NOT SO Special: a bay falls high novel Read online

  Amanda didn’t seem to mind the comment. “Ulysses, show some respect. The Cohen Cash is now the Amanda Asset…”

  Uly put his cigarette between his lips and clapped. “Well played, Mom.”

  “Hey, at least I don’t have some pretend writer sleeping in my house.”

  My cheeks burned hot.

  She’s talking about Miss Whitaker now. Did something…

  “You’re just jealous I didn’t want you to live with me,” Uly said. “Plus, this is your dream house. Built off the riches of a divorce and death. It’s the American dream.”

  I swallowed hard.

  Amanda clapped the same way he had done for her. “Well played, Uly…”

  Uly took another drag of his cigarette and held it out for me. “It’s okay, doll. It’s mostly hot air.”

  “Oh, I see you’ve found someone to share your habit,” Amanda said. “How sad. Precious young lungs rotting away.”

  “Our lungs will rot slower than your skin, Mom,” Uly said.

  Amanda scoffed.

  She was very tan. And if I looked hard enough, her skin looked as though it were starting to sag and fold onto itself.

  “Would you like to come in?” Amanda asked me.

  “Uh… sure…”

  “There’s fresh lemonade. Paula has been here all day cleaning and prepping for the week.”

  I looked at Uly.

  He dropped his cigarette and crushed it on the step.

  He walked up the steps to meet me.

  “Paula is her personal whatever,” Uly whispered. “She does everything but breathe and piss for my mother.”

  “What the fuck is this?” I growled in a whispering voice.

  “You wanted the chapter in your story, and I needed to pay her a visit so she wouldn’t show up at my place and cause a scene,” Uly said.

  “And what does that mean? Cause a scene?”

  “She’s jealous of Lake,” Uly said with a grin. “First she thought my father was getting it… but that never happened. Not even close. Then she thought I was… you know…”

  That part didn’t shock me all that much.

  There was a moment when I thought the same.

  Uly snapped his fingers. “Oh, it also doesn’t help that she’s fucking crazy. And no matter the truth, she believes what she wants.”

  “So in other words, this is going to be a nightmare.”

  “Get our pen ready, doll.”

  As we walked through the open door, my phone buzzed and dinged.

  It was Hil.

  Little family meeting soon, beauty. Can’t wait to see you again. Need a ride anywhere soon?

  I shook my head.

  “Oh, a text from Hil,” Uly said.

  “Don’t look at my phone.”

  “Too late.”

  “What’s the family meeting thing mean?” I asked.

  Uly shrugged his shoulders. “I guess we’ll find out. I’m part of that family, you know?”

  “Oh, you are?” I asked.

  “I am Them…”

  I looked down at my phone and Uly swiped it out of my hand.

  I jumped at him and ended up on his back.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” I said.

  “No worries, doll, I’m just letting Hil know that you’re riding me.”

  “What?” I yelled.

  Uly held up my phone.

  Can’t talk. Riding Uly’s HUUUUUGE

  I gasped and grabbed the phone.

  I fell off of Uly and hurried to delete the text before it was finished and sent.

  Uly leaned against the wall, looking really good.

  “What are you going to tell him?”

  “The truth,” I said. “There’s nothing to hide, right? You three wanted me to choose and I didn’t… so now you’re all over my ass again.”

  “I’ve never been off your ass, Belle. I can’t get enough of your ass.”

  I opened my mouth and turned my head.

  Amanda stood there with two glasses of lemonade.

  “Well,” she said. “If the ass talk is over, feel free to sit your ass in a chair and drink some lemonade.”

  “Let’s skip the seats and just take the obligatory selfie together, Mom,” Uly said. “Then you’ll have something to post and show your friends, I can have another cigarette, Belle can drink the overpriced lemonade, and we can leave.”

  Amanda said nothing.

  She just turned and strutted into this kitchen.

  I looked down at my phone again.

  I’ll text you later. Busy. Can’t text or talk. Turning phone off now.

