His Bella

FOURTEEN

The day after Stacy left, I called Frank because I wanted to start work as soon as I could but he was on a business trip with his niece who was also his temporary secretary. He said we could talk when they got back to the city and that he was glad I called. I got the feeling Frank was being more appreciative of my tolerance.

I decided to spend the day with Noah. It seemed like the first time he and I had gone out together even though it wasn't. I was just glad he took time off work to spend the day with me. We went out to get ice cream.

The brown tile floored ice cream parlor was cold, raising goosebumps on my skin. I shivered as we walked on and Noah held my hand. His hand was warm and his palm soft against mine. Music played softly in the store, mixed with the voices of excited adults and children. I wasn't surprised- when it came to ice-cream, it was possible for anyone to become a child again.

Noah's eyes lit up as he placed his palm on the glass and leaned in, staring at the array of flavors. His breath created fog on the surface of the glass and he turned to stare at me, biting his lip.

"Strawberry", he stood upright and asked.

"Of Course,", I grinned at him and he nodded. He let go off my hand and spoke to the guy behind the counter while I took the opportunity to look around at the people. They looked pretty normal but then again so did Wade and he was a murderer. My dad used to say that people aren't always what they seem which is why we shouldn't judge them for the decisions they make.

I never let Wade explain. Did I judge him too soon?

"C'mon Bella", I looked up at Noah. He held two white cups in his hand and led me to a small table not too far away from the swinging door. We sat and he pushed my cup of strawberry ice cream towards me.

"Thanks", I muttered.

"The ice cream looks pretty good", he grinned at the bowl of dessert.

"Yeah it does", I picked up a small spoon and took a scoop, filling my mouth with the strawberry goodness. It melted into my tongue. It tasted just as good as it looked.

I watched Noah take in a large scoop before gritting his teeth. He cringed.

I chuckled, "brain freeze?"

"Yeah", he managed to say, holding his head and closing his eyes shut.

"Sorry", I said in an amused tone.

He opened his eyes and smiled at me once the feeling passed.

"Bella?", a voice said.

I turned to see a familiar man standing not too far from our table.

"Tyler!", I exclaimed.

Tyler was a colleague from work whom I hardly ever saw because we worked on different floors. Noah's eyes scanned Tyler's casual appearance but Tyler didn't notice. He smiled at me instead.

"How you doing?", he asked, "may I sit?", he added, staring at Noah.

"Sure of course", Noah muttered in a dry tone that probably meant he didn't want Tyler to sit.

Tyler sat next to me anyway, grinning, "we missed you at work, I heard about what happened, oh Bella, I'm so sorry", he said at once.

I glanced at Noah and saw him watching us with a clenched jaw.

"How are you?", Tyler asked.

"I'm fine", I said, forcing a smile, "how's everyone?"

"Oh, they're all fine", Tyler said, "Megan hasn't been to work in a while, they say she got a new job"