The Restaurant

when Edward returns to help manage his family's restaurant alongside his cousin Alice and
her best friend, Bella. Sparks fly between Edward and Bella, and not in a good way. At first.
Genres:
• Romance
• Humorous
Another day, another issue, I thought as I kicked the tire on my old red truck. Why does she
always seem to die on me when I need her the most? I had barely gotten halfway to work
when she sputtered and died. I pulled out my cell phone to call my brother to pick me up. Of
course, it took him forever to answer the phone.

“Hey, it’s me, Bessie died and I need you to pick me up.” I said.
“I’m over at Angela’s working. Fuck, Bella. I told you to get a new truck!” Ben, my nonworking mooch of a brother who lived with me, yelled.

“Can you come get me, please?” I hung up and dialed my place of work. Cullen’s was an
upscale eatery downtown.

“Cullen’s.”
“Hey, Alice, it’s Bella. Can you please tell Carlisle that I’ll be in as soon as I can? The truck
broke down.”

“Do you need a lift? I’m sure I can send one of the boys to come and get you,” she offered.
I cringed, knowing she meant Jacob, and that wasn’t going to work for me. He was
thebartender at the restaurant. He had a crush on me, and even though he was a goodlooking guy, I wasn’t interested in him. “No, thanks, I’m hoping that Ben’s on his way. He’s at
Angela’s.”

“Again? Don’t sweat it, I’ll let Dad know and cover you. It’s a slow afternoon anyway.”
“Thanks.” I hung up, kicked the tire again and called Ben back, just to make sure he was on
the way.

“I’m almost there,” he said and hung up on me.
I called Sam, my mechanic, to come and tow my truck. Once he told me he’d be heresoon,I
opened the tailgate, so I could sit and watch for Ben. I rubbed my hands down my face and
sighed. How did everything get so bad? My 22 year old lazy ass brother had no job and no
prospects on the horizon. When I was 18,our parents died and he moved in with me. He blew
through his small inheritance in about two weeks, but I was able to use most of mine as a
down payment on a house. I used my salary from therestaurant to get us through the day to

day stuff. Neither of us attended college, but Iwas trying to fix that by taking online courses
through the local community college. I knew 25 was on the older side to start college, but I
wanted to at least have a degree some day. Ben, on the other hand, was trying to be a writer
for a blog no one read. Before I could contemplate my life any longer, my brother pulled
up. Of course he had Angela, his ‘boss’ and girlfriend, with him.
I slammed into the backseat and basically sulked until he dropped me off at work. “Don’t
worry about picking me up, I’ll have someone take me home.” I stormed out of the car and
headed into the restaurant. There weren’t any customers, so I was able to clock in and look
for Carlisle to tell him I was here. I knocked on his half open door.

“Come in.” He said. I entered to see not only Carlisle, but Alice sitting in his office.
“Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to let you know I was here.” I went to leave when Alice
grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

“Have a seat, B. We need to talk.” I met Alice in High School when she was a freshman and I
was a senior. Despite our age difference, we quickly became best friends. She was taking
business classes at the local community college as well as working for her dad. She would
eventually take over the restaurant.

“That’s never good.” I swallowed heavily and sat on the couch.
“Nonsense, you’re family, Bella,” Carlisle said. “Alice and I were talking about me stepping
back a bit around here. My nephew Edward is ready to move back here. He has a degree in
Restaurant and Food Service Management. I’ve decided to bring him to take over for me, “he
explained. “This leaves you and Alice to start running the other day to day around here.”

“But that’s Esme’s job.” Esme was Carlisle’s wife.
“For now.” Alice explained. “The ‘rents want to retire. This means that Edward, you and I will
run this joint.” She winked.

“Me?”
“Well, Bella, you are taking accounting courses. This would leave you to take over Esme’s
job,” Carlisle said.

“Really..?” I squeaked out.
“Why are you surprised, B?” Alice slapped my arm. “Edward would run the kitchen, I’d run
the floor and you’d take over everything else.”

“Wow, I’m speechless.”
“Get used to it, Bella. As soon as Edward gets here next week, you’re all going to be thrown to

the wolves. Now get back to work, ladies.” Carlisle dismissed us.
I took a minute to call Sam’s for an update on my truck. It didn’t look good. He promised
to keep me updated on her status.
I ran to check the specials board for dinner and then met Alice back on the floor. Shehanded
me the napkins and she verified all the sugars were full. The rest of the servers would be in
for the before dinner meeting within thirty minutes. They’d do the rest of the prep work.

“Hey Alice, are you a little nervous about all of this?”
“Maybe a little, but I always knew I’d be taking over eventually. Why, are you?”
“More like gobsmacked.” I shrugged.
“It’ll be great, you’ll see. “
Dinner went off almost without a hitch. Except for Jacob asking me out, for what felt like
the90th time.

“C’mon, Bella, we’ll have fun. I guarantee it,” he said, smiling wide.
“No, thanks, Jacob. I don’t date people I work with,” I explained, yet again.
“Then I’ll quit. Just one date; I promise you won’t regret it.” He handed me the beers for table
five.

“I’m sure it would be nice, but no, thanks.” I picked up my tray and delivered my drinks. As
soon as it was done, I cornered Alice. “Hey, can you take me home tonight? Jacob asked me
out.”

“You’re too sexy for your own good.” Alice yanked my ponytail. “Let’s pick up a bottle of wine
on the way, and you’ve got a deal.”
We shook on it and finished our clean up before heading out. We hit the grocery store, and
Alice picked out a bottle of wine while I grabbed some chips. Once we got back to my house, I
was happy to see Ben was yet again not there. Unfortunately, his mess was.

“You’ve got to do something about him.” Alice said, pushing his stuff off the couch and onto
the floor.

“I know, but whenever I bring it up, he makes me feel guilty.” I handed her a glass of wine and
settled next to her.
“Why do you feel guilty? It’s his fault your parents booted him, not yours. He’s an adult now
and you aren’t responsible for him. I can’t believe you allow him to be such a pig. He does

have a room.”

“I don’t allow it, Alice. Between school and work, I’m busy. I don’t want to hover over him. “
“You can’t keep living like this, Bella.”
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” I sighed. “Tell me about Edward? I don’t think I’ve met him.”
Alice snuggled in for a story. “Well, he’s five years older than me, so three older than you. His
dad, my Uncle Emmett, was Dad’s partner in the restaurant. He and my aunt Rosalie died in a
car accident when he was about twelve. He lived with his Gram after that, and he pretty much
disappeared. He moved to Farmingdale for college and stayed outside of New York City for a
few years, utilizing his degree.”

“Farmingdale isn’t that far away. Neither is New York. He couldn’t take a five hour road trip to
visit?”

“I think there were too many memories.” Alice shrugged it off. “He swore he’d never return,
though, so I wonder what happened.”

“I guess we’ll learn more when he gets here,” I said.
Alice and I chatted for a few more hours, before she left with a promise to pick me up in the
morning. I decided to read a few chapters for class while I waited around for Ben to get home,
but he didn’t so I sent him a ‘we need to talk’ text, locked up and went to bed.
Ben was sitting in the kitchen when I got up the next morning. He’d even made a pot of
coffee, likely to try and butter me up. I grabbed a mug and joined him at the breakfast bar.
“Ben, I hate to do this, but I need you to move out.”

“You’re just like everyone else, Bella, giving up on me.” Ben pouted.
“You did this to yourself, Ben. You’re the one that pissed our parents off so much; they
needed you to get out for a week. I realize you have some guilt about it because you were
living with me when they died. It was a horrible thing, but you’re not a kid any more. You’re a
man; you need to act like one. I’ve been beyond patient with you, paying your way, living
in your filth and basically supporting you. I’m done. You haveuntil the end of the week to be
completely out.”

“Where am I supposed to go, Bella??”
“Not my problem, Ben. All I can tell you is that I want you gone, and I don’t want you
back without an invitation. I’ve allowed you to take advantage of me since the day you got
here, and I’m not doing it anymore. ” I stood, taking my coffee with me and went to my room
to log on to my class. It took Ben all of five minutes to slam the door behind him. I spent the

next two hours working on spread sheets for my accounting class before jumping in the
shower and getting ready for work.
Alice was helping herself to some coffee when I got out of the bathroom. “Did you talk to
Ben?” She asked, adding sugar to her mug.

“Yes, this morning. He told me I was just like everyone else, giving up on him...yadda…
yadda… guilt trip….”

“Where is he?”
“If he’s smart, he’s looking for a place to live. I told him he needs to be out by Friday.”
“Wow! I bet that went over like a whore in church. I’ll ask Jasper to change your locks
on Saturday, so he can’t come back in.”

“Thanks, Alice. I’m ready if you are.”
“I am.” She placed her mug in the sink and we headed to work.
It was slow for a Wednesday evening. This was a good thing, because Carlisle allowed me to
do homework if I had a chance. I was only taking two classes, but one of the instructors
handed out work to do like candy on Halloween.
Ben wasn’t home when Alice dropped me off, which was also a good thing. He had me
stressed, and I didn’t want to deal with him. Alice would be picking me up tomorrow soI could
get my truck back from Sam. Sam, who happened to be Jacob’s cousin, owned the auto shop,
and he allowed me to make payments on any work done. It was probably an elaborate ploy to
get me to date Jacob, but that wasn’t happening.

**********

“Hi, Bella,” Sam greeted me outside Thursday morning as Alice drove away.
“Hi, Sam. I brought coffee. I know how much you love Starbucks versus that sludge you
call coffee here.” I winked and handed him the cup I got just for him.

“Thanks. Let’s go in and talk about the truck.” Sam opened the door and ushered meinto the
lobby.
Sam drank some coffee, and turned to me. “To be honest, Bella, I’m not sure how long I can

keep her running for you. I can only do so much. It’s harder to find parts at a reasonable price.
She’s a great truck, but I think you need to garage her until you can afford a complete
overhaul. Once you do that, she’ll be much cheaper to upkeep.”

“What am I supposed to drive in the meantime, Sam? It’s not like I have extra money lying
around.”

“I have a solution.” He waggled his eyes, and I smacked his arm.
“I want to buy it from you. Rebecca has expressed interest in it. This way you can put the
money I give you into a new vehicle.”

“I still can’t afford a car payment, Sam. You know this.”
“Lucky for you, I have a used car that will cost the same as what I’m going to give you for the
truck.”

“I’d have to know all the specs on the car you basically are trading to me. And I’d need to
think about it. I’ve had that truck since I was in high school.”

“Don’t be nostalgic, but I’ll let you think about it. Let’s get you back into Bessie.” Sam stood,
offered me his arm and yanked me up. Once I was driving again, I headed to the hardware
store for new locks. A single girl can’t be too careful.
The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and cleaning as much as I could around Ben’s
mess. I couldn’t wait for him to be gone.

*****

On Friday, Alice sent her boyfriend Jasper over to hang out with me prior to work, just in case
Ben came home. His deadline to be out was today, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to be an
ass about leaving. By the time three rolled around, we still hadn’t seenhim and I needed to
get to work. Jasper offered to stay, though, which I appreciated.
During the evening rush, I did get a text from Ben simply stating, At Ang’s, so I had Alice
check with Jasper to verify he was out. Jasper said yes, so Alice and I decided it was
a celebration night and headed for wine before going to my house.
When we got there, Jasper handed me a key. “I changed the locks for you. This way Carlisle
doesn’t have to swing by tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Jasper.” I hugged him. “Wine?” I offered, showing him what Alice had picked out. He

nodded, so I left them in the living room to get comfy and uncorked the wine in the kitchen.

“Hey, Bella! Did you bring home any leftovers from the restaurant?” Alice yelled.
“No, didn’t you grab them?”
“No, shucks, pizza it is.” I heard her on the phone as I headed in to the living room with three
glasses. Once the pizza arrived, we settled in, watching movies and talking about how
Edward joining us might affect us.

The next morning, there was a knock on my door just as I finished putting a load of laundry in.
When I looked through the peep, I was surprised to see Angela on my doorstep. I opened the
door, but didn’t ask her in. “Angela, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, Ben sent me over for a few more things he left here. He gave me a list,” she explained.
“From what I can tell, he took all of his things yesterday. Can I see that list, please?” Istepped
on the porch, pulling the door shut behind me. She reluctantly handed me the list, and I
glanced at it.

“Yeah, none of this is leaving my house, Angela. Tell Ben he can call me with any questions.”
I went back in, and shut the dead bolt, leaving her standing on my porch. I fumed a bit, but
decided to let it go. I’d talk to Alice about it later on. I grabbed my laptop and settled in for
some homework before actual work.
*****
Alice was sitting at the front booth, rolling napkins when I got to the restaurant. “Hey, Bella.
Come join me.”

“I’ll be right there.” I went to the office, which was currently Esme’s, but would be mine and
Alice’s in a few days, to put my purse down. I clocked in and went to help Alice. “So, you’ll
never guess what happened this morning,” I said, grabbing a stack of the napkins to roll.

“Oooh, do tell.” She leaned closer.
“Angela came over with a list of things to pick up for Ben. The best part? It was a list of things
I own. “

“What?!” she screeched.
“Yep. It was a lot of the things left directly to me by our parents. “

“He’s such an ass.” She shook her head.
“That he is,” I agreed. “It was nice to not trip over his shit this morning.”
“Should we have Jasper go over and check out the house? “she offered.
“No, new locks are on all the doors, he’s not getting in without breaking a window, and I
would press charges. He knows that.”

“Well,” she began but was cut off by Esme sitting down with us. “Hi, Mom.”
“Alice. Bella.” She leaned in to kiss each of us on our cheeks. “What’s happening, ladies? Any
good gossip? “

“Well, Bella kicked Ben out this week.”
Esme turned to me, cupping my chin and moving my face back and forth. “Looks like
you’re dealing well with this decision. And it couldn’t have happened any faster as far as I’m
concerned. “

“It was a difficult thing, but it had to be done, Esme. I wasn’t doing him any favors. Hopefully
he can mature, now that he has to stand on his own two feet,” I explained.

“We’ll see.” She snickered. “Oh, we heard from Edward today. He’ll be here on Tuesday. I know
that’s your usual day off, Bella, but can you come by so we can have a meeting about the
changes?”

“Of course, I can. What time?”
“Let’s make it ten, so before the lunch rush.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Great. What do you think about getting a different color for the napkins?”
“Whatever you want, Mom.” Alice replied.
“Not any more. This will be your decision to make. You, Edward and Bella. Although, I doubt
Edward will care as much about the colors. His main focus will be on the food management
and the kitchen. And, Bella, you’ll have final say on everything as you’ll be the money girl.”

“Sheesh, that sounds like a lot of power, Esme.” I laughed and cracked my knuckles.
“It is and it isn’t. I’ll show you. That reminds me, when can you and I sit down to start some of
this turn over? Alice will be coming in an hour early for a week or so. I doubt she’ll need to do

that for more than a few days, as she’s already been helping me out front. “

“Whenever you want. Let me know what works best for you. I could come in on Monday and
Tuesday even though I won’t be on the floor.”
Esme steepled her fingers in thought. “Monday would be great for sure. That’s usually when
Carlisle and I sit down and hash out expenditures for the week. You’ll both also need to think
about replacements for you on the floor. You’ll eventually be quite busy. Okay, time for me to
go. Have a great evening.” Esme grabbed our rolled napkins anddropped them at the prep
stand on her way to the kitchen.

“I didn’t even think about replacement help on the floor, did you?” I asked.
“No, I hadn’t.”
“But I like being on the floor, Alice.” I pouted until she smacked my arm.
“Pouting is for children, baby girl. Here, grab those and let’s finish our part.” Alice nodded
towards the other stack of napkins, and we both got into gear for dinner service.
The night went off without a hitch. Alice invited me to hang out with her and Jasper at their
house after work. I wanted to shower first though, so I made a quick detour, changing into
yoga pants and a tee and grabbing what was left of the wine.
Jasper greeted me at their door holding their ‘baby’, a six foot California king snake named
Caius. I laughed at the name until Jasper told me it was a variation of a Greek name
meaning masculine. “Hey, Sunshine, kiss the boy?” he offered, holding Caius’ head up to me.

