Chapter 12
Bella arrived Sunday morning in Houston, her flight on time.
She met her driver at the baggage claim, and because it was early, traffic was light to the hotel.
Checking in, she quickly unpacked, freshened up, and sent Jack a text to say she was there, and to text back when he was on the way, so she knew to head down to the lobby.
Jack pulled up to the front doors of the hotel and headed inside just as Bella came walking out.
Wearing a white tank top, low slung, cropped boyfriend jeans with strategically placed rips and tears, along with a pair of flip flops - flip flops, really?
- big sunglasses on her face, hair blowing in the slight breeze, he didn’t understand how even dressed down she still managed to look like a movie star.
“That would be a tight squeeze, I thought we might want to be comfortable” he replied with a laugh.
“Hi Ms. Genovese, wow those sunglasses are cool!” Piper yelled out the window of the front seat.
“Hi Piper, Hi Sloane - ready to do some shopping?”
“Piper, backseat with your sister, please, and let Ms. Genovese ride in the front.”
“Aww, no fair Dad, I called shotgun!”
“Piper” he said in a tone that meant business.
“No really Jack, she did call shotgun—them's the rules!” Bella said with a smile.
Once everyone was buckled in, Jack pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the mall.
Piper leaned over and turned the music up at ear blasting volume, singing along to some song Bella had never heard, but made her smile. Jack gave up after several tries of turning it down, only for it to creep back up. Thankfully, it was a short journey.
“Sloane, did you have something in mind? Or did you want to browse?” Jack asked, as they walked into the mall.
“I’ll know when I see it, Dad. Can we start at some of the independent shops before we go to Nordstrom?”
“Sure, honey, that sounds like a plan,” Jack agreed, internally groaning at the thought of going from store to store.
Trying on dresses at a few places, they were quickly rejected, and Jack was thankful Bella was there to help guide Sloane’s choices. With her innate sense of style, she knew what colors would work best and gave Sloane tips without sounding critical or pushy.
Walking into Nordstrom, they headed up to the dress section, and Sloane stopped dead in the aisle, “That’s IT!
” She ran over the rack, scanned the sizes to make sure there was one in her size, and was off to the dressing room.
A few minutes later she emerged and Jack caught his breath.
His baby looked beautiful. The dress was a lavender chiffon, with a high low hemline, and beaded bodice, with a sweetheart neckline.
“Sloane, that color is so you. It looks fabulous with your green eyes and blonde hair. You have amazing taste.” said Bella.
“Can we get it dad? Can we? I love this dress so much.” she implored.
Jack looked at the price tag and his eyes bugged out of his head. How much?!
As a pilot and astronaut, Jack made good money, and he’d invested well but he wasn’t one to be flashy with cash.
His only real splurge on himself had been the Porsche.
He also had two daughters to put through college, although transferable Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits would help considerably, and the trust he'd quietly established from Susan's life insurance — making sure they'd always be taken care of, whatever happened. But seeing the look on Sloane’s face he knew he couldn’t refuse - it was her first homecoming; he knew that was a big thing.
“Yes, of course. Let’s pay for that and then how about we get a pretzel dog at the food court?”
Settling in at the food court with pretzel dogs and sodas, they sat down to eat, with Sloane telling them all about the theme of her Homecoming Dance, where it would be held, and more.
“Those are cool flip flops, Ms. Genovese. Are those the Dolce Havianas?” asked Sloane, changing the subject from the dance - Jack had that look in his eye like she was about to get the third degree about her date.
“If it’s okay with your dad you can call me Bella. And thank you, they are the Dolce. I love the tile print on them; it reminds me of Sicily.”
“Dolce?” asked Jack
“Dolce and Gabbana Dad, duh. Bella, can I try them on, please?”
Bella slipped the flip flop off her foot and slid it under the table to Sloane.
“It fits; we were the same size! How cool is that? Oh look, there’s Jenny and Kim, from school. Can I go say hi?”
“Sure but just stay where I can see you.” Sloane rolled her eyes, as she and Piper went over to say hi.
“This has been nice, thank you for including me today, I forgot how much I used to enjoy days like this with Angela and Madeline.”
“I’m glad you came; I wasn’t sure if you would after that night. Like I said on the phone, it’s been crazy busy, but I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”
“Same.” Bella replied with a slight blush.
“Dad, Dad!” Sloane came running back to the table, eyes shining with tears.
‘What’s wrong, what happened?” “Are you and your sister okay?”
“Dad, I just thought about something - I don’t have the right shoes to wear with that dress, I need shoes. Can we go look for shoes?”
