“Well, Pren isn’t going to think it’s brilliant. Look!” Bella exclaimed and turned the magazine around for everyone to look.
They closed in and Fiona floated above them to have a look.
There was a spread, mostly Laurent and his floozy but also photos of Bella and Prentice. Photos taken recently, more shots of them snogging by Prentice’s Rover and the inside shots were far more intimate. They were really going at it, Prentice even had a hand cupped tight on Bella’s ass. And there were also pictures of Bella dropping the kids off at school.
“Yeesh, did you two do it in the Rover or what?” Annie asked.
“No! We didn’t do it in the Rover! Still, this is, it’s…” Bella paused and finished with, “Oh. My. God!”
Annie got close and slid an arm around Bella’s waist. “Prentice doesn’t care about this stuff, sweetie.”
“Yes, well he’s never had pictures of him making out published yet,” Bella returned. “Look at it Annie!” She shook the magazine at her friend. “He’s got his hand on my ass!”
“Mm, that’s my favorite part,” Mikey murmured.
Debs took the magazine out of Bella’s hands and examined it while muttering, “He’s my brother and I still think he looks fit.”
“Sick,” Fern giggled and Debs giggled with her.
“This isn’t funny!” Bella shouted as her handbag rang; she dug into it, pulled out her mobile and stared at the display in horror. Then she looked at her audience with an expression that could only be described as dire, hit a button, put it to her ear and said, “Hey Pren.”
There were collective giggles (including Fiona’s) and Bella glared daggers at them as she wandered away. Fiona wandered with her and got close to listen in.
“Are you at Fern’s?” Prentice asked.
“Yes,” Bella answered.
“While you’re with her, talk about the sitting room,” Prentice ordered, sounding distracted.
“We already did.” She hesitated. “Listen, Pren –”
“Sorry, baby, I’ve got a staff meeting in five minutes and we’re breaking ground in the New Year on that job. There’s loads of shit to sort.”
Bella sucked in breath. Prentice heard it.
“Elle?”
“Um…” she began.
“Elle,” he cut in, “are you with Annie?”
Bella’s shoulders went straight and she snapped, “Yes, and would you stop asking if I’m with Annie when you think we’re misbehaving?”
“Oh crap,” Annie mumbled in the background.
Prentice obviously didn’t appreciate her tone of voice and Fiona knew this by his tone of voice when he answered.
“Were you with Annie two weeks ago when the police pulled you over for drag racing?” he countered.
Fiona giggled to herself because she thought that Bella drag racing was funny, especially Prentice’s reaction to it when Fergus called and told him it happened. Bella didn’t get in trouble, only a warning but the whole village had heard about it and thought it was a scream.
“We weren’t drag racing,” Bella replied. “I just got my new car and we were testing it out.”
“By racing each other in the streets?”
“Well –”
Prentice interrupted her, “And last week at the pub when you two challenged the rugby team to a game of quarters.”
“Quarters is like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it and Annie and I are good at quarters. The rugby team was smashed and we were only a little tipsy,” Bella defended.
“You play quarters when you’re in uni,” Prentice returned.
“And when your forty and having fun!” Bella snapped.
“I don’t have time for this,” he ground out, sounding like his patience was at an end.
“All right, fine. Just so you know, that night at the pub with the rugby team?” she informed him. “Later, when we were necking in the parking lot, there was a photographer. There’s, like, five pictures in a gossip rag of us going at it. Have a good staff meeting.” Then Bella pressed a button on her phone, turned to the group and announced, “Honestly, it’s like he’s an old man.”
“Actually, it seems to me it’s like twenty years haven’t passed,” Debs whispered, Annie, Fern and Mikey grinned at her and Bella’s phone rang again.
She answered without greeting, simply reminding him, “Pren. Staff meeting?”
Prentice didn’t greet Bella either.
Instead, he demanded, “Don’t put the phone down on me.”
“I… what?”
