Page 35 of Ma Belle Marguerite
She won’t even make eye contact with me, looking anywhere but my face. It feels like she’s trying to distance herself from me. I won’t let her, though.
Clearing my throat to get her eyes on me, I say, “I’ll take you guys. It’ll be a good chance to introduce myself to them. You can use the excuse that since you’re starting a new job with me, you need some new clothes.” I see a look of frustration pass across her face as she rolls her eyes before she quickly schools it. “We can tell them about moving in with me. Oh, and we can go out for supper to celebrate everything.”
“Rex, you can’t expect them to be fine with all this. I need time to break it to them.” She backs away from me as she talks.
I feel a growl rise in my chest. “No, Bella, this is what will happen. It’s for your safety as much as theirs. There is no otheroption. You and the twins are moving into my place tonight.” My voice comes out more aggressive than I want, but I’m not letting her out of this.
I spot Remi coming out of the school around the same time Bella does. I see a huge smile on her face out of the corner of my eye. I can tell she is so proud of him, something Bella and I have never experienced with our parents.
It seemed like no matter what we did right, it was never good enough. Looks of disappointment and annoyance followed everything we did. Bella always had straight A’s, but the fact that she didn’t want to take her fathers place in the organization overshadowed all that.
“You did great, Remi! I’m so proud of you!” Bella says as she pulls him in for a hug. “Did the coach tell you the good news?”
Remi eyes me beside his mom like I am nothing but a lawn ornament. “Yes, he said the next practice is after school on Tuesday. There’s a game on Thursday, but he isn’t sure yet if I will play then or not.” Looking back at his mom, he asks, “Who is this guy?”
Nervously, Bella looks between us. “Umm, this is my new boss and old friend, Alexander. Rex, this is my son, Remi.” She waves her hand back and forth between us as if this is some formal event. It’s true that I’m her boss, but there is so much more there. I know I need patience, but I’ve waited long enough. I will follow her lead for now, but not for long.
I reach out and shake his hand, “You can call me Rex if you prefer. It's nice to meet you; your mom has told me so much about you.” While that isn’t exactly true, Josh has gotten me a fair amount of information already.
“Hey,” is all he says before I hear someone yelling Bella’s name.
We all turn to see Camille, Giselle, and Brielle standing by the bleachers, waving us over. Well, maybe not me, but I’m goinganyway. I’m not leaving Bella’s side until we know who broke in and trashed her place.
“Let’s go see your Matantes before they start yelling again. They’re a bit wired from all the coffee and excitement of seeing you play,” Bella lets out a genuine laugh at the annoyed look on Remi’s face.
While walking across the field, I ask Remi, “What’s your favorite place to eat? Your mom needs to pick up a few outfits for her new job with me. We can all go out together and have supper since it’s getting late.” I don’t want Bella to have the chance to back out. Is this a dirty play? Maybe. Do I care? Not really.
I get Bella’s death glare, but it doesn’t scare me. It just gives me a semi at the most awkward time. I don’t think there is anything she can do that would turn me off. Those squinty eyes and scrunched nose are more sexy than scary for me. She knows exactly what I just did and can’t back out now without being the bad guy.
Remi misses his mother’s glare at me, “I love pizza. Brielle, not so much. It’s hard to find a place with something we both like.” I didn't expect him to agree so quickly, but I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Plus, promising teenage boys food is the way to their friendship. I will provide as much food as I need to in order to get on his good side.
“I know the perfect place. It’s a local diner, and we can stop at it on our way to the mall.” I see Bella roll her eyes out the corner of my eye. “It has a little bit of everything, so I am sure you will both find something you like.”
Remi nods his head eagerly and runs over to his Matantes.
“What the hell was that?” Bella asks as she continues to glare at me. I can hear the annoyance in her voice.
Trying not to be too smug and make her even angrier, I say, “I didn’t want to give you the chance to back out. I told you that youare moving in with me. There is no other option.” The sooner she realizes this, the easier everything will be for everyone.
Huffing, Bella turns and storms away.Well, I guess that wasn’t a no.I’ll take it as a small win for now.
Following behind her, I hear Brielle squeal with excitement as she talks to her brother. “Mom, are we going shopping?”
So shopping is the way to Brielle’s heart. I’ll have to remember that in the future. I may need to pull out all the stops to get Bella to agree, and I'm not above bribery.
She sounds defeated. “Yes, I need some new work clothes. We aren’t going for much, though.”
Wanting to win some good favor with Brielle, I say, “This shopping trip is on me since I’m your Mom’s new boss, and I’m the reason she needs new clothes. So you can all get some new things. A few new bathing suits and such; you can never have enough of those. Besides I have a pool at my place you guys can use.”
Cutting her eyes at me, Bella butts in, “We’ll see. We are going to get some supper first, though. We can talk more then.”
“Have fun, guys,” Camille says as she turns to walk away with a smirk on her face. What does she know that has her looking at us like that?
Giselle looks at me and winks, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Which isn’t much.”
They must have discussed something to do with me. From these reactions, I’m hoping it was all good.
“See you tomorrow,” Bella yells as they walk away.