“Sloane, it’s been an expensive month. I just paid the tuition for your tennis school, and Piper needs braces. Are you sure you don’t have something at home you can wear?”
The tears that had been threatening finally slid down her cheeks. “I guess so.”
“I have an idea, if I may?” said Bella as she pulled out her phone and opened an app.
Scrolling quickly through images, she landed on the ones she was thinking of.
“How about these, Sloane, do you think these would work? “Bella held up her phone, with a picture of a pair of block, low- heeled Christian Louboutin patent leather sandals, an exact match for the lavender of Sloane's dress.
“OMG, those are perfect!”
“What is that on your phone?” Jack asked.
“It’s an app that I created to keep track of my shoes.”
“You have an app for your shoes?!”
“Doesn’t everyone?” she laughed. “No, I made this to keep track so when I’m shopping I know what I’ve got in the closet and can match it if needed. It’s really handy. Sloane, I’d be happy to loan you these shoes if you like.”
“Wow, really Bella? Those are Louboutin’s, aren’t you worried I might mess them up?”
“I know you’ll take good care of them, and if something happens, well, I know how to find your dad,” Bella said with a wink.
“Is it okay Dad, can I?”
Jack knew when he’d been outmaneuvered. “Sure honey, who am I to keep a girl from her Hobulubus.”
“Louboutin’s Jack, Louboutin’s.”
Finishing up their food, they headed back to the car, when Bella yelled out “Shotgun” and raced Piper to the car.
Out of breath and flushed when they reached the car, Bella turned to Jack with a grin, looking almost like a teenager herself, carefree and happy.
He unlocked the car, loaded the bags into the back, and got behind the wheel, pulling out of the parking lot toward the hotel.
“You’re being quiet, Dad, everything okay?” Sloane asked.
“Everything is more than okay, baby.”
As they pulled into Bella’s hotel to drop her off, Jack said “Is 7pm okay for dinner?”
“Dinner out - what a great day! Where are we going Dad?” cried Piper.
"I was going to take Bella out for dinner — my way of saying thank you for today. Just adults, I thought I’d order pizza for you girls before I left.”
“Oh man, we want to go out to dinner too, I don’t want pizza at home” Piper pouted from the back.
“Bella, do you mind?”
“Of course not, the more the merrier, I say. What do you girls want? I could go for a burger and fries tonight. And a big chocolate shake. How about you?”
“Our dad makes the BEST burgers ever. Can we barbecue instead, dad, can we, can we?”
“Bella didn’t come all this way to eat burgers in the back yard.”
“I’d love that if it means I can meet Daisy, actually.”
“Sure, why not? I can stop by Whole Foods on the way home, pick up some sides and salads to go with the burgers. Pick you back up here about 6:30 then?”
“I can take an Uber if you give me the address. Text it to me. And see you all later.” said Bella as she got out of the car and walked into the hotel.
“Piper. What was that all about? First, you wanted to go out, then you wanted to eat at home?”
Her face the picture of innocence in the rearview mirror, Piper replied “Nothing Dad, I just changed my mind.”
“Okay, well let’s get to the store before all the good stuff is gone!”
Bella arrived at Jack’s at 6:30 on the dot.
She’d changed tops, a tank again this time in a soft pink, keeping the comfortable jeans and flip flops from earlier on.
She felt bad because she hadn’t brought anything - she was a firm believer you don’t show up to someone’s home as an invited guest without some small token of thanks.
She rang the bell and smiled when she heard the familiar sound of a Corgi barking.
Sloane opened the door, holding the Corgi back and invited Bella in.
“Well hello Daisy, I’m happy to meet you,” Bella bent down to pet the smiling dog, whose bottom was going as crazy as Primrose's ever did.
“Dad said you have a Corgi too. Is she the same color as Daisy?”
“No, Primrose is what they call fawn colored.” Daisy was a tri-color Corgi.
“Cool - is she as crazy as Daisy?”
“Of course - she’s a Corgi!”
Laughing they walked down the hallway to the living room.
Bella looked around - it had a farmhouse chic warmth that surprised her — she wasn't sure what she'd expected, but it hadn't been this.
A bookcase lined with technical books on engineering, science, and space, as well as various framed photos of Jack in uniform, floating in space from his time on the International Space Station, his diplomas from the Naval Academy and Stanford lined one wall of the room.
Bella saw a framed photo of Jack with the girls and a smiling woman who looked a lot like Sloane. This must be Susan.
“Hey Sloane, you didn’t tell me Bella was here!”
“Bella, welcome to Chez Calloway!”