Another Chance Book I of III

Book III-Chapter 58, A New Year, New Challenges Part 2

Princes POV

Friday morning Prince woke to find that Bella was already up and out of their room.  He got up and after doing his morning routine headed into the kitchen in search of her.  She was there, already dressed in black winter weight  leggings, a Black and White pull over sweater that covered her hips and black gilley tie shoes.  The coffee was on and she was busy cutting strawberries to go in the oatmeal that was also already on the stove.  She finished with the strawberries, set them next to a bowl of fresh plump blueberries, pulled out some dark brown sugar from a cabinet, and put it into a small serving bowl.  "Good morning Prince" she said.  "Good morning Bella", he responded.  "You got an early start this morning", he added.  "Yes.  I finally felt rested when I woke up.  So, I thought I would get up and get things started".  She poured Prince a cup of coffee, dressed it and set it at his place at the table. "Breakfast is almost ready," she said.  She pulled out some wheat bread and began to butter it to make oven toast.  She also opened a new jar of peach marmalade and, scooping out some of the delicious spread, added it to the other items on the table.  She popped the toast in the oven and then poured a cup of coffee for herself.  "You might want to let everyone know breakfast is served," she said.  He smiled and said, "I will as soon as I get my morning kiss."  She smiled at him brightly and allowed herself to be pulled into his arms and kissed passionately.  He went to tell all to come and eat.  When he returned, she was pulling the toast out and cutting it into halves and putting it on a serving dish.  Ross and Melvin were the first into the kitchen this morning.  "Morning Bella, Prince",  they both said.  Frank and Larry were next and nodded their greetings and were immediately followed by Elaine and Carlos.  "Hi all" Carlos said and Elaine smiled her hello.  Bella poured coffee for all that wanted it and then got out the almond and regular milk and then sat down at the table.  Carlos said grace and they dug into the oatmeal adding brown sugar, strawberries and blueberries to taste along with one of the two milk choices.  They chatted amicably about the day.  Prince, Carlos and David would be meeting with Christian about the limited European release at 11:00 AM this morning.  Bella and Elaine while welcome would sit this one out as they had classes until the 2:00 hour.  Bella did ask Prince to find out when the commercial shoot was next week Thursday or Friday and when she would get a script.  He said he would.  Ross and Melvin took kitchen cleanup as they would stay with the girls this morning while the others went to the meeting.  They would meet David there.  At 10:30 Prince stuck his head into the study and waved goodbye to Bella.  She mouthed the words good luck to him and just as he was about to close the door, Carlos stuck his head in and did the same.  He closed the door and he and Prince and their bodyguards went out into the garage, got into the SUV and took off for Arista.

They were parked and headed into the building in 20 minutes.  As they walked in, they saw David sitting in the lobby.  They greeted each other and Prince and Carlos went to the receptionist and got their badges.  David already had his.  The hotel manager had sent him to Arista in one of the hotel limos, but he would ride back with Prince and Carlos.  Larry and Frank picked up their badges and then the 6 men chatted briefly.  They heard the ping that announced the elevator's arrival and as the doors opened, saw Christian who stepped out and greeted them warmly.  Prince noted that he looked tired today which was unusual for him and wondered if it had anything to do with the concerns that he had going into this meeting.  He knew that Arista would want the release in Europe to happen as soon as possible which meant that they would want a tour to prime the market to push the numbers on the album.  He and Carlos had talked privately about that.  They would not tour until the girls graduated as Bella and Elaine would not be able to travel that distance until after the semester ended.  Prince had been thinking through some alternative ways to accomplish the priming objective and they would know today how resistant Arista would be to changing their current release format.  But regardless, he would not leave the girls stateside while they trekked across the world to prime the release of a record. He had almost lost his sweet Bella once, and he would not take any chances with her safety or her life. He was her protector and he would be at her side and she at his period!  After the normal greeting ritual they entered the elevator and went up to Christian's office suite.