Page 10 of We Wish You a Happily Ever After

One he certainly hoped would come true.

* * *

Bella put the brochures for the assisted living homes on the kitchen table in front of her grandfather and pasted the biggest smile she could on her face.

“This one looks nice, don’t you think?” She tapped a finger at the glossy picture of a home in the city, close to her parents’ condo downtown. “It has a pool.”

“A pool?” Papa looked at her as if she were the one who’d lost her mind. “Do you think I care about a pool?”

“You might.” She knew she was grasping at straws. “It could be a lot of fun to take one of those classes with the music and belts where you kind of run in the water.”

Her grandfather eyed her suspiciously. “You think that sounds fun?”

She couldn’t help it. Bella laughed. “No,” she admitted. “It doesn’t.”

She dropped her head in her hands and massaged her temple. She’d convinced her parents to let her talk to Papa about moving. She thought he might take the news better from her, but so far, despite her best attempts, he was not buying into the idea.

“Bella. This is my home. I don’t want to move to the city.”

“But, Papa. You can’t stay here.” She looked up. “It’s not safe. Jeremy said the fire department practically has your house on autopilot.”

“Fine.”

Bella looked up cautiously. There was no way she’d just spent over thirty minutes trying to convince her grandfather to move and now, just like that, he’d agreed. She knew better. Bella narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. “What do you mean, fine?”

“Fine. I’ll move.” He took a sip of his tea. “But not to the city.”

Ah.

She knew it was too easy.

“But, Papa, that’s where we all live.”

“No.” He put his mug down. “That’s where you all live. I live here. And I will not have my family’s poor life choices affect my life.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “The mountains are gorgeous.”

“Damn straight they are.” He looked at her seriously. “But that’s not why I stay.” He waved his hand to dismiss her oversimplification. “The mountains put everything in perspective. Strip away the noise of the city and the busyness so you can find yourself and everything that’s really important. The city has a way of muting you.”

Bella thought about that. Had the city muted her? She didn’t know the answer because the city was all she knew. It’s all she’d ever had.

Not true.

She’d had the mountains once before, too. When she was young. Some of her favorite summers had been spent in Glacier Falls. It felt like a million years ago that she’d felt the freedom of her youth. It was almost a wildness that had flowed through her.

She’d never stopped to think of it before, but it was only when she’d stopped visiting her grandfather that it had changed. But Bella had been too busy working on her career. Taking every singing gig she could get, paying her dues, performing all night in smoky dive bars, falling into toxic relationships, trading the neon lights of the downtown strip and a muted version of herself for the wild child she’d once been.

But that was the only way to make it.

Bella would have laughed at herself if it hadn’t been so deeply sad—because she hadn’t made it.

As if Papa knew exactly what she was thinking about, he chose that moment to ask the question she’d been avoiding. “When is your album coming out, Bella?”

“You’re changing the subject.” She grinned and shook her head.

“No.” He was firm. “I said I’d move. Just not to the city.”

He raised his eyebrow and Bella had to shake her head with a small sigh. Baby steps.

---