Page 82 of Child of Mine

“Henry? Henry Cornelius?” Bella asks, in a horribly accurate imitation of my mom’s Carolina accent. “Do they call you Corny?”

I swat in her direction, but she grabs my hand and then pokes me in that ticklish spot again. “Stop it!”

She just pokes me again.

“Hey! Stop tickling me.”

“Then tell me what’s going on,” she says, grinning wickedly.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on.” Grabbing her hands and pinning them both to the bed, I straddle her and grind my pelvis into her. “We’re going to have as much sex as humanly possible today.”

She grins and then frowns. “But I have a show at two. So—”

“So, we’ll have some sex now and some after your show.”

“What’s the big hurry?”

“The big hurry is that I’m going to have a houseguest the rest of the week.” I pause to make the drama of the situation clear. “My mother.”

“Oh.” She blinks. “I guess we need to…”

“Have sex?”

She coughs out a laugh. “I mean, yeah, but also we should figure out what we’re telling people about—”

Stopping her mouth with a kiss, I do everything possible to derail her thought process. “Figuring out later. Sex now.”

And then I do my best to make that happen. Which she enjoys immensely, if I do say so myself.

Chapter 17

“BACKSTAGE WITH… Pearl Raynor. Asked if there was anyone in her life right now, Pearl admitted, ‘People have me dating so many different people… it’s all just a lot of rumors.’ She also confides that while she can ‘sparkle’ when she needs to, she’s essentially a solitary person and loves nothing more than curling up with a good book!”Soap Chat, August 1989

BELLA

When I get home from the Sunday matinee, my mom catches me at the front door. “I think we have to tell Lilah tonight. The new owner wants to come in to take measurements.”

“So soon?”

“She can close at the end of the month. The sooner we do it, the sooner the debt is over and done with.”

“Which means we need to find somewhere to live.”

Something crosses her face that makes my stomach drop. “Mom. Do you have plans you haven’t told me about?”

She winces. “Nothing definite. But you remember my friend Joanie who lost her husband a couple of years ago? She doesn’t want to move but also hates being alone in that big house. She invited me to move in and stay as long as I need to.”

“Is that what you’re going to do?”

“I hate to leave you and Lilah on your own, but it would help me to save some money. And with Henry here—”

“Mom,” I hiss. “I slept over at his houseonenight. I’m not ready to play house with him yet.”

She raises a hand. “I’m not suggesting that. But if he’s paying child support—which he should be doing—then you can afford a little place for you and Lilah. There are those cute townhouses near the school, for instance.”

Taking a deep breath, I do my best to let go of frustration. My mom’s just doing the best she can with the situation my dad left us in. “Okay. Let me call Henry—he wants to be here when we tell Lilah—and wash my face and grab something to eat.”

“Joanie sent me home with some of her tomatoes. I’ll slice those and some cucumbers. And I’ve got some cold cuts if you want a sandwich.”

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