Pieces of the Memories (Drabble Set 5)
Title: Pieces of the Memories
Author: audreyii_fic
Fandom: Twilight (Team Jacob)
Rating: T
Characters: Swan Family, Black Family, Clearwater Family
Genre: Humor/Angst/Friendship
Warnings: Occasional language.
banner courtesy of lilabut
Summary:
Renee leaves Charlie and Bella. AU drabble series.
( beginning)
Where They Don't Go To Port Angeles (Rachel and Rebecca)
"We need green ones," Rachel whispers to Rebecca.
"No," Rebecca whispers to Rachel. The sound of the station wagon's creaking engine keeps her words in the back seat. "Pink."
"Green."
"Pink."
"Green."
"Pink."
It is a common misconception that Rachel and Rebecca never disagree. They do. They just do it quietly, where no one can hear, and mostly over small things. Like the color of their new ribbons they're going to get. They have a very large collection of ribbons, which they use to make barrettes.
"We can get both." Rachel digs out their plastic coin purse and fishes through it with her index finger. "But only if we don't get any lipstick."
"But we're out of Dusky Rose."
"Then we have to pick one ribbon color."
"Pink."
"Green."
"Pink."
"Green."
"What are you two conspiring about?" Mom glances in the rearview mirror.
"Nothing."
"Nothing."
Mrs. Clearwater is in the passenger's front seat. She looks back and narrows her eyes; Rachel and Rebecca gulp. "Don't think I'm not watching you," Mrs. Clearwater says darkly. "Cause one ounce of trouble and I'm turning this car around."
"Sue, I'm driving."
"You know what I mean."
Mom shakes her head.
They are on their way to pick up Bella. Bella always gets picked up from her house after school, and today Mom and Mrs. Clearwater are taking the three of them to Port Angeles to look for spring dresses. Dad is staying home with Jacob and Seth and Leah. (Leah said she'd eat road kill before buying dresses. Leah lives in overalls.) Rachel and Rebecca are going to use this opportunity to figure out Bella's Color Palette.
It is another common misconception that Rachel and Rebecca don't care about Bella. Bella is great. Leah is too fast to catch and Jacob squirms and yells, but Bella sits perfectly still while Rachel and Rebecca braid her hair and paint her nails. Bella is the only one who knows that one day they're going to open a salon and that they will be world famous. Bella thinks this is a good idea, and told them that you're supposed to go to business school if you want to open a world famous salon. So Rachel's going to do that (since she's better with keeping track of the coin purse) and Rebecca's going to invent a holding spray that sticks to their heavy black hair.
Rachel and Rebecca consider themselves very lucky to have worked everything out by fourth grade. Some kids are still eating paste.
The station wagon turns onto Bella's street and Mrs. Clearwater says, "Who... Sarah, is that--"
Then things get exciting.
Mom hits the gas and drives about a million miles an hour down the last block. The car has barely stopped moving before both Mrs. Clearwater and Mom are getting out. "Girls, don't move," Mom orders as she slams the door.
Rachel and Rebecca jump from their seats instantly, of course, and press themselves against the window. Bella is on her front step, her arms wrapped around her backpack. Some blond lady is sitting next to her.
"Who's she?"
"Probably a kidnapper." There was a blond lady on America's Most Wanted just last week.
Mrs. Clearwater starts saying stuff to the lady; Rachel and Rebecca can't hear much of it, but there's definitely a lot of Swear Jar words involved. (If this keeps up Mrs. Clearwater won't have enough money left to get a dress for Leah.) Mom's chin is up in that way it is if someone's really, really in trouble. And the lady is crying.
Rachel and Rebecca can barely keep themselves from vibrating with delight. Important grown up stuff never happens in front of them. This is so cool.
Mom says something to Mrs. Clearwater and points at the car (Rachel and Rebecca quick-scoot return to their seats). Mrs. Clearwater scoops Bella right off the steps and a second later Bella's in the back with them, sprawled over their laps.
"What's going on?"
"Who's that?"
"Was she trying to steal Bella?"
"Are we gonna call the FBI?"
"Not now." Mrs. Clearwater shuts the door again.
Bella settles down between Rachel and Rebecca, holding onto her backpack. She fits just fine into the middle seat. Bella is teensy, barely bigger than Jake. And right now she's white like cottage cheese.
"Who's the lady?" Rebecca demands.
"Don't know," she whispers.
