few weeks without him have been harder than I could’ve imagined. I love him.” He’s practically radiating joy. “He’s coming for lunch tomorrow. We’re gonna go for it.”

I almost tackle him with a hug but catch myself before I can close the space between us and do it. I look at the counter, grabbing a kitchen mitt and putting it on so I can reach out and take his hand in mine.

Tears fill my eyes, and I sniff, shaking my head. “Poe. I’m so—”

He rips the kitchen mitt off my hand, smacking it over my head as tears fill his eyes. “Dios mio! Don’t go all soppy on me, Stella! You know I can’t let a girl cry alone.”

“Happy tears, Poe,” I say as we both stand there sniffling. “I’m so happy!” The sound of laughter comes from the other room, and he wipes his eyes.

“Come on! We’re missing all the fun!”

Poe carefully carries out his beautifully made pie with a sea of candles sitting on top of it and we all start to sing. I watch Will smiling in the glow of the candlelight, looking around the table at all of us.