#bellstrom

»» ⸻ Benny's duplex a few weeks after he'd moved in

»» ⸻ with @bellstrom

     Even though she and her mother had been living in Briar Ridge for some ten years now somehow there was a cousin they still had yet to meet. Ulla had picked a night where Britt didn't have classes and had asked her to leave off a shift from Firefly so that they could make this dinner happen. No matter how much she'd said she hadn't really needed to be there and that even if she wasn't available at whatever times she and said cousin were working out a plan Ulla wouldn't take that. It was strange to her just how important this dinner was but with her mother's illness she chalked it up to everything feeling a bit more intense and went along with her mother's demands requests.

One of those being to pick up some fresh flowers on her way home from her day classes that day, nothing over the top, but enough for a nice greeting. It was such an awkward thing to be standing there waiting for her turn to pay with a random boquet in her hand. Britt realized then she'd never bought flowers for anyone before. And when she got home, set the flowers on the kitchen table in their little home on someone else's ranch, her mother was cooking away and sent her off to freshen up and put on something nice. In the back of her mind as Britt got ready for this dinner she dreaded at the possibility that this was all some rouse to set her up with some nice boy.

When they drove into town and had parked as close as they could to the duplex they stood on the front steps of a weird sensation came over Britt. Not one she could put her finger on. She stared at the front door after her mother had rang the bell with a pensive brow and flowers in one hand and one of the dishes her mother had cooked in the other. As the door opened her mother went into a higher pitch and spoke up with sweet excitement, yet Britt couldn't see the big smile on Ulla's face. Instead she took in this very tall man covered in tattoos and even before recognition could set in her blood ran cold when his eyes turned to meet with her own.

The door to Briar Ridge’s little corner bakery swung shut behind her, muffling the early-morning street noise. It was barely eight, but the place was already warm with the smell of coffee and fresh bread, the kind of scent that made you forget you’d meant to skip breakfast.

Elena shrugged out of her coat and scanned the display case, eyes drifting over neat rows of croissants and muffins. She didn’t come in often, mornings usually meant coffee at home, files in her bag, and straight to the courthouse, but the early hearing had been pushed back, and she’d found herself with ten extra minutes and a craving she couldn’t talk herself out of.

When she spotted Benny behind the counter, she gave a faint smile and a lift of her chin. “Morning. Please tell me you’ve still got one of those cinnamon twists left and didn’t let the early crowd take them all.”

She stepped closer, lowering her voice just enough to make it feel more personal. “Also,” she paused, “how’s your mom? Mine keeps insisting she doesn’t need anything, which usually means she’s been dodging help. I know your mom’s been checking in, but I figured you’d have the more honest version.”

I’m sorry, I believe they can still be viewed though, right? I intentionally disabled the option to download it because I don’t want to risk credit being taken from me (being a one-person team I’m putting a whole lot of work into it).