EPOV
After losing spectacularly to Charlie Swan at cards, he and Sue call it a night around eleven. I help Bella clean up the cards and set the kitchen to rights so she and Sue can dive right into cooking in the morning before we settle on the couch in front of a low simmering fire.
"You know, I've known Sue basically all my life. Her husband, Harry, and Charlie were best friends. When Harry had his heart attack, I guess about fifteen years ago now, the whole community rallied around her. But my mom and Sue were never that close. I think that's why I was so uncomfortable with this relationship." Bella glances up the stairs, as if her dad or Sue might come down to eavesdrop. "When my parents were officially divorced and my mom took off for Florida, Sue was here. She didn't move in right away, but she and Charlie were a unit. I didn't understand it fully until I came up here. The last few days have been enlightening."
"Were your parents not like this? A unit?" I ask as I pull her legs over my lap, and she snuggles into the cushions.
"They were; they had to be. My dad was chief of police, and my mom was PTA president. They had a wholesome image to uphold, but I don't think it was anything that my mom ever wanted. During the divorce, I heard a lot from her about how unhappy she'd been their entire marriage."
"I take it your dad wasn't unhappy?"
Bella rolls her eyes, "He was unhappy because she was. She's had dozens of different hobbies over the years, different lifestyle changes, went on solo trips all over the place to try to find happiness while he supported her. She still couldn't figure it out and make it work."
"You can't just make things work if they don't work. Your dad did what he could to try to help her, but it sounds like your mom is just unhappy. Maybe she's just unsatisfied by everything. Is she happy now that she's divorced and living in Florida?" I ask this knowing full well that it's been months since Bella has spoken to her mother.
"I assume she is since she can't ever return my phone calls or texts. I just … I just wonder if I was part of the reason she wasn't happy here." She sighs, and I tug on one of her socked toes.
"She'd be crazy not to be crazy about you."
Bella shrugs. "Enough about this; tell me more about what happened."
As I explain the events of my day in full, I feel some of the stress and worry fade away. I know something is still wrong with my company, that something or more likely someone is to blame, but talking with Bella is peaceful, even if it doesn't offer me any answers or solutions.
"What happens now?" She holds up a hand to interrupt me. "I mean, with everything. What happens with Real Men?"
Sighing, I stare into the fire for a moment. "Hopefully, Ben and his team figure this shit out, we get stronger, and take down the son of a bitch who tried to take us down."
"And the business with Jane, or is it Maria? Do you think she has something to do with it?" Bella raises an eyebrow, having sussed out my theory without me having voiced it.
"I don't know yet. I hope she isn't, but I can't rule it out just yet."
Bella purses her lips, letting out a long breath of air. "Okay, sleeping arrangements. The couch pulls out, the basement is finished and the closest thing you'll find to a guest room here, or you can sleep with me. Charlie and Sue won't be surprised or offended."
"And how will you feel if I choose to sleep with you?" I ask, grinning.
"Comfortable, and so will you. Because my bed is a queen and not a pullout, and we'll just be sleeping." Bella swings her legs down, standing up and offering me a hand. "Grab your stuff, and I'll lock up down here."
Bella gave me some expectation for how the morning would run, but nothing prepares me for her crawling out of bed at 6AM, covering me with the duvet and telling me to get some more sleep. I also don't expect Charlie to beat down the door, hollering for me to get up just thirty minutes later. I never anticipated that at quarter to seven in the morning on Thanksgiving I would be splitting wood in the back yard with Bella's dad.
Charlie had to show me how to handle the ax when we first started, but once I got the hang of it, I created a nice pile of wood to match his; a stockpile for the rest of winter. "You'll work up an appetite and do me a favor while you're at it."
Chuckling, I pick up a log, stacking it on my stump. "I'm grateful to you for letting me stay, but why do you get to use the log splitter and I have to do it by hand?"
He winks, and I swear the mustache twitches. "My house, my rules."
"Did you put Jake through this torture?" I'm loading the split wood into a wheelbarrow to stack up by the house.
"Bella never brought Jake home. I didn't think much about it because I trust Bella to know best." Charlie turns off the log splitter, and he picks up his thermos of coffee. "She brought you here."
"Not really. I showed up unannounced." I wince, thinking how badly this could have gone.
"But not uninvited. Sue and I were actually a little disappointed when Bella told us you couldn't make it." Charlie takes a seat on my stump, looking up at me.
The former chief is barely twenty years older than me, and he hardly looks it, but I can sense when someone is about to impart some wisdom upon me. I'm always ready to receive it, but I'm not necessarily prepared for what my sort of ex-girlfriend's father has to say.
"I know you probably wouldn't have come, but I think in a moment of crisis, the fact that you sought out Bella speaks volumes. You're an important man, Edward." In a gesture not unlike his daughter's, he holds up a hand when I start to interrupt him. "No, hold on. You run your own company. You're successful, and that makes you important in your world. But somehow, Bella is important to you … in your world."
We hold each other's gazes for a moment before I speak. "When you put it that way, it makes it sound like Bella is my world." I choke out a laugh.
"Isn't she?"
Looking over my shoulder through the kitchen window, I can see Bella working with Sue. She looks carefree and happy; just how I always want to see her. Turning back to Charlie, I sigh. "It's complicated."
"Son, my divorce from her mother was complicated." He rises, clapping me on the shoulder. "Bella is not complicated. Don't overcomplicate things when they don't need to be that way. Sounds like you got enough shit going on in your life that you could use some steady."
Unsteadily, I sit down on the stump, staring over at him. "She told you? Everything?"
"I don't know if it's everything, but she told me about the security breach, and I can't imagine what that does to the ego or the stability at your company, with your people. I know there's someone from your past who's disappeared, and I know you and my daughter aren't currently dating, but you slept in the same bed last night." Twitch. "Does that about cover it?"
"Hits all the high notes." I sigh. "Charlie, I'm in my early forties, and for the first time in a long time, I'm at a loss."
"I'm going to tell you a secret that you already know but haven't admitted to yourself yet. It's something I'm sure your parents would agree with: Nobody knows what they're doing, Edward. That's why we forge friendships, relationships. It's so we can have people to experience life with, people to learn from, people to get advice from. Every negative and positive thing that ever happened to you has taught you something." He picks up his thermos and yanks me up under the arm. "Now isn't the time to set all that aside and give up."
We walk into the house together, and I watch the scene before me of Charlie greeting Bella with a quick kiss to her forehead, and then Sue with a less than chaste kiss on the lips before he brushes past me, muttering about taking a shower.
Bella comes over and cups my face in her hands. "Did he give you a hard time?"
"No, I think your dad might be a genius."
"He's definitely a smartass, but what makes you say that?" Bella grins at me.
I lean down to lightly kiss her lips. "He just has me pegged. And I know that we're supposed to be taking a break and figuring things out, but I can't figure anything out without you. I don't want or need an answer from you right now, but I want you to know where I stand."
"I don't have all the answers, Edward. I don't even know how to figure out my own shit, but I'd rather do it with you than by myself. Maybe it isn't true love or fierce love, but it's something, and whatever it is, we can make it work." She smiles at me, broader.
"Jobless or a CEO. Cybersecurity threats or managing social media." I lower my voice. "Daddy or baby or not. We can make this work together; you and me."
"You and me." She presses her lips to mine in a heartfelt, soul-shattering kiss.