Rachel pets Bella's head a few times and Bella starts to relax the way she always does when they do her hair. "Should we get green ribbons in Port Angeles, or pink ones?"
"Green," Bella says, closing her eyes. "Green goes with more stuff."
Rachel looks up at Rebecca triumphantly, but Rebecca is staring out the window with her mouth open. Mrs. Clearwater is pulling Mom toward the car. Mom -- their mother! -- is shouting Swear Jar words at the crying lady.
"Wow," says Rebecca.
Rachel turns and looks. "Wow."
Bella picks at her backpack.
Mrs. Clearwater gets behind the wheel; as they drive away Mom leans her head back against the seat and looks at the ceiling. Rachel and Rebecca know that they had better be quiet right now or they're dead meat.
After a minute Mom says, "Thanks, Sue."
Mrs. Clearwater reaches over and smacks Mom's arm. "Leave the ass-kicking to me, woman. You don't even have the sense to close your fist."
Mom snorts.
Rachel and Rebecca are not thrilled when they realize the station wagon is returning to La Push.
***
Mothers and Fathers (Billy)
It's nearly midnight when the cruiser pulls into the yard. Moths are swirling around the porch light and Billy is sitting on the front steps. "Bella's on the couch," he says preemptively as Charlie walks up. He holds out a Budweiser. "Let her sleep for awhile."
Charlie pauses, then accepts the beer and opens it with a fizzy pop. "Was she okay?"
Billy takes a swig from his own can. He's drinking Mountain Dew, which is a far more illegal substance in the Black household than alcohol. "Kind of. She didn't say much. I don't think she gets it."
(Sarah had come home hours earlier than expected and with Bella in tow. She'd sent the kids out of the house and called Charlie while Billy put a lasagna in the oven. After that she'd pulled Billy into the bedroom and made silent love to him, more desperately than she had in years, all smooth skin and soft curves and smelling like the wife he still loved and had missed for so damn long. He didn't really understand why she did it but he certainly wasn't complaining.)
Charlie's twenty-nine but he looks fifty as he sinks onto the steps. He's silent for a long moment, sipping the beer. Then he says, "Fuck."
"Yep." The Mountain Dew tastes really good. "You talked to her?"
"Uh-huh."
"So where's the bitch been?"
"Don't do that," Charlie says wearily. When Billy gives him a disbelieving look he adds, "She's the mother of my child. Don't call her that."
"Oh, Jesus, are you thinking of taking her back? If you do I'll beat the shit out of you."
"She doesn't want to be taken back." (Billy does not fail to note that Charlie skirted the question.) "She just wants to see Bella."
That bitch. "She might've thought of that earlier."
"She says she was sick."
"So what? Sarah didn't run away." Thank God Sarah didn't run away. There were times Billy had stayed awake all night for fear she'd be gone when he woke up.
"I'm not saying it was right. I just..." Charlie rubs his hand over his face. "Shit. I don't know. What would you do?"
Billy tries -- and fails -- to ignore the shame that twists in his gut. "Man, trust me, I'm not the guy to ask."
(He'd asked. Of course he'd asked. Tiffany didn't know and didn't plan on finding out; it could very well be her asshole boyfriend's and she didn't want her kid tied down with that. She'd said she didn't need or want anything aside from a new start and to please just let it lie; Sarah had been pregnant again and already getting sicker. Billy can't stand watching Jacob and Embry together so he steers clear of the playground.)
"Talk to Harry," he adds. "Harry always knows what to say about shit like this." Harry is like Yoda on weed, except Harry doesn't smoke. Harry is naturally that mellow. Maybe it's all those meds he takes to keep his heart rate down.
"I don't have a damn clue how to explain it to Bella. I never told her much--"
"Which is right," says Billy. "The girl's eight, she's got the rest of her life to be freaked out by the heavy stuff. Carry it for her for as long as you can."
"Yeah. Yeah, probably." They drink in silence for another few minutes, then Charlie sets the beer aside; it's still two-thirds full. "I've really got to get her home."
Billy stashes the soda can under the porch with the others.
The living room is empty. They find Bella on Jacob's floor, both of them asleep under piles of blankets.
***
Reading Material (Bella)
Bella fidgets with the in-flight magazine. She's finished all the articles and all the books she brought and the In Case of an Emergency instructions and there's still an half and hour left before they're going to get there. She can't wait. Her skin is so dry from the desert heat that she thinks she might just burrow into the wet sand at First Beach and stay there until she's pruny.
