“What’s Belle short for?” he asked, his dark eyebrows furrowed with curiosity. “Isabelle?”
Belle sighed, because shereallyhated that question. “No. Not Isabelle. I wish,” she said under her breath.
“You wish?”
She darted a glance in his direction before looking away again. She’d never liked her name.Never. “Mom had used up all the girl names she liked before I came along. So she decided to name me after her two favorite aunts.” She bit her lower lip, hoping Victor would take that nugget of information and let it lie there.
Of course, he didn’t.
“And what were your great-aunts’ names?” he prompted.
“Clara and Belle.”
Victor frowned briefly before the tiniest bit of amusement crept into his dark chocolate-brown eyes.
She narrowed hers in response. “You don’t have to say it aloud.”
A wise woman would have realized those words were tantamount to a dare, especially when Victor’s smile grew so wide, she wondered if it was hurting his face…considering those were muscles he rarely used.
“Your name is Claribel?” he asked, going on to spell it the traditional way, which was wrong.
Now, it was her turn to scowl. “Not that spelling. Apparently, my mom and dad saw no problem with hooking those twonames together, so they decided to spell it like the Disney cow. Clarabelle,” she replied, spelling it back to him correctly.
Victor’s smile faded, his expression growing more thoughtful. “I like it.”
Belle tried to decide if he was messing with her, but nothing on his face indicated he was. “Yeah, well, after a lifetime of being inundated with cow gifts, I’m less than thrilled with it. The second I hit middle school, I decided it was time for a change. So I introduced myself to my teachers as Belle. My mom is the only one allowed to call me Clarabelle these days, and that’s only because she insists it would hurt her aunt Clara’s feelings to know her part of the name got cut off. Wanna know where Aunt Clara lives?”
Victor nodded. “Yeah.”
“Paris. I met her all ofone timewhen I was three years old.”
“Sounds like you’re really close,” he joked.
His humor caught her off guard enough that she laughed. “Oh yeah,” she said, piling on as she crossed her fingers. “We’re this close.” As she said those words, she uncrossed her fingers, waving him the peace sign.
“Even so, it seems a shame to shorten it…Clarabelle.”
Belle lifted her finger in warning. “Only my mother is allowed to use my full name.”
Victor’s eyes twinkled just enough that she knew he was going to have a lot of fun with his newfound knowledge.
“I regret sharing that,” she murmured.
He reached out, resting his hand on top of hers, the simple touch causing her heart to race. “I’m just teasing, Sunshine. Your secret is safe with me. Though I meant what I said, I think Clarabelle is a pretty name. Don’t let the Disney cow ruin it for you.”
She giggled. “Okay. I won’t.” Belle took another sip of wine, then leaned her head back against the Adirondack, looking up at the night sky.
And once again, it was Victor who broke the silence. Between his smiles and laughs and chattiness, Belle was sort of starting to question if she actually came outside at all. Perhaps she’d opted for bed and this whole conversation was taking place in her dreams.
“You still talking to that Sean guy?”
Belle turned to look at Victor. Part of her expected him to be looking out at the yard, so to find him studying her face so intently was slightly unnerving.
“We’ve texted a few times.”
“You going out with him again?” The carefree, teasing lilt to his voice as he’d goaded her about her name was gone, replaced by that deep gruffness she knew—and loved—so well.
“If he asks, yeah,” she replied. “I think I told you he’s an auditor? He’s out of town this week, doing a bank audit in Richmond. He mentioned us getting together when he gets back home, but we haven’t made actual plans yet.”