“No, thanks, I’m good. “
“Suit yourself. Ali’s in the kitchen.” He closed the door behind me, and I went to join Alice.
“I brought the leftovers from last night.” I handed her the bottle and reached into the fridge
for a beer. “I’m wined out,” I explained, twisting the cap.

“Hey, so Jacob asked about you at work, again.” She nudged me.
“Why? Haven’t I made it obvious that I’m not interested?” I sighed and headed to their den to
watch the game with Jasper.

“You have but really what’s the harm? Allow him the date and maybe a good time. No one’s
saying you should marry him.” She sat on the couch next to Jasper.
I cuddle on the love seat. “Are you forgetting his lack of maturity level? I mean, come on
already. He’s your age but acts as if he’s still a teenager. He annoys me. Plus, I don’t really

want to date someone I work with. That could be all kinds of trouble.”

“Then don’t date him, just have sex.” I smacked her arm. “It boils down to this; you are in dire
need of dick. It’s been months since you and Alec broke up, and I know you’renot getting any
from anywhere other than your drawer.” She wagged her eyebrow.

“Can you not talk about this in front of me?” Jasper put his hands over his ears.
“As if you’ve never heard us talk about sex, Jasper. I have no interest in dating Jacob. None. At
all. I am however open to dating other men, or just getting laid. We’re done.” I pulled Jasper’s
hands from his ears.

“I do have a guy I work with Bella, if you’re interested. Just let me know,” he offered.
“Thanks, I just might. Now what’s the score?” I focused on the baseball game. After an hour, I
got up to leave. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Al.” I went home and hopped into bed, exhausted.
The next few days flew by with a final project for my accounting class and dodging calls from
Ben. His nasty messages, demanding things from the house, were starting to really irk me.
For some reason, he thought he could help himself to things that weren’t his. I knew he would
only pawn them for cash. If he hadn’t wasted his inheritance on a car and partying with his
friends, he wouldn’t be in such bad shape. Jasper had even caught him hanging out near my
house, making me glad Alice had insisted on new locks.
On Monday, I headed to my first training session with Esme. I met her coming out of
Carlisle’s office. “Hi Bella, good morning. Did you need coffee before we get to it?” she offered
steering me to the kitchen.

“Thanks, Esme. Coffee sounds great.” I poured a cup and followed her to her office.
“First things first,” she said. “Take a look around and tell me what you think.”
“Umm…okay.” I looked around the space in confusion. “Looks like an office to me.”
“Great, smart ass. Is this office okay for you? I ask because, with Edward coming back, we’re
going to re-open the second floor offices. There are two large spaces up there as well as a
bathroom. So if you want to move up there, you can. I only worked down here, because
Carlisle did. “She winked. “There’s also the option of breaking the wall down between this
office and Carlisle’s and giving you a lot more space to either share with Alice or not. “

“Wouldn’t Alice want the larger office upstairs?”
“No, sweetie, she made it very clear she wants to be closer to the floor. Edward would be
taking over his dad’s old office which is upstairs. That leaves one more open up there. If you
don’t want it, it can continue to be used as storage.”

“Let’s go look at it and I’ll let you know. Is everything in here staying or going?” I tookanother
look around focusing on the shelves and cabinets and the huge desk.

“The desk is going, everything else will stay. Let’s head upstairs.” Esme got up, retrieving a
key that was hanging near her desk.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been up here,” I commented, climbing the short staircase to the
second floor.
Esme unlocked a door and went in, turning the light on. “I’ll have to get a cleaning company
in here. Most of these boxes are old linens and things we discontinued dueto stains or colors.
Maybe you and Alice should go through them before we get rid of them.”
I stood in the middle of the room, soaking it in. “Are you sure Alice is okay with metaking this?
What about Edward? Will it bother him to have me nearby?”

“Not at all, Bella. You know you want it.” She nudged me, laughing.
“I kind of do. “ I could already picture it in my mind.
“Then it’s a done deal.” She ushered me back down to her office. “Sit at my desk and let’s get
started.
She and I spent the next two hours going over the software she used as well as her inventory
spread sheets. By the time I left, I was exhausted and still had some homework to do. I
stopped by the deli to grab a sandwich and headed home.
Ben was sitting the front porch when I got there. “Hey, Bella, can we talk?”

“About what, Ben?” I sat on the steps with him.
“Can we go inside?” he asked.
“No. What do you want?”
“Look, I need cash, and I wanted to …”
I put my hand up to stop him.” I’ve given you plenty on top of what you received. I have
nothing left for you. Don’t ask me for more.” I got up, unlocked the door and shut it behind
me, fastening the dead bolt.
Ben hung around out front, probably hoping I’d open the door back up, but I ignored him,
focusing instead on homework. I must have fallen asleep working because I jolted awake and
noticed it was two am. I logged off my computer, brushed my teeth and undressed before
climbing into bed.

*****

The next day, I did laundry and cleaned up a bit before heading to Cullen’s. I figured I’d meet
with Esme for a little bit before the staff meeting. Alice was sitting at a booth up front with
Jasper, drinking coffee, so I joined them.

“How goes it, little B?” Jasper asked. He knew I hated nicknames so I gave him the stink eye.
“It’s going.” I shrugged. “Ben decided to come over and try to beg me for money yesterday.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Alice demanded. “Are you sure your house is safe from a break in,
Bella? I don’t trust him these days.”

“I hope so. Jasper, can you maybe take a look around and verify that for me? If I needbetter
security, go ahead and take care of it for me.” Jasper worked for a local alarm company, so I
knew he’d hook me up.

“Sure, Bella. Give me your keys.” I handed them over.
“Alice, I’d like to talk about offices, if you have time.”

“I have plenty of time, Bella. I’m going to stay downstairs. With monitoring the floor, it’d be
much easier for me to be closer. Mom mentioned you wanted to be in the bigger one
upstairs.”

“It’s more so that if I have homework, I can do it in relative peace. But I’ll be close enough if
I’m needed on the floor. “I sighed, “I don’t really want to quit working the floor.”

“Me neither, but mom mentioned a raise, so I might be convinced. Oh, Edward’s here!” She
shot up and ran to the front door, leaping into the arms of the tall guy thatentered.

“Have you ever met him” Jasper asked.
“No, you?”
“Not yet but that’s about to change.” He stood up as Alice approached us.
”Jasper, Bella, this is Edward. Edward, this is my boyfriend Jasper and my best friend, Bella.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” he said, putting his hand out for us to shake. “Where are Carlisle and
Esme?”

“Probably in his office. They’re in the downstairs ones,” Alice explained, and Edward took off
down the hall.

“Wow! He seems so different than I remember,” she commented.
“It’s been years, of course he’s different. “ I looked at my watch and got up.”Time for the
meeting. Jasper, I can grab the keys back whenever. Thanks.” I headed to the back of the
restaurant where the rest of the staff had gathered. I plopped down next to Jacob, leaving a
chair in between for Alice. Edward was sitting to the side of Carlisle and Esme. I took a glance
over at him; he was really nice looking. Alice joined us, just as Carlisle stood up to talk.

“I want to thank all of you for coming in for this. I know it’s not often we have staff wide
meetings, and I appreciate you all making the time for it. First, I’d like to fill you in on the
changes that will be going on around here. Esme and I will be retiring soon. “There was a
collective gasp from the crowd. “I know, we all thought I’d die in that office over there.” He
pointed and we all laughed. “With our leaving, there will be management changes. I’d like to
introduce you to my nephew Edward. His dad and I started this restaurant years ago. Edward,
can you say a few words?”
He looked uncomfortable, but stood to address us.”Umm…….I’m Edward. I worked here in the
kitchen was I was a little boy. I graduated from Farmingdale with a degree in Food and
Restaurant Management. I’ve been running a small place in Brooklyn for the past few years
and thought it was time I came home.” He cleared his throat and sat down, and Esme stood
up.

“Edward will be taking over what Carlisle was doing, but with more emphasis on thefood side.
One of the things we’ve been lacking for a long time was someone that could manage that
with the purchases. We’ve been doing it alongside of Mike for years, but it’s a lot of work.”
She nodded to the cook, Mike. “This leaves all the accounting and front end to be handled by
two other people versus just by me. Alicewill be taking over all the personnel procedures.
She’s your go-to for anything front end related. This leaves Bella taking over the financials.
She’s your payroll girl, so don’t piss her off!” We all laughed again. “The changes are
happening now, so unless it’s an emergency, I want you to all get used to going to these
three from now on. Carlisle and I plan to have everything turned over within a week.”
Carlisle stood up to speak one more time. “If any of you have further questions or concerns,
please come and talk to me today. Thanks everybody.”
The crowd dispersed, and I decided to go upstairs to my new office. Alice followed along, to
offer help and suggestions. She and I started opening boxes of linens. “Piles of good, the
bad, and ugly?” I suggested.

“Works for me,” she commented, opening the closest box to her.” Ugh, yellow. “She cringed
and dug in. “There are napkins and linens in here. I don’t feel the yellow, though, what about
you?”

“I’m anti-yellow. I say stick to white, red and black. Maybe grey or blue if they’re in here.”
“Agreed.” She closed that box up, put it in the ‘NO’ pile and moved on. After another hour, we
called it quits. We’d made a significant dent in everything.

“I’ll have Jasper help me move all this to his truck and take it away. That leaves only the
cleaning and painting up here. When do you want to work on that?”
“I should be finished with class work in a few days. Your mom mentioned a cleaning
service, so maybe we should ask her?”

“Makes sense,” she agreed and we went back downstairs.
I poked my head into Esme’s office, but she wasn’t there. I went to look in the kitchen to no
avail, so I just decided to leave her a note. Coming back to her office, I stumbled into
someone. “Sorry, “I said, looking up. Of course it was Edward.

“Looking over your new space?” he asked.
“Oh, no. I’m taking one of the upstairs offices,” I explained.
“Why? That should be Alice’s space.” He crossed his arms. “It is after all her family legacy.”
“She didn’t want it; I did. End of story. Can you move, please? I have somewhere to be.”
He turned to the side, allowing me to pass. I texted Esme as I left just to let her know that I
would be available for more training whenever she wanted, and went home.
I read a little in my accounting book, but kept drifting to the ‘incident’ in the hall with Edward,
as I was now calling it. I looked at my watch and saw that Alice still had a few hours until
she’d be off work, so I sent her a text.
Odd thing at work today. Can you swing by?
I didn’t expect to hear from her until her shift was over, so I decided to take a meal break. I
shut my text book and got up, stretching my back, when my phone beeped.
On the way, slow night
I grabbed a beer and had just sat down at the counter, when Alice was banging on the door.

“Let me in, little piggy!” she yelled. I barely had the door half way open before shebounded
in like Tigger. “Ooohhh, beer me, please.” She plopped at the counter, and I handed her a
beer.

“So, what’s up?”
“Did you talk to Edward today?” I asked.
“Not really. Why? Oh, do you want me to put in a good word for you? I suppose he is hot.” She
twisted the cap off the beer.

“NO, Alice! Sheesh. Even if I did think he was cute, I don’t date where I work. I told you that.
No, I had an odd incident with him after the meeting today.”

“Well, let’s amble to the couch, and you tell Auntie Alice all about it.” She patted the seat
cushion next to her on the couch.

“I was going to leave your mom a note and ran into Edward in the hallway. He was pretty
shitty about me using the upstairs space. He claimed it’s your ‘legacy’ and stood in my way
with his arms crossed. He barely moved when I told him to. It was weird.” I shrugged and
drank my beer.
Alice put her finger to her temple. “Something is definitely up with him. He’s very different
than what I remember. Of course, I also haven’t seen him in a long time. I will reiterate to him
tomorrow why I won’t want to be upstairs and how we’re turning dad’s office into the storage
space for all the spare linens, so they’re closer to the floor. “

“Works for me. I just don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with him. It’ll be easier to work
together if we got along.”

“It’ll work out,” she said.
She and I chatted for another hour until Jasper called to say he was home. I walked her to the
door and bolted it behind her.
That night I had dreams about Edward. Not the good kind, either.
*****

The next week flew by in a mass of work, training and finals in my classes. I was looking
forward to having the summer off. I’d decided to not take classes so I could get into the
groove of my new job. Alice and I were working side by side with the current staff, and
everyone seemed to be on the same page. Edward was doing the same with the kitchen and
bar staff.
Ben had stopped by three more times but I shrugged him off each one. I told him if he wanted
to talk to me, he had to call me and make plans to do so. I just didn’t have the patience to

deal with him anymore. He needed to re-evaluate himself and do some maturing. In all
honesty, I didn’t want to sit and talk to him.
Today was Esme and Carlisle’s last day at work. They would still be around if we needed
anything, but they wouldn’t be coming in to the restaurant. Alice and I had made them a
cake, and the rest of the staff was coming in for an impromptu retirement party. They were
very surprised, and Esme even cried a little when shehanded over her set of keys. We told her
to keep them, but she insisted.
Carlisle and Edward spent some time talking in the corner. He seemed happy, but I couldn’t
really tell with him. I had avoided being alone with Edward since the incident in the hall. I
wasn’t sure what his issue was, but I didn’t want to put myself in the position of being
sneered at again. The staff seemed to like him, though, so he got props for that. Especially as
I knew Mike didn’t like anybody.
Esme and Carlisle left amongst a chorus of ‘See you soons’ and the rest of us got to work on
the evening prep. Alice and I were sitting out front rolling napkins, when Edward plopped
down, handing us each a bottle of water.

“What’s up, Edward?” Alice asked.
“Well, I wanted to talk to you about some minor menu changes, “he said, rolling his water in
his hands. “I found an old menu in my office and was thinking of maybe moving back to those
items.”

“Sure. Do you have the menu with you?”
“No, it’s upstairs. Just tell me when you and I can sit down and talk, okay?”
“Sure. Bella, what works for you?” Alice turned to me, but I didn’t have a chance to answer
before Edward interrupted.
“Why does it matter when she has time?” he demanded.

“Because she’s the money person. If we’re making changes, we’ll need to make sure it works
in favor of profit, Edward,” she explained.

“What the fuck ever, I’ve got to check on the kitchen.” He stormed off.
“Wonder what that was about. Have you guys had a fight or something?”
“No, Alice. I haven’t been alone with him since that first night. He won’t even look at me when
we’re in the same room.”

“Odd,” she commented but said nothing else, and we finished our prep.

“Have you though any more about a replacement for you?” I asked as we filled the bins with
the rolled napkins.

“Not really, but I was thinking maybe part time help to cover our lunch shifts, then we would
work the busy nights?” she suggested.

“I like that idea. This way we can work on restaurant business, or I can do homework during
the day.”

“Let me see how it can work. Let’s get to it.” She and I headed into the kitchen for the before
dinner briefing with Mike.

A week later, and my classes were officially done. I had successfully avoided Edward as well.
He hadn’t brought back up the menu changes, either. Carlisle and Esme had stopped in once
to check on things, reminding us to come to them with any problems while we adjusted to the
daily flow of running the place.
Alice and I made plans for a girl’s night out. We’d decided to cab it down town and call Jasper
when we needed a ride home. I had just gotten out of the shower, when I heard movement in
my kitchen. I grabbed my baseball bat and my cell phone as I quietly left my bedroom.
Just as I approached the doorway, Alice turned and jumped about seven miles in the air.

“For fucks’ sake, Bella! What the hell are you doing?!” she demanded, putting her palm over
her heart. “Cripes, I think I’m having a heart attack.”
I put the bat down and tugged my towel closed. “You’re the one creeping about my house,
Alice.”
“I wasn’t creeping. Besides, I knocked and then utilized my key. Although I’m not surprised
you didn’t hear me over your caterwauling in the shower. What song wereyou murdering?”