This is the second summer that she's spent a week with her mother in Phoenix. Last year she was afraid but she made it, all five days and four nights, and she only cried a couple of times. This year she didn't cry at all (though she did hide once or twice).
Renee turns away from the window. "Did you have fun, baby?" she asks anxiously, patting Bella's hand.
Bella nods.
Renee (Bella tried to call her Mom but it sounds weird) treats her like she's a little kid. As soon as she had said she likes reading Renee went to the store and bought a ton of books, but they were all for third graders. (Bella just finished third grade but she hasn't read at that level in years; Mrs. Hughes has been requesting more and more transfers from the middle school library, and even loaned her her own Russian history book after Bella liked Animal Farm.) Then Renee had taken Bella to the zoo and pointed out all the animals like Bella didn't know what they were just because she'd never been to a zoo before. And Renee insisted on flying with Bella both ways, which was nice last year but is silly this year. This year Bella is nine and knows how flying works.
Bella sees a mystery paperback poking out of Renee's bag. "May I read that, please?" she asks, pointing.
Renee glances at the book, then shakes her head. "No, baby, I'm sorry. It's got too much sex in it. Maybe next year."
Bella goes back to the magazine. The foot massagers are really expensive.
The biggest problem is the way Renee wants to talk all the time. Bella's much better at talking than she used to be (one day she had to talk in front of the whole class about the food groups and Jessica made her rehearse again and again and again until Bella could give the presentation with her eyes closed, which she did, and after that it got easier) but she still doesn't like it very much. She especially doesn't like talking about Deep Stuff, but Deep Stuff is Renee's favorite thing. Renee likes to talk to her the way Mrs. Black and Mrs. Clearwater talk to each other, except Renee doesn't cackle the way Mrs. Clearwater does and Bella doesn't smile and shake her head the way Mrs. Black does.
Bella's going to go crazy if she doesn't read something, so she digs out her letter. It got to Phoenix three days after she did.
Hi Bells,
How are you? I hope Fenix is nice. Its raining. Rach and Beck say hi. Leah says get her a ratlesnake please. Seth ate a jelly been and his tong turned blue. Come back soon.
Love, Jake
Bella got a plastic rattlesnake for Leah from the zoo, even though she's pretty sure Leah was asking for a real one.
Last year the trip was extra scary because on top of being away from Dad, Bella had never not seen Mrs. Black and Jake and Leah and Rach'an'Beck and Baby Seth for more than two days at a time. This year it is easier because now she stays at home by herself after school every day for an hour and a half until Dad's done at the station. She still goes to the Blacks' or the Clearwaters' on Saturdays, and she has sleepovers with Rach'an'Beck and backyard campouts with Leah, but since she's not in La Push every day it's a little less weird to be in Phoenix for a week.
"So is Jake your boyfriend?" Renee teases, reading over Bella's shoulder.
Bella scowls and folds the letter up.
When they walk off the plane Bella gets hit instantly by a warm, familiar hug. "Your flight was late," Jake says, almost angry, and then he starts a long report of all the stuff that happened while she was gone (his dad let him help fix the station wagon, Leah's tadpoles grew legs, his friend Quil fell out of a tree). Bella feels herself relax for the first time in a week.
Mrs. Black is talking quietly to Renee. Renee's not saying much back.
"Bells? Are you listening?" Jake demands.
She nods. She's listening more to his tone than his words. "I have a book I think you'll like," she says. (It's one of the ones Renee got.) "James and the Giant Peach."
"What's it about?"
"A boy named James. He lives in a giant peach."
"Oh."
Renee gives her a big hug goodbye and promises to call soon (last year she did every week for a month and then not until Christmas). Then she gets back on the plane and she's gone.
"Are you ready to go?" Mrs. Black is smiling. "Everyone's at home watching Mr. Clearwater make fish fry. Your dad said to tell you you're in charge of making sure there's a piece left for him."
Bella hesitates for a long moment, then steps forward and wraps her arms tight around Mrs. Black's waist.
"I missed you too, sweetie," Mrs. Black says softly.
The fish fry is great, Leah likes (but is slightly disappointed in the rubber quality of) her rattlesnake, the grown-ups talk in the kitchen and say some Swear Jar words, Rach'an'Beck fight with Jake over whether peaches can fly, Seth tells knock-knock jokes to anyone who will listen, and when Dad arrives Bella sits on his lap for an hour.
