Bellamy's Redemption

“I’m pretty good. Still feeling a little sick.” She held her stomach. “I guess you heard I’m pregnant?”

“Yes, I heard that. Congratulations.”

“There’s really no point in congratulating me. Congratulating me would be unlucky.” She took a long drink from the bottle of water she was holding. I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded. “Can you believe how much he’s changed?” she asked, poking her finger on the glass over Bellamy’s prom picture. “What a nerd! Cute, but a nerd. Now he’s Mr. Bigshot, but back then he was just a regular guy.”

“He still seems very down to earth,” I said.

“Oh, he is. But he has changed a lot. For the better. You know. I guess everyone gets better as they get older.”

“Isn’t that the truth,” I said.

“He certainly did, anyway.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh huh. Better and better and better.”

“Yeah,” I said. “He’s pretty great.”

“He is pretty great,” she said. “The best. I hope you know how blessed you are.”

I nodded some more, trying to recall if I knew any other women who were this defensive of their husband’s brothers. I took another quick glance at the prom picture to make sure we weren’t talking about Dwight. That would be embarrassing if she thought I was checking out her husband. No, we were definitely talking about Bellamy. The whole while she was looking me up and down, squinting her eyes like she was analyzing me. I smiled, trying to hide my discomfort.

“You know,” she said, “you completely rocked the challenges today. I’ve never seen anything like it. How’d you manage that?”

“I think I just got lucky.”

“Lucky? I’ve had to do those challenges. They’re not

easy. Have you done a lot of logrolling? You have, right?”

“Not at all,” I said.

“You probably did your research and got really prepared, right? I mean, before you came on the show. Tell me the truth.”

“No. I barely had any time to prepare for any of this. It was a big whirlwind. Seriously.”

“Well, okay. I’m just saying, you’re the best accidental Lumberjill I’ve ever seen. Really. You’re amazing.” She was smiling, but her eyes were doing their own thing. It was almost like she was glaring at me. “You’ll get to spend a ton of time doing things like that once you’re a part of this family. You’ll be hiking, biking, logrolling, all of that and more. I can tell it’s going to be no trouble for you, though. You’ll be outdoors constantly. And camping. Sometimes they don’t even use tents. Do you like camping?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Good. They love to camp.”

“Cool,” I said. I couldn’t help but wonder how much time we were all going to be spending together. “Is Bellamy here in Colorado much?” I asked. “Or is he usually in Arizona?”

“Well, he’s there most of the time, of course, but he comes home a lot too. I’d say he’s here five or six times a year. Seven? Eight? Maybe more.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Come to think of it, it’s more than that. Maybe twice a month. You wouldn’t have a problem with that, would you?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Good. His last girlfriend, Farrah, didn’t like him to have any space. She especially was jealous of me. Like, she never wanted him to be near me. Isn’t that the craziest thing? She was such a bitch. Cute, I guess, but a bitch. She was in Playboy once. Are you threatened by that? Just kidding. You totally shouldn’t be. But yeah, Playboy. Tacky, right? At least it was before they got together. But still. It really didn’t go over well once Kate and Larry found out. It’s an embarrassment to have a son involved with someone like that, you know? You haven’t done anything like that, have you?”

“No,” I said.

“Good. It always comes out. You think you can bury your past but you can’t.”