“Fuck off, Alice. Hey, what are you doing here so early?” I knew her penchant to try toforce
me into short tops. “You’re not dressing me.”

“Nothing,” she tried to say innocently.
“You sit.” I pointed to the living room. “I’m going to get dressed. You know I need another
thirty or so minutes, right?”

“Then you’d better hop to it.” She grabbed the remote and turned on my stereo.
I yanked on some jeans and found my prettiest push up bra, before tugging on a tank top. I
knew we’d be dancing, and I’d get hot. I blow dried my hair and did my make up in record
time. When I went back out to grab Alice, she was dancing around my living room, singing.

“Are you ready to go?” I asked, turning the stereo off.
“Almost,” she said, grabbing my boobs and moving them closer and up.”Much better. Now
you have maximum boobage. I already called the cab; we’ve got five moreminutes.” We
ambled to the front door, and I went through my new ritual of setting the alarm as well as
locking the deadbolt. As soon as we got onto the porch, the cab pulled up.

“Perfect timing,” Alice said, running to the car. As soon as I shut the door behind me, the cab
pulled out.

“Where to, ladies?” he asked.
“4th and Main, please,” Alice replied, looking out the window.
We were quiet for the ten minute ride. As soon as we got there, Alice bounded out of the cab,
tossing money into the front seat. “Thanks!” she yelled over her shoulder.

“Shit, are you excited, or what?” I struggled to keep up with her.
“It’s just been eons since it was just you and me and the music and the drinking.” She
squealed.” Why’d we stop this, anyway?”

“Ummmm, you met Jasper and basically became a hermit? I dated Alec and stayed at home
with him?”

“We should try to do this once a month,” she decided, heading straight for the bar. “Four
vodka shooters, please.”

“Two lagers as well,” I chimed in. I turned to face the dance floor as we waited for our drinks.
“I see an open table on that side, Ali. Let’s grab it, down these lovely beveragesand get our
dance on.” I took the beers and made my way through the crowd to the table.

“Here’s to being business runners,” Alice said, toasting me. We downed our shots, and I
inhaled my beer.

“I need another round before I dance, you want?” I offered, standing to hit the bar.
“Please.”
The bar wasn’t overly crowded so I was back to the table in no time. “Let’s drink these, and
get our groove on.” I handed her two more shots. I’d barely taken one when she had both
gone and half her beer was missing. “Sheesh, woman. Slow down! If you puke all over Jasper
later he’ll blame me.”

“Drink up.” She winked, got up and headed into the middle of the dance floor. When I caught
up with her, some guy had already decided she was fair game, and had her back pulled

against his chest.
I leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Do I need to step in?”

“Not yet, he knows I’m taken.”
“As long as you’re sure,” I commented as a set of arms wrapped around my waist,yanking me
into them. I turned to look over my shoulder only to be met with Jacob. “What are you doing?”

“You won’t give me a date, thought I’d steal a dance.” He pulled me closer as I pulled away.
“Don’t get any ideas, Jake. You can get a dance, but only one, okay?” I made sure to leave
plenty of room between our bodies.
He nodded, but looked pissed about it. Once the song was done, I took Alice’s hand and
pulled her to the ladies room. “Ali, what the ever loving hell is Jake doing here?”

“No clue.” She shrugged, “But he’s looking at you like you’re something to eat. Here, adjust
those puppies.” She reached over and yanked my bra and tank down a bit showing much
more cleavage than I had prior.

“This is false advertising, baby.” I tried to settle thing back in place, but she slapped my hand
away. ”Leave it, you look hot.”

“Alice, I’m not trying to hook tonight.”
“Why ever not, Bella? You’re adorable, have great tits, and men are staring at you left and
right. Allow it, get laid, and feel better.” She marched out the door, and I stumbled behind her
as she went back to the bar. “One more round, I think,” she decided,looking at her watch.

“One more,” I agreed. “Did you want to call Jasper, now?”
“I’ll text him.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket as I paid for our shooters.
“Just vodka this time, no beer chasers.” I handed her one as arms wrapped around my waist,
again.

“Are you ladies trying to get drunk?” Jake whispered in my ear.
I slowly turned, removing his hands from my waist. “I’ve warned you about that.” I
said,shoving his hands back towards him.

“But you look so good tonight Bella. I know we’d be great together, if you just gave me a
chance.” He tried to pull me closer, but I moved closer to Alice.

“I don’t want to have to tell you again, Jake. I’m not interested in anything with you. I let you
have the dance, now leave me alone. You’re only going to make thingsawkward at work, and I
don’t want that.”

“Fine.” He stormed off.
“Let’s go out front and wait for our ride,” Alice said, pulling me to the exit.

After standing outside for ten minutes, we still didn’t see Jasper, so Alice called him. I
eavesdropped, since I had nothing else to do.

“What do you mean?” pause “Baby, you promised.” pause “Let me ask.” She looked at me.
“Between us do you think we have enough for a cab? Jasper got called in,” she huffed.

“I spent my last ten on our shots. Now what do we do?” I reached for my phone, but Alice
stopped me with her finger in the air showing the international symbol for hang on.

“Thanks, baby. See you.” She hung up and faced me. “We’ve got a ride coming.”
“Great. Had I known he wouldn’t leave as soon as you texted him, I would have found a man
to buy men another shot.”

“Maybe next time I’ll bring a flask with me,” she said.
We chatted for a few more minutes until a silver Volvo SUV pulled up. “Here’s our ride,” Alice
said, opening the front door.

“Who the fuck is this, Alice?” I yanked her arm. “I don’t recognize this car; don’t get in there.”
The passenger window rolled down, and an angry Edward yelled at us. “Get in the damn car!”
Alice scurried into the front seat, and I hopped into the back. “Thanks for picking us up,” Alice
said, but Edward didn’t say anything until we got closer to town.

“Where am I dropping her off?” he asked Alice.
“You can ask me where I live,” I huffed.
“Alice? Where am I taking her?” he insisted.
“Don’t be a dick, Edward! She lives off Maple.”

Edward turned onto my street as Alice directed him to my house. He pulled out front
instead of into my driveway, and I heard the distinct click of the doors being unlocked.

“See you tomorrow,” Alice said as I got out of the car. I hadn’t even gotten two feet away
before Edward’s car was speeding away.
I stumbled into my house, headed for the kitchen for some water and aspirin, preventative
measures so I’d feel fine in the morning. I made sure to bolt my doors and set the alarm
before leaving a path of clothes behind me as I fell into bed.
I slept in the next morning which prevented a hangover. “Go me!” I shouted to my empty
house. Laughing at my antics, I went to start the coffee and turn on my cell.
After thumbing through the many apologetic toned texts from Alice in reference to her idiot
cousin’s behavior, I found two from Sam about the car/truck swap and one from my brother
requesting a meeting. I let Sam know I’d be over later and asked Ben where he wanted to
meet. I grabbed a mug and filled it with ambrosia just as my phone rang.

“Hi, Ben, you wanted to talk?” I answered.
“Yeah, did you want to get brunch today, or are you working?”
“Today is fine, can you pick me up and then drop me at Sam’s later?”
“Yea, I’ll be there in twenty.” We disconnected, and I downed my coffee. He left me little time
to get ready, so I forewent the shower and just put on some shorts and a tank top. It was
already a little muggy out. I was slipping my sandals on when Ben honked from out front. I
was relieved he didn’t try to come in. I grabbed my cell and purse, locked everything behind
me and got in his car.

“Hi, Ben, how are you?” I asked.
“I’m good, Bella. The Diner?” he asked.
“Of course!” We sat in silence as Ben navigated the mid morning traffic. The parking lot was
pretty crowded for a Saturday morning, so Ben dropped me off up front and went to park in
the street. I had just been seated when he joined me at our booth.
The waitress came over immediately, pouring coffee and offering us menus. “We don’t
need them, we’re here a lot,” I explained, handing them back to her. “French toast and
bacon for me, short stack with links for him.”

“You got it,” she said, leaving us alone.
“Bella, I want to apologize,” Ben said, staring at his hands. I didn’t say a word, deciding

he should elaborate. He cleared his throat and looked at me. “Did you hear me?”

“Yes, I did, but I’d like to know what you’re apologizing for.”
He shifted uncomfortably and blew out a breath. “I guess for everything?” he questioned. “I
was a total shit when I moved in with you. I was so angry at them for not giving me a
chance to make it up to them.”

“I get that, but why were you such a douche? I didn’t have to take you in, you know. It’s
not like I was this worldly adult when they died.”

“I know, alright?!” He took another deep breath trying to calm down. “I was an ass, and I
apologize. I felt like you owed me something to make up for them not giving me what I felt I
deserved from them.”
“You do realize they didn’t owe you anything either, right? You got yourself mixed in with a
bad crowd, you got yourself thrown in jail for shoplifting, and you got yourself taken into
custody for underage drinking. Our parents had nothing to do with your poor decision making.
Then, I take you, in and you treated me like I was your fuckingservant.” I smacked my hand
on the table just as our food arrived.
We ate in silence. When the check came, Ben made no move to pick it up or even grab his
wallet. “Fucking figures.” I grabbed the check, handed a few dollars to our waitress and
stormed up to the cashier. With my change in my hand, I fished my cell out of my purse, so I
could call Sam for a ride.
Ben tried to talk to me on the sidewalk, but I ignored him. Just as Sam pulled up in his truck, I
turned to Ben. “Let me know when you’re serious about being an adult. Don’t contact me
before that.” I climbed in front, and we took off.

“You okay?” Sam asked.
“Family drama,” I replied.
“Having sibling’s sucks.” We laughed and chit chatted the few minute drive. “So, I got the car
detailed, and I think you’re going to love her. “ He pulled into the lot and. “That’s her.” He
nodded to the red Subaru we’d parked next to.
I hopped out to get a closer look. “Really? She seems much newer than my truck, Sam,” I
scolded.

“Look, Bella, I’m going to be honest with you. Rebecca really wants your truck. Fair
market value matches the two year old Subaru I’m willing to trade.”

“But this car has four wheel drive, and we both know that Bessie doesn’t.” I ran my carover
the shiny new to me car.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said.
“It’s a deal.” We shook hands and went inside to take care of all the paperwork.

I decided to drive to Alice and Jasper’s to show them my car. I pulled into their driveway,
blocking Alice’s car. I saw the front curtain flutter. Probably Jasper checking to see who was at
his house. He took his job in security very seriously.
Before I could open my door, Alice was jumping into the passenger seat. “Take me for a spin,
Jeeves.”
I laughed and turned the car back on, driving around the block. “I haven’t named her yet, but
she’s only two years old, and she has four wheel drive, Alice!” I exclaimed.

“She sure is pretty. Sam bought Bessie, huh?”
“He basically traded me. It’s odd driving a car, though. I feel really low to the ground.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
“Is it okay to block you in for now?” I asked, pulling back into her drive.
“Of course. Come on in and let’s talk.”
Jasper was pouring us coffee when we entered her kitchen. “Here you go, ladies. Afterthe
heavy drinking you did last night, I’m sure caffeine is needed.”

“Actually, I felt fine this morning.” I grabbed the coffee.”But I do enjoy a good brew.” I sat at
the kitchen table with Alice.

“I want to yet again apologize for Edward, Bella. I have no idea what his problem was last
night. “

“Maybe he didn’t enjoy being woken up at one in the morning to pick up his drunk ass cousin
and her friend?” I suggested.

“Maybe, but he was a total douche, even after we dropped you off.”
“He just doesn’t like me, Ali, “I shrugged. “So, Ben invited me to brunch today.”
“Really? How’d that go? “
“Horrible. He apologized, but didn’t really grasp what he needed to be sorry for. Then he kind

of blamed me for not taking care of him. Oh, and when the check came, he didn’t even
pretend to try to pay for it.”

“What an ass.”
“I’m glad I cut him out. I can’t go through the rest of my life dealing with his brand of idiocy.
So what’s on the agenda, today?”

“Nothing for me. I’m going to go and decorate my office today, but I won’t be working. Want
to come with? I know Mom had everything professionally cleaned.”

“Sounds like a plan; can I drive us?”
“Like I’d ruin the fun of you getting a new car by saying no. Of course you can drive. Let me
change out of my jammies, and we can head over.”
By the time we got to the restaurant, we had a good idea of how we wanted our spaces to
look. “Mine or yours first?” I asked, locking the car.

“Yours. It’s bigger and will take longer.” We headed upstairs to my new office. There were
strains of music coming from the closed door next door.

“Sounds as if Edward’s here,” Alice commented, as we both took in what Esme had done
for me. Not only had she gotten things cleaned, she had the walls painted a muted tan. It
was striking with the new desk and furnishings.

“Oh, Alice!” I ran to my desk.”It’s beautiful. Did you know she was going to do this?”
“She might have mentioned it. Before you get all indignant, they got us all new things.”
I looked at how everything was currently arranged. “Let’s move the desk closer to the window.
Then I will have natural light as well as overhead when I’m using my computer.”
We moved the desk where I wanted it, as well as the cabinets. We left the bookshelves and
the couch alone. I noticed there wasn’t an extra chair for anyone else, though. “Is there an
extra chair in Esme’s old office?”

“I think there’s that comfy big brown one still down there. Did you want it?”
“Yes, this way if anyone does come up here to visit me, they don’t have to sit on the couch.”
“Let’s see who’s here with muscles that can move it for you,” she went to knock on Edward’s
door, but I stopped her.

“Let’s go do your office, then see if Mike or Jake are here.”

“Suit yourself,” she remarked and we went to rearrange her office. Other than her yellow
walls, we had similar items.

“Where do you want your things?” I asked, moving to her filing cabinet.
“Leave the shelf where it is, but I’d like to swap the desk so I have a better view at the door.”
We moved her things around until she was happy, and then went to the kitchen for some
water. Mike was there sitting at a counter, reviewing a menu. “Hi girls,” he greeted.”Did you
want any food? There’s soup left over from lunch.”

“Ooh, what kind?” I asked.
“Chicken Corn Chowder, Bella. Your favorite. Take a seat, and I’ll grab you each a cup of it.”
“Thanks,” Alice said as we sat, and she grabbed the menu that Mike was looking over.” Hey,
Mike, where’d you get this old menu from?”

“Edward gave it to me, asked me to go over it and see if there’s anything on it I thought we
should bring back.” He set two cups of soup and some rolls in front of us.

“That asshole,” I seethed. “Was there anything, Mike?”
“Maybe the chicken parm as a special, but overall the menu hasn’t changed that much in
years. Maybe we should add more health conscious items. Bella, what do you think?”
“Why does everyone in the place refer to Bella about anything?” Edward stormed over from
the freezer, yanking the menu from Alice.

“Maybe because I’m the one that makes the money decisions? I also happen to enjoy food
and may have an idea or two about eating healthy, you dick,” I huffed and tried to grab the
menu back from him.

“Well, until your name is CULLEN like the name of the fucking restaurant, you can go to hell!”
He stomped out of the kitchen.

“What just happened?” Mike asked.
“No clue, but he seems to really hate Bella,” Alice said.
“Hate or love?” Mike snorted.
“I’m done with his attitude, though. I’ll try and have an actual conversation with him
tomorrow when I come in for my shift, but if he pulls this crap again, I’m going above him.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Alice said, getting up. “Bye, Mike.”

“Bye, thanks for the soup,” I parroted.
I stewed in my anger while I drove to Alice’s.

“I can try to get to the bottom of it, too, Bella,” she offered.
“No, I’m going to make sure he knows he can’t be a total douche nozzle to me anymore. See
you tomorrow.”

I was still pissed at Edward when I got up the next morning. I hurried through my routine so I
could get to work early in order to confront him. Unluckily for me, Ben was sitting on my
porch when I went to leave my house.