( next)
Author: audreyii_fic
Fandom: Twilight (Team Jacob)
Rating: T
Characters: Swan Family, Black Family, Clearwater Family
Genre: Humor/Angst/Friendship
Warnings: Occasional language.
banner courtesy of lilabut
Summary:
Renee leaves Charlie and Bella. AU drabble series.
( beginning)
Where They Don't Go To Port Angeles (Rachel and Rebecca)
"We need green ones," Rachel whispers to Rebecca.
"No," Rebecca whispers to Rachel. The sound of the station wagon's creaking engine keeps her words in the back seat. "Pink."
"Green."
"Pink."
"Green."
"Pink."
It is a common misconception that Rachel and Rebecca never disagree. They do. They just do it quietly, where no one can hear, and mostly over small things. Like the color of their new ribbons they're going to get. They have a very large collection of ribbons, which they use to make barrettes.
"We can get both." Rachel digs out their plastic coin purse and fishes through it with her index finger. "But only if we don't get any lipstick."
"But we're out of Dusky Rose."
"Then we have to pick one ribbon color."
"Pink."
"Green."
"Pink."
"Green."
"What are you two conspiring about?" Mom glances in the rearview mirror.
"Nothing."
"Nothing."
Mrs. Clearwater is in the passenger's front seat. She looks back and narrows her eyes; Rachel and Rebecca gulp. "Don't think I'm not watching you," Mrs. Clearwater says darkly. "Cause one ounce of trouble and I'm turning this car around."
"Sue, I'm driving."
"You know what I mean."
Mom shakes her head.
They are on their way to pick up Bella. Bella always gets picked up from her house after school, and today Mom and Mrs. Clearwater are taking the three of them to Port Angeles to look for spring dresses. Dad is staying home with Jacob and Seth and Leah. (Leah said she'd eat road kill before buying dresses. Leah lives in overalls.) Rachel and Rebecca are going to use this opportunity to figure out Bella's Color Palette.
It is another common misconception that Rachel and Rebecca don't care about Bella. Bella is great. Leah is too fast to catch and Jacob squirms and yells, but Bella sits perfectly still while Rachel and Rebecca braid her hair and paint her nails. Bella is the only one who knows that one day they're going to open a salon and that they will be world famous. Bella thinks this is a good idea, and told them that you're supposed to go to business school if you want to open a world famous salon. So Rachel's going to do that (since she's better with keeping track of the coin purse) and Rebecca's going to invent a holding spray that sticks to their heavy black hair.
Rachel and Rebecca consider themselves very lucky to have worked everything out by fourth grade. Some kids are still eating paste.
The station wagon turns onto Bella's street and Mrs. Clearwater says, "Who... Sarah, is that--"
Then things get exciting.
Mom hits the gas and drives about a million miles an hour down the last block. The car has barely stopped moving before both Mrs. Clearwater and Mom are getting out. "Girls, don't move," Mom orders as she slams the door.
Rachel and Rebecca jump from their seats instantly, of course, and press themselves against the window. Bella is on her front step, her arms wrapped around her backpack. Some blond lady is sitting next to her.
"Who's she?"
"Probably a kidnapper." There was a blond lady on America's Most Wanted just last week.
Mrs. Clearwater starts saying stuff to the lady; Rachel and Rebecca can't hear much of it, but there's definitely a lot of Swear Jar words involved. (If this keeps up Mrs. Clearwater won't have enough money left to get a dress for Leah.) Mom's chin is up in that way it is if someone's really, really in trouble. And the lady is crying.
Rachel and Rebecca can barely keep themselves from vibrating with delight. Important grown up stuff never happens in front of them. This is so cool.
Mom says something to Mrs. Clearwater and points at the car (Rachel and Rebecca quick-scoot return to their seats). Mrs. Clearwater scoops Bella right off the steps and a second later Bella's in the back with them, sprawled over their laps.
"What's going on?"
"Who's that?"
"Was she trying to steal Bella?"
"Are we gonna call the FBI?"
"Not now." Mrs. Clearwater shuts the door again.
Bella settles down between Rachel and Rebecca, holding onto her backpack. She fits just fine into the middle seat. Bella is teensy, barely bigger than Jake. And right now she's white like cottage cheese.
"Who's the lady?" Rebecca demands.
"Don't know," she whispers.