“Don’t ever put the phone down on me.”
Bella went still at the tone of his voice. So did Fiona’s spectral body.
He sounded serious and he sounded angry. Not Bella-and-Prentice-having-a-tiff angry.
Something else entirely.
Bella turned her back to her spectators and started, “Prentice, I –”
Prentice interrupted her.
“You could get in a car wreck, I could get in a car wreck and the last thing you did was put the phone down on me.” Fiona saw Bella’s face pale as Prentice continued, “When you’re done speaking, no matter how frustrated you are, you fucking tell me good-bye.”
“I’m not going to get in a car wreck,” Bella assured quietly.
He ignored her. “We fight, it’s what we do and as fucking daft as it makes me, I love that about us. But when you’re separated from me and I’m talking to you on the fucking phone, no matter if we’re talking or fighting, you say good-bye.”
“Pren –”
“Twenty years ago, I walked out of a room and neither of us said good-bye.”
Bella pulled in breath and her eyes squeezed tight.
“People who care about each other always say good-bye,” Prentice finished.
She opened her eyes and replied softly, “All right, Pren, I’ll say good-bye.”
“Always, Elle,” he demanded.
“Always,” she whispered.
“Now, I’m late. Don’t, for the love of Christ, get into trouble with Annie.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
He expelled an audible breath, his voice got soft and he said, “Love you, baby.”
Bella’s face got soft when she heard it; she started to say something and then her body jerked.
“Pren?”
“Aye.”
“Are you mad about the magazine?”
“I don’t give a fuck about the magazine.”
“Really?”
“Really, baby,” he replied, still using that soft voice. “Now, I have to go.”
“Bye, Pren.”
“See you soon, baby.”
He rang off and Bella turned back to her friends.
“Pren didn’t like me hanging up on him,” she announced.
“Broody,” Mikey declared and then finished, “Hot.”
Bella giggled.
So did Fiona.
And Fern.
And Debs.
“I need coffee and one of Bella’s Christmas cookies,” Annie declared.
“You made Christmas cookies?” Debs asked, eyes wide, clearly having had Bella’s Christmas cookies (Fiona hadn’t, but she’d heard about them and she’d seen the ones Bella made with Sally at the weekend and they looked delicious).
“She’s Bella. It’s Christmas. That means Christmas cookies,” Mikey confirmed.
“Fern, can you come over for coffee and cookies?” Bella asked.
“I’ll have cookies tomorrow,” Fern replied. “My girl is in to help then. I’ll be at your place at eleven o’clock?”
“Works for me,” Bella smiled.
They said their good-byes and Fiona floated after them as they walked down the pavement toward Bella’s new Land Rover.
While Fiona drifted after them, she thought of her husband, who was good at brooding normally but had honed it to a fine art when Fiona died.
Fiona also thought about it being Christmas.
They’d always had gre
at Christmases except last year which was a disaster although Prentice tried everything he could and had help from both their families.
And although he was definitely happy to have Bella back and Fiona’s family was whole again, Fiona reckoned Prentice was apprehensive about Christmas.
And maybe, even though he had the love of his life back in his life, it seemed he was still missing his wife a little.
This made Fiona both happy and sad.
She forgot about danger and magic and got close to Bella as Bella hit the button on her keyfob to open her Rover.
Take care with Prentice! she shouted, He’s worried about Christmas.
Bella moved to the driver’s side door and whispered, “I know. I will.”
Fiona wished she could hug her.
As they all piled in, Fiona felt a shiver go through her body.
She turned and looked down the street and then stared, her ghostly eyes narrowing, not believing what she thought she’d just seen.
She wasn’t sure because she’d disappeared around the corner but Fiona could have sworn she saw Hattie Fennick standing there.
With a camera.
* * * * *
Annie didn’t have one of Bella’s cookies.
She had five. Fiona counted.