“I’m pretty sure I told you not to come here anymore.”
He grabbed my arm as I tried to brush past him, “Please, Bella. We need to finish our
conversation.”
“We don’t need to do anything. You however, need to let go of my arm.” I tried to pull away,
but he held fast.

“Can’t you give me five minutes?” He pleaded, but I wasn’t in the mood.
“Now, Ben, or so help me, I will call the cops on your ass.” He dropped my arm and moved
back from me. “Leave my property and don’t come back. If you want to talk to me, you have
my number.” I stormed to my car and locked myself in.
Once I was on the road, I used the ‘hands free’ to call Alice, loving every second of the new
technology in my car.

“Morning, Sunshine,” she sang over my speakers.
“You’ll never guess what just happened?”
“Did you and Edward come to physical blows?”
“No, well, not yet anyway, I’m on the way there now. No, Ben was sitting on my porch!”
“What is wrong with him? I’m going to have Jasper double check things for you. I don’t trust
him.”

“Thanks, Ali. “
“Not a problem, Bella. You know you’re the older sister my parents never gave me. “

“I’ve gotta go, I’m parking at work.”
“Good luck and don’t take any shit. Worst case scenario? Call my mom to mediate.”
“Really?”
“Yes, she’s your secret weapon. Ta-ta.”We hung up, and I looked to make sure his car was
there. I got out of my car and headed for coffee. Priorities and all that. Mike was there,
prepping some veggies but no one else was.

“Morning, Bella. Are you on shift today?”
“Yes, but only tonight. I have some things to take care of in my office.” I filled a mug with
coffee. “See you later.”
I climbed the stairs, taking deep breaths. I needed to be ready for a fight. Edward’s door was
open, so I knocked on the doorjamb and waited for him to acknowledge me. When he looked
up, his face changed to a scowl.
“What do you want?” He snarled.

“I want you to quit being a dick. Since that seems improbable, we need to clear the air
enough to work together. May I come in?”

“Can I stop you?” He huffed. “Take a seat.” He waved towards the couch.
“Want to tell me what your issue with me is?”
“Not really.” He crossed his arms and glared.
“Okay, well, let me tell you how this works, then. Carlisle and Esme, your aunt and uncle,
hired me to do a job. You won’t get in my way, and I won’t be a bitch about any requests you
make.”
“I know who they are, Bella. They’re my family, after all.”

“Funny thing, Edward. I kind of get the feeling they’re more mine than yours. After all, it was
made obvious to me years ago that you wanted nothing to do with them. Or I would have met
you before now.” I stood and headed out the door. “Let’s agree to disagree, but truth of the
matter is I hold all the money cards. Don’t forget that.”
Edward stood as well, and put his fists on the desk. “I don’t know what you think youknow
about me or my family, but don’t threaten me with money around here. Need I remind you
whose last name is on the outside of the building? Get out!” He grabbed a remote and blared
music.
I calmly went into my office. I wouldn’t allow him to see how his words affected me. I picked

up my phone and sent Alice a text.
Spoke, he’s still a dick.
Her response was instantaneous
Want me to tell mom?
I thought about it, but I really wanted to try and work it out on my own.
Not yet. See you later.
I put my phone to the side and logged into my computer. Time to get knee deep in spread
sheets. I didn’t even notice when it got quiet next door, but I jumped when there was a knock
on my door. I screamed and saw Jake standing there.

“Hi. Can we talk for a minute?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea, Jake.”

“Look, Bella…” He tried to shut the door behind him, but I blanched.
“Leave it open, Jake,” I demanded.
“Sure, no problem. Can I sit?” He asked.
“Are you staying long enough to?” His face fell, so I gave him an inch. “Come on, sit.”
He sat at the chair near my desk and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Look, I’m really sorry
about the other night. But...”

“But what, Jake? Have I not made it crystal clear that I’m not interested in you?” I raised my
voice. “I turn down your date requests each time you ask. And trust me, you ask a lot. I also
gave you one dance, Jake, one. You thought that meant you could try to not only touch me,
but kiss me?”
He put his hands up to stop me. “Look, I’m trying to apologize, alright. I had too much to
drink, and you looked really good. I crossed a line and I’m sorry.”
I was about to let loose, when there was another knock on my door. “Bella, do you have a
minute?” Edward asked, eying Jake.
I rolled my eyes, “I guess so. Jake, we’re done here.” Jake shuffled past Edward but I didn’t
miss the exchange of glares they shared. “What do you want, Edward?”

“Oh, nothing. I heard raised voices, and I wanted to make sure everything was okay over
here.”

“Wow, thanks. “ I was in shock. “Things are fine, just had to reiterate some things.”
“I’ll leave you to it.” He left me sitting there, wondering what was going on.
Ten minutes later there was another knock on my door. “For the love of Zeus, what is it now?”
I grumbled.

“Well, little Miss Sunshine was the correct nickname for you today,” Jasper said.
“Sorry, it’s been hectic today.”
“I heard. That’s why I’m here for your keys.” He put his hand out and I tossed them at him.
“Alice has copies,” I commented.
“Yes, but she left them at home, and I dropped her off. I’ll see you later, and cheer up or you
won’t make any good tips later.”
I laughed, logged off and headed downstairs to see Alice.

Alice was on the phone when I went into her office, so I took a seat. She finally hung up and
raised an eyebrow. “How’d it go with dickface?”

“I love that nickname.” I laughed. “I don’t know, to be honest. I basically told him to shove it.”
“Did you threaten him with Mom?”
“No, I reiterated how I was in control of the money and if he wanted any, he should be nice to
me, at least at work. Interesting thing happened after that, though.”
Alice looked around, before leaning in. “Do tell.”

“Jake came up to apologize, and Edward heard me yelling at him, so he came over to make
sure I was okay.”

“That is interesting.“ She rubbed her hands together and leaned back.“I have two servers
coming in today to interview for our places.”
I frowned. “That’s kind of sad.”

“Yes, it is. I think only one person will work for now. On the upside, we have way more
responsibility.”

“Is that really a bright light?” Alice laughed, and I stood. “I’m going to grab some food. Want
me to bring you back anything?”

“No thanks, I have coffee and Danish, courtesy of my handsome boyfriend.”
“Speaking of boyfriends, why did I give you keys and codes to my house if you’re only going
to forget them?”

“As if I knew I’d need them this morning. Sheesh, you’re harsh today. You need more coffee or
candy. Now, shoo and let me work. “
I laughed but left her alone and went to grab something to eat. “Hi Mike, what’s the soup
today?”

“Don’t you think eating on the company’s dime is a bit much?” Edward sneered.
“I asked a question, not demanded gallons of food,” I rolled my eyes, looking for peace, but
none was coming. “It will be much easier to be nice to you if you just didn’t speak to me.” I
turned my back, grabbed a coffee and left the kitchen.
I heard Mike saying something behind me, but I kept my head high and didn’t turn back.
Instead of going upstairs or to see Alice, I decided to take a break outside. I sat on the pallets
from that morning’s delivery and closed my eyes, trying to calm down. I had just achieved my
version of calm, when my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw it was Jasper.

“Hey,” I answered.
“Hi, Bella. I’m at your house, and I think you may want to consider motion detectors, some
flood lights, and we should sensor your windows.”

“Why? Did someone try to break in to my house?” I stood, ready to head over there.
“Well, it looks as if someone tried to pry open a window, but the marks are on the old side. I
think we should be careful. I’ve got the stuff in my car; as long as you tell me I can, I’ll do it
today.”

“Go ahead, thanks. I owe you dinner for this.” I sighed, hating this day altogether. I found
Alice in the kitchen when I went to grab some water.

“Mike told me what Edward said to you. I’m going to talk to him.” She ran her hands up my
arms to soothe me.

“Alice, don’t. He obviously hates me, and I don’t need you to get in the middle. It’s not fair to
you.”

“Are you sure?” I nodded. “Fine, but one more time and I’m calling Mom. I don’t want this
atmosphere at work.”

“Duly noted. What time are the replacement girls coming in?”
She looked at her watch. “Ten minutes. We’re lucky because they each go to school, but at
night. This way they can take our day shifts.” She linked her arm with mine. “Let’s sit out front
and wait for them.”

“Speaking of school, I’m considering actually going to campus for classes next semester.”
“Really? What changed your mind?” she asked, sitting in our favorite booth.
“I need to meet people.” I grabbed the napkin bin and started to roll.
“People or boys?”
“Preferably, men.” We laughed and rolled until the first girl came in to interview. I rolled
napkins while Alice semi- interrogated the poor girl. She shook our hands and bolted pretty
fast. “Why were you so mean?”

“I have my reasons. Let’s see how the next one does.” We looked up to see bright red hair
heading our way. “Have a seat, Victoria.” Alice gestured to the other side of the booth. “This is
Bella.”

“Hi.” I waved.
“Let’s get into it.” Alice attempted to interrogate this poor girl, but she held her own. “You’re
hired. Come on back, and we can do paper work. Can you shadow us for the next three
days?”
Alice got up and headed to her office, with Victoria behind her. “Who’s that?” a voice to my
left asked. I looked over to see that Jake was standing there.

“New waitress.” I barely glanced at him, before getting up and bringing the rolled napkins to
the staging area.

“Bella!” He jogged to catch up to me. “Can we please finish our conversation from earlier? I
want to make sure you understand how sorry I am about the other night.” He pulled my arm
so I’d turn to look at him.

“One- let go of me, right now.” He dropped my arm. “Two-I get that you’re sorry, but unless
this is also an apology for being an ass as well as a promise to not act like that ever again,
including not asking me out, I’m not interested.”

Jake opened his mouth and shut it as Edward joined us. “Jake, are you bothering her, again?
I’m sure I heard her tell you to leave her alone.” he crossed his arms over his chest,
and looked down at Jake.

“I was…”
“Doesn’t matter,” I interrupted and left the two of them shooting daggers back and forth. I
headed to my office to change into my uniform. I had about an hour until I had to report to the
floor. I hoped the night went fast; all I wanted to do was go home and pretend today never
existed.
The diner was packed for dinner and it was horrible. Two people sent food back, and one
outright skimped my tip. I was pretty pissed and regretting the decision to not start smoking.
Instead I planned on drinking wine once I got home. A lot of it.
I cleared my last table for the night and went to find Alice. She was huddled in the corner
talking to Victoria. Since Alice’s arms were on Victoria’s shoulders, I figured she was
consoling her.

“What happened?” I asked taking in Victoria’s tear streaked face.
“Edward was a dick to her,” Alice explained.
“All I did was ask a question about the food. Aren’t I supposed to do that if I don’t understand
something? The customer has allergies.” Victoria’s sobs escalated, and Alice and I exchanged
looks.

“I got this.” I stomped off to find Edward. Lucky for me, he was debriefing the kitchen staff.
“Edward?!”
He turned to glare at me. “I’m busy right now, Bella.”

“I’ll wait.” I smirked and leaned against the nearest surface, staring him down. Most of the
staff hid their smiles, except for Mike who outright laughed at me.

“Maybe I can do the rest of this, Edward. Looks as if you two need to talk.” Mike gestured to
me.
Edward stormed past me and upstairs so I followed him into his office. “I’ll make this short
and sweet, Edward. You are not allowed to yell at anyone unless they make a dire fuck up.”

“How dare you tell me how to run my kitchen!”
“I’m not telling you how to run your kitchen. Truth is I don’t care how you run it as long as it’s
efficient. However, when a server asks you a question about the food, it’s for a damn reason.

The customer needed to make sure there weren’t any peanuts in thesauce. They’re deathly
allergic.”

“Shit.” He had the nerve to look contrite.
“Now, you will go and apologize to the new girl and hope she doesn’t quit after such a lovely
first night. Know why? If she does, I’m here way more than I am now, and I know how much
you don’t want that.” I left him stewing and slammed into my office to grab my things.
Alice was waiting in the lobby for me. “Wine night?”

“Definitely. Mine or yours?”
“Let’s go to yours, this way Jasper can show you all the new goodies he put in today.”
“See you there.” I hopped into my car and sat there taking deep breaths. Today was one of
those days, and I was very glad it was over.
Alice parked next to me in the driveway and walked with me to the front door. “Jasper will be
here in a minute. He changed your pass code, though. ” She showed me a text message with
a way too many numbers to ever be considered a pass code.

“I have to use all of those, now?”
“He said it’s safer.” She shrugged, and I unlocked the door. We both headed to thealarm so
she could hold up the phone while I typed in three million numbers. I set it forarmed, but
home and went to grab us each a glass of wine.

“Is Vic staying around?” I asked, filling the glasses to the rim.
“Yeah, for now she is. I explained how Edward hadn’t been there very long, and he was still
adjusting. I hope it was enough to convince her to stay.” she leaned over to slurp up some
wine. “Think there are full enough?” She joked.

“Shut it, woman. It’s been a shitty day. Did Edward apologize to her? I told him to.” I carefully
carried my glass into the living room.

“Hopefully,” Alice said, veering to the front door to let Jasper in before they joined me.
As soon as he sat down, he brought up what he did. “I started by checking all the windows
and doors. Previously, you only had sensors on the doors. When I saw theold pry marks on the
window, I decided to see how easy it would be top break in here. It would have been real
easy, Bella. So I shored up the windows and added extra sensors including glass breaks. Then
I added motions inside as well as the motion flood lights out back and on the front porch. The
system is designed to call the police and me if it goes off. “

“Don’t they usually call me?” I asked.
“You’ll be call number two. The police and I are at the same time. I changed your pass code as
well as your password if the company does call.”

“Do I really need all this?”
“Hush, Bella. We want to keep you safe,” Alice chided.
“Fine.” I pouted for a few seconds. “I need to make you dinner for all this work. Think about it
and let me know. I can cook on Monday.”

“Lasagna,” they said in unison.
“I knew you’d choose that.” I laughed and put on the TV, so Jasper could watch his sports
stuff. We spent the next hour just vegging and chatting. Alice and I had too much wine.
Sadly this wasn’t a rare occurrence. I walked them to the door, locked the house and
grabbed a big glass of water before heading to bed. Jasper was kindenough to put a new
alarm pad in my bedroom, so I could arm everything from in there. I hated to admit it, but I
did feel safer.
The next morning, it took me a few minutes to realize the very loud pounding wasn’t my
head. I reached for my phone to see what time it was only to notice I had four missed calls,
two voicemails and one text. They were all from Ben. I decided to call him instead of get out
of bed.

“You rang?” I yawned into the phone.
“Yea, we need to talk.”
“Now?”
“Yea. Please. I’m out front.”
“Are you the person pounding on my door?”
“Of course I am, Bella. Don’t be an idiot.”
“I’ll meet you at the diner in thirty.” I hung up and decided a shower was a must in order to
wake me up.

By the time I left my house, it had been forty-five minutes. I laughed when I saw Ben pacing in
the diner’s parking lot. He scrambled to my car, opening the door for me. “What the fuck,

Bella?”

“I’m sorry. Were you under the impression that you’re important to me these days? I was
asleep when you decided to disregard what I said to you about contacting me.”

“I tried to contact you, numerous times.” He waved his arms.
“Numerous times? All of them were this morning, and then you demanded to see me for
breakfast. You have two minutes to calm down and tell me what is so fucking important that
you had to see me. And it had better not be about money.” I went inside to get us a table.
I had my menu open and a coffee in hand by the time he joined me. We ordered our food and
Ben sat there staring at me. “You’re different." he noted.

“I’m happy,” I replied. “So, why are we here?” I dug into my pancakes, licking the syrup off
my lips.

“Angela’s pregnant,” he whispered, causing me to choke on my next bite of food.
“Are you serious?” I demanded. He nodded and pushed his food around on his plate.
“What are you going to do?”
“Well, she’s four months along, so I guess I’m going to be a daddy.”
“Shit, Ben. Congratulations, I guess. How’s she feeling?”
“Tired, achy, sick. It’s all normal,” he explained. “Can you do me a favor?”
“It would depend on what you’re asking of me, Ben.” I finished my food and moved my plate
to the edge of the table.

