Page 30 of Say I'm Yours, Firecracker

I whipped my head sideways to stare at him. Was he…asking me to buy the house next door?

“I figured, with the baby coming, y’all might want some close hands. You know, for help.”

I laughed then, “You think Ronnie will move in with me?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “The things I do for her.” He smiled a bit more before clearing his throat and continuing. “The arrangement was Bellamy’s idea.”

Surprise lit up my insides. I knew Bellamy and I didn’t really see eye to eye on a lot of things, but maybe she was seeing the effort I’d been putting in.

“So she would help convince Ronnie to move in with me?”

Hope flared in my chest, we could really make this work. The three of us on the same page, Ronnie couldn’t possibly have too many objections.

I needed to have a chat with Bellemy and get her on my side.

“You did what?” I screeched at my best friend.

Bell just told me her and Aaron bought a house and a car, considering she won't be able to walk to work anymore with the location of the property. Buying a house shouldn’t surprise me. They had moved fast when they met, so why should buying a place of their own together shock me?

Maybe because she’s moving on, and I’m still stuck in this in-between? I don’t know where I want my life to go. What I do know, is that logically I can’t stay in my studio apartment, it’s not the ideal location for a baby to grow up.

“I can’t wait for you to see it.” She gushed, her cheeks rosy.

“Are you selling your old place?” I asked, it was a great location, and it could be mine. Alone.

She eyed me curiously, “Yeah.”

“Maybe I could buy it from you?” I said kind of in a question statement twist. Clearing my throat I tried again. “I mean, it’s a perfect size for me and the baby, and you know I’ve always loved your place. Win, win!”

Bell wouldn’t look at me, instead she rearranged her desk. Slamming things down in the exact place it was before.

“Bellamy-soon-to-be-Lark. What is the matter with you?” I stood and placed my hand on hers before she could slam down her drink for a third time.

“I can’t.” She whispered. I’d never heard her sound so little before.

“I know it needs some work, but it would be the perfect spot for me to raise my little bean.”

It would too, a cute little house with a white picket fence to keep my little rascal from running out of the yard. The close quarters. Some paint and a little more decor, it could behome.

“It needs more than some work, Ronnie.” She flicked her eyes over my face, which had no doubt fallen from her lack of enthusiasm. “I won’t sell it to you.”

“Why not?”

My temper was starting to get the best of me, and Eli was coming soon to take me out on our first official fake date. The last thing I wanted was to have him think twice about our arrangement because I was fighting with my best friend over a house.

Bellamy sighed and reclined in her chair. “I just think maybe you should talk to the Behemoth before you decide to buy a house for you and your child.”

I cut my eyes at her. How dare she play him like a card in Uno. I was about to plus four this bitch.

“The same man who disappeared for weeks without a fucking word, before finally deciding he wanted to take part in raisingourchild?” Her face fell and it hit me. She was concocting a plan, they all were conspiring behind my back. “What do you have up your sleeve, Bellamy?”

“For the record, you were not supposed to find out this way.” Her cheeks flushed as she looked over my shoulder, then back to me. “And you have to know this is not how I wanted it to happen.”

Aaron was in the doorway when I turned around, and a suspiciously Finn shaped shadow was moving back down the hallway.

“You ambushed me?” I said, twirling around to eye my supposed best friend.

“I know Finn hurt you, and I don’t forgive him….yet.” She added when Aaron cleared his throat. “Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance, Tink?”

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