After three glasses of wine and a slowly building buzz, Bella excused herself for a bathroom break. She quickly found the restrooms to relieve herself, washed her hands, and headed for their table. Nearly there, she stopped to wait for a server to finish placing entrees on a table before trying to move past them. Suddenly, a small child darted under the server's arm, accidentally plowing into her legs. Luckily, she was not the clumsy waif she'd been in her teens.
The boy looked dazed as he landed on his bottom and blinked up at her in surprise. She assumed he was Quileute or Makah, with shaggy black hair shadowing dark grey eyes and a reddish tinge to his tan skin. Something about his eyes struck her as familiar as she squatted to check on him.
"Hey, buddy. Are you okay?" Bella reached for him, brushing his hair back to see his eyes better.
An equally familiar, deep voice sounded worried as someone yelled, "Jamie!"
It can't be. Astonished, Bella looked up through her lashes at the gorgeous bastard squeezing his way around the dumbfounded server and groaned. She glanced back down at the boy, and he grinned, revealing large dimples in his cheeks and tiny, straight, white teeth. She had trouble closing her mouth as the man bent down to scoop the child from the floor.
"You good, little man? Did you hurt yourself? What did we talk about earlier, huh? No running inside! Now, apologize to this nice," he looked into Bella's face as she slowly stood and hesitated before finishing, "Lady…"
They stared at one another in frozen silence for a moment. Bella could feel the wine swirling in her stomach as it rolled, and she was sure he could see the instant anxiety in her eyes. Subconsciously laying her hand on her abdomen, she said, "H-hi."
This was not exactly how she'd hoped to greet her husband after seven years.
She glanced between their faces, searching for the similarities one should find between father and son. His, finally, wanting a divorce made much more sense now. Perhaps he wanted to marry the child's mother?
He blinked and shook his head, appearing very rattled as he turned to kiss the side of Jamie's head. He sounded calm, however, as he said, "Go on, now."
Jamie grinned at her sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry, nice Lady. I shouldn'tve runned inside."
His father chuckled, and the sound was like a song she forgot existed but knew by heart. She quickly blinked back tears as he corrected, "You shouldn't have run inside, Jamie."
"Thass what I said, Dad."
Bella couldn't help but grin.
"It was close. A for effort, buddy," her husband said.
He slowly turned to look at Bella, who blatantly absorbed every line and subtle change in his face. He had a more modern haircut with the sides and underside of his head shaved. The longer part of his sleek black hair nearly brushed his shoulders as it hung to one side. Tattoos covered both arms, and Bella could see more peeking out from his chest under the v-neck t-shirt he wore. He'd grown a mustache that was well-trimmed despite the scruffiness of his cheeks and chin. It looked as though he hadn't shaved in a few weeks.
Their eyes met and held, and for a split second, Bella was twenty-one, drunk at the altar all over again.
She said, "You're totally forgiven, little man. No harm done." He turned to smile proudly at his father.
Bella looked over her soon-to-be ex-husband's face again and said, "You have an adorable son. I'll see you on Thursday."
She stepped around them before he could react and hurried to her table. Her family watched her in worried silence as she picked up her wine bottle with a shaking hand and refilled her glass.
Charlie asked, "You okay, Bells? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Bella barked out a nervous laugh and said, "Yeah. You could say that."
Towering over the rest of them despite sitting, Seth turned to look behind them in the direction she'd come from. Bella couldn't help but look with him, watching her husband settle his son into a booster seat across the table from himself.
As if feeling her eyes on him, he stopped loosening the tiny white and blue belt to look their way. Bella glanced away as she took a drink, obscuring his view with the bottom of her glass.
To her relief, Seth remained silent despite the curious glance he spared her as he refocused on his conversation with Charlie.
Bella hoped their server would bring the bill soon. She was all too ready to leave.
Bella opened her eyes and winced as bright sunlight immediately blinded her. It took a moment for her sleep-fuzzy brain to recognize where she was.
My hotel room? She had no recollection of getting there. In fact, she remembered very little after she and Leah had said goodnight to their family, migrated to the bar, and started doing shots of Tequila.
"Oh, lord," she grumbled, easing her legs out from under the covers. A slight groan beside her made her look down at her fully clothed self before turning to see who the hell was in her bed.
"Fuck, that's bright," Leah grumbled with her eyes squeezed shut.
"Well, that's one face I never expected to wake up beside," Bella teased. She chuckled and stumbled toward the window to close the blinds. She breathed a sigh of relief as the room darkened dramatically, instantly lessening the pounding in her head as she headed for the bathroom.
"Tell me about it," Leah hollered after her. As Bella sat down to pee, Leah added, "Then again, I think you probably told me enough shit last night ."
Startled by the comment, Bella's ass hit the toilet seat with an echoing plop as she nearly missed it. She took a deep breath, straightened her sitting position, and asked, "What did you say?"
