“You sound very organized as usual,” her mom said.
Belle searched for approval in her mom’s voice, but if it was there, she couldn’t hear it. Or maybe she just didn’t know what it sounded like. Not that her mother didn’t voice it, but maybe Belle was deaf to it.
“I have to be. It’s like juggling. Drop one ball, and they all come crashing down and start to bounce around uncontrollably. There’s no chance of catching them, let alone getting them all back up in the air again.” Jasmine started to giggle beside her. Frowning, Belle turned to stare at her. “What?”
“Sorry,” Jasmine said before giggling again. “I just had a mental image of you scrambling around in those skirts and high heels you wear, trying to grab at a bunch of bouncing balls.”
And there was yet another round of laughter at the table. Belle couldn’t remember the last time they’d laughed so much. She was pretty sure that if Jasmine and Rory hadn’t shown up, the meal would have been more serious and less comfortable.
“About the only one who’d look funnier than you chasing after bouncing balls would be Ariel,” Rory said. “The two of you are the ones who feel it’s necessary to keep every hair in place. Your perfectionism takes the cake.”
“Well, except for her apartment,” Jasmine pointed out, laughing as Belle elbowed her.
“True.” Rory agreed. “Same as with Ariel.”
“Belle came to help us with some of the demolition,” Mitch said. “She didn’t seem overly worried about her hair then.”
“Seriously?” Jasmine gave her a wide grin. “Was that where you were on Monday?”
Belle nodded but didn’t expand on the details. All she could think about was what had followed the time she’d spent tearing down that wall. Heat crept into her cheeks at the memory of what Mitch had witnessed. The unexpected confrontation with Andre was something she could have happily lived her whole life without sharing with another person. Especially a virtual stranger.
“Pictures or it didn’t happen,” Rory said as she leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. Though her pose might seem antagonistic, Belle knew her sister well enough to see the twinkle in her eye.
“Well, then I guess we’ll go with it didn’t happen,” Belle told her. “Because I sure wasn’t taking any selfies.”
“Oh, but I managed to snap a picture or two.”
Belle jerked around to face Mitch. “What?”
Mitch gave a sheepish shrug. “I guess I thought you might like to have proof that you’d given us a hand. I was going to show you but then…forgot.”
Belle, well aware of why he’d forgotten, held out her hand. He pulled his phone out, unlocked it and tapped and swiped on the screen a couple of times before handing it to her. She looked down at the screen, and sure enough, there was a picture of her holding a sledgehammer, that purple hard hat on her head.
“There you go,” Belle said as she handed the phone across to Rory. “It happened.”
Jasmine held out her hand, snapping her fingers, but Rory passed the phone to their mom first.
“It’s nice to see that you let your hair down every once in a while,” she said as she looked up and smiled. “You and Ariel. The two of you need to relax more often.”
“One would have thought that I’d have been the one who’d end up intense and a workaholic,” Rory said. “Instead it’s the model and the wedding planner. Must be the middle child thing.”
“Isn’t that a trait of an oldest child?” Mitch asked.
Rory shrugged. “You’d think, but instead, it’s Ariel and Belle who ended up that way.”
Belle thought about arguing that Rory’s assessment was off the mark, but the reality was, her sister was pretty much spot on. But as a sibling, she couldn’t just let her get away with that, so she looked at Rory and opened her mouth to reject her analysis. Rory just arched a brow as she shook her head.
“Yeah. Okay,” Belle said, letting her shoulders slump. “No arguing with the lawyer.”
“Where does your brother fall in the sibling order?” Mitch asked.
“He is actually the middle child. Dead center,” her mom said.
“So is he as intense as his sisters?”
The rest of them exchanged looks, then burst out laughing.
“I think it’s safe to say that Charming—or Beast, depending on the day—is the least intense of us all.” Rory grinned. “He is so laid back that he barely manages to keep himself employed.”
“That boy,” their mom said with a shake of her head. “Jon couldn’t be bothered to come for dinner because he would have had to wear something besides joggers and a T-shirt. If I hadn’t given birth to him myself, I would wonder if he had any of me in him.”
“I think I got all the work ethic you and Dad had to offer,” Belle said. “And apparently, I got Jon’s share too.”
She and Jon had the same dad, and by all accounts, they’d had the best one. Their dad had stuck around for a couple of years and had willingly taken on the role of father to the twins. And later, after their mom had moved on, he’d stayed in their lives and had also become a father to Jasmine when her dad hadn’t been up to the task.
Belle wondered why being a great father hadn’t been enough for their mother to stay with her dad. Why she hadn’t been able to see that having a man who loved her children—even the two who weren’t biologically his—and went out of his way to be there for them was as romantic as any bouquet of flowers or box of chocolates. Of course, her mom had gone on to find a man who seemed to meet her need for romance. Thankfully, her dad had also found a woman who truly appreciated him even if traditional romance wasn’t his strongest suit.
“Why didn’t he get a fairy tale name as well?” Mitch asked.
Belle was sure she’d explained that to him the day he and Maya had come for the meeting in the conference room. Maybe he just wanted to hear her mom confess to having a crush on Jon Bon Jovi.