Bella, Annie, Debs and Mikey (and Fiona) were all at the kitchen bar, sitting on stools, Bella and Mikey on one side, Annie and Debs on the other and they’d made their way through a serious amount of cookies as well as righted most of the wrongs in the world.
But mostly they chewed over the idea that Hattie was in a perpetual foul mood because of her unreciprocated love for Prentice.
It was nearing time that Bella had to go pick up the kids and Fiona saw her glance at the microwave clock.
This was one of the many reasons why Fiona found Bella being there a gift, knowing her kids would be picked up from school by someone they looked forward to seeing. And knowing that Prentice didn’t have to arrange it and could go about his business knowing his children were looked after by someone they cared about.
On Fiona’s thoughts, Bella’s purse, sitting on the counter beside her, rang. She put down her mug, dug through her purse and her brows knit as she looked at the display.
“What’d I do now?” she muttered, Annie, Mikey and Debs grinned at each other and Bella put her phone to her ear as Fiona drifted close, “Hey, Pren.”
“Elle, don’t go to the school. I’m picking up the kids today.”
Bella’s head tilted to the side and she said, “That’s sweet of you, Pren, but I’m good. It only takes a few minutes and Annie and Debs are here to keep Mikey company.”
“No, baby, I have to go. The Headmaster called, Jace has been in a fight.”
Fiona’s spectral body got stiff just as corporeal Bella’s did.
Fiona’s son was not a fighter.
Okay, that was a lie, he’d stick up for himself and, if he believed in something, he’d defend it. But he’d normally do this verbally not get in a fight.
“Jace got in a fight?” Bella whispered and Mikey, Annie and Debs’s grins died.
“Aye. I’ll pick up Sally then talk to the Headmaster. We’ll be home soon.”
“Do you want me to –?”
“No, baby, I’ll take care of it.”
“All right, see you soon.”
“Aye, see you.”
Fiona was about to transport herself to the school as Bella stared at her phone after Prentice disengaged.
Then Bella looked at Debs and asked, “Has Jason ever fought at school?”
Fiona stopped herself and looked at Debs as she shook her head. “No, never. He’s like his Dad, he’s got a temper but he’s a smart lad, knows how to keep his cool. I haven’t seen him lose it since he was wee. It would have to be something really bad for him to fight.”
Bella pulled in a deep breath and whispered on her exhale, “I think it’s Christmas. Prentice is on edge too. Holidays can be bad if you’ve lost a loved one.”
“Yes, darling,” Mikey replied softly, “but now they have you.”
Bella smiled a small smile at her friend and said in the sad tone of someone who knew, “No one plugs the hole left by a dead parent, Mikey.”
Mikey, always quick with a retort, had none for that. He simply pressed his lips together and looked at Annie.
They dropped the discussion but Bella got quiet and started fidgeting and although Fiona wanted to go to the school, instinct told her to stay with Bella.
And her instinct was right.
In half an hour, Fiona watched Bella clench her hands into fists.
Mikey caught it too.
He reached out, forced Bella’s hand open and held it on the counter, murmuring, “It’s going to be fine.”
Bella turned to him and said quietly, “You know, I’ve never been happier not even the first time I was with Pren.” Mikey squeezed her hand and she continued, “But even knowing what it would mean, that I would lose them, if I had magic, I would use it to breathe life back into Fiona so I could give them all back what they lost.”
Fiona’s ghostly heart clenched.
Debs made a noise that sounded like a swallowed sob.
Annie whispered, “Oh sweetie.”
Mikey shook Bella’s hand then gripped it tighter. “Well, girlie-girl, you don’t have magic and you’ve taken on this job so now the only thing you can do for those kids is be the next best thing.” He leaned in closer to his friend and went on, “And you know better than anyone that the next best thing is a whole lot better than nothing.”
Bella pulled in breath through her nose and on the exhale, she nodded.
It was then the front door opened and Prentice, Jason and Sally walked in.
Fiona stared, her ghostly heart hammering in her chest when she caught the look on Prentice’s face.