  I didn’t turn the phone off.

  And Hil texted me two hundred question marks.

  I stepped into the kitchen and looked around.

  It had more windows than I’d ever seen in a room in my life.

  The walls… the ceilings…

  My phone buzzed.

  Hil again.

  Ignore me now, beauty. Decision time soon. Make the right choice.

  “Belle?”

  I looked up and saw Amanda standing right in front of me.

  “Hey. Hi. Hello. Um…”

  Amanda looked grossed out by me.

  She held out the glasses of lemonade. “Which one do you want?”

  Such a fitting question…

  My mouth blurted out an answer.

  “I don’t know.”

  * * *

  I put my lips to the straw and my glass was suddenly gone.

  I held a straw and nothing else.

  “Fucking hell,” Amanda said. “This tastes like cheap, grocery store powdered lemonade.”

  She took the two glasses to the sink and threw them, letting them shatter.

  I stood up.

  Uly did too and came to my side.

  “It’s okay, doll,” he whispered. “Ride out the storm.”

  I had no idea what that meant.

  “I’ll fucking fix this,” Amanda said.

  She screamed for Paula.

  The scream sounded like a child.

  All over lemonade?

  This woman was really Uly’s mother?

  This woman was really with Uly’s father?

  I tried to picture it all… how Amanda functioned as a mother or a wife. If Uly’s father was this powerful man….

  Okay, fine, the stories were basically writing themselves in my head.

  Which was maybe why Uly brought me to meet his mother.

  Amanda yelled again and something told me she was going to keep yelling until someone came to… what?

  Then came a woman with messy blonde hair, old, tattered jeans, dirty white shoes, and a hoodie with the sleeves pushed up. She wore bright yellow gloves that went halfway up her forearms. She quickly took the gloves off.

  “Miss Amanda,” she said.

  “Paula,” Amanda said. “The fucking lemonade.”

  I felt very uncomfortable. Rich, poor, whatever, it didn’t seem right for someone to be treated like garbage over a drink.

  Uly put his hand to the small of my back.

  “The lemonade,” Paula said. “I apologize if it didn’t taste good.”

  “Good?” Amanda asked. “It was shit. It was yellow shit. Do you know what yellow shit is?”

  “No, I do not,” Paula said.

  “It’s your lemonade!” Amanda yelled. She wiped her forehead. “And on the day my son and his girlfriend come to visit me. How embarrassing for me. And you.”

  Girlfriend?

  I opened my mouth.

  Uly gently rubbed my back.

  “I’ll make some new lemonade,” Paula said.

  “At my expense,” Amanda said. “What’s money to you, right? You just spend my money like it’s yours. Why don’t you go find something else to do so I don’t have to see you.”

  “It was me.”

  Everyone turned to see where the voice had come from.

  There was another person in the house now.

  It was
a young woman, our age, hugging the entrance to the kitchen.

  “Who is that?” Amanda asked.

  “You remember my daughter, Mara, right?” Paula asked.

  She was calm and casual, like she and Amanda were friends. I was amazed at her ability to not punch Amanda in the mouth for the way she had been talking.

  Paula put her hand out and waved her daughter forward.

  Mara looked like her mother. Same hair and face, but just much younger.

  Wearing jean shorts (homemade jeans shorts at that…) with long, skinny legs that went down to her yellow shoes. Wearing a zip-up gray hoodie that was half zipped, a black shirt under that. A pair of wired earbuds were draped over her shoulder.

  She stood next to Paula.

  “You work for me now?” Amanda asked.

  I felt Uly getting tense now.

  I nudged him.

  “Do something,” I whispered.

  “She was helping me,” Paula said.

  “Let her speak for herself,” Amanda ordered.

  “I made the lemonade,” Mara said. “I’m sorry I messed it up.”

  “It’s yellow shit,” Amanda said.

  I slapped my left hand to the counter.

  Everyone looked at me.

