“We’ll take it from here. Thanks, Tony. It was so nice of you to stay with her.” Bella climbed onto the bed. “And if by some miracle she doesn’t remember you taking care of her when she wakes up in the morning, you have to promise to take this to your grave.”
“I hear you cut off people’s balls. I’ll never tell a soul.” He kissed Amy’s forehead and held her up while Jenna climbed into his spot. With Bella on her other side, they wedged Amy between them. “I’ll get you guys her barf bowl just in case.”
Tony went into the other room, and over Amy’s head, Jenna mouthed, Barf bowl? Bella shrugged.
Tony came back with a big plastic bowl that Amy kept on top of her refrigerator and set it on the bed next to Bella. Bella turned it over in her hands. She’d never known Amy to throw up in this particular bowl, but Tony having tied back Amy’s hair and designating the bowl as a barf bowl were such compassionate gestures that she went along with it.
“Thanks, Tony.”
“If you need me, you know where I live. Take good care of her.” He looked thoughtfully at Amy before leaving through the sliding glass door.
“What was that all about?” Jenna whispered.
Bella shrugged and brushed Amy’s hair from her forehead. “Look at her. How can he not fall for her? It kind of pisses me off, actually. She’s everything a man could want. Why can’t he see that?”
“Because he’s all a woman could want. Why would he ever tie himself down to one woman?” Jenna leaned back and kicked off her flip-flops. “Besides,” she whispered. “She can’t get hooked up with a man before me. I’ll be all alone, and I hate that.”
Bella sighed and reached for Jenna’s hand. “We’ll always have each other.” The comfort she took in knowing her friends would always be there was exactly the comfort she knew Evan drew from his father. She closed her eyes, and the disappointment she’d felt earlier in the night subsided.
“Jenna?”
“Yeah?”
“I feel a little guilty because when Evan needed Caden, I was bummed to lose out on spending time with him.”
Jenna squeezed her hand. “That’s okay, sweetie. That’s because you care. If you weren’t bummed, it would be a bad sign.”
“But it was a selfish thought. Of all people, I know how much teenagers need their parents, and I’d never want to come between them.”
“Bella, honey, you weren’t competing for Caden’s attention or trying to take him away from Evan. You have to honor your feelings of missing the man you’re involved with and separate that from the rest. There’s no guilt involved with missing someone. I would bet that Caden’s feeling the same way.”
She smiled to herself. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I wasn’t mad or anything, just a little sad to leave.”
“It’s okay, Bell. Close your eyes. Barfy here will be up every hour.”
Bella curled onto her side and draped an arm over Amy. “I hope she doesn’t remember how she got here.”
Jenna curled around Amy’s other side. “I hope you guys still make time for me when you’re both in serious relationships and I’m alone.”
They heard the sliding glass door open and then close. Leanna peeked into the bedroom. “Do you have room for one more?” she whispered. “I miss you guys.” She climbed onto the bed behind Bella.
“What about your man?” Jenna asked.
“My man knows how important you guys are to me. He loves me no matter where I sleep.” She draped her arm over Bella.
“We do, too,” Bella said. “You guys?”
“Hm,” they mumbled in unison.
“I think I love Caden.”
“We know,” they said at the same time.
“We do, too,” Jenna said. “He makes you too happy for us not to, even if I’m green with jealousy.”
Bella drifted off to sleep, feeling safe and happy and on the right track.
Chapter Sixteen
CADEN RAN AT a fast pace along the beach. It was only six o’clock Sunday morning, far too early to call Bella, but he’d been up half the night worrying about Evan—and his relationship with Bella—and he needed to blow off some energy. Evan hadn’t given him any insight into what was bugging him beyond having played a PC game with a group of jerks. He’d tried to get Evan to open up more, but Evan had clammed up, and Caden didn’t press the issue. He was glad Evan had told him as much as he did. They’d watched The Replacements, and by the time Evan went to bed, he seemed more like himself again. It had been a while since they’d spent any quality time together, and he realized that as Evan spread his wings of freedom, the opportunities to spend time together would become few and far between.
Caden felt horrible about Bella leaving early, and he’d called her before he’d turned in for the night, but he still hadn’t heard back from her, which made him worry that she was upset about their evening being cut short.
Bella’s comment about Evan not wanting to share him had also nagged at Caden. He’d asked Evan last night if he had an issue with him dating Bella, and Evan had been adamant about being fine with it. He’d gone so far as to say he was glad Caden was finally getting a life and that Bella was cool. But Caden couldn’t help worrying that adding his relationship with Bella to Evan’s list of stresses—moving from Boston, having to make new friends, going to a new school—might be too much. That reality cut like a knife, and rather than contemplate what it would mean and what the remedy might be if it were too much, he pushed the awful feeling away.
As he headed home, feeling no less confused than he had at the beginning of his run, the sun burned through the gray morning and smiled down on the beach with a promise of a glorious day. Caden could think of a hundred things he wanted to do with Bella today, and the truth was, even if they did nothing at all, it would be more than enough.
BELLA AWOKE TO the smell of eggs and coffee Sunday morning. Amy was sprawled across the center of the bed with her arms and legs splayed as if she’d fallen face-first and hadn’t moved since. Jenna was curled up along the headboard hugging a pillow, and Bella was so close to the edge of the bed that if she rolled over she’d tumble to the floor. How many mornings had they awoken in a similar fashion since they were little girls? Bella smiled at the familiar scene.
She padded softly out of the bedroom and was not surprised to find Amy’s counters covered with flour, sugar, eggshells, and other accoutrements of Leanna’s morning meal. Bella was greeted by the homey scent of warm baked goods. She put her arm around Leanna, who was busy cooking omelets.
“I think I love you.”
Leanna smiled. Her hair was still damp from a shower, and she smelled of soap and floral shampoo. “Because I’m messing up Amy’s kitchen instead of yours?”
“No. Maybe,” Bella teased.
Leanna pulled a tray of muffins from the oven.
“You are a goddess. I hope you know that.” Bella reached for a muffin, and Leanna slapped her hand. “I take it back. Meanie.”
Leanna laughed. “Can you get the jams from the fridge?” She put the muffins on a decorative plate. “Kurt’s down at the bay running, but he should be back soon. I thought we could eat out on the deck.”
Bella tried to sneak a crumb from the pan, and Leanna pointed a finger at her.