Bell met her mother’s furious glare. “Well, that’s nothing new, right? I’ve been a disgrace to you for a long time. Why change now?”

Heather opened her mouth to retort, but Bruce stepped in and gave her elbow a firm tug. “Heather, this isn’t the time or the place. Let’s get to our table.” He gave me a stiff nod and then looked at his daughter. He studied her as if he hardly knew her at all. As if he were trying to place the woman who stood in front of him now. “Good to see you, honey.”

“You too, Dad.” Bell’s words were a hoarse whisper, filled with so much pain it seemed to pull at the muscles in my chest.

I placed my hand firmly against Bell’s back, guiding her forward yet again. Pushing open the door, the cool night air was a welcome relief. Neither of us said a word as I navigated us towards the SUV. I helped Bell in and then rounded the front of the vehicle to climb in myself. But I couldn’t bring myself to start the engine.

“He never calls me by my name.”

I looked over to see Bell staring blankly out the windshield. “Your dad?”

She nodded. “I told them I wanted to be called Bell. I explained why. I was so desperate for a fresh start, something to mark rebuilding my life.”

“You needed your own version of what LA was for me.”

Bell turned towards me. “I didn’t see it then, but yes. I just needed to be someone else. Someone who wouldn’t waste this one precious life I was given. I didn’t want to be the person who let her parents push her around. Vi wasted so much energy worrying about what other people thought of her. Losing her made me see how we all waste so much time on unimportant things. I didn’t want to ever look back and think I’d held myself back from the life I wanted.”

“So, you asked them to call you Bell.”

“I did. My mom flat-out refused.” Bell scoffed. “I’m sure you’re shocked about that. But it was my dad’s reaction that hurt the most. It was like he understood why I needed it, but he didn’t want to piss off my mom, so he just stopped calling me anything real. Only dime-store endearments that held no meaning.”

Bell’s voice tripped over a sob. “It’s like I slowly disappeared for them. The person they knew doesn’t exist anymore, and they have no interest in getting to know the new me. So, I’m just…gone.”