She’d never seen it before but the only way to describe it was enraged.
The coffee klatch all tensed as Jason ran up the stairs not looking at anyone, his face mottled red and Fiona, his very own mother, couldn’t read if he was angry or upset.
Everyone (and Fiona) watched as he disappeared from sight and then their eyes turned to Prentice when he said, “Sally, upstairs.”
Even Sally look subdued but she still opened her mouth to protest.
“Upstairs,” Prentice ordered in a tone that sent Sally scurrying upstairs.
“Prentice, what on earth?” Bella asked and Fiona turned to see Bella was standing.
Prentice made it to the kitchen and with an irate flick of his wrist, he flung a bunch of magazines on the counter, magazines Fiona had been too surprised to notice he was carrying. They skidded through the cookies and coffee mugs and Debs, Annie and Mikey’s hands flew out to limit the damage.
Bella didn’t notice; her eyes were on Prentice.
Prentice didn’t notice either; he was stalking to the phone. He yanked it from its receiver and punched in a number while Bella walked to him and Fiona floated close.
“Pren –” she started, his eyes sliced to her and he lifted an angry hand to stop her from talking.
Bella froze and stared at him.
“Alice,” Prentice said into the phone, “get me Hattie Fennick’s number.” He paused and clipped, “I don’t give a fuck, home, mobile, whatever. Just find a way for me to call that bitch.”
Then he slammed the phone into the receiver.
Fiona couldn’t believe her ears.
Alice was the administrator at his offices. She was a sweet young thing, efficient and organized and had been with Prentice since he started his firm. Fiona had never heard Prentice speak to her like that.
And Hattie was in the picture.
What had that cow done now?
Bella edged closer and asked, “Prentice, why are you calling Hattie?”
Prentice tore his hand through his hair as his gaze cut to the magazines Debs, Annie and Mikey were all flicking through, their faces tight and angry.
Then hi
s gaze came back to Bella. “Davey Fennick came into school today with half a dozen gossip rags, all of them with stories and pictures of us which he shared, apparently gleefully, with Jason.”
“But,” Bella replied, “he’s seen us and even himself in magazines.”
“No’ the ones which talk about how we were together twenty years ago,” Prentice returned, light dawned and Bella grew pale.
Fiona wished she had figured out her magic so she could go zap Hattie Fennick a good one.
“Oh my God,” Bella whispered and her hands clenched into fists.
Prentice noticed it instantly and in an effort to control his rage his jaw tightened so much a muscle ticked there.
But his hands came to hers, he forced them open and laced their fingers. “Elle, he’s upset but he isn’t upset about that.”
Bella stared up at him. “What’s he upset about?”
“Davey didn’t only bring the magazines, he also brought stories, likely heard at home, about you and me and Fiona.”
Bella’s brows drew together and Fiona glided so much closer she nearly drifted into Bella.
“What stories about you and me and Fiona?” Bella asked.
“You don’t want to know,” Prentice replied.
“I do want to know,” Bella returned.
I want to know too! Fiona shouted.
“Elle –” Prentice began.
Her fingers tightened in his and she gave his hands a gentle jerk. “Tell me, Pren.”
Prentice sighed, dropped one of her hands and pulled his fingers through his hair again as he brought Bella closer.
“Davey told Jason I never loved Fiona. Davey told Jason I only ever loved you. Davey also told Jason that if I had to choose between you and Jason and Sally, I’d choose you because I love you more than I love them. And lastly, Davey told Jason that Fiona knew this and it’s what made her sick, it was why she died.”
Bella gasped.
Fiona did too.
They both stared at Prentice in horror.
Then Bella’s face got red.
Then she opened her mouth.
And then she shouted, very, very loudly, “I’m going to fucking wring Hattie Fennick’s neck!”
Prentice’s body jerked and his face went blank before he realized he wasn’t dealing with Isabella Austin Evangahlala.