Rachel pets Bella's head a few times and Bella starts to relax the way she always does when they do her hair. "Should we get green ribbons in Port Angeles, or pink ones?"
"Green," Bella says, closing her eyes. "Green goes with more stuff."
Rachel looks up at Rebecca triumphantly, but Rebecca is staring out the window with her mouth open. Mrs. Clearwater is pulling Mom toward the car. Mom -- their mother! -- is shouting Swear Jar words at the crying lady.
"Wow," says Rebecca.
Rachel turns and looks. "Wow."
Bella picks at her backpack.
Mrs. Clearwater gets behind the wheel; as they drive away Mom leans her head back against the seat and looks at the ceiling. Rachel and Rebecca know that they had better be quiet right now or they're dead meat.
After a minute Mom says, "Thanks, Sue."
Mrs. Clearwater reaches over and smacks Mom's arm. "Leave the ass-kicking to me, woman. You don't even have the sense to close your fist."
Mom snorts.
Rachel and Rebecca are not thrilled when they realize the station wagon is returning to La Push.
***
Mothers and Fathers (Billy)
It's nearly midnight when the cruiser pulls into the yard. Moths are swirling around the porch light and Billy is sitting on the front steps. "Bella's on the couch," he says preemptively as Charlie walks up. He holds out a Budweiser. "Let her sleep for awhile."
Charlie pauses, then accepts the beer and opens it with a fizzy pop. "Was she okay?"
Billy takes a swig from his own can. He's drinking Mountain Dew, which is a far more illegal substance in the Black household than alcohol. "Kind of. She didn't say much. I don't think she gets it."
(Sarah had come home hours earlier than expected and with Bella in tow. She'd sent the kids out of the house and called Charlie while Billy put a lasagna in the oven. After that she'd pulled Billy into the bedroom and made silent love to him, more desperately than she had in years, all smooth skin and soft curves and smelling like the wife he still loved and had missed for so damn long. He didn't really understand why she did it but he certainly wasn't complaining.)
Charlie's twenty-nine but he looks fifty as he sinks onto the steps. He's silent for a long moment, sipping the beer. Then he says, "Fuck."
"Yep." The Mountain Dew tastes really good. "You talked to her?"
"Uh-huh."
"So where's the bitch been?"
"Don't do that," Charlie says wearily. When Billy gives him a disbelieving look he adds, "She's the mother of my child. Don't call her that."
"Oh, Jesus, are you thinking of taking her back? If you do I'll beat the shit out of you."
"She doesn't want to be taken back." (Billy does not fail to note that Charlie skirted the question.) "She just wants to see Bella."
That bitch. "She might've thought of that earlier."
"She says she was sick."
"So what? Sarah didn't run away." Thank God Sarah didn't run away. There were times Billy had stayed awake all night for fear she'd be gone when he woke up.
"I'm not saying it was right. I just..." Charlie rubs his hand over his face. "Shit. I don't know. What would you do?"
Billy tries -- and fails -- to ignore the shame that twists in his gut. "Man, trust me, I'm not the guy to ask."
(He'd asked. Of course he'd asked. Tiffany didn't know and didn't plan on finding out; it could very well be her asshole boyfriend's and she didn't want her kid tied down with that. She'd said she didn't need or want anything aside from a new start and to please just let it lie; Sarah had been pregnant again and already getting sicker. Billy can't stand watching Jacob and Embry together so he steers clear of the playground.)
"Talk to Harry," he adds. "Harry always knows what to say about shit like this." Harry is like Yoda on weed, except Harry doesn't smoke. Harry is naturally that mellow. Maybe it's all those meds he takes to keep his heart rate down.
"I don't have a damn clue how to explain it to Bella. I never told her much--"
"Which is right," says Billy. "The girl's eight, she's got the rest of her life to be freaked out by the heavy stuff. Carry it for her for as long as you can."
"Yeah. Yeah, probably." They drink in silence for another few minutes, then Charlie sets the beer aside; it's still two-thirds full. "I've really got to get her home."
Billy stashes the soda can under the porch with the others.
The living room is empty. They find Bella on Jacob's floor, both of them asleep under piles of blankets.
***
Reading Material (Bella)
Bella fidgets with the in-flight magazine. She's finished all the articles and all the books she brought and the In Case of an Emergency instructions and there's still an half and hour left before they're going to get there. She can't wait. Her skin is so dry from the desert heat that she thinks she might just burrow into the wet sand at First Beach and stay there until she's pruny.