God, what did I tell her? About Edward? My equally disastrous sham of a second wedding and honeymoon?
Bella frowned over the throbbing in her head, unable to remember more than a few glimpses of the evening. Some of them were dancing, and she groaned. She gasped a second later as Leah leaned against the bathroom doorframe.
Glaring at Leah, she asked, "Really?"
"Hey, you left it open," Leah teased. "Not like I didn't have to help you pee last night, anyway. You can hold a lot of liquor, Swan."
Bella chuckled and gestured for Leah to turn around so she could finish her business. Her stepsister rolled her eyes and turned her back until Bella had flushed and began washing her hands. Leah shuffled past her and brazenly dropped trou to sit on the toilet. Bella could only chuckle as she reached for a hand towel.
"I'm afraid to ask you what I talked about," she admitted.
Incredulously, Leah asked, "You don't remember?"
"No," Bella said, looking at her reflection. "Shit, where are my glasses?"
"On the nightstand," Leah said, nodding toward the bed. "I'm not surprised you don't remember much. That bottle of wine went down like water."
"It was the Tequila," Bella said, walking toward the bed to find her glasses. "I can still taste that shit."
She grabbed her toiletry and makeup case from the dresser top and looked for her mouthwash. Bella returned to the bathroom, swishing the burning mint Listerine around her mouth. Leah had moved to wash her hands and laughed as Bella spit into the toilet.
Setting the mouthwash on the counter, Bella asked, "So, what did I talk about?"
Leah used the same hand towel Bella had as she hesitated to answer. "Well, I know why you actually came back to town. Which I still can't believe, by the way…"
Bella groaned. She suddenly felt too warm and shrugged off the cardigan before piling her hair into a bun. "And that's what made me want Tequila," she muttered, more to herself than Leah. "Nothing like returning to the poison that led you to bad decisions in the first place."
She gasped as she looked over at Leah and asked, "Please tell me he did not see me that drunk before he left?"
Leah shook her head no. "Nah, he and Jamie left while we hid in the bar."
Bella reached for her zipper as she walked back into the bedroom and pulled it down. Leah returned to the bed and sat as Bella pulled a tank top and cotton shorts from the bottom dresser drawer and dressed.
Closing the drawer, she asked, "What else did I confess to you, sister dear?"
Leah chuckled. "You talked a lot about Jack. And your job. And lots of go-nowhere relationships with guys you're not attracted to because none of them look like your husband ."
"Oh, for fuck's sake, " Bella huffed in aggravation.
It was one thing to begin a better relationship with her stepsister, but spilling her guts to the couth-less outspoken she-wolf was another story. And, of course, none of her relationships lasted. She didn't want them to. Bella enjoyed living alone. Why would she have ever said otherwise?
Worriedly, she asked, "Do you plan to keep all that shit to yourself?"
Leah smirked. "I don't phase anymore, Bella. Nothing in this head has to go anywhere if I don't want it to."
"Does that mean you won't?"
"Wolf's honor," Leah said. "Which reminds me. Part of the reason you told me all of those things was because Jack called."
"Jack?" Bella's eyes widened, and she began looking for her purse. She spotted it toppled over on the floor by the door as if she'd dropped it and left it there when they'd gotten in. Despite the throbbing in her head, her stomach rumbled. She needed to eat.
Bella dug the phone out and hit her only speed-dial selection, immediately calling her neighbor. She picked up the room service menu and tossed it to Leah as she listened to the phone ring. Leah opened the menu and began skimming through selections as Bella hung up and tried again. This time, Jack answered on the second ring.
"Bella, do you realize what time it is?" Jack sounded as groggy as she'd felt when she had woken earlier.
"Yeah," she said, glancing toward the clock above the television. "Like two pm. You called last night?"
He cackled into the phone, and she had to pull it away from her ear as Leah grinned in amusement. "Oh, I knew you wouldn't remember shit this morning. You were already fucking hammered. How's the stepsister?"
"Fine. Here with me."
Jack laughed again. "So why didn't you just ask her? Or does she not remember, either? She sounds gorgeous, by the way."
"Um," Bella glanced toward Leah sheepishly and said, "I didn't really give her a chance to. And she is. So what did we talk about?"
Jack sighed. "Hang on. Let me go grab them."
"Them?"
"The papers, Honey. Hang on."
She glowered at her sister's curious expression, more than aware of what Leah was probably thinking.
"So," Jack explained, "A courier showed up here after we talked yesterday. I signed and opened the papers like the wonderful friend that I am."
"Like I wouldn't have shown you, anyway."
"Precisely. Now, it looks like you left a couple of days too soon. Your court date moved from next Thursday to the following Thursday."
"That's three days after I'm supposed to fly home," Bella complained.