“Ah, well…” Her mom glanced over at Patrick, her cheeks going slightly pink. “The names for the men in fairy tales aren’t quite as nice as the ones for women. Instead, I chose to name Jon after my favorite singer at the time. Bon Jovi.”
“Too bad he doesn’t have the talent of his namesake,” Jasmine said. “At least maybe then it would be a job he could commit to.”
As they finished up their meals, conversation wound its way briefly back to the building since Mitch had to leave.
“I hate to run, but I have church this evening,” Mitch said, his smile apologetic and yet engaging at the same time. “It was a pleasure to meet you all, and if you ever have any questions or concerns, feel free to give me a call.”
He pulled out his wallet and slid a card free. Leaning forward, he held it out to her mom. She took it, a smile on her face as she read the information on it.
“I’m glad you were able to meet with us, Mitch. Belle wasn’t sure you’d be able to, so I’m grateful you were able to make the time.” She looked up and smiled at him. “You and your brother have really helped put my mind at ease. And I think you’ve eased some of the burden Belle has been carrying as well. I’m sure you’ve figured out she works long hours and not having to worry about the renovations as much will be a blessing.”
Mitch looked up as the waitress returned with the bill, but as he went to take it, her mom snatched it first and handed it to Patrick. “Our treat.”
“Well, thank you,” Mitch said as he got to his feet. “I hope to see you again sometime.”
Patrick and her mom stood and shook Mitch’s hand as did Rory. After he’d left, the five of them sat in silence for a moment before Rory said, “That is a fine-looking man.”
“And he seems nice and gentlemanly as well. Can’t one of you girls try to gain his interest? It would be a shame to let him slip through our fingers.” Her mom looked around at the three of them. “My vote is for Belle.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Say what?” Belle frowned at her. “Why me?”
&
nbsp; “I agree,” Jasmine chimed in. “You two would be great together.”
She wasn’t too worried about her mom thinking that, since she and Patrick were winging their way off to Australia the next day so Patrick could buy an island or something. Her mom wouldn’t likely follow too closely on this particular train of thought.
Jasmine and Rory, however, were closer to the situation and could make things awkward. But Belle had learned over the course of time that the more she reacted, the more likely they were to push.
So instead, she just laughed it off. “Of course, we’d be perfect together. We’d probably never see each other, so there wouldn’t be any chance of arguments or disagreements. Obviously, the perfect relationship.”
“Maybe he could get you to chill a bit,” Rory said, glancing down at her nails. “Pull you away from the wedding stuff once in a while.”
“Or maybe you need to hire someone to give you a hand.”
Belle looked at her mom, waiting for her to laugh. For the longest time, her mom had always either done everything herself or relied on one of the girls to pitch in. When she’d asked—demanded, actually—that Belle return to work for her, she’d said that she didn’t trust anyone but family to handle the work. So the fact that she was suggesting Belle hire someone was surprising. Shocking, really.
Her mom leaned forward and rested her hand palm up in the center of the table. Belle hesitated then stretched out and rested her fingers against her mom’s. Her gaze was direct as she looked at Belle.
“I want more for you.” Her fingers tightened around Belle’s. “The business has grown so much since you took over, but it’s consuming you. I can see—and your sisters have told me—that you do nothing but work. It’s not good. So hire an assistant. I’ve trusted you with Belles & Beaus, and now, with the move to a larger location, that undoubtedly will expand the business even more, I trust you to choose the right person to help you so that you can have a life.”
Belle appreciated her mom’s words, but she had to admit there was a part of her that was a little reluctant to actually do as she requested. She wanted the help, sure, but to have a life? Doing what, exactly? She’d made the choice to have a life when she’d been nineteen. When she’d chosen to stop working for her mom and instead had, at Andre’s suggestion, gone to work at his business…his wedding business.
Right where he could keep a constant eye on her. Where he could monitor her every move. Where he could make sure she was doing exactly what he’d wanted while he exploited her knowledge and experience from having worked with her mom—someone he clearly viewed as his biggest competitor.
They’d gone to work together. Gone out to movies. Gone to the bar. Gone to hockey games. Gone to football games. Socialized with his friends. Had barbecues at his house—the one she had moved into not long after she’d started working for him.
She had had a life. And it had been more than she could handle.
After giving her mom’s fingers a quick squeeze, Belle pulled her hand back. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“You do that,” her mom said then motioned to the others at the table. “I have witnesses. Two of whom have no reluctance whatsoever about hounding you and tattling on you.”
Belle knew that to be true. They had no problem hounding her about all kinds of things. Of course, she did return the favor on occasion.
Not long after that, they got up and wound their way through the other tables until they reached the exit. Patrick held the door open for them as they stepped out into the early evening. The mild air held the sounds of the city as traffic whizzed past them, mixing with the sounds of conversation from the people wandering along the sidewalk.
Belle took a moment to just absorb it all. It wasn’t often she was out without a timely destination in mind. She knew she needed to get her mom and Patrick back to the hotel, then after that, all she had to do was go home. But there was no rush.