“Can you go through the boxes of stuff you have in storage? And can I have anything
related to babies? I’m pretty sure Mom kept a lot of our stuff.”

“Sure. Did you want to do this with me?” I was extending an olive branch.
“It’d be easier for me not to. Just let me know if there is anything and when I can get it, okay.”
“I’ll see if Alice wants to help. I have the next three days off so I’ll have time. What are
you going to do about money?”

“I called Sam. He’s going to let me work there for now. Rebecca said she can always use
help in the office.”

“Glad to hear it.” I grabbed his hands in mine. “I’m proud of you for doing that, Ben. I know

we’ve had our issues, but I’ve always been on your side.”

“Thanks, Bella,” he whispered, reaching to grab his wallet. “It’s on me.”He tossed some
money on the table, and we left.

“Do you know the sex?”
“We’re not going to find out until later. Thanks, Bella.” He got in his car and left me
flabbergasted in the parking lot. I immediately texted Alice
If you’re not busy, could use your help todayShe called instead of texting back. “What’s up chick? I do have laundry to do, but it’s not like I
can’t put that off until later.”

“Ben knocked up Angela.”
“He did what?!” she screeched.
“He got Angela pregnant. Four months ago, it seems. Anyway, he asked me to go through the
boxes of stuff in the garage for any of our baby stuff for him.”

“I’ll be there soon.” We disconnected, and I headed for gas before going home. Alice was
already in my driveway, which was a surprise. I ran up to the house to disable the alarm,
before hitting the button for the garage door to open.
Alice went inside to grab us drinks, as I walked through the boxes looking for one marked for
baby stuff. “It’s been awhile since you’ve gone through these, huh?” she asked, walking back
into the garage.

“Yeah, since right after they died,” I sighed, and opened a box, pulling out some sweaters the
size of my palm. “This box is all of Ben’s stuff.”

“Do they know what they’re having?” she asked, softly.
“They want to be surprised, so I guess we only pull out gender non-specific?”
“We’ll just avoid any of the dresses that I’m sure are in your box.”
“I’ll get a basket so we can sort it all.” I grabbed the two baskets I had on the washer and
dryer and we sorted all the clothes into piles of yes and no. “I’ll have to get some fragrance
free detergent. Want to go to Target?”

“Would I ever turn down a trip to Target?” she countered. “Let me give Jazz a quick call, and
I’ll be ready. My car or yours?”

“Yours this time. It’s bigger,” I said eying her SUV.
“What on earth are you planning on buying?”
“Everything, dear Ali, everything.” She laughed as I reset the alarm and made sureeverything
was locked up tight again. “So, I’ve been thinking...,” I started.

“That’s always a bad sign,” Alice interrupted.
I ignored her and continued my train of thought. “With Ben gone, I want to replace the tables
in the living room. He pretty much ruined everything out there. Couch too, somaybe Ikea?”

“Ikea first, then in case we run out of space.” She did an illegal U-turn and headed to Ikea.
“I love when you get all bad-ass and do illegal things,” I commented, blaring the radio so we
could have a sing along.
We strolled through IKEA, looking at their coffee tables, but nothing screamed at me. “I guess
we could have skipped here after all.”

“It’s not like I was doing anything, anyway. To Target we go.” We took the back way toavoid
the Main street traffic.
I did find end tables and a coffee table at Target that I picked up. I would need a couch and
love seat or chair at some point, but I wasn’t in a rush. Plus the back to collegedorm room
sales wouldn’t happen for another month. I’d watch the flyers.
Alice and I put my tables together while washing baby clothes until it was time for her to go
home. “Can I just cook everything at your house tomorrow?” I asked. “It’ll be easiest.”

“Sure, come over whenever you want.” She kissed my cheek and left me folding baby clothes.
It was hard to believe any of us were ever this small. I finished up, made myself dinner and
decided to read instead if watch TV.

Monday was pretty uneventful until I hit the grocery store to get the ingredients for my white
lasagna, and then I saw Edward was in the produce section as I barreled around the corner,
looking at my list. I was able to avoid hitting his cart, but not the look he gave me. I had no
idea why this guy hated me so much, but I wasn’t going to allow it to affect me. I made a
production out of making a very large arc around him. I picked up spinach and salad
fixings before going my own way without a second glance at him. I saw him again at the
frozen foods and then at the checkout, but other than a nod in his general direction, I ignored
him. He didn’t even have the courtesy to nod back, but I didn’t care. I would obviously be the
adult.

I stopped at home long enough to put my cold items away, and then headed over toAlice’s. It
was early but I knew she’d be home. I waved at Jasper as he pulled out of their driveway
when I parked in front of their house. Alice swept me into a hug as soon as she opened the
door.

“What’s wrong?” I pulled away from her arms to look her over.
“I don’t know.” She wiped tears from her eyes and I followed her into the kitchen where she
grabbed a bag of M+M’s.

“Really? You don’t’ know what’s wrong?” I pointed to the chocolate and watched the light bulb
come over her head.

“I’m an idiot,” she sighed. “Poor Jasper, took off out of here because I was an emotional
wreck. I’d better text him.” She grabbed her phone. Sent off a quick text,and then helped me
un-bag the food. “I really should put that app on my phone, and then I would realize why I act
this way.”

“Aren’t you still on the pill?”
“No, I switched to the shot. I’m not used to it, yet. How are you today?”
“I’m okay. Saw Edward at the store. He was his usual awesomely friendly self. I wish I knew
what I did to him because it would make it much easier on me. I do adore the nasty glares I
receive in public.” I handed her the spinach to cut.

“Who knows?” She shrugged. “I get the impression he hasn’t been in a good place for a bit,
that’s why he moved back.”

“Well, it’s a good thing he’s not taking his anger out on people he doesn’t know or anything,”
I snarked.
We laughed and prepped dinner. Once everything was ready to go, Alice slid the pan into the
fridge next to the salad. “We have a few hours, what do you want to do?”

“Well, it depends. Do you need a good cry or are you over that?”
“I think I’m over it.”
“Then come on.” I grabbed her hand and yanked her to the door. “We’re going to go play.”
“What?”
“We’re going to walk to the park and play on the slide,” I explained as she locked herhouse.

“You’re insane, but I’m game. I trust you.” We linked arms and walked to the park two blocks
over. I headed for the monkey bars and she decided to swing. After two hoursof playing on
the equipment, we collapsed in laughter on the ground.

“Thanks, Bella. You always know what I need.”
“I’m your girl. Let’s get back.” I stood up and offered her my hand. Jasper’s car was there, so
Alice bounded inside to talk to him. They both looked happy when I joined them, so crisis
averted, I guessed.

“What timed did you guys want to eat?” I asked, grabbing a beer.
“Soon, I’m hungry,” Jasper answered.
“Then turn on the oven, big boy.” I nudged his side as Alice picked up her ringing cell. She
looked at the caller ID and left the room to talk. She was back fast.

“Who was that?” Jasper asked, handing her a glass of wine.
She stole a glance at me before answering. “Oh, just Edward. He wanted to know if you and I
wanted to have dinner at his place tonight, but I explained that we already had plans.”

“I didn’t realize you and he have been hanging out,” I commented.
“We’re not. Well, not often. We did dinner at Mom and Dad’s last week, but we haven’t
since then.”

“I think it’s great that you’re connecting. Family is important.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m taking sides. Truth is I’m on yours. However, as I’ve mentioned,
he seems to be dealing with something. I can see it in his eyes.”

“You’re a good friend and cousin.” I hugged her and put the lasagna in the oven. “Okay, we’ve
got an hour. That’s plenty of time for me to kick both your asses at some Mario Kart.”

“Game on, Swan!” Jasper ran to set the game up, handing us each our steering wheels. By
the time the oven dinged, I had won all but three games. Alice won those three, so Jasper was
pouting. It was nothing a little spinach lasagna couldn’t cure.
By the time I needed to go, Jasper was already dozing in the chair. “How much winedid he
have?” I asked, making my way to the door.

“I must have worn him out with my crying earlier.” We hugged good night and I drove home.

On Wednesday morning, I headed to work early. It was my usual day to work on the inventory
and talk to Mike about menu ingredients. I had picked up a second coffee maker for my office
as well as new speakers for my computer. I set them up, and then went to search out Mike.
He was in the kitchen talking to Edward. I stood to the side until Mike noticed me.

“Hey, Bella, come sit down so we can talk about this week’s specials,” he said, pointing to the
chair next to him.
I sat, ignoring the look Edward gave me. “Are we talking specials, new items or standards?” I
asked, placing my notebook in front of me.
“All three.” Mike gestured to Edward. “Edward and I were discussing how things are done
and what we might want to bring on board. I explained to him that without talking
to you, we wouldn’t be able to do much. “

“Okay, well, as my kitchen guru, what’s on the menu that no one’s really ordering anymore?”
I glanced between the two of them. When neither spoke up, I continued. “Profits are really
good, despite the economy. However, I’d like to streamline that a little bit. Our lunch crowd is
still strong thanks to the local workers, but dinners are slowing down.”
Mike looked to Edward before speaking. “Chicken is still our best seller. I’d like to addmore
soups for lunch. Right now, we only offer the soup of the day. My thought is a specific soup
per day as well as the soup du jour.”

“Chicken is very cost effective; would you consider using it in the soups?”
“I can do that. Also, Edward and I were thinking of changing some things around. Once we
have a grasp on what we want to do, we’ll let you know.”

“That’s a good idea. From what I can gather, there hasn’t been much change here at all. Can
you work up some items and costs for me to look over? Alice and I are thinking of changing
some of the color schemes in the eating area. Edward, we’d like you to be involved in those
decisions.”

“As I should be,” he snarled but I just rolled my eyes.
“Thanks Mike.” I stood, gathering my notepad.
An hour later, I was elbow deep in spread sheets when I heard Alice’s voice next door. I cursed
the fact that I couldn’t hear them over my music. I did hear her when she headed closer to
my door, though. She poked her head in. “Got a few minutes?”

“For my sista from another mista? Nothing but time. Come on in.” I got up and sat on the
couch with her.

“So, Victoria will shadow you tonight. Is that okay?”

“Of course. How did she do the other day?”
“The computer system is new to her, but she grasped most of it. She needs to check the
board a bit better for items that are out. I think she’ll work out fine.”

“Good. I mentioned to Edward about maybe changing colors up front. He, of course, got
obstinate about it, even though I mentioned he’d be in the meeting with us to make any final
decisions. I swear, Alice; he’s here to test me, isn’t he?”

“Can you have a bit more patience with him? He’s definitely dealing with things and he’s not
in a good place.”

“I would consider being nicer but I’m the only one that gets his wrath. Well, other than
Victoria the other day.” We giggled over her reaction to his screaming.

“I promise it will get better. If it doesn’t, Mom will come in and kick his ass for us. I told
her what’s been going on.”

“Oh, Alice, I asked you not to.” I sighed.
“Well, she asked how he was fitting in, and it kind of came tumbling out. I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is. “ I looked at my watch. “I need to change and get on the floor. “
“Oh shit, it got late fast.” She jumped off the couch. “See you down there.”
I shut and locked my door so I could change, making a mental note to put in a mirror. I
grabbed my pen, notepad, and apron, and headed to work.

The next day, I was headed to my office to go over the numbers for Mike, when I heard Alice’s
voice from Edward’s office.

“Oh, I didn’t make that. Bella did.”
“Well, thanks for the leftovers, anyway,” Edward grumbled.
I glanced into his office as I passed to see him handing her a Tupperware. I ignored it and
went to my office. I turned on my computer and pulled up my iTunes. I had just starting
adding up totals, when there was a knock on my door. I looked up to see Jake in my doorway.
“What’s up?” I asked.

“Mike said you’re looking at numbers, and I wanted to know if you needed bar input,” he
offered.

“Have you discussed this with Edward already?” I asked.
“Not yet, I figured since you’re the money girl, you’re who I talk to.”
“You’d be wrong. Talk to him, make your suggestions, and he and I will talk things over to see
if any changes will work in our favor. Sound good?”

“I guess...,” he trailed off.
“Was there anything else?”
“No, I guess not,” he huffed and left. I turned back to my work, but heard a throat clearing so I
looked back up to see Edward standing there.

“Um...hi.” He looked very awkward, and I laughed on the inside.
“Yes?” I gave him the bitch brow and waited.
“I overheard your conversation with Jake, and I wanted to thank you.”
“For?” I gave him the international hand signal for ‘hurry the fuck up’.
“For telling him to talk to me. I haven’t been very nice to him, so I get why he didn’t want to
talk to me.”

“I can’t tell you how surprising it is to hear you haven’t been nice to people,” I said derisively.
He rubbed the back of his neck and kept his eyes down. “I know it’s not a shock or anything.
I’m trying to work on it, okay.”

“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll see you later.” I dismissed him by turning my music up. I heard him sigh before he
left.
An hour later, I had a headache, so I went in search of coffee. I obviously didn’t drank enough
that morning. I found Mike and his Sous chef; Paul huddled together over a recipe. “What has
you boys so enthralled?” I asked, apparently scaring them sincePaul shrieked.

“Sheesh, Bella. You scared me.” He put his hand over his heart.
“Just came down for coffee, “I explained. “What are you guys looking over?”

“It’s a recipe for chicken tortilla soup,” Mike said.
“That sounds great! Is this one of the daily options you’re considering?”
“Yes. I told Edward we’d gather some ideas to toss at him before we came to you.”
“Well, that one has my seal of approval as will most things that involve chicken. See you guys
later.” I filled my mug and went back to my office. I put in another hour of work before having
to change and be on the floor. I found Alice and Victoria sitting inthe front booth rolling
napkins. I grabbed a stack and joined them. “How are you feeling about things, Victoria?”

“So-so. For the most part, everyone’s nice and answers my questions. I fly solo tonight,
though.”

“If you have any issues, grab me or Alice, we’ll help you out, okay?”
“Thanks.” she paused, “What’s the story on the bartender?”
Alice and I exchanged glances over her head. “What about him?” Alice asked.

“He’s adorable,” Victoria rushed out. “Is he single?”
“Very much so,” I said.
“Cool,” Victoria commented, but said nothing else. I considered talking Jake about her crush,
but decided to leave that alone.

“Oh hey, I meant to tell you, Edward loved your lasagna,” Alice said to me.
“How did he get any?” I asked.
“Oh, I brought him in piece of it. He told me it was really good. I made sure he knew you
made it.” She winked.

“I’m sure that went over well,” I muttered, and Alice kicked me under the table.” What the
fuck?” I rubbed my shin.

“If we play nice, maybe other people will as well.” She stared at me until I lowered myhead.
“Fine, you big meanie!” We all laughed and finished up with the napkins. Alice went to talk to
Rachel, the hostess, and see which section to put Victoria in, and Victoria and I finished the
rest of our set up.
I had always liked working here. I’ve been here since High School, when Carlisle gave me an
after school job in the kitchen. I’ve worked my way up from being in the dish room to prep

chef to bar back and wait staff. It’s still odd for me to be in charge of anything here, but I was
glad for the chance and the confidence that Esme and Carlisle had in me. I was lost in
thought so I didn’t hear Edward yelling my name.

“BELLA!” he shouted.
“What?” I turned to him. “Why are you yelling at me?”
“You have a table. Rachel’s been looking for you. I finally took it upon myself to let you know
so they don’t get pissed for waiting for you.”

“Oh, thanks.” I moved to the floor to greet my customers. The night was off and running. It
stayed steady but on the slow side. Typical for a Wednesday. By ten I was tired and my shin
still hurt from where Alice kicked it. I finished my clean up and turned down an offer to hit
the local watering hole with Alice, promising her the next night for sure.
I returned home to an envelope on my front door. I took it in with me opening it as I locked the
door behind me. It was a thank you note from Angela and Ben for all the clothes. I tossed it to
the side with my keys and worked my way up the stairs, into the shower and into bed.

