Bella
The girls are coming over tonight and that includes Jessica and Maria. I've got some charcuterie boards set up, and I'm opening a bottle of wine when I hear my front door open, and Lauren calls my name.
"I'm in the kitchen!" I yell back and pour a glass for her as she makes her way to me. "I got all the stuff for you to make that wrapped Brie thing."
She laughs. "It's easy. I don't know why you don't just do it yourself."
When I hand her the glass and pour my own, I shrug. "I don't like the rind. It's weird."
She sips at the wine before setting the glass down to wash her hands. "I thought you were taking care of everything tonight. I wasn't expecting to be put to work."
I bump her hip as she pulls all the ingredients out of my fridge and gets to work. "How's it going? How's married life?" I've been teasing her since I got back three weeks ago, and she surprised me with her elopement news.
"It's the same as my regular life. I did change my name though, so that's new." Lauren looks over at me, and I'm a little surprised. We both may be a bit on the timid side, but we'd agreed years ago that we wouldn't change our names whenever we got married.
It was just a decision we made, not because we were terribly attached to our maiden name, Swan, or our desire to carry on the family name. We just always thought it was a part of us and didn't want to part with it.
"How do you feel about that?" I ask her quietly.
She looks over at me as she wraps the Brie in some puff pastry. "Content. It feels right. I always kind of felt like if I changed my name, I'd feel like I was being owned by someone, but I feel like I belong with Mike. It's different."
"I get it. What did Mike say?" I ask as she pops the pan into the oven on low.
"I haven't told him yet. I wanted to surprise him. Is that weird? He knows I never intended to change my last name, so I'm hoping he'll be happy," she says as she leans against the counter across from me.
"I think he'll be happy as long as you're happy. You're happy right?" I pour myself my own glass of wine, and my sister sighs.
"Yeah. I was happy before; we were happy before. This is just like an extra 'cozy blanket on the back of the couch' kind of happy."
Smiling at her analogy, I raise my glass. "To Mr. and Mrs. Newton." We cheer just as the doorbell rings. It must be Jess and Maria because Rosalie and Alice would just walk right in. I walk to my entryway and check the peephole to see two nervous-looking Cullen sisters-in-law standing on my doorstep.
Opening the door, I smile wide. "Hi. I'm so glad you two are here."
Maria's in a deep burgundy sweatsuit, and Jess is wearing gray joggers and a Virginia Tech hoodie. They're both wearing Uggs and carrying grocery bags. "Thanks for having us. I know you said not to bring anything, but Mom would kill me if we showed up empty handed." Maria smiles as she lifts the bags.
I beckon them both inside where they kick off their boots, and I lead them to the kitchen to meet Lauren. After quick introductions, Jess and Maria start pulling goodies out of their bags. Several more bottles of wine, two small cheesecakes, a bouquet of flowers, and a fruit tray are set out on my counter just as I hear Rose and Alice come in.
I look over at Lauren since I can hear them bickering with each other. It isn't uncommon for those two; I was just hoping they'd keep it civil with newcomers. When they hit the kitchen, Alice looks ready to rage, and Rose just looks exasperated.
"Will someone shove a piece of food in her mouth and shut her up?" Rose jerks her thumb at Alice and walks over to hug me and Lauren before thrusting her hand in Jess and Maria's direction, introducing herself.
"I'm Rose, and that is my annoying cousin Alice. She's fine once you get used to her." Rose's smile is wide and welcoming, but I eye my two new friends cautiously.
"Jess, and this is Maria. Maria married into my crazy family, and I tried to marry out of it. What'd she do?" Her question is open, and Alice and Rose both talk over one another.
"Oh, by all means, go first. Like I haven't had to listen to you for the last twenty minutes babbling on about this." Rose grabs my wine glass, but before I can protest, she slams the drink down her throat and walks to my small kitchen table.
I pull down some more glasses and open another bottle as Alice begins to tell her story. "It's really Garrett's fault." At the mention of my ex's name, everyone falls silent, and Alice rolls her eyes. "Well, it is! I was telling Rose that I closed the GoFundMe, and I was ready to transfer it into an account for Bella, but then someone reached out and wanted to match the donation amount."
I choke on a mouthful of Merlot and sputter. "They what? The last time you told me a number, it was close to five grand. Why would someone want to match that?"
Alice winces, looking at Rose. "It's closer to fifteen now. It's a local business; they want to match it because some people in the comments were saying that if it were them, they wouldn't want to live in the same place anymore or have the same furniture or anything."
I look around the room to see all the sympathetic faces looking back at me. I had considered all of this, but this is ridiculous. "I hope you said no. I don't even know if I can accept it with my job. The GoFundMe is already cutting it close. If they want to, they can make a charitable donation in my name to something I deem worthy."
Turning, I reach into the fridge and begin pulling out platters and trays, passing them into waiting hands and telling everyone to go into the living room. Lauren comes and takes her Brie out of the oven. Baking it on super low saved us since I'd forgotten all about it.