“Can I take you and Patrick back to the hotel, Mama?” Rory asked. “I didn’t get to see much of you this trip.”
“That would be lovely, darling.” She turned to Belle. “Thanks for spending time with us. I’ll be in touch. Let me know how things are going with Mitch and the renovations. And please, hire someone.”
Her mom drew her close to give her a kiss. The familiar scent of Chanel N°5 enveloped Belle as she hugged her back. “Love you, Mama. Have a good trip.”
Belle watched as she hugged Jasmine and then the three of them headed for Rory’s car, leaving Jasmine and Belle on the sidewalk beside the restaurant.
“Guess I’m your ride home,” Belle said as she gestured to where she’d parked her car.
“Do we have to go right home?” Jasmine asked as she walked beside Belle. “It’s not that late, and it’s a nice evening.”
Belle unlocked the car doors then opened hers and slid behind the wheel. When Jasmine had settled into the seat beside her, Belle asked, “What did you have in mind?”
“The park?”
“Assiniboine?”
“Yep. Let’s walk through the gardens.”
Belle sat for a moment then nodded and turned on the car. The week ahead was going to be busy. As they moved through May, the business was picking up steam. But that night…for just a little while…she would stop and smell the roses. Literally.
Mitch jerked his ball cap off to run his hand through his hair before sliding it back into place, bill to the back. Anger and frustration ate a hole in his gut as he stared at the shattered window. The beautiful floor to ceiling window that had been in place for only two days now lay in pieces on the bare floor.
“The cops should be here soon,” Bennett said as he joined him.
It was a good thing that they’d had the alarm system installed. As soon as the window had been broken, the alarm had triggered, sending whoever the idiot was, running. They had cameras mounted around the property already, and Mitch knew the police would pull the footage, but it was dark and the likelihood of them being able to recognize the vandal was slim to none.
“I can’t believe this,” Mitch said. “Belle’s going to wonder about the safety of the location after this.”
“We’re going to have to look at a different type of window now.” Bennett walked closer to the opening, peering through it. “We can still use what we have for the second floor, I think, but order the unbreakable glass for this lower section. Let’s get floodlights up at both corners of the building along with the cameras. Make it all as uninviting to vandals as possible.”
Mitch sighed in frustration. “I should have just done that in the first place. Now we’ve got to waste the time and supplies to cover this opening. We’re going to lose time waiting for a new window. What a mess.”
Bennett rested his hand on Mitch’s shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. You couldn’t have known.”
“But maybe I should have. Putting big glass windows on a building in a neighborhood like this was pretty much inviting someone to throw a rock at it.”
“It’s a stellar design. Tristan did a great job.”
“Yeah.” Mitch turned to stare back out the window. “I didn’t mean that Tristan should have redone the design because, yeah, this is really amazing. I meant that I should have realized the possibility of vandalism around here and used the proper materials.”
“Move on, bro. You can’t go back and change that. Just learn and move forward.”
A noise behind them had them both turning. Several of their workers came through the door, pushing sheets of plywood on a trolley. Right behind them were the cops.
Mitch was grateful for the distraction of first, dealing with the cops and then helping the guys put the wood up to cover the gaping hole. All the beauty of the window was now covered with cheap, ugly wood with painted markings on it.
When they were done, Mitch walked around the outside of the building and stared at it.
“C’mon. Let’s go,” Bennett said. “Nothing more we can do here.”
That was true, but the next day, he’d have to call Belle and let her know what had happened. Though the thought of talking to her was appealing, the information he’d be passing on, wasn’t. He hoped that the news didn’t upset her too much. At least he’d be able to give her reassurances of what they’d be doing to avoid the same thing happening again.
It was noon before Mitch climbed behind the wheel of his truck, cell phone in hand. He sat for a moment, trying to put together the words for what he needed to say to Belle, knowing it wasn’t going to be a great start to her week. It wasn’t that he thought she’d get upset with him, but the idea of her being upset at all was what he wanted to avoid.
Unfortunately, short of just not telling her at all, he wasn’t going to be able to avoid that. C&M made a practice of being upfront with their customers and keeping them abreast of any and all issues. Most of the time that practice was appreciated, but in this case, Mitch knew it was just going to add more to Belle’s plate. Even though she didn’t have to do anything to fix the situation, it was going to be one more thing that she’d worry about. Even if it was just in the back of her mind as she took care of all the other things on her to-do list.
Taking a deep breath, Mitch pulled up Belle’s contact information and tapped the screen to call her. He listened as the phone rang, wondering if he should have waited until later in the afternoon to call so that maybe she would have at least been almost done with her Monday.
“Hello?” It was four rings before she answered, and she sounded out of breath.
“Hi, Belle. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“No, not at all. I had forgotten to take my phone with me and I was down the hall when I heard it ringing.” She let out a long breath. “So what’s up?”
“Well, we had a bit of excitement at the building last night.”
“Excitement?” Her voice was wary. “I’m assuming it’s not the good kind of excitement.”
Mitch sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Yeah. You’re right.”
A Touch of Romance: A Christian Romance (Callaghans & McFaddens Book 6) Page 10