I decided to wear my beer-drinking clothes to work, so I wouldn’t need to come home to
change before grabbing a drink with Alice. Of course this outfit closely resembled my ‘going
to work’ and ‘casual day’ outfits. What can I say? I’m not big on dressing up. Jeans are my
favorite clothing item, as well as tee-shirts and Converse.
I went to Alice’s office first to hear how Victoria did. I plopped into the chair next to her desk
and handed her a muffin I picked up on the way in for her.

“Aren’t you perfect today?” she said, taking a huge bite and moaning in pleasure.
“Well, I am your best friend.” I sipped my still hot coffee.
“What’s up? You don’t’ normally stop in here on your way to yours?” she asked, wiping
crumbs from her lips.
I handed her a napkin. “I was wondering how Vic did? She never came to me with anything,
so I’m assuming she did well.”

“Good as far as I can tell. Any idea what last night’s numbers are?”
“No, I didn’t run the report before I left. I’ll do it now and email it to you.”

“I can come up there to get a hard copy, you know.”
“Why print it out? Don’t you just save them to your computer?”
“Should I?”
“Yes, this way you can see a month at a glance. Do you need me to show you what I’m talking
about?” I offered.

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a bit.”
“See you soon.” I went to get settled in. Two minutes later, Alice was bouncing in. “Bring that
chair around, so I can show you what I’m doing.”

“Educate me,” she demanded, wheeling it over and plopping into it all while banging into me
as it rolled.

“Calm down, woman or you get nothing.” I poked her ribs.”So this is my system. It might not
work for you. I have a few different folders on my desktop. “I clicked on a folder. “In this
one, I have a folder for each month as well as the year to datenumbers.” I clicked again,
showing her how I have it all arranged,” I also have last years, so I can compare and contrast
via month of year to date anytime I want.”

“Would I need all this?” She wrinkled her nose.
“You would only need the reports I customize and email to you. Unless you want to see the
bar and food reports?”

“If I don’t need them, then no, just the ones you normally send me. But I think I will setit up
similar to yours. What’s that one?” She pointed to one I titled ‘personal’

“Oh, sometimes I don’t just want to look at numbers, if you know what I mean.” I put in the
password and opened it up to show her all the pictures of hot men I’d collected. “I have it
password protected, just in case anyone else gets on my computer.” We started giggling
when I heard Edward yelling down the hall.

“Hey, Bella? Have you seen Alice, I need to talk to her…” he trailed off when he came into my
office and saw us there. “What’s got you girls laughing so hard?”

“Nothing, Bella’s showing me the way she sets up the reports on her desktop,” Alice said as I
closed down the file.

“And this is comical?” he asked.
We nodded as Alice stood. “Hey, Bella. Can you send me some of those?” She winked so I

knew what she meant.

“Of course,” I nodded.
“What’s different in what you send to Alice?” Edward asked.
“Have a seat.” I patted the chair Alice had just vacated.
Edward instantly looked uncomfortable. Alice pushed him closer to the chair. ”Just sit. Let her
show you her system. She’s pretty efficient.”
He looked from the chair to Alice and back to me, before pulling it away from me and sitting.
“Alice, before you go, can we talk about last night?”

“Sure, what’s up?” she asked.
“I just think that if we continue to be as slow on Wednesday’s, we may need to knock off one
person. I think we’re overstaffed.”

“I’ll look into it.” She waved and left.
I cleared my throat. “I normally send you just the food and beverage reports, but I can
customize them a bit more if you want. Let me show you.” I opened up our accounting
software and showed him the way I filter them.”These are your usual filters, but I canadd or
subtract things.” I clicked on the wages for staff. “See how it changes the bottom lines?” I
pointed to the bottom number.

“Interesting. Can you go back and show me the filters?” He leaned closer as I opened that
window. “Okay, can you unclick this, and click on these?”
I did what he asked and refreshed the report. “Is this the way you’d like them from now on?”

“Yes, as well as for the bar items. Now what did Alice mean about the way you save them?” I
glanced over to see him staring at the screen in interest. I closed the report and showed him
how I could glimpse everything as well as compare it to the previous year. “Do you have
access to the year’s previous?” he asked.

“No, but I think Esme left me a CD with all that on there. Did you want it?” I offered.
“I would like to see what items have trailed off in the past two years.” He stood to go.
“If I find it, it’s yours.” I agreed.
“Thanks, Bella.”

I heard the music come from his office as soon as he got there. Who would have known that
he and I could be civil to one another?

I was running behind because I’d been looking for that CD for Edward. I finally found it and
slammed my door shut. I changed into my uniform and headed to the floor,detouring into his
office to place it on his chair. I was braiding my hair as I went down the stairs. Alice gave
the look when I joined the rest of the staff at the pre-dinnermeeting. I mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’
to her and paid attention to Edward.

“Jake has a drink he’d like us to push tonight. It’s been on the menu but not a lot of people try
it. If we can’t move it, we’ll replace it with something else. Other than that, everything’s on
the board for the night. Anyone have anything?” He looked around. “Then let’s do it.” He left
us in our circle to get back into the kitchen.
We were busy all night which was a good thing. Alice joined me in the kitchen as I unloaded
the last of my clean up into the dish room. “Are we still on for tonight?”

“Beers at Aro’s? Game on.” I smiled and headed to wash my hands. “I just need tochange and
I’ll be ready to go.”

“Me too. I’ll meet you out front.” We both hurried out of the kitchen. I locked my office and
changed back into my street clothes. I touched up my make- up and decided to leave my hair
as is. I was back downstairs within ten minutes. Alice wasn’t there yet, but Jasper was.

“Hey, Bella,” he greeted me with our usual not very normal handshake. It was something he
and I started doing when we were in junior high. Sadly, we hadn’t grown out of it yet.

“What the fuck was that?” I glanced over to see Edward coming our way, laughing.
“That was the Jasper/Bella way cool handshake of seventh grade,” Jasper explained.
“Seriously?” Edward asked.
“Yes,” Alice said as she joined us. “Is everyone ready to go?”
“Oh, are you coming with us, Edward?” I asked, giving Alice the stink eye.
“As long as everyone’s okay with that,” he said.
“I’ll meet you guys over there.” I said, heading to my car. I saw the look that passed between
Edward and Alice, but I chose to ignore it. Aro’s parking lot wasn’t that full, so I had no issue

with a spot. I decided to go in and find us a table. I noticed that Carmen and Tyler were
working the bar. I waved and grabbed an open booth.

“Awesome, a booth,” Alice said, sitting next to me. “I’ll make Jasper share with Edward.”
“Why is Edward coming?” I huffed.
“Because he doesn’t know anyone? Because he’s my cousin? Because he needs to
make friends?” She would have rambled on if I hadn’t covered her mouth.

“Got it. I would have appreciated a heads up.” The boys joined us, and Carmen came over to
take our order.

“Hey kids, pitcher?” She eyed Edward up and down.” I don’t think I know you. I’m Carmen.”
She leaned over to shake his hand, allowing her very large breasts to try to escape her shirt.
To his credit, he didn’t look.

“Edward. I’m Alice’s cousin.”
“You must be older than all of us. Alice and I graduated together,” she explained.
“That’s great,” he said, looking at anything but her. “What do you normally order?” he
asked us.

“We split pitchers,” I said.” Bring us two, please, Carmen.”
“Sure thing, back soon.”
“Was that just me or did she try to put her boobs in my face?” Edward asked making the
ugliest face.

“Boobs not your thing, Edward?” I chided.
“No, they are. I just don’t want them in my face unless I request them to be.”
I was going to make another comment, but he looked uncomfortable. Plus Alice punched my
thigh.

“Was Aro’s here when you lived here?” Jasper decided to start a conversation. I tuned them
out and watched the crowd. I liked to people watch. I didn’t come back around until the beer
had been dropped off.
Edward poured us all a round, and we clinked in a toast. We made small talk and I was on my
best behavior. Well, I tried to be. Every once in awhile, Edward would leave himself wide open
for me to comment. Jasper had learned not to do this over time. It would have been worse if

Alice hadn’t kept kicking me or smacking my legs every time I went to open my mouth. She
was pretty brutal on occasion.
After the second pitcher was done, I decided to head out for the night. “I’ll see you
alltomorrow. “Alice got up so I could slide out.

“Want me to walk you to your car?” Jasper offered.
“Nah, you enjoy another beer or two.” I tossed money on the table to cover my drinks.
“I can walk you out, Bella. I’m parked near you, and I’m ready to go too,” Edward said.
“Don’t cut your night short because of me, Edward.”
“I don’t mind,” he said, standing. “See you two tomorrow.” He kissed Alice’s cheek, shook
Jasper’s hand and steered me out the door with his hand on my lower back.
We made it to my car and I unlocked my door. Turning to him, I noticed a very intense look on
his face. “Thanks for walking me out, although I do feel as if you left solely to do this.”
He laughed, “Why would I do that? I bet you’re capable of walking yourself to your car.”

“Well, I do have mace on my keychain.” I held it up to show him.
“See you tomorrow, Bella.” He stood there as I got in to my car. I drove away wondering what
his real personality was. Maybe Alice was right, and he was dealing with some things. It would
explain away the meanness.

I was rudely awakened the next morning by pounding on my front door. I wrapped my robe
around me, stumbled in the direction of the pounding and looked through the peephole that
Jasper had kindly added. Ben was pacing my front porch, so I took a deep breath and opened
the door. Leaning against the frame for support, I glared at him. Sadly, instead of bursting into
flames, he pushed past me to get in.

“You know it’s before dawn, right?” I asked, stumbling to turn on the coffee pot. I was a smart
person and set it up the night before.

“It’s eight in the morning, Bella, not four.” He sat at the counter and scrubbed his hands over
his face.

“Why are you here this early?” I yawned loudly and gave the coffee the pot the stink eye for
taking so long.

“I’m at the end of my rope.” He barely looked up before continuing on. “Angela is always
crying. I can’t do anything right for her. I don’t’ know what to do,” he wailed.

“And you’re coming to me for advice, why? I’ve never been pregnant. How am I supposed to
help you? Finally!” The coffee pot beeped so I immediately poured a cup. “You want?” I
offered, and he nodded.

“I just needed to get away,” he explained.
“Sorry, not an option. You put her in that position, you need to figure out how to deal with it.” I
shrugged.

“I know I….I’m just at a loss of what to do.”
“What you should have done was wore a condom.”
“Yet again, let me thank you for your unyielding support,” he deadpanned.
“Okay, my real advice?” I topped our cups off. “Be there for her in whatever capacity she
needs. If she wants to yell at you, let her. If she wants you to go find her some barbeque,
do it. Oh, and you should definitely talk to her about how you’re feeling. I bet she’s just as
overwhelmed as you are. “

“I know, I know,” he admitted. “I’m scared as fuck, Bella.”
“Hell, I would be too. You’re both so young, but you’ll be alright. How’s work?”
“It’s really good. Seems I have a knack for organization. Hey, what’s with all the extra tight
security these days?” He gestured to the keypad on the back door.

“Someone tried to break in a few weeks back. Jasper saw the marks on the window pane.”
Ben sheepishly looked away. “Is there something you need to tell me?” He continued to look
down, so I slammed my hand on the counter.” Ben! What did you try to do?” I demanded.

“When you refused to give Angela any of the things I asked for, I may have thought about
breaking in to take them,” he mumbled.

“Seriously, Ben!” I dropped on the barstool next to him. “Do you know how I felt when Jasper
showed me those marks? I felt unsafe, Ben. In my own fucking house. Now it’s locked like Fort
Knox. There’s no way in here without not only two keys, but a very long pass code. You need
to go.” I stood and grabbed his mug from him, placing it in the sink.

“Bella...I….” I ignored him, keeping my back to him until I heard him walking to the front
door. “I’m sorry,” he said as the door closed behind him. I took about twenty deep breaths to
calm down, but it didn’t work. I went in search of my cell phone and called Alice.

“It’s barely morning, chick. What’s wrong?” Alice muttered.
“I need you, please.” I burst into tears.
“Bella? Are you okay? Do you need an ambulance?” Alice was suddenly alert. “Jasper, we
need to get to Bella’s now. B, we’re on the way.”
I didn’t hear them enter, but I sure did hear when Alice started yelling instructions.“Jasper,
can you please check the perimeter. Edward, can you help me with her?”

“I’m in here, Alice,” I shouted from my position curled into the loveseat. “Why are Jasper and
Edward with you?” I reached for the tissue box so I could clear my nose.

“Well, gee. My best friend calls me in hysterics and can’t tell me what’s wrong, so I wake both
my boyfriend and my cousin to help me out. Jasper because of the security and Edward
because he’s CPR certified, and I wasn’t sure what was going on,” she explained, joining me
on the loveseat. She moved my hair out of my face. “What happened, honey?”

“Ben happened.”
“No one tried to break in.” Jasper came back, in carrying his gun.
“No one wants to see your gun, Jasper,” Edward joked, trying to lighten the mood. I gave
him a quick smile.

“She said it was Ben,” Alice said, “Did he try to break in?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t today. Edward, can you see if there’s coffee left? If not, it’s in the fridge,
can you make a pot? This could take a bit.”

“Sure, Bella.” He headed to my kitchen but I caught the confused look on his face.
“Ben woke me up this morning because he wanted to talk about how freaked out he is about
the baby.” Alice was rubbing my arms, and it was actually soothing. “Then he asked about the
extra security, and I told him how Jasper had found the crowbar marks.”

“Oh shit,” Jasper said in realization. Edward somehow scrounged up a tray and brought in four
steaming mugs, sugar and creamer from the fridge.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a mug from him. “The creamer’s for Alice,” I explained away the
horrendous vanilla crap he had with him.

“Got it.” He and Jasper sat on the couch looking at me. I felt like an animal on exhibit.
“Anyway, Ben admitted he tried to get in after I wouldn’t give Angela the stuff he asked for.”

“Did he tell you what made him stop?” Alice asked.
“Wait, your brother tried to break in to your house?” Edward was still playing catch up.
“Yes, it’s a long story, Edward. He didn’t tell me what scared him off. Maybe I came home
early?”

“Either way, I’m very glad I put in the extra stuff,” Jasper commented.
We all sat and drank coffee until my stomach growled.

“Breakfast at the diner?” Edward offered.
“Sure.” I stood, yanking my robe closed so no one got a show, and headed to get ready to
leave my house.

“Don’t put on clothes on my account, sugar,” Jasper called down the hall to me. I laughed,
grabbing some sweats, a tank top and my flip flops.

“Ready?” I asked them. When they nodded, I made sure to put the alarm on and bolted the
door.

Breakfast was interesting, for lack of a better word. Edward and I actually got along. I could
tell that Alice noticed, but she thankfully didn’t say anything. After much joking, we all headed
our separate ways. I still needed to start laundry and make a shopping list. Hopefully I could
get to the store before work today.
I had two voicemails on my cell when I got back to the house. I had left without it. They were
both from Ben, so I decided to delete without listening. I was in no mood for him, and I
wouldn’t be for a long time. I glanced at the clock and realized I wouldn’t have time to shop or
nap. I cursed the day Ben was born and shuffled into the shower.
I decided to let my hair air dry, so I put on my uniform and headed to work. I could hear
music from Edward’s office as I went up the stairs. I hesitated at his door, before passing it. I
wanted to thank him for coming over this morning, but I wasn’t sure why I wanted to thank
him. Life, it’s a conundrum, no?
I dropped off my stuff and headed back down to the floor, checking the board on my way.
Alice and Victoria were already rolling silverware when I joined them.” "Ladies,” I said,
plopping next to Alice.

“You better?” Alice asked. I nodded but didn’t say anything. She could tell I was still pissed.

