Page 29 of Belle Amour

“You should come with us to Namibia this time,” Mirabelle said enthusiastically as she buckled her seatbelt. “The surfing was amazing.”

“I'll think about it.” Bastian already knew he wasn’t going to go. The same thing happened every time, and he didn’t enjoy it at all. “But you know how much I hate to crash your girls' trips. It always ends with me working in the hotel room while you and Marie clean beaches.” He pulled out of the parking space and started the hour-long drive to Luna Beach.

“You could come with us when we do that, you know.”Bastian could almost hear the eye roll and shook his head as he reached for her hand.

“Bunny, you know I'm all for reducing, reusing, and recycling, and I'll always support your conservation efforts any way I can, but spending a week cleaning up used condoms, diapers, and other gross things from a beach in the blazing hot sun, then going back to the hotel and soaking in the hot tub, just to get up and do it all again the next day is not my idea of a fun vacation.” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back. “It's yours and Marie's thing. I'll buy your plane tickets, pay for the hotel, bring you to the airport, miss you like crazy while you're gone, and pick you up when you get back happily. All I ask is that you take a trip with me at some point where we can actually relax.”

Mirabelle laughed. “I can do that.” He looked over to see her smiling broadly at him. “You don't have to buy my plane tickets or pay for the hotel room, though.”

“Consider it my contribution to the fundraiser.” He loved how environmentally conscious she was, how willing she was to put her money where her mouth was and do the hard work, and he was insanely proud of her for doing it. However, he would rather snorkel, scuba dive, surf, and relax on the beach of a resort with a drink in a coconut, hike in the mountains or do historical tours in Europe than try to keep up with Mirabelle's and Marie's astounding enthusiasm for garbage collecting.“Did you hear back from Eleanor and Robert?”

“I don’t know; I was a little distracted by the art.” She pulled out her phone to check. “They might be busy, though. The wedding is less than a week away, and I don't know what roles they're playing.” She murmured. “Nope, never mind, they said they’d be delighted.”

“Tell them we'll meet them in the hotel bar for a few drinks at six and that the concert is at eight.” Bastian smiled, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. “You should stay in touch with her, Mira; besides, I like Robert.”

“I will,” Mirabelle promised. “Did I ever tell you about how Eleanor and Robert met?” Bastian thought for a second and then shook his head.

“No, I don’t think you did.”

The year before Eddie and I got married, Eleanor and I went to Mardi Gras; she’d never been and wanted to go with someone who knew the city and how to stay out of trouble while she was there. We went for two weeks because she wanted to experience as much as possible and do some sightseeing as well. We met him in the Contemporary Arts Center, and two minutes into the conversation, it was like I ceased to exist. It was love at first sight. He extended his stay in New Orleans and joined us for pretty much everything after.” She held up her hands and wavedthem apart. “Poof! I was a ghost for the rest of the trip. Mostly because I got a very persistent case of “food poisoning.’”

Bastian chuckled; he could see Mirabelle hanging around long enough to make sure the guy wasn’t a creep and then gracefully stepping back. “No wonder you believe in Disney love so much. You kept seeing it happen around you.”

“When did you first realize you wanted to be friends with me?” She asked as she slipped her hand back into his.”

“I wanted to be friends the moment we met after I moved in at eight, but I realized I wanted you in my life forever when we were ten.” He said without hesitation. “Mom and my stepdad were arguing. I was supposed to be in bed, but I couldn't get to sleep with them screaming at each other. I got up and saw your kitchen light was on, so I snuck out and went over to your place. We made a blanket and pillow fort in the living room, and you made a peanut butter sandwich, but you only had enough peanut butter for one sandwich. You insisted on sharing it with me because you knew I hadn't gotten supper that night, even though it was the only thing you had to eat all day. I made a promise to myself that night that I would always put you first.”