"Sure is," Jack said, chuckling. He was lucky she wasn't at home where she could kick him in the shin for laughing at her predicament. "You'll have to ask for an extension of your leave."
"Ugh. I guess I'll have to call Nathan in the morning."
Jack scoffed and asked, "Can't you go over his head?"
"And risk yet another reprimand for not following the chain of command? No. Unfortunately not."
Bella cringed as she thought of calling Nathan and asking him to extend her leave. She had plenty of time and vacation hours but was also their best consultant. After telling him off the day before, she'd barely convinced him to give her the leave of absence in the first place. "I'll see a local doctor and get it excused if necessary."
"Mom's a Nurse Practitioner now. Just have her do it," Leah whispered. She grinned at Bella's surprised expression and asked, "You didn't know?"
"Charlie doesn't tell me much more than I tell him," Bella said, not caring what Jack overheard. "Probably feels like I should come home if I want to know what the hell is happening around here."
Leah laughed but nodded.
"Okay, Jack," Bella said, redirecting her attention back to the call, "I guess I'm going to get off the phone and call for room service." When he didn't respond, she cooed, "Jackie?"
She was met with his snoring, followed by Leah's laughter. Bella hung up and tossed her cell onto the bed. She grinned as she picked up the menu and sat beside Leah. "You still have that enhanced hearing, huh?"
"Thus, the earplugs in the bar last night." Leah shook her head as Bella met her with an oblivious stare. "Shit, you really don't remember anything after dinner, do you?"
Bella shrugged. "Tequila does that. That's why I haven't touched it in seven years."
"Oh," Leah said. "Since the night you married…"
"Yep," Bella cut her off, making her laugh again as she changed the subject. "How does a late lunch sound to you?"
Leah playfully wagged her eyebrows at her. "Sounds great. What's my limit?"
Bella snorted. "Whatever you want."
"You know,' Leah teased her, "I said it yesterday, but it seems to get truer all the time."
"What's that?"
"You should come home more often."
Bella smiled, finally relaxing somewhat as she continued searching the menu.
Bella spent the afternoon and evening with her new sister, binging on room service, pampering her hangover, and watching cheesy romance movies while learning about what Leah and some of the pack had been up to over the last few years.
Jacob was married with three children. That much she already knew. Sam and Emily also had three while desperately trying for a fourth. Bella was glad to hear that Leah and Emily had eventually rebuilt a friendship, even though it would never be the same. She and Sam, surprisingly, had become very close friends as well.
Bella was amused to find out that Quil V was the proud father of Quil VI after a one-night stand. Co-parenting became a situation-ship, and now, baby number two was due at any time. Jared and Kim had married a few years earlier and moved north, but Leah seemed reluctant to say anything else about them. Bella assumed it was because Jared never truly liked her and probably wouldn't want her to know.
Leah said none of the other pack mates had imprinted besides Seth, and most still believed they never would. Collin, apparently, was the youngest to be married (and it was rocky), though his first child had been born at fifteen. The younger boys appearing in their early twenties while traversing puberty had been a nightmare for Collin and Brady's parents. Both boys grew up far faster than they should have. Several others had phased after the Cullens packed up and left. Leah rattled off their names, but Bella had known none of them.
She shuddered to learn ignorant nomads occasionally still tried to cross the territory. Anyone with yellow eyes knew well enough to ask permission, even if they weren't part of the Cullen clan. Bella remembered how tightly those who proclaimed themselves vegetarians all stayed connected.
Seth led with more compassion than Sam or Jacob, cooperating with those he knew didn't feed on humans, earning their respect and a few unexpected friendships. He'd learned a lot by befriending the Cullens and didn't let the council's prior prejudices decide things for him.
She felt incredibly proud of her step-brother over these things. Leah said he was clearly more like Ephriam than Jacob would ever be - whatever that meant.
Bella was reluctant to ask questions about her husband, unsure she wanted the answers. As if sensing her hesitance, Leah avoided those topics, too. Bella was both grateful and frustrated with herself for being curious. She hadn't come home to reconnect or make friends. Bella hadn't come here to do anything but see Charlie, get divorced, and suffer through her reunion to see Angela (since that was her supposed reason for being there in the first place).
Still, she couldn't help but think of the not-so-subtle changes in her husband. She remembered Jamie's gray eyes and dimples compared to his father's features and wondered about his mother.
Who is Jamie's mother? Does she know about me? Would they tell her about Jamie running into me at the restaurant? Most important, does she make them both happy?
None of those answers were her business, but the questions still beat through her hungover brain like drums. Bella had never wanted children. Didn't that mean granting the divorce was in everyone's best interest?
As if you'd ever planned to do anything else, she reminded herself. That's why you're here, Bella.
While the landscape had remained the same, everything else had changed. Bella hadn't belonged here a decade ago. She didn't belong here now.