"Are you okay?" she asks softly, and I want to scream.
"I'm fine. Let's just have a good time." I turn with a smile, and she nods.
When we get to the living room with wine and cheese in hand, we find the other four sprawled out along my sectional and recliner with soft blankets in their laps, except for Rose. She's busy starting a fire. I smile when I take a seat next to Alice, and she slings an arm over my shoulders.
"I'm sorry I started the fundraiser. I know how private you are." Her expression is soft, but her eyes, like so often, are filled with fire.
"You had good intentions." I glance around at my decor. "Maybe this place could use a makeover. One that's Garrett-free."
"Did you two pick all this out together?" Maria asks, and I nod.
"Most of it. We wanted this place to be a reflection of the two of us, not just our stuff thrown together," I tell everyone as I top off glasses, and we all start filling small plates. Lauren starts scrolling through my streaming channels to find something we can all agree on.
"For what it's worth, it's a nice place, maybe just a little outdated. The furniture looks like it's in good shape; you could probably sell it on Facebook marketplace. Use the fundraiser money to buy new stuff," Maria tells me, and I think about it. It would be nice; out with the old, in with the new.
"I've thought about painting for a while," I say absently.
Rose pipes up from her spot on the floor by the fireplace. "You could turn Garrett's game room into an office." She crawls toward the table to grab the plate Lauren filled for her. "You should've seen her old place. So eclectic and whimsical. But also, sort of posh and grownup at the same time. I don't know how she pulled it off."
I laugh. "It was a lot of antiquing. I had a lot of pieces that I restored, but he didn't like them, so I sold most of them when we moved in here."
"She was good too," Lauren says around a mouthful of cheese and apple. "Like, people paid a lot of money good. Don't you still have that Queen Anne table upstairs?"
Maria stares at me before setting her plate down. "You have a Queen Anne table? Can I see it?"
"Yeah, it's up on the landing." I point up the stairs. "Up and to the left." We all watch as she hurries up the steps before I turn my gaze to Jessica.
"She works for the National Gallery of Art on the Mall in DC," Jessica explains as we hear a loud gasp come from upstairs.
"Maria, you good girl?" Rose asks, and I shush her with a look.
We watch as she comes down the stairs with a look of shock on her face. "You have what looks like a 1725-1740 Queen Anne lowboy, and you put a fake succulent on it." She sits down with a shell-shocked expression, and I laugh.
"It could be worse; the succulent could be real," I joke, but Maria doesn't laugh.
She quizzes me on where I find my treasures but seems dissatisfied when I tell her I mostly find them at estate sales or garage sales when some grandchildren have to clean out a house and don't know what they're selling for 20 bucks.
Jessica and Lauren manage to redirect the conversation, and we finally pick a movie, settling in with our food and drinks. A few rom-coms later, I'm clearing some of the empty plates and bottles out of the living room when Jess and Lauren meet me in the kitchen.
"We've been talking," Lauren says as I load the dishwasher.
"When? We've been watching America's Sweethearts." I look up at them, and I can sense older-sister trouble brewing between them. "What's going on?"
"We were talking about the matching donation to the fundraiser," Jess starts. I open my mouth to protest, but she holds a hand up to stop me. "Hear us out. If your company would allow you to accept, what if you did and renovated here a little? You clearly have a good eye, and you could spend some of that money to buy some pieces at estate sales or whatever and flip them."
I shoot a look over at Lauren, and she shrugs sheepishly. "I might have mentioned that you really wanted to do that but took the government job for security."
"Of course, you did." I shut the dishwasher with a snap. "Look, it's a good idea, a great one actually, but I don't know. Is it the right thing to do? I'm not hurting for money. I can pay for this place on my own; even if the bills might be a little tighter, it'll just be for one person."
"Or you could sell this place and move into something smaller?" Lauren suggests. "You always said you didn't like living in Norfolk and wanted to move out to one of the suburbs."
"Yeah, Garrett and I talked about it for after we were married, but …" I trail off.
"You can make different plans now or the same plans without him, Bella." Jess says, and I nod.
"I know; I know. It's just a lot all at one time. When do I have to make a decision?" I finally ask.
"Alice said she'd need to know by the end of next week," Lauren tells me, and I count the days; tonight is Saturday night. I have six days to make up my mind.
"Okay, I'll think about it." I grab another bottle of wine from the fridge, but Lauren grabs two bottles of water.
"Maria and I have to drive home at some point," Jess says, and I smile.
"I'm glad you two came."
"Me too." Jess winds her arm through mine, leading back to the living room. "You know who you should talk to about this? Edward. He may have some insight for you."
I laugh because I was thinking how much I wanted to ask his advice. "I think I'll call him tomorrow."
She winks and tosses a bottle to Maria before sitting down next to Rose on the floor where they've started a card game of war. I climb onto the sectional next to Maria, and she immediately starts French braiding my hair.
I look over at my sister, who smiles back at me. Whatever else may be going on, this feels pretty great.
