R. Griffin - Seamless

Stella looked at George. “I guess we haven’t been as off the radar as we thought.” She shrugged. George’s dimples had been constant since she told him she’d marry him. She was ecstatic she was the one that brought out those dimples. She pulled up her phone and looked through Twitter.

#holymotherofrockonfbibeauty

#bartenderproposedaspen

#fbibeautyoffmarket

#georgeputaringonit

“I don’t mind trending on Twitter for this,” Stella admitted. This wouldn’t ruin her bliss. She wanted to tell her friends first, but she’d rather tell them tomorrow in person when she got back to DC. Then a thought crossed her mind. “Oh God! I have to tell my parents.”

George took a sip of wine and grinned. His green wool cap was pulled down low on his head; it made his green flecks stand out. His cheeks were red from the cold.

“Wait. Did you ask my dad? I know that’s sort of old school, but did you? Because he’ll be pissed if you didn’t.” Stella was talking a mile a minute.

“I did.” His eyes lit up with his confession.

“Wait. You did!” Stella tapped her dad’s face on her phone and looked at George. “You’re perfect. What’s wrong with you?”

“Dad! Hey! Is Mom around too? I have some news.” Her voice sounded so giddy she hardly even recognized herself.

Stella had gone to work the Monday after Thanksgiving straight from Aspen and spent all day playing catch up and trying to get a grasp of the busy schedule ahead of her. She felt rejuvenated and couldn’t wait to tell her friends the details about her engagement. Her entire office was abuzz about the news. Greg had called her to confirm whether the rumors were true, but she told him to put everyone off until she had a chance to tell her loved ones. He said he would issue a statement in a few days.

She walked into Billy’s house and Cooper came running and almost knocked her down with his body. Stella leaned down and hugged him and whispered in his ear, “I missed you too, Coop.” She smiled and rubbed him all over, scratching his belly where she knew he loved it.

Then it was Millie’s turn to come running and almost knock her down. Millie grabbed her left hand and screamed. She started jumping up and down and Stella joined in, feeling like a complete idiot. Sure, she was excited, but she wasn’t the squealing girl Millie was about these sorts of things.

“Wait, you are engaged, right? I mean, it’s not a diamond,” Millie clarified, “but this is totally you.”

Stella laughed. “Yes, we’re engaged.”

Millie began jumping up and down again. Patrick came into the kitchen from the porch and Millie pulled Stella towards him.

“Look! Look!” Millie held out El’s left hand.

Patrick looked at it, puzzled at first. Stella thought she saw a flash of something in his eyes, annoyance maybe, then a smile spread slowly across his face.

“George and El are engaged!!!” Millie squealed.

Stella shrugged and grinned like an idiot.

“I thought engagement rings were diamonds?” Patrick asked.

Millie stopped jumping, the delight falling from her face. “Patrick!” she scolded. “First you say congratulations, then you ask dumbass questions.”

“Congratulations,” Patrick mimicked.

The front door opened and Billy walked in with two cases of Yuengling. “What’s up?” he asked when he got into the kitchen.

“I’m engaged!” Stella announced.

“What?!” Billy’s smile was genuine; he set the beer on the floor and pulled her into a bear hug. “That’s a fucking big ass ring, El. I hope you’ve been lifting enough weights to carry it around,” he mocked, trying to lift her left hand and straining to get it up.

Stella’s laugh cut through the room, which caused Millie and Patrick to start laughing too. “I know, it’s kind of obnoxious. I hope I don’t lose it. You guys know how I am.” Stella pulled her bag through the kitchen. “I’m going to drop this stuff downstairs and then we can all toast my good fortune. Can you believe someone’s crazy enough to love my ass?” she asked, pausing to look between her three ex-roommates. “I can stay, right?”

“Of course!” Millie called.

Stella twisted the ring around her finger; it was so big it covered most of her tattoo. She lay on the bed and Cooper jumped up and eased on top of her, pinning her down to the bed and licking her face.

“I love you too, Cooper,” she told him in between licks.

* * *

Stella stretched her entire body before opening her eyes. She was back in her old house; they’d eaten dinner together last night and drank way too much. It was like old times. Cooper climbed up her body and laid on top of her, licking her face in his version of a wakeup call.

“Ugh, stop.” Stella swatted at Cooper. “Your breath stinks.” She wiped her face with the sheet. “That’s so gross. I only let you do that yesterday because I’d been gone. Don’t get used to it.”

Cooper jumped off the bed and ran upstairs toward the back door. Stella straightened her tank top and followed him. When she opened the door, she was greeted with a foot of freshly fallen snow. It was an early snowstorm, and there were reports DC may get more snow today, which sent the masses to grocery stores to buy every last gallon of milk and loaf of bread. Damn, I’ll have to dig my car out. Cooper walked out onto the covered section of the porch gingerly and then jumped into the snow and disappeared as he hopped his way to the back of the fenced-in yard. Patrick opened his bedroom door and walked, shirtless, to the coffee maker. She was pretty sure his eyes were still closed.

“So, we’re snowed in?” she asked, looking at the tiger tattooed on Patrick’s back.

“Fucking great,” he said, adding coffee and water to the coffee maker.

“Well, at least we don’t have to go to work hungover,” she shrugged.

“Have you turned on the TV?” he asked, pushing the on button, not looking at her.

“Not yet, but you know DC shuts down at like, six inches of snow, and it’s more than that because Cooper disappeared in the backyard.”

Patrick laughed.

“So, what’s up with you?” Stella asked, leaning against the counter next to him. “You were quiet last night.”