“So, I talked to Jake last night after work.”
“How’d that go, Victoria?” I asked.
“Please call me Vic or Vicki. Victoria is too long to say.” She winked. “It went well, actually.
He’s a really nice guy. I invited him out to Aro’s some night for a drink.”

“And…” Alice prompted.
“Well, it was a bit weird. He looked around before telling me ‘maybe’. I don’t think he’s into
me. “She shrugged. “Maybe I’ll ask Edward.”
We sat in silence as we finished up. Vic dropped the napkins off, and Alice and I checked the
tables. We’d be busy tonight. I made a mental note to check into the classes I wanted to
attend as summer was winding down which meant pretty soon we’d get an even bigger influx.
We had two college campuses sort of close. One wasthe local community college that Alice
and I attended, the other one was a private expansion of the SUNY system.
I met the rest of the evening’s crew in the kitchen for the pre-dinner meeting. Edward gave
me a glance and mouthed ‘okay’. I nodded and looked to Mike as he was the one talking.

“Same old, same old, everyone. Although, I’d like to ask your suggestions on menu items you
think we should add or get rid of. I’ll take everything into consideration along with Edward and
Bella. Have a good night, everyone.” Mike dismissed us, and I went to talk to Jake.

“Hi Bella, what brings you over here already?” he asked, setting up the bar.
I made sure no one else was around. “Vic told me she invited you for a drink.”

“Jealous?” he smirked.
“More like confused. As in, why’d you say maybe instead of yes?”
“Why do you care?”
“Cripes, Jake, I really don’t. I think she has a crush on you, that’s all.”
“Maybe I’m waiting on you to change your mind.”
“You shouldn’t wait on me. I won’t change my mind.” I left him stewing and greeted my
first table.
I literally ran into Edward on my way into the kitchen. He grabbed my elbows to steady me,
and I gripped onto the plates in my hand. “Fuck, Bella, are you alright?” he asked.

“Perfect, thanks.” I went to move past him, but he held me.
“Really, are you alright?” He moved his head down to stare into my eyes.
“I will be, thanks for asking. Oh, and for coming over not knowing if I was bleeding to death on
the floor this morning. “

“Anytime.” He laughed. “If you need to vent about it, let me know.” He released me, and I
went to drop off the plates.
I almost crashed into Mike as well as Paul. It was one of those nights. I was exhausted by the
time my last table left and fell into the nearest booth to rub my feet. Once I had my
circulation back where I wanted it, I finished my clean up and went to my office to grab my
stuff.
Vic was in Edward’s office when I passed, so I slowed down to eavesdrop. I knew I shouldn’t
have, but I couldn’t help myself. “Thanks for the invite, Victoria, but I’m too tired to grab a
drink tonight. Maybe some other time?” I heard him say.

“Oh, sure, another time,” Vic agreed, and I moved forwards so it would seem as if I was just
getting to my office. This way they wouldn’t know I’d overheard them. “Hi, Bella,” she greeted
me as she came out of Edward’s office.

“Have a good night, Vic.” I went into my office and grabbed my stuff. I crashed into Edward
again on my way out. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I joked.

“Headed out?” he asked, guiding me towards the stairs.
“Yes, you?” All of a sudden, things felt a bit different with us.
“Did you want to grab a drink?” he offered.”I hear Aro’s is the place to be.”
“You do realize Aro’s is the only place to be for a normal bar, right? Thanks, but it’s been a
busy day, and all I want to do is go home, put on jammies, watch horrible TV and drink about
three bottles of wine.”
We laughed again. “At least let me walk you to your car.”

“Sure.” I poked my head into Alice’s office to tell her goodnight. “‘Night, Ali!” I called to her.
“Night, Bella.” She looked up. “Oh and Edward,” She gave me the look, but I wavedher off by
mouthing, ‘tomorrow’.
He walked me to my car and made sure I was locked in before walking to his. With a final
wave, I pulled out and drove home. Things might have taken an interesting turn.

I filled my mug with coffee and got online. I needed to sign up for classes. I was hoping I
could get two on campus and one online. This way I could graduate within a year. Part time
schooling was difficult, but I knew with my new position at work, I could cut back from the
floor partially or altogether if needed. I was scouring the open classes, when my phone
beeped. I was pretty sure it was Ben, again, so I ignored it. It beeped again, immediately so I
looked at it. Since it was Alice trying to talk to me, I called her back.

“You rang?”
“Sheesh, you’re difficult to get a hold of, lady,” she noted.
“Two texts in a two minute time span doesn’t make me ‘difficult’. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you’ve signed up for classes, yet.”
“I was looking right now. Did you sign up already?”
“Doing it now. I was trying to see if we could commute every once in awhile. So far, myMonWed classes are at nine and then eleven. Anything work for you around that?”
I opened the class info section and found two of my three fit in there. “Yes, Alice. I can do
that.” I added myself to them and heard Alice’s fingernails clicking on keys doing the same
thing.

“Perfect! Now we can have lunches together too. Last semester we didn’t have as much time
to chum around, you know.”

“I know, Alice, between living a few blocks from each other and working together, we never
spend time together.”
I heard her sigh. “Sarcasm isn’t pretty, Bella.”

“Says you. “
“How are things with Ben?”
“They’re great.” I wandered into the kitchen for more coffee.
“Great? So you’ve talked to him?”
“Fuck no, I haven’t. He needs to leave me alone to get over my raging anger before
contacting me. “

“How many times has he called?”

“I’ve deleted seven voicemails and ignored way more texts than anyone should.”
“Have you just asked him to leave you alone?”
“No, because that would require speaking to him.”
“Big heavy sigh, Bella. Tell him to back off so you can figure things out in peace.”
“Let me remind you of my last statement of how that would require having a conversation
with him.”

“Listen, stubborn cow, just text him or better yet, text Angela and let her know the score.
Then maybe he’ll leave you alone.”

“I’ll think about it. Alice, I’ve got to run, the dryer buzzed, and I’m behind on things.”
“See you later!” We hung up, and I headed to the laundry room. I would fold the stuff while I
was searching for an online class.
Two hours later, the house was clean, I had all my laundry done, and I was getting ready to
run errands. Grabbing my list and my cell, I hoped into the car. First stop was the bank so I
could deposit the cash tips I had in my purse. I tried to get there more than once a week, but
sometimes it was difficult. I would miss having cash on hand, if I did drop all my serving
hours.
I hit up Target for some needed items, double checking my list as I shopped. Of course,
this was easier said than done as I didn’t stop and get to the side of the aisle to do this. Nope,
I careened around a corner, and smacked into another person’s cart. And since my luck
decided to fail me, said cart was being pushed by Ben with Angela right beside him.
I tried to back out of the aisle and go my separate way, but Ben put his hands on my cart to
stop me. “If you want to keep your limbs, you’ll move them off my cart. Now!” He took them
off my cart, and I backed away from him. I decided to leave the cart with my items in the next
aisle over and hightail it out of there. I ran to my car, jumped in and had myself at the
grocery store in about two minutes flat.
I ran into Edward again at the check- out, but this time it wasn’t as awkward. Maybe there
was hope for us, yet. We walked out together, chatting until I noticed Ben leaning against my
car. “Goddamn motherfucker,” I mumbled.

“Bella, what’s wrong?” Edward asked.
“My idiot brother doesn’t understand that I don’t want to talk to him.” I stopped on the
sidewalk, debating my next move. Edward looked up and saw my car with Ben staring at us.

“Well, we can go to my car, and I can get you home, or I can go over there with you so you
can get home alone,” he offered.

“Why would you offer to do this for me? It’s not like we’re friends, Edward.”
“Suffice it to say, I need to make up for being an epic dick to you. Besides, I’d like us to be
able to work together and hang out with Alice together without it being awkward.”

“Thanks, Edward. If you don’t mind, can you come over there with me?”
“Is he dangerous, Bella? Is that why you don’t want to be alone with him?”
“I never thought he was. It’s a really long story, but short version is: Ben lived with me after
our parents died. I got tired of him mooching and booted him out.”

“Are you ready to go over there?”
“Yes, just please don’t leave us alone, no matter how he gets.”
“Promise,” he said, holding out his pinky. I laughed and we walked over to my car.
“We need to talk,” Ben spit out, glaring at Edward.
“Not yet, we don’t. I will talk to you when I’m damn good and ready. For now, please leave me
alone, Ben.” I opened the trunk, and Edward handed me my bags to put in. I moved to get
into the drivers, side, but Ben blocked me.

“Bella, please.”
“Nope. How many times did I warn you about your behavior? How it hadconsequences? You’re
very lucky I’m not pressing charges right now. Move away from my car, please.”
Ben went to grab my arm, but Edward stopped him.”Dude, you don’t want to do that,” he
said. Ben backed up a bit before turning and walking to where Angela was parked. We
watched them pull out before I climbed into my car. “Did you want me to follow you home?”
Edward asked.

“Nah, I’m pretty sure he went home. If he’s at my house, I’ll drive to Alice’s.”
“I’m on Oak, so closer than Alice. You can come there if you need to. “
“I’ll be fine, Edward. But thank.” I smiled, started my car and left.
I sighed in relief when no one was at my house when I got home. I had two hours to unpack
groceries, shower and get ready to leave for work. After how horrendous my day had gone so

far, I could only hope tonight wasn’t as bad. I blasted my stereo and danced around while
putting items away, hoping to dissipate the dark cloud of doom above my head. I lost myself
in the music, stripping down to get in the shower while dancing in my room. After a very long
hot shower where I even did some lady-scaping, I forced myself to get ready for work and
leave my house.
I was twenty minutes early, so I went looking for Alice. I found her with her legs up on her
desk, talking on the phone. I knocked on her door, and she waved me in. “I’m gonna run,
baby. ... Bella’s here….no…I can’t….Love you too.” She was a bit flushed when she put her
phone down.

“What exactly did he say to you?” I asked, laughing.
“None of yours, young lady” She grinned, “So what’s happenin’, hot stuff? “
“Oh, nothing much. Ran into Ben at Target, left a cart full of shit there and ran away to the
grocery store. Had an actual conversation of sorts with Edward while in line at the checkout.
Found Ben waiting at my car, had Edward walk me over there to keep Ben away, went home.
Y’know same old, same old.”
Alice’s jaw had dropped. “What in the ever loving fuck was all that? I’ve never heard you gush
anything out before. You’re like a fountain today. So, let’s back up. You saw Ben at Target and
rather than talk to him like the mature adult I know you are, you ditched a cart full of items
and ran?” She looked for verification, and I nodded. “Soyour next step was to go to the
grocery store?” I nodded, again.”Where you met up with Edward in line to check out?”
I smiled. “You and Edward made small talk, before leaving the store?”

“See, Alice, it sounds as if you did understand what I said.” I winked.
“Then Edward walked you to your car and made sure Ben left you alone?”
“Yes, yes, yes and yes. I believe you got it all correct. Oh, I left out that I did tell Ben to leave
me alone, and when I was ready to talk to him, I’d let him know.”

“When did you and Edward call a truce?” She steepled her fingers against her chin. “And why
didn’t I know about it?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we’re making a conscious effort to get along. We do work
together; we’ll end up hanging out together because of you. It seems natural.” I didn’t get the
big deal of it, but Alice sure did. She gave me the once over, raised an eyebrow, and shook
her head before speaking.

“It’s just odd, that’s all. Ready for tonight?”
I allowed the odd topic change. “Yes, I am. I danced around naked before taking a long hot

shower. That always cheers me up.”
Alice burst into laughter as I heard a throat clear behind us. “You dance around your house
naked?” Edward asked, coming in and sitting in the chair next to me.

“Don’t you?” I countered.
“No, not normally.”
“Must be a girl thing,” I commented.
“Edward, what can I do for you?” Alice interrupted.
“I was actually looking for Bella. I heard her in here and wanted to make sure everything was
okay once you got home.”

“It was fine, thanks.”
“Just remember, if he gives you any more trouble, you can call me. I’m closer than Alice and
Jasper.” He stood and left us alone.

“That’s very interesting,” Alice mumbled to herself, but I caught her.
“What’s interesting about it?”
“He seems better, nicer, that’s all. More like the Edward I remember. Anyhoo, let’s get to set
up.” We ambled out to our usual booth and got to rolling.

“Hey, Vic.” She was already sitting there, so we joined her.
“Hi.” she didn’t even look up. Alice and I exchanged a glance.
“What’s wrong?” Alice asked.
“I don’t know. Just…forget it,” she sputtered out.
I put my hand on her arm to get her to look at me. “Did someone say something toyou? You
know Alice and I won’t stand for bullshit around here.”
Vic’s eyes teared up and she took a deep breath. “I told you both that I invited Jake out
sometime, right?” We both nodded, “Well, he turned me down, and that kinda hurt
my feelings. I know I’m not a super model or anything, but I am pretty.” She sniffed.”So I
thought it might piss him off or make him notice me if I had another guy go out with me.” She
wiped her hand under her eye. “But that guy turned me down, too.”

I gasped, knowing it was Edward. “Vic,” I said gently, “Are you interested in both of these
guys?”

“Not really. Only Jake.”
“So you thought it would spur him into action if he saw you with someone else?” She nodded.
“Does the other guy work here too?” I asked even though I knew the answer.

“Yes, he does.”
“Did you think it might cause some discontent between co-workers if guy two said yes and
guy one saw you two together? It might not work out the way you want it to. If you want to
date Jake, ask him again. Or better yet, we can all go as a group,” I advised.

“Yeah, you’re right. “She smiled. “Thanks. What are you ladies up to after work? Want to do a
little girl time?”

“Maybe, next weekend, okay,” Alice said. We finished our prep in silence.
I got up to grab my hair ties before the meeting. I still needed to braid my hair. I ran up and
back down the stairs, skidding to a stop at the board for our nightly pre-dinner meeting.

“Now that we’re all here, I can start.” Edward winked, and continued,”Push the special
tonight, please. It’s fresh fish so it’s got to go. Yet again, let’s try to move the drinks. Next
week, we’ll start getting into subtle changes on the food and drink menus. Have a great night,
everyone!” He turned us loose, and we got to work.
By the end of the night, all the fish was gone, we’d decided to cut a few drinks, and I was
ready for a beer. I was glad I remember to buy some this morning. I went upstairs to make
sure my computer was off and my drawers locked on my desk. I didn’t lock my office door
itself, but I’d thought about it. I turned off the light and headed towards the front door,
veering into the kitchen to tell the staff good night. Alice and Edward were chatting out front
when I got there.

“Just the girl I was looking for,” Edward said. “Alice and Jasper are coming over for a few
drinks. Did you want to join us?”

“Oh...um…..I’m not sure…,” I trailed off as Alice put her arm around my shoulder.
“You can’t just sit at home and think about Ben; come to Edward’s.”
“You know, I think I will thanks. Let me run home to change, though.”
“I’ll go with you, Bella, so you’ll know how to get to his house.” Alice ushered me to mycar,
and we pulled out of the lot.

Chapter 22

The Alice Inquisition started twenty three seconds after I turned the key in the ignition. I
counted.

“Since when does Edward look at you like you’re the prettiest thing he ever did see?”
I slammed the brakes. “What are you on about, Alice?! He doesn’t look at me like that.”

“Can you continue driving before you kill us, please?” she asked calmly. I realized wewere in
the middle of the road, so I put my foot on the gas. “Anyhoo, he def checked you out, Bella.
Maybe because you worse the shorts versus pants or a skirt today? “

“I do have awesome gams,” I agreed, “However, this all falls under the ‘agree to disagree’
that he and I talked about. We all work together and will more than likely play together. We
need to get along. This is a step in that direction.”

“If you say so, but that man looked at you as if you were cheesecake.”
I laughed, pulling into my driveway. “Coming in?”

