Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Loren
Kace grants me time to go for a drive and think with just a promise to explain when I get back.
Ideas are all out of order, and I question my sanity when I drive back to my parents house and rummage through my mom's jewelry box to find Grandma's wedding ring. Mom had never liked it or wore it, but Grandma and Grandpa had the perfect marriage.
I recall the many times Bellamie played dress up with it, talking about her husband and all of her children, setting her baby dolls around the room. Being a mother has always been her dream, and Kace is right, we have to do what's right for us.
If our parents won't accept it, we’ll still have each other.
With the ring in my pocket and being eighty percent certain I have a plan to sort this out, I return to the Airbnb.
Kace looks up from scrolling through his phone when I enter. “What did you come up with?”
I grab a marker from the easel that has my huge planning pages and write Bellamie across the top. Adding a line down the center, I write Kace on the left and Loren on the right. “Name three specific things, other than physical attributes that you love about Bellamie.”
“Jumping right in with a test, huh?”
“Can you do it?”
“That’s fair.” He barely thinks before saying, “Crafts, kids, and kindness.”
My marker hovers over the page. It’s particularly annoying that he came up with three things that start with the same sound, but also that he nailed her. I turn to him. “How do you know all of that, other than kind of being generic on the last two?”
“Hold on.” He scrolls through his phone then shows me a picture of the stockings she was making for the foster kids.
“Why do you have a picture of that?”
“We were getting to know each other.”
I write crafts under his name. “One down. Kids… explain.”
“All she wants to do is be a mom. Her plan to open a daycare is just a way to focus her life on kids until she has her own.”
If he hadn’t said it so confidently, I’d think I’m calling his bluff. “A daycare?”
“Yeah.”
“She’s going to school to be a teacher.”
“Huh, not what she told me.”
I reluctantly write kids in my column and add daycare underneath it. “What specifically does she do that’s kind? Other than making the goodie bags for me and the stockings.”
“She dropped everything to help when her friend was named guardian of a two-year-old.”
What the hell is he talking about?
Kace continues, “It happened last Monday… Her name’s Jolene.”
“Bullshit, Jolene was in the auction.” I’m staggered on so many levels.
“Thanks to Bellamie.”
I force my fingers to unclench the marker. “You better not be fucking with me.”
“Ask her.”
As I’m writing kindness in his column, I say, “I trust you.”
Kace gets up and when I’m finished writing, I see he’s waiting for me to hand him the marker. “Your turn in the hotseat.”
“I just needed to see if you knew anything about her.”
“I know.” He waves his fingers for me to hand over the marker, and after I relent, he reminds me to sit. “Three things that you love about Bellamie that aren’t physical attributes.”
“Actually, I was going to say her love of crafts and her kindness.”
“Maybe you were, maybe you’re cheating.” His humorous tone helps with my tension.
The important thing I had to find out was if he knew something about her, and he passed that test with flying colors. Can I come up with a clever answer like he did? “Okay… boldness, babies…”
Kace grimaces. “Basically the same as kids. I’m not sure if that’s acceptable.”
I ignore his taunt. No one can think of Bellamie without acknowledging her love of babies and kids. I pride myself for coming up with a third B word. “Belief.”
“Please explain.” Kace mimics me.
“She always believes there's a way. It gives her this positive outlook on life that makes her seem… it’s hard to explain.”
“Exactly… we can make lists, but there’s something special about her that’s hard to explain.” He writes my words under my name.
Seeing her reduced to six words feels petty. She’s so much more. But the test served its purpose. Not only did Kace provide solid answers, his tone revealed a side of him I’ve never seen–true interest in a woman.
I remove the page from the pad and look for a space on the wall. There’s no room with all of the stuff I’ve mapped out. I stick it on top of one of my sheets and return to the easel. “Okay, let's make a game plan.”
I write Plan A across the top of the next page then draw a stick figure wearing a skirt, followed by a stick figure wearing pants on either side. One of the pants figures gets the label of L and one gets a K. I hesitate then add a B over the skirt figure.
“Obvious.”
Yes, it is, but I can’t give two figures a label and not the third. I make them hold hands, give them all smiles, then remove the page and stick it over one of my other plans on the wall.
The next page gets titled Plan B, which draws another snide comment from Kace. This one gets the same stick figures, but Bellamie is holding hands with Kace. I hurry to hang it up because I can’t bear to think about it.
A third page gets titled Plan C, where I get Bellamie all to myself. I don’t feel as good about this option as I expected.
And Plan D is Bellamie without us.
“That’s enough.” Kace glances at Plan D and grumbles.
“Know your options. Study the pros and cons.” I write a P and a C below each set of stick figures.
Kace has heard this before, but he’s too instinctual to appreciate getting this granular. He stretches his neck. “Don't drag this out, Loren. Let's get her over here. If she wants to go through the pros and cons, we’ll finish filling them in.”
“We have to be on the same page so we don’t confuse her.”
“Fine, give me the marker.” Kace yanks it out of my hand.
“Wait!”
He holds the marker out of reach, but that’s not what I want. I’m diving a hand into my pocket. “There's something I need to tell you before we invite her over.”
I pull out Grandma's ring, taking the engagement and wedding bands apart to show him. “Bellamie’s always loved this set. Are you prepared to make a commitment, an engagement?”
“You sure you’re ready for that?” He doesn’t have to spell out how hard this is for me.
“I want you to understand how serious I am. We can use this as a promise ring.”
“Doesn’t scare me.”
“When the time is right, we can get another band made to match this one, so that the ring has a piece for each of us.
“Let’s do this.” Kace leaves me to contact Bellamie while he adds to the pages I’ve started.