Mirabelle smiled as she remembered. “We slept in that blanket fort for a week, and you cuddled me every night. I knew it when you punched Michael Brossard in the nose for calling me a stupid rabbit when I went through that whole phase of jumping and bouncing everywhere. Then you hugged me and said I was your cute and cuddly bunny and encouraged me to keep jumping around. I decided anyone who could do that was worth having in my life.”

Bastian pulled into a parking space shortly after, got out of the car, and grabbed a blanket from the back. When Mirabelle got out and joined him, they walked down to the sandy beach,and then he steered her towards a small crowd in front of a red lighthouse.

“What's going on?” Mirabelle asked, looking apprehensive. “I hope they haven't found a body or something.” Bastian chuckled.

“Nope, it's their semi-annual beach clean-up day. I signed us up for it,” he explained. He wasn’t looking forward to this and hoped against hope that they had gloves for the volunteers.

“Really?” She lit up with a huge smile that made Bastian’s heart flutter. That smile would make the next three hours worth it. “You just finished saying this isn't your thing.”

“It's not, but it is yours,” he told her, squeezing her hand. “I can give you a couple of hours doing something that makes you happy.”

“You're the best Bast.”

They spent the next three hours cleaning up trash. Bastian really wasn’t enjoying himself; it reminded him too much of digging through dumpsters as a child for cans and bottles to recycle so they had lunch money and wouldn’t have to go all day without food, but he kept his opinions to himself and put the same energy and effort into it that he did with everything else. He could tell Mirabelle was deeply appreciative of it; she kept close and would dart in and grab things before he had a chance to pick them up, teasing him about being too slow and trying to bring out his competitive side to make it a game. It didn’t really work, but he let her think it did.

When they were done, he took them to the restaurant on the Pier for an early dinner, and they ate outside on the beach. “Thank you for doing this, Bast,” Mirabelle said quietly as they watched the waves wash up on the shore.

“You're welcome, Bunny.”Bastian leaned over and kissed her cheek. “It wasn’t that bad.” Mirabelle giggled.

“You hated every second.” She turned her head and kissed him. Bastian pulled her closer, tasting the lemonade she drank with her dinner on her tongue. He groaned softly with disappointment when she slowly pulled back from him. “Not just for the beach clean-up, but for being here, suggesting I come to watch and enjoy what is most definitely going to be a shitshow of a wedding and coming with me, planning all this fun stuff, and most of all, thank you for not giving up on me.”

“Of course, Mira.” He brought his hand up and cupped her cheek, kissing her once more before sitting back and looking her over. “I'm curious; what do you think about Casey being pregnant?”

“You know, I'm not surprised. He was fucking her without a condom when I walked in on them, but I gotta wonder if she baby-trapped him.” Mirabelle picked up a handful of sand and let it trickle through her fingers. “When we were together, he liked that I didn't want kids.” She tilted her head from side to side. “But the other side of that is it’s always been in the back of my mind that he married me as another way to piss off his family, and if that were true, he wouldn't have wanted a baby anyway.” She shrugged and stood up, brushing sand from her ass, then holding out her hand to help him up. “I really have no idea. Our whole conversation around having children went: “Kids?” “Nope, don't want any.” “Excellent.” Maybe if I had asked for them, he would have changed his mind about them. He refused to get a vasectomy and insisted birth control is the woman's responsibility.”

Chapter Twenty: A Fate Worse Than Death

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, Mirabelle in a camel brown, calf length, belted knit dress and leather knee-high boots, and Bastian in a pair of dark blue jeans and a white button-up shirt under a grey sweater, they left the hotel room at ten to six and went to the bar to meet with Eleanor and Robert. They found a table in a quiet corner and took a seat to wait. Eleanor and Robert came in a few minutes later, looked around and spotted them. They waved and crossed the room, smiling. Mirabelle and Bastain stood up when they arrived at the table, hugging and shaking hands as they greeted each other.

We really can’t thank you enough for the invitation tonight.” Eleanor dropped down into her chair with a dramatic sigh as Robert sat beside her with a chuckle.

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