Page 86 of Gulfside Girls
Belinda listened to her beg Bruce, tempt him, and offer ideas to him.
“What if you move down here, Bruce, with the girls? They would love it. You could get a proper fishing boat?”
“What if I just visit for a few days so they know I’m better?”
Every phone call ended with Bruce hanging up.
If Joetta wanted to bring the girls, Belinda knew they had the perfect place!
Belinda made a suggestion.
“You know, we both have that resort property. Grandfather put it in my name. Mother was annoyed, but Daddy said it could be my nest egg since no one seems to be breaking down the door to marry me.”
It was true Belinda didn’t have a boyfriend, but she didn’t want a boyfriend. And Daddy just thought he was being funny, not hurtful.
“Mother and Daddy say it’s gauche. They were annoyed I got it in the will, but in the end, they didn’t want it anyway. You know we’ve both always loved it so.”
“I used to think about it a lot when it was cold in Toledo. It gets really cold. Do you manage the Sea Turtleandthe Armstrong?”
“No, I have a management company dealing with it; maintenance and bookings. But what if I put it all in your name, and you and Bruce start fresh there?”
Belinda was grasping at straws, she knew, but maybe that was the issue. Maybe if Bruce Kelly had something in his name he could call his own, but something Joetta also contributed to, they’d find a new way forward. They could live here with the girls and start fresh. It sounded so perfect to Belinda. Bruce had to see it!
Joetta liked the idea, too.
She tried again to get through to her husband with this fresh plan.
But Bruce Kelly had stopped hanging up and started just not even answering.
Belinda didn’t understand how Bruce could pass this up.What was that man thinking?Surely, he had to be able to forgive the mother of his children. Joetta was getting stronger every day. She was eating well, and she’d put a few pounds on the skeletal frame. Health looked possible for her.
They were at an impasse, Bruce and Joetta. And Belinda had taken her best shot at helping fix things.
Belinda had a peaceful life that she enjoyed. Her sister’s reentry into her day-to-day had made it hard for her to handle her own responsibilities. This had to end.
The PGA Senior Invitational Golf Tournament was coming into town in a month, and she had a million details to sort out to be sure it was flawlessly executed. The tournament would be on TV, so the club had to be flawless. Belinda needed to tend to her own life now.
She’d gone into her office at The Armstrong determined to focus on doing just that.
Joetta was eating lunch with Banks, so both her boss and her sister were out of her hair. She had to get some work done.
Shortly after noon, her desk phone rang. She expected it was the pastry chef complaining about the order of key limes or maybe the laundry concerned they had too much to do with not enough dryer capacity. It was always something.
“Is this Belinda Bennett?”
“It is.” She recognized the voice. Cold. Hard. And no emotion. “Bruce? Is that you? Joetta has been trying and trying to get a hold of you. How are the girls?”
“It is. I’ve received a dozen mentally unstable messages from your sister.”
Her sister? His wife! Belinda would tell Bruce about the resort. She’d sell the idea to Bruce even if Joetta couldn’t.
“She is so sorry, so worried about the girls. She has a place here for all of you. The girls would love it. Did she tell you? You could start fresh. It’s a resort with great rental income. On the beach. No blizzards!” Belinda knew she was sounding rather mentally unstable herself, rattling off a life plan for this man who had a life already.
“A divorce proceeding is beginning. I’ve told the girls their mother is gone.”
Belinda’s heart dropped to her stomach. She felt like she might be sick. “Gone?”
“You only know the end. You do not know what we’ve lived through. What they’ve lived through. I will no longer allow her to endanger my girls. And if she continues, I’ll call your little society page and let them know how little Miss Joetta Bennett of the Florida Bennetts is a lush who nearly killed her entire family. How does that sound? Maybe I’ll let them know when her court date is so they can get a good picture for the papers there.”