  Uly put his hand over mine.

  “You wanted the fucking story, doll,” Uly whispered with a growl. “So live in it.”

  The anger bubbled inside of me.

  “I’ll pay you for the cost of the lemons and whatever else I used,” Mara said. “I was just trying to help.”

  “Well you didn’t help one bit,” Amanda said.

  “Hey, forget the lemonade,” Uly finally spoke. “I hate lemonade. Tastes like sour piss. And believe me, I would know what that tastes like.”

  Amanda looked a little deflated.

  Paula was stoic.

  Mara looked at Uly and smiled for a second, then looked away.

  “I’m not even that thirsty,” I said.

  “Just walk away,” Amanda said, waving her hands at Paula and Mara as though they were worthless.

  Paula grabbed Mara’s hand and walked her out of the kitchen.

  I noticed Paula left her yellow gloves on the counter.

  I looked up to Uly.

  “Get what you wanted?” he whispered to me.

  “Get me out of here,” I whispered back.

  Uly grinned.

  “Well, I have to give you two something,” Amanda said. “I can’t just let you fucking come and go without something. This is a joke. There is no fucking help in the world anymore. And people wonder why I am the way I am. Fuck them…”

  I moved from the counter.

  I needed to get out of that kitchen with Uly’s mother.

  Amanda faced the sink, shaking her head. Maybe she was sobbing.

  Who cares…

  As I walked toward the doorway, I paused and stepped back.

  I swiped Paula’s yellow gloves off the counter.

  I looked back at Uly.

  He grinned.

  I didn’t.

  seven

  I heard music and followed the sound to a door that was mostly closed.

  It was on the first floor of the beach house still.

  As I gently opened the door, I realized it was a giant bathroom. With bright white and blue tiles that matched the exterior of the house. A double vanity sink, the toilet was off in its own corner with a halfway to block it because apparently rich people didn’t want anyone to know they used the bathroom just like poor people did. There was a large claw foot tub, a stand-up shower with jets up and down the wall.

  And a small speaker was on the floor where the music was coming from.

  “Hello?” I called out.

  Paula popped up from the toilet area. “Hello.”

  “Oh, hey,” I said.

  She stood up and pushed her sleeves up some more. “Can I get you something?”

  “No,” I said. “I’m Belle. I brought you your gloves. You left them in the kitchen.”

  “Perfect,” Paula said. “Thanks for that. Better than cleaning with my bare hands.”

  “Yeah, don’t do that,” I said.

  Paula took the gloves from me and dropped them to the floor. She walked to the window and opened it. The window was up a little higher than a normal window. There was a decent size window sill there too. Paula pulled herself up onto the window sill and took out cigarettes.

  “Don’t tell Amanda,” she said. “I deal with enough.”

  “My lips are sealed,” I said.

  I wanted to know everything.

  Of course I did. I always wanted to know everything. Every story of every person.

  But digging into those stories always got me into trouble.

  So whatever Paula’s story was, it was hers to keep. She worked for Uly’s mother. Probably for good reason too.

  It wasn’t my job to know why.

  “It was nice to meet you,” I said. “Sorry about the lemonade situation. Uly… Ulysses and I had nothing to do with it.”

  “I know that,” Paula said. “So I guess I won’t be seeing Ulysses for another six months?”

  “I guess?” I asked.

  Paula laughed. “Take care of yourself, Belle. And if you see Mara, tell her to come find me. I need to keep her close. Away from Amanda’s talons.”

  I nodded and left the bathroom, shutting the door all the way.

  I walked through the front of the massive beach house and made it to the front door without seeing Amanda.

  Uly was on the top step of the porch.

  Mara sat on the top step.

  Watching him with his cigarette made me shake my head. Each time he took a drag, he offered the cigarette to Mara. She reached up with her left hand balled up tight with her hoodie sleeve covering her hand, rejecting his offer over and over.

  There wasn’t a girl Uly wouldn’t flirt with.