This is the second summer that she's spent a week with her mother in Phoenix. Last year she was afraid but she made it, all five days and four nights, and she only cried a couple of times. This year she didn't cry at all (though she did hide once or twice).
Renee turns away from the window. "Did you have fun, baby?" she asks anxiously, patting Bella's hand.
Bella nods.
Renee (Bella tried to call her Mom but it sounds weird) treats her like she's a little kid. As soon as she had said she likes reading Renee went to the store and bought a ton of books, but they were all for third graders. (Bella just finished third grade but she hasn't read at that level in years; Mrs. Hughes has been requesting more and more transfers from the middle school library, and even loaned her her own Russian history book after Bella liked Animal Farm.) Then Renee had taken Bella to the zoo and pointed out all the animals like Bella didn't know what they were just because she'd never been to a zoo before. And Renee insisted on flying with Bella both ways, which was nice last year but is silly this year. This year Bella is nine and knows how flying works.
Bella sees a mystery paperback poking out of Renee's bag. "May I read that, please?" she asks, pointing.
Renee glances at the book, then shakes her head. "No, baby, I'm sorry. It's got too much sex in it. Maybe next year."
Bella goes back to the magazine. The foot massagers are really expensive.
The biggest problem is the way Renee wants to talk all the time. Bella's much better at talking than she used to be (one day she had to talk in front of the whole class about the food groups and Jessica made her rehearse again and again and again until Bella could give the presentation with her eyes closed, which she did, and after that it got easier) but she still doesn't like it very much. She especially doesn't like talking about Deep Stuff, but Deep Stuff is Renee's favorite thing. Renee likes to talk to her the way Mrs. Black and Mrs. Clearwater talk to each other, except Renee doesn't cackle the way Mrs. Clearwater does and Bella doesn't smile and shake her head the way Mrs. Black does.
Bella's going to go crazy if she doesn't read something, so she digs out her letter. It got to Phoenix three days after she did.
Hi Bells,
How are you? I hope Fenix is nice. Its raining. Rach and Beck say hi. Leah says get her a ratlesnake please. Seth ate a jelly been and his tong turned blue. Come back soon.
Love, Jake
Bella got a plastic rattlesnake for Leah from the zoo, even though she's pretty sure Leah was asking for a real one.
Last year the trip was extra scary because on top of being away from Dad, Bella had never not seen Mrs. Black and Jake and Leah and Rach'an'Beck and Baby Seth for more than two days at a time. This year it is easier because now she stays at home by herself after school every day for an hour and a half until Dad's done at the station. She still goes to the Blacks' or the Clearwaters' on Saturdays, and she has sleepovers with Rach'an'Beck and backyard campouts with Leah, but since she's not in La Push every day it's a little less weird to be in Phoenix for a week.
"So is Jake your boyfriend?" Renee teases, reading over Bella's shoulder.
Bella scowls and folds the letter up.
When they walk off the plane Bella gets hit instantly by a warm, familiar hug. "Your flight was late," Jake says, almost angry, and then he starts a long report of all the stuff that happened while she was gone (his dad let him help fix the station wagon, Leah's tadpoles grew legs, his friend Quil fell out of a tree). Bella feels herself relax for the first time in a week.
Mrs. Black is talking quietly to Renee. Renee's not saying much back.
"Bells? Are you listening?" Jake demands.
She nods. She's listening more to his tone than his words. "I have a book I think you'll like," she says. (It's one of the ones Renee got.) "James and the Giant Peach."
"What's it about?"
"A boy named James. He lives in a giant peach."
"Oh."
Renee gives her a big hug goodbye and promises to call soon (last year she did every week for a month and then not until Christmas). Then she gets back on the plane and she's gone.
"Are you ready to go?" Mrs. Black is smiling. "Everyone's at home watching Mr. Clearwater make fish fry. Your dad said to tell you you're in charge of making sure there's a piece left for him."
Bella hesitates for a long moment, then steps forward and wraps her arms tight around Mrs. Black's waist.
"I missed you too, sweetie," Mrs. Black says softly.
The fish fry is great, Leah likes (but is slightly disappointed in the rubber quality of) her rattlesnake, the grown-ups talk in the kitchen and say some Swear Jar words, Rach'an'Beck fight with Jake over whether peaches can fly, Seth tells knock-knock jokes to anyone who will listen, and when Dad arrives Bella sits on his lap for an hour.
( next)