Page 139 of Fierce-Colson

33

GIVEN IT HIS ALL

The last thing he wanted to do on Saturday almost two weeks later was meet Holly for lunch so that Bella could see her mother again.

After some debate, he decided not to reach out to Holly after he’d told Bella.

Bella didn’t know what she wanted to do and he sure the hell wasn’t pushing it.

Which meant waiting for Holly’s next step. And that was damn hard.

Three days ago she returned to the police station asking for him again.

He wasn’t there. She left her full name this time, along with a number and a note to call in thick, bold capital letters.

So he told Bella because it was the right thing to do. To keep his sister apprised of what was going on.

The fact that Bella had asked a few times told him she was nervous with just waiting.

That it was time to take action.

In the end, action meant this meeting.

And when Bella said that maybe she didn’t want Marly there, if Marly would be upset with it, he’d told her no. That it was her choice.

But he wanted to know why she felt that way. Because it’d be the only way he could explain it to Marly when he told her.

Because he wasn’t keeping this from her either.

Bella just wanted it to be the two of them. She said that she didn’t want to bring Marly into this. That she didn’t want to cause drama in their relationship.

Maybe that hit harder than he wanted it to, which resulted in another conversation there too.

But they were in a good spot, and tonight, they’d watch a movie together and Marly was even going to spend the night for the first time.

“You can still change your mind,” he said when he pulled into the parking lot.

“I almost want to,” Bella said.

“Then we’ll leave,” he said, ready to pull back out.

“No,” Bella said, shaking her head. “I need to do this. I don’t want to keep waiting. Like, what if she comes to the house? I want to know what she looks like. I want to tell her what I feel. How she made me feel.”

“Are you sure?”

Bella nodded her head, looking much more mature than any other thirteen-year-old.

He hated that she had to live through this. That she’d lived through so much already.

“I’m positive.”

They got out together, walked into the diner. He looked around and saw Holly sitting by herself in a booth.

She looked the same as she had when he saw her weeks ago.

Hard. Almost worked over.

Ill-fitting clothing, hair that might rarely get washed, her eyes glassy and rough.