then you’re doing the right thing
don’t check messages until tomorrow, get some sleep
and when you do check, keep your son at the front of your mind
So that meant there would be some bad stuff waiting for him tomorrow. He wasn’t sure if it had to do with canceling his appearance, or backlash from having a child he hadn’t acknowledged, or both. Aimee had mentioned putting together some kind of press release.
shoot, aimee, i’m really sorry. it didn’t hit me until right now that we didn’t even take a picture
aimee:
that means you two really were bonding, i’m happy for you!
enjoy it, cash, the other stuff can wait
He signed off and climbed into bed, amazed that he was able to place the phone on the table and ignore everything else that was on it.
The rest of the world could wait until morning. But it was still hard to sleep as he replayed every moment in Bella’s little apartment over and over in his head.
15
BELLA
Bella stood by the pavilion in the town square, pretending to look at her phone while Cody talked with a couple of kids from school.
All around her, the park was alive with excitement as the snow flurries drifted down. Parents chased after smaller children, not wanting them to get caught up in the snowball fight that was about to start, while older people gathered on the sidewalks that surrounded the park to watch. The mayor stood with the owner of the toy store, who sponsored the event, both looking on with big smiles on their faces as the park filled with happy kids, teens, and even a good number of daring adults.
After scanning the crowd, Bella was starting to feel like she and Cody might be the only two people here who weren’t smiling.
She hadn’t thought it was a big deal that Cody had forgotten to get a photo with Cash when he came by. And he hadn’t mentioned it to her afterward. But she could hear the other kids joking with him now. The tone waslight, but it surely felt heavy to Cody to hear that they didn’t believe him about Cash, and they didn’t think he was coming today.
I should have taken that picture myself,she fretted for the tenth time in five minutes.
But she had been too distracted between worrying about Cody getting hurt and dealing with burnt pretzels and visiting neighbors.
And, if she were honest with herself, she might have been getting a little wrapped up in her own hurt feelings from the past…
But Cody was a teen at a new school, struggling to find close friends. It hurt to think she had fallen down on something that would have been so easy to get right.
If I had taken a video of that jam session, he would be a hero at school.
But some things were too deeply personal for that. Even if she’d had a video, Bella was pretty sure she would never have posted it anywhere herself, even if she were on social media. And she wasn’t sure Cody wouldn’t have shared it either.
If she’d ever harbored any doubt that Cash was Cody’s father, that doubt was gone the moment she’d seen them play together. The music they made and the pure joy the two of them felt was too clear to argue.
But if it really meant something to Cash, where is he?
Bella hadn’t given up hope yet, but he was almost ten minutes late. She scanned the park and the surrounding streets again, but she still didn’t see him.
Waves of old pain from her own missed meetings with her dad had her chest feeling hollow and herstomach twisting, but she had to put that aside now and be strong for Cody.
“Well, we’ve got to make ammo now, man,” Tom Bernard said to Cody, clapping him on the shoulder. “Best snow is behind the pavilion. You sure you’re not coming?”
“Nah,” Cody said, shaking his head.
“Okay, well, look out,” Tom said. “We’re gonna cream you in this fight if you stay solo.”
Tom turned and left, and the other three boys trailed after him, laughing.