“Nothing. Just got a lot going on, you know?” He pulled down mugs from the cabinet.

Stella didn’t know if he was referring to their plan or something else. “You okay?”

“Sure.” He leaned his hip against the counter.

“You know you don’t have to do this, I…”

“Y’all are up early.” Millie emerged from their room, her highlighted hair pulled back in an elegant high ponytail, ready for the day in a dress, tights and boots.

“You know you’re not going to work today, right?” Stella commented.

Cooper’s bark rang from outside and Stella turned to see his paws on the door, begging to come in.

“Did it snow?” Millie asked, completely unaware.

“Uh…yes. Looks like it’s a snow day,” Patrick confirmed, pointing out the window. “I’m going to get clothes on and shovel out the cars.”

Millie walked to the den, looked out the window, and turned the news on. “Huh,” she huffed, falling into a chair, “I got dressed for nothing.”

Stella went downstairs to put on a sweatshirt, then came back up and poured herself a cup of coffee, contemplating Patrick’s mood. She sat, drinking her coffee and watching the DC news anchor talk about all the closings. She checked her email and confirmed that her office was, in fact, closed. She finished her coffee and walked back to Millie and Patrick’s room, where she pulled one of Patrick’s all-weather jackets out of the closet and yelled to Millie, “Can I borrow your rain boots?”

“Sure,” Mille answered. She was busy typing away on her laptop.

Zipping up the jacket, Stella opened the front door and took a step into the snow. She sank to her knee. She loved the snow when it fell in the city and covered everything. It was like a makeover for the entire place; it covered all the ugly and made you only see the beautifulness of where you were. Once the snow had been there for a while, you started to remember the ugliness again. The snow turned black with dirt and the roads iced over, making them impossible to traverse. But for the time when the snow fell it was like heaven on earth, a quiet, lovely façade that melted away to reveal a gritty reality.

“Patrick?” she called as she tried to maneuver through the snow.

He looked up at her, surprised.

“Can I help?”

He shook his head. “Go back inside; I got this,” he replied shortly.

Stella awkwardly walked toward her car and opened her trunk to grab her shovel and scraper. She shuffled to where he was and began shoveling.

“I’m serious, El, I got this.”

“You don’t have to do everything by yourself and you can certainly talk to me.” She looked at him, hoping he’d give something away.

“I…I’m trying to sort out some things.” He continued to shovel.

“Like what?” She wasn’t going to let this go.

He looked back at the house and put his hands on his hips, his chest heaving from exertion. “Like leaving DC.”

Stella stopped shoveling and examined his face, it gave nothing away. “What? Why?”

He shrugged and started shoveling again. Stella wondered if she’d be able to get it out of him or if she should talk to Billy.

“Patrick?”

He looked up at her, his eyes betraying pain and indecision.

“Your person?” She smiled slightly.

He nodded. “My person. Now fucking shovel.”

* * *

It had been a week since she’d told everyone she was engaged and she’d stayed at her house since then, mainly because it seemed like Patrick needed to sort things out with Millie, especially if he was thinking about moving. Stella had just stepped out of her car and saw she had a new Voxer message from Patrick.

“El, I think Jamie may have found out you’re working with the FBI.” His voice was quiet and strained. “Be careful.”

Stella felt a flutter in her stomach, nerves that would turn into vomit. Pulling out her medicine, she cussed as she took the last pill. Fuck, I can’t run out of those right now. She always knew that Jamie finding out she was working with the FBI was a possibility, but it still stirred fear that she’d been suppressing for months. She walked into the FBI building and put her bag on the screening belt, her thoughts swirling out of control. Hopefully Harris would tell her things were on schedule and they would arrest Jamie, but she couldn’t shake the ominous feeling she had in her gut. She’d come to the FBI building during her lunch hour, so she was in a black suit and heels, looking like every other professional female in the building. She walked to the conference room where Agent Harris told her he’d meet her.

She opened the door and there were two men in cheap suits sitting at the table with Agent Harris. She stared at them for a beat, trying to figure out what was going on and why she’d been summoned. Stella wasn’t doing witness protection; they’d just have to figure something else out.

“Hi, Stella. These are Special Agents Moore and Stevens. Have a seat.” He gave her an uncomfortable look.

A twinge of fear played at the base of Stella’s neck.

“Sorry I haven’t gotten with you sooner, but I took the recording you got for us up the chain. We were finally able to interview Jack Ryder last week.”

Stella exhaled in relief. This is where he was going to tell her that he got the go-ahead to arrest him.

“The ATF attorneys wouldn’t let us ask anything about his undercover assignment. They basically shut the interview down before it began.”

Stella never sat, but was standing across the table from Agent Harris. She took him in, his forced casual demeanor, his grey pinstriped suit, his pink tie and carefully mussed hair. “B-but, you have the recording,” she stammered, her voice an octave higher than normal. She began pacing the length of the small conference room. Her hopes were crashing around her like waves and she could feel the undertow grab her, trying to pull her under, flipping her head over heels until she finally drowned.

“I know, but it’s grainy and there are some parts that we can’t hear.” Agent Harris’ voice brought her back to reality and she looked at him, at his short brown hair and non-descript features. He looked embarrassed now, as if he couldn’t believe this was the outcome of the investigation. “I believe you, but what I think doesn’t matter that much. It’s all about what the US Attorney feels like he can pursue and because there’s a four-year long undercover investigation in jeopardy, they’ve told me to shut it down.” He sighed, resigned. “I have to shut it down.”