  I stepped out onto the porch and they both looked at me.

  “Hey, doll,” Uly said.

  Mara hurried to get to her feet.

  Before I could say a word, she stuck the earbuds into her ears and hurried by me into the house.

  I looked at Uly.

  “Can’t blame her,” he said.

  “At all,” I said. “Are we done here yet?”

  “We’re more than done, Belle,” Uly said. “Just have to take care of a couple small things. You can wait in the car.”

  Uly flicked his cigarette away and walked up to me.

  He touched my face with his left hand.

  I looked up into his eyes and right then - right fucking then - he looked normal. Human. Emotional. He looked like a regular guy. A guy that was able to feel love. A guy that could be hurt. A guy showing me a part of his life that was vulnerable.

  And I couldn’t believe the moment was more defining than him telling me about his father’s death.

  Maybe because his mother was just such a rotten person at being alive.

  “I’ll be there in five, Belle,” Uly whispered.

  He brushed his lips to my cheek and went back into the beach house.

  I thought about following him.

  But I really needed a second to myself…

  And a cigarette.

  * * *

  I wasn’t sure I was ever so happy to leave a house.

  When Uly turned onto the main road, I let out a sigh of relief.

  That was such a small, contained visit yet I felt worn out. I felt ashamed. I felt tired. I felt embarrassed.

  And it made me keep looking at Uly.

  Because he had to have felt the same.

  Growing up with that? Living with that?

  And his father…

  Uly gripped the wheel tight and drove fast. Like he always did. His version of the speed limit was add twenty to the number on the speed limit signs. I had gotten used to it though.

  I reached for his hand and gently patted it.

  So stupid, Belle…

 
“Go ahead, doll,” Uly said without turning his head.

  “What?” I asked.

  I studied him from the side. The beanie on his head, pulled back with his messy hair pouring toward his forehead. The sunglasses. The clothes. The look. Just knowing who he was and what he was capable of…

  “What do you want to know now?” Uly asked.

  “Does everything work?” I asked, biting my lip.

  Uly looked at me for a second, shaking his head. “Why the fuck do you have to be so beautiful?”

  “Oh, now that’s just cheap. I am not so beautiful. And not so special. Trust me.”

  “You have no idea,” Uly said. “Not sure what there is to tell. I don’t know the entire story of Cohen and Amanda. But I can tell you they were opposites. They did not belong together. And they weren’t. It was cliché to stay together, so I’ll leave that there. The checks cleared and she looked good hanging off his arm. She wanted a dream beach house. And when she got the idea in her head that my father was sleeping with Lake, that was it. There was no letting up. She got her beach house.”

  “She used that to get a house?” I asked.

  “It was easier to build her a house,” Uly said. He laughed. “That’s how he shut her up. Fucking crazy, right? It caused a lot of problems with Lake too. She never felt that way for my father once. But it just… made it weird. And then my father kicked it.”

  “Kicked it?”

  “He died.”

  “Oh. Right. Yeah. Kicked it.”

  “Now that’s where it all gets fucked up, doll. The way he had everything figured out, I was in control. I didn’t want that shit in my life though. I would have rather moved away and figured out how to survive than live the way he did.”

  “What happened?”

  “More fucking lawyers,” Uly said. “They’re like a pile of ants or something. They never go away. But there was one guy my father knew well. I always called him Uncle Eric. He sat me down and showed me everything. If I didn’t control it all, then my mother would.”

  “Ouch.”

  Uly laughed. “Ouch? More like pretend to love my son when I need him to write a check.”

  I swallowed hard. “That’s why we went there today?”

  Uly shrugged his shoulders. “How’s the story looking now? If I don’t go down there, then she’ll show up to BFH. Nobody needs that reminder in their life. So I show up, we take a picture or two, I write a check, and I leave. She has her perfect life over there. The one she always dreamed of. Is she happy? I don’t give a shit. She posts her pictures online, makes herself look good, and that’s the end of that.”