Page 11 of Their Stormy Reunion

Bella hoisted herself up on one of the barstools at the kitchen counter and concentrated on her mother’s phone. It was obvious she was familiar with it, the way she breezed through the passcode and the contacts.

After a few moments she looked up at all of us with a frustrated expression on her face. “She isn’t answering.”

“Leave a voicemail, Baby,” Trenda advised. “Tell her she’s missing out on cupcakes and milkshakes.”

Bella brightened and started to do just that. Before she finished, there was a knock on the door. Bella jumped off the stool, ran to the door, and grabbed the doorknob.

“Hold it!” My head swiveled to look at Trenda, and she looked panicked.

The little girl jerked her hand away from the door and shoved it behind her back. She turned to her mother. “I’m sorry, Mama. I know better.”

“It’s okay, Baby,” Trenda said as she bustled to her daughter’s side. “We just need to stick to the rules and always be careful, now don’t we?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Open up, it’s me.”

I grinned as I heard Zoe calling from the other side of the door.

“Now can I open the door?” Bella asked Trenda.

“Yes, you can.”

“What was that all about?” I whispered to Maddie.

“We’ve had some problems around here, it always best to play it safe.”

“Fallon!” Zoe yelled. I turned and found myself enveloped in a huge hug. God, I’d missed these women.

“You look freaking gorgeous,” I said when I finally extricated myself from her grasp. She was wearing skinny jeans, high heels, and a tight sweater. She was always my fashion twin back in the day.

“Is freaking a swear?” I heard Bella ask the room at large.

“Uh-oh. I think you’re going to be owing Miss Bella some money.” Maddie laughed.

“No, Sweet Pea, freaking isn’t a swear, it’s kind of like darn,” Zoe answered.

Bella frowned. “It sounds like a swear.”

“What would happen if I did say a swear word?” I asked the little girl.

“If you were my friend, I would tell you that swearing wasn’t a good thing to do.”

She sounded so prim and serious that I had to work not to laugh.

“Okay. That makes sense.”

“And then I would try to help you not to swear anymore.”

This time I saw a little twinkle in her eye. The same twinkle that every single other brown-eyed woman in the room was known to have.

“And how would you go about helping me?” I asked.

“Uhm, I would provide a consequent. A negative one,” she grinned up at me.

“You mean a negative consequence?”

“Yeah! Like that.”