Page 72 of For Love & Torture
“Alice. His friend.” She looks at Jake as he pulls out a chair for Bell and asks, “And who is your friend, Grant?”
Bell reaches out to shake her hand. “I’m Isabel. And did I hear you say your name is Alice?”
Alice nods her head, her short blonde hair bobbing with the movement, and smiles. “Nice to meet you.”
I take a seat opposite Bell’s and lean back in the chair. “Guess what I did, Jake?”
With a laugh, he shakes his head. “With you, bro, there’s just no telling.”
“I asked Bell to marry me, and she said yes,” I inform him.
“No way!” He looks at Bell. “Seriously?”
She nods, and he looks back at me. I know he can’t be at our wedding, so I make something else up. “We’re going to head to Vegas and get married on Halloween. Just the two of us.”
“I see. Well, congrats you guys. So will I be an uncle soon?” He nudges me in the ribs.
“If I have my way, you will.” I shoot a look at Bell and love the blush that covers her cheeks.
She looks down, fiddling with her hands in her lap and I absolutely love her reaction. Even with all the crazy things we’ve done, making a baby is a new one for us. I can’t wait to get started on that.
When the waitress comes to get our order, I’m quick to make sure she knows that I’ll be picking up the tab. “I’ll get the check on this.” I gesture to Bell. “She and I will have a couple of chocolate shakes, cheeseburgers, and curly fries.” Then I look at Jake. “And you guys want?”
“That sounds delicious. What do you think, Alice?”
“Sounds good to me, count me in.” She gives him a smile, and I think I already like this girl for my baby brother.
The waitress looks happy with such a simple order and heads off to get things going. “Has Jenny filled you in on what I’ve gotten done so far, Jake?”
“Not today, she hasn’t. What’s new?” He kicks back to see what I’ve accomplished today.
“I made a few phone calls a while ago and found out the coroner found tumors in Mom’s body. He’s sent samples to the lab to find out exactly what was wrong with her. And a call to my lawyer had me finding out that if the specialist is able to determine that Mom’s wrist wound was self-inflicted, then he has a judge that’s going to have Dad released immediately. The tests will be back by the end of the week. This whole thing might be settled that quickly.”
Bell looks amazed. “I didn’t know you had gotten that far, Grant. You’re kind of amazing.”
“Nah.” I shake my head. “Just kinda smart.”
Jake mock punches me in the arm, and I feign pain. “Ow!”
Jake laughs, and so do the girls. I find myself really enjoying the conversation—it’s a light and easy time. For once.
The food and drinks come, and we eat and enjoy each other’s company. Just like a family should. A thing I’ve deprived myself of for way too long.
But I’m rectifying that every minute I can. If I hadn’t ever gone off the deep end in the first place…
I stop that train of thought as I look at Bell. She’s laughing and talking and having such a good time. If I hadn’t gone off the deep end, I would’ve never met her.
I guess there’s a reason for everything. But I can’t see the reason for Bart Mason and what he did.
My eyes must’ve gone dark as I thought about the man because Bell stops laughing. “Grant, you okay, baby?”
Blinking, I nod. “Yeah. Sure.” I take a nice long drink of my chocolate shake to get rid of the thought. Whatever the reason for that man and what happened to Bell, I can’t let it mar this nice time we’re having.
The sky has gone dark outside the large plate glass windows of the café and lightening makes trails of light through it. Thunder rumbles in the distance and a shiver runs through me.
Will he come after her tonight?
Jake puts the white paper napkin over his empty plate. “Well, this was fun. Alice and I are heading to go see a movie. You two want to join us?”
