The Summer It All Changed ~ Jeremiah Fisher

20 • It's All Gonna Be Okay ????

I followed Belly out to the beach. She sat curled in a hall, clearly crying.

"Belly? You okay?" I sat down beside her. She immediately curled up into me and sobbed. "Bell's..." I hugged her tight.

"Did you hear all that?" She asked. "Maybe..." I said not sure if she'd be mad. But, she just cried more. I've never seen my sister this sad before. Sure, at the funeral. Which was messy. But not really after that.

"Belly... I'm so sorry mom did that..." I stroked her hair. "It's not your fault." She said sniffling. "Its not yours either." I said to her. She nodded.

"It's all gonna be okay, Bell's." I reassured her, trying to calm her down to stop her from crying.

"It doesn't feel like it..." she cried. "I know, but soon, we'll figure it out. We'll find a way to be happy again. All of us..." I sighed. "All of us?" She questioned. I nodded, "All of us."

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Belly and I walked back up to the house through the backyard. My mom was sitting out back waiting for us. "Belly, can I talk to you?" She clearly was crying. Belly nodded. "I'll give you guys some space." I said before walking inside.

Jeremiah saw me and came up to me. "Are you okay?" He asked, kissing my forehead. "I'm alright. Belly, not so much. But, she will be." I sighed deeply. "It's all gonna be okay." Jeremiah reassured me like I reassured Belly.

"I know. I know..." I smiled at him.

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"I'm just glad your mom isn't here to see what you guys did to her house." My mom said about the mess.

"If even one thing is broken or missing, I swear to God!" My mom pointed at Steven which made Steven confused but we all knew why.

"Mom, we weren't the ones who moved her stuff." Steven said. "It was Aunt Julia." Conrad said. "She's the one who emptied it, not us. To sell it."

"But I thought Susannah talked to her lawyers." My mom was clearly hurt by this. "She told me she reached out to Julia right before things got bad." My mom said confused at the current situation.

"Wait. Then why didn't you say anything?" Conrad asked upset. "Conrad had to find out from a "for sale" sign in the front yard!" Steven said frustrated.

"I just assumed they resolved it before Susannah..." she couldn't finish that sentence. "Connie, does your dad know?" She asked. "Of course he knows!" Conrad yelled.

"And of course he's done nothing at all to help us!" Conrad told her. "Yeah, that's why everyone came here." Jeremiah said. "Conrad was trying to work something out with Aunt Julia themselves." Jeremiah said.

"And?" My mom asked. "And we failed." Conrad said in frustration. "Aunt Julia's already sold the house to another family. They finalized the deal yesterday. But like you said, at least my mom's not here to see it." Conrad said.

"I'll talk to Julia, see if I can't change her mind." My mom said. "Thank you." The boys hugged her tight. "We should probably clean up." I spoke up.

"Yeah. This place is a dumpster." Jeremiah giggled wrapping his arm around my waist. "Let's clean before Julia gets here." Belly grabbed a garbage bad. We all helped.

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In the middle of cleaning, and Taylor leaving, the door opened. "What the hell happened here?" Julia yelled through the house seeing the huge mess.

"Umm... we can explain." Belly said picking up more garbage. "What the hell is that?" Her eyes were wide at the site she was seeing. "I'm pretty sure it's a vodka drink of some kind." I said while I scrubbed at the stain on the wall.

"Can we talk?" My mom walked in, startling Julia. "Laurel..." she clearly was shocked at her presence. "Y-Yeah. Of course..." Julia said before they walked outside.

All of us looked at each other. This was the moment of truth. Maybe mom could change her mind.

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My mom and Julia walked in through the back door after a while. Julia was standing awkwardly at my moms side.

"Kids... I've decided. I'm not going through with the sale..." Julia said. "OH MY GOD! Thank you!" Jeremiah hugged her. Which took her by surprise. I smiled at my mom. Which she gratefully returned.

I knew she would do it.