Page 62 (2/2)
Bella watched Buttercup groom her feathers for a rounds She ranted howhere Now that the day of her departure had arrived, everything had gotten real, really fast She’d been an American her whole life and while she’d always enjoyed the privileges of being a Montoro, beco a member of Alible rewards
Not that anyone had asked her opinion
With far too much racket for Bella’s taste, her maid, Celia, bustled into the bedroolittery dress on the floor as she stepped over it “They have plenty ers at the store if you’ve run out, Miss Bella”
Bella grinned at the wo shoulder for years, blessing her for sticking to their tried-and-true teasing instead of becoes that had ripped through the Montoro family recently
“Got hangers,” Bella informed her around an involuntary yawn “Just not the will to use one at three am”
Celia sniffed as if displeased, but an indulgent sal about to get on a plane in a few hours ht come home at a decent hour”
“Oh, but it was ht in Miami!” Bella protested without any real heat and stretched with a moan “I had lots of people to see Lots of parties to attend”
“Hmpf Lots of money to talk your friends out of, you mean”
Celia was one of the few people who recognized that Bella’s involveirl’s cute hobby It was Bella’s passion and she used her connections Shamelessly And it wasn’t an accident that she’d been named the top fund-raiser in Florida by two different conservation groups
“You say that like it’s a bad thing” Bella shook her head as Celia selected an outfit fro closet and held it out with a raised eyebrow “Not that one The blue pantsuit for the plane With the cropped jacket”
Like a well-rehearsed ballet, Bella and Celia danced around each other as they navigated a bedroom that closely resembled a post-hurricane department store Everyone joked that you could always tell when Bella had whirled through a scene because nothing was in one piece afterward It was a reference to Bella’s birth during the harrowing hours of Hurricane Andrew, before FEMA had started cracking down on evacuations