Stella pushed the door open in depressing, sitting on the chair in the yard.
Dolores walked out of the house. Seeing Stella, she asked, “Didn’t you say you are dealing with
something? Why did you come back so soon?”
Stella heaved a sigh, shaking her head. “It should be fine now.”
Originally, she thought that Clarence came here on purpose. Besides, Nathan replied to her so fast, so
she thought that he would wait for her to beg him. Much to her surprise, his appearance here was on
such a high profile. It seemed that he had determined to carry out the hotel resort plan. Hence, it would
be useless to beg him.
She had to admit that the wretched man was way too heartless.
After a moment, Stella asked, “Ms. Anderson, do you know this area is about to be torn down?”
Dolores nodded, sitting next to her to sorting out something. “Yeah, I’ve heard about it.”
“Where are you moving to?”
“Not sure yet. The developer is still planning now. Even after the permission is obtained, it will take
them some time to carry it out. Just wait and see.”
Stella was worried as well. The baby was growing up in her belly. It would be inconvenient for her
whenever she would go.
Dolores raised her head and cast her a glance. She said in a flat tone, “If you don’t know where to
move to, you can stay with me.”
Stella’s eyes were lit up. She became more spiritual suddenly. “May I?”
“I’m all by myself anyway. It’s alright if you are staying with me.”
Stella smiled. “Thank you, Ms. Anderson.”
Although it seemed that the problem had been resolved, since Clarence showed up, Stella had a hunch
that her comfortable and peaceful life would be gone soon.
Right then, it was quite noisy on the street on the side. She wondered what was going on.
Stella looked over subconsciously through the wall full of green vines, lost in thought.
Dolores asked, “Stella, do you want to check on them?”
Upon hearing it, Stella withdrew her gaze. She faintly smiled and shook her head. “It should be the
developer. Nothing interesting.”
Stella didn’t want to take a look, and neither did Dolores. The latter always enjoyed the peace and
quietness and was never interested in watching the fun.
Shortly, the noise went afar. Evelyn pushed their door open and walked in with a big smile. “Hey,
Dolores, Stella, why are you still here? It’s so noisy outside. How could you stay home?”
Stella was a bit surprised. Earlier, when the rumor said that this area would be built into a hotel resort,
Evelyn was extremely worried. She wondered why Evelyn became so happy now.
Evelyn sat at the table and said delightfully, “The representative of the developer is quite young and
handsome, better looking than those actors. If I were twenty years younger, I would... Oops... I’m so
shy!”
Stella was speechless.
She asked tentatively, “Ms. Beckham, have you forgotten that he would tear down the house you’re
staying in for decades and build a hotel resort here?”
Evelyn patted on her thigh. “Exactly! How come I’ve forgotten about this matter. Forget it. This is a
pretty old street indeed. The government said that it would be developed several years ago, but there
was no plan at all. If this developer didn’t get this area, there would be another one. However, this
developer is so handsome. I might be able to sleep soundly at night.”
Stella pressed her lips, trying to holding back the words that she almost blurted out.
She wanted to say that if Evelyn heard how Clarence spoke, she might be awake in anger at midnight.
Evelyn continued, “Dolores, where are you planning to move to? Deborah, Hayden, and others are
ready to move to their sons’ houses. Unfortunately, my son’s wife is extremely petty. I don’t want to stay
with them together. Shall we move to the same place and be neighbors?”
“Sure.”
Upon hearing Dolores’ answer, Evelyn was delighted. After a thought, she added, “Alas, by the way,
you’ve been staying here for so many years. I’ve never met your son before. What does he do?”
Dolores paused her hands. When she was about to say something, Evelyn said, “Please don’t deny.
Last time I saw his photos. He looked quite handsome when he was young.”
Dolores answered in a flat tone, “He’s living with his father.”
Evelyn knew that she might have said something unpleasant. She cleared her throat and continued,
“Alas... Isn’t it just divorce? What’s so big deal of it? But, even if he lives with his father, he should
come to see you, shouldn’t he? It’s been so many years, almost twenty years.”
“He doesn’t know where I am.”
Evelyn shook her head and sighed, “Alas... Dolores...”
Stella kept silent, but she could understand how Ms. Anderson felt more or less.
After a short moment of silence, Evelyn patted on her thigh again. “By the way, Stella!”
Stella was taken aback, wondering why suddenly Evelyn cued her.
“Our community discussed and decided to hold a banquet to invite the developer for dinner. As you
know, we are all mid-aged women, and we won’t look so pleasant when sitting next to him. It would be
like a joke. Hence, we’ve agreed that you’ll be our representative and accompany that developer to the
banquet.”
Stella gaped. “Did he agree?”
“This is the right time to develop a good relationship with our community. Why wouldn’t he agree?”
Evelyn patted Stella on her thigh. “Stella, don’t worry, please. We’re not setting you up. We just want to
make the banquet more pleasant. Alex and the managers of his company will attend it, too. Nothing
would happen to you. Also, when it ends, Alex can drive you home.”
Stella wasn’t worried if anything would happen to her, but she wondered if Evelyn had done it to match-
make Alexander and her.
After a few seconds, Stella uttered a sound, “I...”
Evelyn stood up, patted her on the shoulders as if she was passing some important mission to Stella.
“Stella, we’ll rely on you.”
After Evelyn was gone, Stella looked over at Dolores in confusion. The latter said, “You don’t need to
go if you’re unwilling to.”
In fact, Stella was willing to go. She also wanted to find a chance to ask Clarence what on earth was
going on. However, if she would meet him on such an occasion, it would be a bit weird.
In the evening, when Stella was about to go out, she suddenly recalled that Clarence was so unhappy
when he saw her outfit last night.
Then she returned to her room upstairs, put on a typical vintage long dress and makeup, and found a
vintage hairband and earrings from the antiques given by Dolores. She put them on before going out
happily.
When she walked out of the house, Evelyn was standing at the door. Seeing Stella, she couldn’t help
praising her, “Gosh! Stella, you are way too pretty. If you were born in our generation, you must be a
famous beautiful star.”
Stella smiled. “Thank you, Ms. Beckham.”
“Hey, I should thank you. I know we bothered you with this matter. You’ve just moved here not long
ago, and we shouldn’t have asked you to be the representative. But you are the most beautiful woman
in this neighborhood.”
“Ms. Beckham, please don’t mention it. I should thank you and Ms. Anderson for taking care of me after
I moved here.”
Upon hearing it, Evelyn was quite delighted. She nodded and said, “In that case, Stella, I’m also quite
straightforward. By the way, Alex...”
Stella immediately interrupted her, “Ms. Beckham, time’s up. I’ve got to go now. See you!”
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda