7.

B ELLA

“What can I do to help?” I asked as I rounded the bar and walked into the kitchen.

“I thought you weren’t going to be able to make it,” Mom said as she glanced over her shoulder and smiled at me. “Will you grate the cheese?”

“What are we having?” I asked as I opened the refrigerator.

“Enchilada casserole.”

“Yum,” I replied. Once I found the block of cheese, I got the grater out of the cabinet, pulled a bowl out of the dish rack, and got to work. “Is Dill coming?”

“I hope so. He’s bringing dessert.”

“Who else will be here?” I asked as I glanced over at the aluminum pans Mom had set out.

“Just our family,” Mom explained. She walked over to the stove and stirred the sauce and then the meat mixture before she said, “I’m making a pan for each of you to take home and then another for me to freeze for your dad and I to eat later.”

“Why did you teach all of us to cook if you’re just going to keep feeding us even after we’ve all moved out?”

Mom shrugged before she said, “It makes me feel like I’m still taking care of you even though none of you need me anymore.”

“We still need you.”

“I’m glad you got here before everyone else, Belly. I’ve been wanting to find you alone so we could talk.”

“About what?”

“Why you’ve been so nervous and introspective the last few times we’ve been together.”

“I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“Like what?” Mom opened the package of tortillas before she asked, “Business or personal?”

“Both.”

“Did you meet someone new?”

“I did. His name is Matteo.”

“Have I met him before?”

“No.”

“Give me all the details.”

“He’s about a year older than me and is part of his family business,” I said vaguely. “He’s funny, well-educated, loyal to his family, and has an identical twin brother who is his best friend.”

“All of that sounds wonderful. Why are you stressing?”

“He doesn’t live here.”

“Hmm. A long-distance relationship then?”

“Yes.So far.”

“Are you serious enough for him to consider moving to Rojo?”

“No. Even if we were, he can't leave his family business.”

“That sucks.”

Changing the subject before she could dive in any further, I said, “I got a job offer.”

“I didn’t realize you were looking!”

“I wasn’t. It sort of dropped into my lap after I helped organize Elizabeth’s wedding in Colorado.”

“Really? What is it?”

“I’d be in charge of an event business.”

“You’d be in charge? Honey! That’s great!”

“The business is in New York.”

Mom stopped working and held the wooden spoon full of meat in front of her as she slowly turned her head and looked at me. “And you’re considering it?”

“I am.”

She blew out a long breath before she asked, “Where would you live?”

“A house comes with the position, but until it’s available, I’d be living in a suite at a really fancy hotel in Manhattan.” Mom’s eyebrows rose even higher, and she cleared her throat before she focused on the food in front of her again. I could tell she was trying very hard not to bombard me with questions, so I said, “I think I’m going to sign a six-month contract to see if I like it there, and then I’ll reassess.”

“What if you do like it?”

“Then I’ll stay there permanently and gradually become the owner of the company. I’ve already talked to Bernadette about it, and since she lives in Texas now, she’s more than willing to hand over the reins and even sell out someday.”

“Why does she own a company in New York if she lives in Texas?”

“She’s originally from there. It’s her house that I’d be living in while I work for her. The woman whose position I’ll be taking over lives there now but she’s getting married and moving to Florida.”

“That’s a lot of cross-country moving, isn’t it?” Mom said softly before she pulled her lips in between her teeth for a few seconds as if she was considering what to say. “What about your club?”

“I could go nomad. I’ll always have a place with them just like this will always be my home.”

“It will, you know. You’ve got your house here, and you’ll always have all of us, of course.”

“You’re handling this much better than I thought you would.”

“What choice do I have? You’re a grown woman who needs to do what your heart tells you to do, and if moving across the country to explore other options doing what you love is your decision, who am I to argue?”

“But you want to, don’t you?”

“Oh, good Lord, yes,” Mom blurted. I laughed at her, and she just shook her head before she said, “You’ve always wanted to explore the world, Belly Button, so in a way, I think I always knew that I might lose you to some faraway place. That doesn’t make it any easier to wrap my mind around what you’re telling me, but I think I saw it coming.”

“You did?”

“Of course I did! When you lived here, your walls were covered in pictures of exotic destinations, historical locations, and things you wanted to see. Even when you were young, you could tell us fun facts and details about places we’d never even heard of. Even your food choices were exotic, at least as far as our small town is concerned.”

“Remember when I went through my historic food phase?” I asked.

Mom grimaced before she said, “I’m surprised we didn’t all starve to death.”

“I know that Dad kept a stash of food in Angus’ shop fridge that all of you snuck over there to eat,” I admitted.

“Your dad bought a freezer and a microwave to keep in Angus’ shop. Whenever we had leftovers, I would make dinners to put in the freezer so we could go over there and microwave something normal to eat. Occasionally, your Uncle Angus would order takeout and have it waiting for us on the nights when you cooked something . . . odd.”

“Odd?”

“Do you remember when you went through your Depression era?”

“You make it sound like a mental illness!”

“At the time, we wondered if it might be. There’s a reason people only eat like that during hard times, Belly Button,” my dad said as he walked into the kitchen. He reached up and tugged on my earlobe as he walked past me and then wrapped his arms around my mom from behind before he propped his chin on her shoulder. “How’s it going?”

“I’m almost to the assembly,” Mom said as she leaned her head against his. “Not much longer.”

“She’d be finished already if she wasn’t cooking for an army,” I tattled.

“She’s gotta feed her babies even if they aren’t babies anymore,” Dad said before he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be in the den. Call me if you need me.”

Once Dad was gone, I asked, “You’re gonna lose it after I leave, huh?”

“Most likely. Your dad is really good at picking up the pieces and making me see reason.” Mom laughed softly before she said, “He should be. He’s been doing it long enough.”

“What happened between you and Aunt Liberty?” I blurted.

Mom stopped what she was doing and spun around to look at me. “What do you mean?”

“Why didn’t you go to her wedding to Uncle Luke?”

“I was uninvited because I didn’t keep my nose out of her business and wouldn’t shut up when she asked me to,” Mom said sadly.

“You didn’t like Uncle Luke?”

“I didn’t really know him. If I had, I probably wouldn’t have . . . Hopefully, we wouldn’t have behaved the way we did, but I doubt that’s the case. I thought I was older and wiser and just looking out for her, but in reality, I was being a snotty little bitch who didn’t know when to back down.”

“Wow. That was harsh. Who said that?”

“I did. It’s the truth.”

“You didn’t like Uncle Luke because he’s a biker?”

“That was part of it, but there were other reasons I didn’t think it was a good idea that they get married so quickly, all of which were none of my business. Liberty and I made peace after a while and a lot of apologies on my part. I’ve spent years kicking myself for how I behaved and have vowed to never be such a judgemental bitch again.”

“What would you do if I seriously started dating a biker?”

“Another one?” Mom asked sarcastically. “I think I would be more shocked if you didn’t fall for the biker type.”

“What if I fell in love with a criminal?”

“That’s a little different. Believe me, I learned my lesson about assuming that all bikers are criminals, but even then, there are varying degrees of crimes, don’t you think?”

I believed the same thing but still asked, “What do you mean?”

“For instance, if a man gets convicted of assault because he’s protecting someone else that’s something completely different than just attacking a random person on the street and getting convicted for that.”

“True.” We worked quietly for a few minutes before I asked, “What would you think if I fell in love with some mafia don or something?”

“In Rojo?” Mom started laughing before she asked, “Do we have any of those around here?”

I joined her in laughter and said, “When I move to New York.”

Mom dropped the wooden spoon she was holding and turned to face me. “You didn’t say if, you said ‘when.’ You’re going to move, aren’t you?”

I took a deep breath and then blew it out as I nodded. “I think so.”

Mom’s eyes filled with tears before she gave me a hesitant smile and said, “You can go anywhere in this world and always have a home here, Belly Button. Never forget that, okay?”

I dropped what was left of the block of cheese into the bowl and threw myself into my mom’s arms before I whispered, “I promise I’ll always come home to you, Mom.”

“That’s all I ask.”

◆◆◆

“What did you do?”

I sat up and looked over the back of the couch at my brother as he slammed the door behind him and stomped my way.

“I must have missed your knock.”

Dill flipped me off as he walked around the couch and stood in front of the television. “What did you say that made Mom cry?”

“Why do you think I was the reason she was crying?”

“Because I eavesdropped, dipshit!”

“Don’t call me a dipshit!”

“I will when you stop acting like one! What did you say to Mom?”

I rolled my eyes before I looked back toward the television as I said, “I guess you should get better at eavesdropping if you don’t already know.”

Dylan walked toward the couch with an angry expression, and before I realized what was happening, he sat on top of me.

I let out a loud groan and immediately started squirming to get out from under him, but he was dead weight. The only movement he made was when he snatched the remote out of my hand to change the channel.

I shoved at him as I tried to twist my body and yelled, “Get off of me, fatass!”

Dylan scowled and said, “Don’t body shame me. I’m preparing for a cold winter.”

“I can’t feel my legs!” I yelled.

Dylan shrugged and somehow seemed to get heavier as he said, “That sounds like a personal problem.”

“Stop acting like a child,” I yelled as I pushed at him.

“I’m not the one screaming. I’m just calmly sitting on the couch trying to enjoy a little TV, and here you are . . .”

“Dylan Altus Merrick-Conner! Get your big ass off of me!”

“Or what, Bellamy Lorna Greer Merrick-Conner? Does it make me sound more serious when I use your whole name?”

“You’re crushing me!”

My phone rang, and since I couldn’t reach it Dylan picked it up and slid his finger across the screen to answer it. When he held the phone up in front of his face, I knew it must be a FaceTime video call from Matteo.

“Thank you for calling the psychic hotline. What can I do for you today?”

“Wouldn’t you know that if you’re a psychic?” Matteo asked.

“I never said I was a good psychic.”

“Is Bella around?”

“She is.” The phone jostled as I pushed my hips up with all of the strength in my legs, but since I didn’t dislodge my brother, I let out a loud yelp when his weight landed on me again. “She’s in timeout right now, though, so I guess you’ll have to talk to me.”

“Give. Me. The phone,” I growled breathlessly.

Dylan slowly turned to look at me and smiled mischievously as he said, “Make me.”

“I’ll call you back, Matteo!” I yelled.

“Is she okay?” Matteo asked with concern.

“Other than the fact that she’s a stubborn little shit and . . . Owww!” Dylan jumped off the couch and spun around to stare down at me as he yelled, “What the fuck was that for?”

“I told you to get off me,” I said as I rolled off the couch to my knees and gasped for air. “I think my spleen is ruptured.”

“Stop whining! I’ve got a bald spot on my leg now!”

I glared at him before I fumed, “Give me the fucking phone, or I’ll duck tape you to the bed while you’re sleeping and shave your hair off . . . again. ”

“You wouldn’t,” Dylan hissed.

“Try me.”

“Ummm. Is everything okay?”

“Run like the wind, dude. She may come off all sweet and timid, but it’s all an act. The majority of the time, she’s like a drunk racoon with rabies,” Dylan said before he tossed the phone at me. I fumbled and finally caught it as Dylan walked toward the door and called over his shoulder, “When you get done with your call, I’ll be at my house waiting to finish this conversation.”

“I hope you get an ingrown beard hair and everyone thinks you’ve got mouth herpes!” I yelled right before the door slammed. I blew out an angry breath and then looked at the screen before I calmed myself and smiled at Matteo. “Hey! What’s up?”

“I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess that was your brother.”

“What would you say if I told you it was a random stranger that broke into my house?”

“I’ve talked to you enough to know that if you had an intruder, you wouldn’t curse his facial hair, you’d probably end up burying him in your backyard.”

“Never bury a body in your own backyard,” I said without thinking, appalled at the thought. “That’s the first place they’ll look!”

Matteo burst out laughing and said, “You’re a breath of fresh air, Bella Conner.”

“Aren’t you going to offer to beat the shit out of my brother for messing with me?”

“It seems like you did a pretty good job protecting yourself since he took off like he was on fire. What exactly did he do?”

“He sat on me!”

“How did you get the upper hand?”

“Tried and true method,” I said dismissively.

“And what’s that?”

“I yanked off a patch of his leg hair.” Matteo burst out laughing, and I grinned. “You’d think he’d learn not to jack with me. I’ve been doing that since we were kids.”

“I have to ask. Why was he sitting on you?”

“My mom and I had a heart-to-heart while we made Sunday dinner - that’s a tradition in my family, by the way. Our conversation upset her a little bit, so Dill came over to get the scoop.”

“And he didn’t like what you had to say?”

“That wasn’t it at all. He approached the situation in the wrong way, and I refused to talk to him about it, so he sat on me to keep me hostage.” I scoffed, “As if that would work. I’ve always been more strong-willed than him.”

“I’m learning a lot about you, Bella, and I have to say that every bit of it surprises me.”

“In a good or bad way?”

“In a wonderful way,” Matteo said sincerely. He smiled and said, “Like I told you before, you are a breath of fresh air.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“No, Twang, it’s a great thing.”