We must be admiring his home for a while because he walks out of the red door with a quizzical look on his face and says, “It’s not going to bite you. Get in here you two.” I nod quickly and go back to the trunk to grab our stuff as Bella runs up to the door. Cooper meets me at the trunk and helps me grab everything.
“This car isn’t suitable for driving Bella around. We need to do something about that soon.”
He says this so nonchalantly I almost think he’s just thinking out loud, until he looks at me and raises one brow.
“Let’s just focus on one issue at a time. I can’t afford a new car, and once I find a job, my money needs to go toward a new place for Bella and me, and hopefully Kayla, too.”
His jaw ticks like he wants to protest, but he decides to let it go. Good thinking on his part, that’s for sure. We get inside and the first thing I do is introduce Cooper to Bella. Although she’s seen him a couple times, they haven’t formally met.
“Bella, this is Cooper. We’re going to be staying here in his home for a little bit. Cooper, this is Bella.”
They both suddenly look so shy. “Hi, I’m Bella. You found my flamingo when it fell at the store. I have a new one now because it went away in the fire.”
“Actually, Bella, Cooper is the one who bought you the new one and… he’s the one who bought me the one you had before.”
Bella’s eyes bug out with this new information. “You’re the special person who gave my mom the flamingo?”
Cooper nods. “Yes, I gave it to your mom five years ago when I met her. She said she liked to count animals when she couldn’t sleep.”
Bella laughs. “She still does! When I can’t sleep, she always counts the flamingos for me until I fall asleep.” Cooper appears to be so overcome with emotions, I quickly change the subject before it gets too deep.
“Yep, I count flamingos. Anyway, how about you give us a quick tour of this beautiful house and show us to our rooms?”
I hope Bella’s room is near mine since I’ve never been too far from her. Bella must just now notice the stairs because she starts squealing and jumping up and down. “Yay! Stairs! I love stairs. Is my room up the stairs? Huh, is it? Please? I’ll be so happy, and I promise to walk so slowly up and down the stairs. Please!”
Cooper starts chuckling at her rambling, and I can already see the love in his eyes. Bella is easy to love. I just hope it’s enough to keep him around, for her sake.
“There are four bedrooms. The master is on this floor with its own bathroom, along with the library-slash-office and a half bath in the laundry room. Upstairs are two more bedrooms. One is your bedroom.”
He stops for a second because she starts jumping up and down again, saying, “Thank you” over and over.
Once she calms down, he continues. “There’s a bathroom connected to your bedroom and the third bedroom was converted into a small gym. There’s another guest bathroom up there as well.”
Bella doesn’t even wait for him to tell her it’s okay to head upstairs before she’s flying up the stairs. So much for taking them slow.
We both follow her up and when we catch up, she’s standing outside her room with her hands over her mouth. “Is this my room?” she whispers with such hope in her voice.
I walk closer to see what the big deal is, and when I look inside, I see the most beautiful little girl’s room I’ve ever laid my eyes on. The room is light pink with a white chair rail running along the length of the walls. On the walls are huge hangings of all the different Disney princess characters including a huge hanging of Cinderella’s Castle.
In the center is a huge bed fit for a princess with pink and white polka dotted bedding and in front of the pillows is the dragon from Maleficent she’s been asking for. Bella spots it and hugs it to her chest then continues to look around the room.
There’s a delicate, light pink, silk canopy spread out over the top of the bed. White wood dresser and nightstands are placed against the walls, and since the floors are all hardwood, there’s a cute pink princess rug spread out in the center of the room. Near the bathroom, there’s a sitting room that’s about half the size of the bedroom. Against one wall is the most adorable pink chair that looks like it’s from Pottery Barn kids, and on the other wall is a flat screen television with a DVD player. I walk into the bathroom and the princess theme continues. I look back at Cooper and he looks uneasy like he’s suddenly unsure of himself. He’s staring down, and his feet are shifting from one to the other.