“But of course.”
Alice flopped onto my couch as I ran to change. Since it was still pretty muggy out, I put on a
tank top, but added capris instead of shorts. Just in case, Edward waschecking out my legs, I
didn’t think I should encourage it. I took my hair down, brushedit and shook it out before
going back into the living room.

“Why’d you cover your legs up?” Alice demanded.
“Does Edward run his air conditioning?” She nodded, “That’s why. You know how cold I get.”
Alice stood and walked to my kitchen. “Let’s grab beer from here. I’m positive he has some,
but just in case.”

“Sure,” I agreed, we loaded up and went back out the door. I put everything in the car, and
then ran back to the porch to verify the door was locked and the alarm on. I wasn’t taking
any more chances.
Alice directed me to Edwards. It was pretty close, we could have walked. This is goodin case I
get too drunk to drive. We pulled in front of a cute two story house. It was white with red
shutters and a red door. Edward had left the front door open for us, so we walked right in. We
found him and Jasper in the kitchen, taking shots of vodka.

“Looks as if I’m on driver duty,” Alice noted.
“First one, darling, I can drive later on if needed.” Jasper kissed her temple. “Shots?” he
offered, holding up the bottle.

“I think I’ll stick to beer, thanks though.” I opened a bottle and handed the rest to Edward.
“Will this fit in your fridge?”
He laughed, “Bella, I’m a bachelor, other than left overs from work, there’s nothing in here.”
He put my five pack on a shelf next to more beer. “See,” he pointed to the empty shelves.
When he went to shut the door, but I stopped him so I could peruse his beer selection.

“Interesting array of beers you have. “
“I like beer.” He shrugged, closing the door. “Let’s go into the living room.” I followedbehind
Alice and Jasper. They took the over sized chair, leaving the couch for me and Edward. I sat
closes to Alice and Jasper and looked around. Edward’s place was pretty nice. His kitchen had
new appliances in it and his living room was in different shades of brown.

“Cards, board games or TV?” Alice asked.
“For me, it’ll depend on the board game,” I said.
Edward got up and opened a cabinet door under his ginormous wall mounted TV. “Have
a look.”

“Ooohhh games!” I clapped my hands like a child and sat in front of the cabinet.“Scrabble?” I
glanced over my shoulder in time to catch Alice eating Jasper’s face. “Ugh, cut it out.” I
slipped off my shoe and tossed it at them.

“Gross, Bella!” Jasper said, tossing me back my shoe.
“Well quit it. Scrabble or something else?”
“Pick what you want, Bella. I have a feeling it’ll be me against you anyway.” Edward gestured
to Alice and Jasper. “They need a room, soon.”
I grabbed the game and set it on the coffee table. “As her best friend, I feel as if I should
apologize for her lack of manners. It’s not like they’re even drunk.”

“As her cousin, I think the blame’s on me.” He leaned over and smacked Alice’s thigh. “Go
home or get off him.”
Alice slid to the floor next to me. “Don’t get mad at me. Just because you’re not getting any,”
she huffed.

I cleared my throat, standing.”I’m headed for more beer. Anyone?” After three head nods, I
moved to the kitchen to grab some beers. When I got back, the game was set up and
everyone was in their place. I sat across from Alice and gave her a wink. She knew I was a
word girl and I seldom lost. Plus I was competitive.
An hour and two more rounds of beer later, we’re in a heated game of Scrabble. Edward had
gotten up to get us another round of drinks and I was fanning myself. “Is anyone else hot?”

“I told you to leave your shorts on,” Alice said.
“If you’re hot, why are your nipples sticking out? Are you even wearing a bra?” Asked Jasper
right as Edward came back in to the room. Of course, poor guy couldn’t doanything but look
at my chest.

“Dammit, Jasper!” I kicked him and covered my chest with my arm. “Why are you looking
at my boobs?”

“In his defense, they’re nice ones,” Edward commented, handing out the beers. He sat back
down, noticing that all three of us were staring at him. “What? Why are you all looking at me
like that?”

“You just commented on her chest,” Alice noted.
“Dude, you totally scoped her out,” Jasper said.
“Umm... can we get back to the game please?” I said, wishing I had a jacket.
Alice leaned over and whispered, “I told you.”
I ignored her and we all got back to playing. We finally ended our game fifteen minutes later
when Edward killed us all on some obscure word that allowed him tons ofpoints.

“Time for me to go.” I got up and started putting the game away. Alice and Jasper stood as
well, picking up our empty bottles.
Edward walked us all to the front door. He leaned down and kissed Alice’s cheek and shook
Jasper’s hand. “Bella,” he held his hand out to shake,”Thanks for coming over tonight. I’m
sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier.”
I cocked my head trying to think of what he meant until he glanced down to my chest and
back up.”Oh, the boob thing. It is what it is, I guess. We all have nipples. I guess mine like to
pop in and say ‘hi’.” We laughed and I walked to my car, waving at Alice and Jasper. I was
surprised to realize I had a really great time. It seems my original opinion of Edward may have
been a bit off.

Chapter 23

The next week flew by in a mass of work, buying textbooks and stocking up for my classes.
Alice and I had a blast at the local office supply store. I’m not sure what it was about buying
school and office supplies, but I really liked it.
We had one more week before classes started and since one of those days was a usual work
day for me, I wanted to get all my reports updated and ready to go. Alice, Edward, Mike and I
had a sit down to go through menu items. We decided to cut three things and add in five.
We’d see how it went and go from there.
Alice not only commented on how well Edward and I were getting along; she made pretty
graphic innuendos about it as well. I’m not sure why, I hadn’t hung out with him since
the Scrabble night and we only talked at work.
I was hibernating in my office, going over the past weekends sales, when I was suddenly
aware of someone watching me. When I looked up, Edward was sitting on my couch grinning.
“Can I help you?” I asked.

“You know how long I’ve been in here?” he responded.
“Long enough to make yourself comfortable, I see, “I said, making him look decidedly
uncomfortable.

“Yeah, um...anyway... your brother is downstairs and insists he needs to talk to you.”
I dropped my pen. “What?!”

“He’s sitting in a booth talking to Jake and Vic, waiting for you. Jake offered to come up and
get you, but I thought you may need a little prep time before seeing him.”

“And he won’t go away, huh?”
“No. He’s pretty insistent. Haven’t you talked to him?”
“No, Edward. I haven’t.”
“He’s your family, Bella. You should talk to him.”
“That’s a pretty judgy statement from the cousin of my best friend that I never knew
existed.”
Edward stood, putting his hands out. “Sorry. You’re right; it’s not my place to say anything.

Want me to get rid of him?”

“No.” I sighed, “I’ll come down,” I stomped down the stairs and grabbed a coffee before
finding Ben. He was still sitting with Jake and Vic. I stood in front of their booth and cleared
my throat. “Ben.” I said and walked over to a private table near the bar to sit.
Ben sat and looked at his hands. “I know you said you needed time, but we really need to talk
about this, please.” I just stared at him. “I know I broke your trust. I’m sure it wasn’t the first
time either. I also know I don’t want my kid to not know his aunt.” He reached for my hands,
“Please, talk to me.”
I pulled my hands away. “I don’t even know where to begin, Ben. I feel as if all I’ve done for
you is give and all you’ve done to me is take. For years, Ben. None of this is news, though.
I’ve told you this over and over since you were seventeen. You’ve even made it that I don’t
feel safe in my own house, anymore. I don’t know if we can salvage anything. And now, you
want us to bury the hatchet? I’m not sure if I can do that. “

“I can’t apologize enough for my past actions. All I can do is hope you can see that I want to
be a better man. For Angela, my child and you. I really like my job, and Sam likes me enough
to show me some more things I can help out with. Angela’s blog has more visitors all the time
and I’m still writing on it. There’s just so much in my life right now and I want you being a part
of it all.”

“You’d need to explain yourself fully, Ben. Why’d you think breaking into my house would be
okay?”

“I was angry. “
“That’s your reason? Are you kidding me?!” I stood to go, but Ben grabbed my arm.
“Please,” he begged. “Give me a few more minutes.” I acquiesced and sat back down. “I was
angry that you threw me away like mom and dad did.”

“You do remember your actions caused that, correct?”
“Yea, I know that, now. I’m working on it, okay. All I can do is tell you how sorry I am and hope
we can move forward. Just give me time to prove myself to you.” Ben stood up, kissed my
cheek and left me sitting alone, confused.
I scrubbed my hands down my face, got up and went back to my office. I shut the door
behind me this time and cranked my music. I had about an hour of work left to do and I just
wanted to be done so I could go home. I tried to work, but I couldn’tconcentrate so I shut
everything down and skulked out without anyone seeing me. For once, I was happy to not be
working the floor.

I hit the liquor store for three bottles of wine, and then drove home. The first thing I did when I
got there was send Alice a text asking for her to leave me be tonight. I knew she’d only worry
and I didn’t want to talk to her, yet. I ordered a pizza and changed into some boxers and a
tank top. My plan for the night? Watch horrible TV whiledrinking until I couldn’t think any
more.
I had just cracked open bottle of wine number two and was starting to enjoy my buzz, when
there was a knock on my door. Thinking it was Alice, I ignored it, hoping she’d go away. The
knocking increased so I sent her another text to go away. When the knocking kept up without
any text back from Alice, I got a little worried that something was wrong. I stumbled over to
the door, and looked through the peep. I saw Edward on my porch.

“Go away!” I yelled.
“Open up, Bella,” he said.
“Bella has left the building, please leave your name and number and she’ll get back to you at
her earliest convenience. “I went to walk away from the door, but he started to bang on it.

“I’ll stay out here until I annoy you,” he threatened.
“You already are, so mission accomplished.” I opened the door a crack anyway. “What are you
doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay. You disappeared after Ben left.”
“I’m perfect. I have bad telly and cheap wine. You may go.” I dismissed him with my hand.
“Hate to break it to you, princess, but I’m coming in.” He shoved past me and helped himself
to my house.

“You’re pretty rude. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“More than once.” He sat on the couch and looked around. “Pizza as well? You went all
out, huh?”
I grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch realizing how little clothing I had on and
flopped into the other corner. “Yeah, I’m all about the big time. Now really, why are you being
a dick and why won’t you leave?”

“Alice said you asked her to leave you alone.”
“Next time I’ll make sure that she understands that means alone from everyone, not just her.”
I picked up the bottle of wine and gulped.

“She didn’t send me to check on you, Bella. I did that on my own. I just wanted to see how
you were.”

“Well, I’m drunk and in pajamas, so I’d say I’m golden.” I gave him a cheesy grin.
“I’m going to hang out with you for a little while.”He took off his shoes and scrunched into his
side of the couch.

“Suit yourself, but I choose not to be a conversationalist tonight. I’m not going to host either.
If you want something, go find it for yourself.” I surfed through some channels until I found a
really bad horror movie. Giggling, I tossed the remote onto the coffee table and hugged my
wine to my chest.

“Fair enough.” He got up and left the room, returning with a glass of water for me anda beer
for him. ” You might want to gulp that down in between swallows of wine,” he suggested.”And
just for the record, I’m a good listener, if you want to bounce things off of me. I also know
what it’s like to not trust someone that you thought you could.”

“Yeah, yeah. Watch the movie.” I kicked his leg.
I wasn’t sure what woke me up, until I heard it again. There was something breathing on me. I
tried to move and see what it was, but I was anchored down from behind. Ilooked and noticed
I was being held down by some arms. One was around my waist and one was comfortably
sitting against my right breast. I glanced over my shoulder to see Edward sleeping peacefully
behind me. We were both under the blanket on the couch. I looked down and noted we both
had clothes on, so what the hell happened?
I lightly put my hand over his and tried to remove myself from the hand he had on my boob.
However, when I touched him, his grip tightened and rubbed right over my nipple. “No, don’t
go,” he muttered.
Hate to say it, but I kind of liked it. Sue me, but I hadn’t been touched above or under
the clothes in a bit. I tried to sit up a little, thinking it might break his hold, but he used the
one around my waist and pulled my back flush to his front. “Hmmm…Bella…, “he sighed and
lightly snored.
By this time, I really had to pee and drink a bathtub amount of water, and take a bottle of
ibuprofen, so as delicately as I could, I unwrapped his arm from waist. This allowed me to
move away from his other arm. His arms moved as if searching for me. I giggled and
covered him back up. I went to my bathroom, grabbing my phone off the table on my way.
I turned on my phone while I brushed my teeth and tried to be human. I looked at the shower
and realized I was too hung over to even consider it. I only had one text from Alice
promising to leave me alone. I glanced at the time and saw it was too early to call her, so I
headed to my kitchen to forage for some water. I was still tired and knew I’d need a few

more hours of sleep before I’d be able to function. I glanced towards my room and the couch
finally deciding to rejoin Edward. He was a good snuggler.
I wasn’t exactly sure what time it was when Edward started moving around. I was facing
his chest this time and he had both his arms around my back “Hey Bella,” he whispered, “I
need to get up.”

“Nope.” I tried to burrow deeper into his chest and he laughed.
“Please? I have to use the bathroom.”
“Shhhh, sleeping.”
He unlatched my hands from his shirt, and sat up, putting me back in his place and covering
me with the blanket. “There’s a new toothbrush in the drawer of the hall bath if you’d like,” I
said and curled back up.

“Thanks.”
While he was gone, I made a conscious effort to sit up. I checked the time and was surprised
it was only ten. The extra sleep definitely helped my hangover. I still needed coffee, though.
When I heard him shuffling back into the room, I smiled shyly. “Hi,” I said, getting up.

“Hi.” He seemed a bit out of place as well.
“Since I’m still dressed, I’m to assume nothing happened, last night, right?” I asked.
“God, no, Bella.” He looked shocked I would even ask.” You originally passed out on my
shoulder. I moved you and when I went to leave, you asked me to stay. I moved behind you
and we both fell asleep.”

“Just making sure, since you had a death grip on the girls this morning.”
“The girls?” He looked confused.
“The girls,” I emphasized, grabbing my boobs.
“Oh shit, I’m really sorry…,” he stammered.
I waved him off.” I require greasy food. Care to hit the diner with me?”

“Only if we can stop at my house so I can change.”
“Deal. I’ll be right back.” I dropped the blanket and went to change into some shorts and
another tank top. At least I had a bra on now. I brushed my hair before putting it on top of my

head in a clip. I slid into sandals and met Edward by the front door.

“I left the wine bottles by the sink, is that okay?”
“Oh, thanks. You didn’t need to do any clean up.”
“I folded your blanket too.” He winked and we walked outside. After locking Fort Knox, I
climbed into his car and we drove around the block. When we pulled in to hisdriveway, he got
out of the car. “Did you want to wait here or inside?” he asked.

“Here works for me. “I called Alice while I waited for him to return. I got her voicemail so I let
her know I was fine, and I’d talk to her later at work.
We found an open booth at the diner, where I proceeded to order gallons of coffee. Edward
and I each ordered a large stack of pancakes. “I feel as if I owe you some apologies,” I said
filling our coffee mugs.

“I’m the one that forced myself into your house last night. I should be the one apologizing.”
“Yes, you should for that. However as I was already drunk when you got there, I’m sure I was
extra mean to you. “

“You weren’t that bad, although you did kick me a few times during the movie.”
“You probably deserved it.” I winked, “No, really, thanks. I know you wanted to make sure Ben
hadn’t upset me and I can appreciate that.”

“Want to tell me exactly what’s going on between you two?”
I took a deep breath and thought about it before launching into it. After ten minutes, Edward
seemed as mad as I was. “I’m really sorry you can’t trust him. Can he prove himself to you?”

“He’s on the right path, but I don’t know. The fact he tried to break in and steal from me
doesn’t exactly fade away. Each time I set the alarm, I’m reminded. On the other hand, I don’t
want to miss out on anything with my niece or nephew. It’s frustrating.”

“Yea, when you lay it all out like that, I can understand your confusion. Want some advice?”
“Sure. You tried to offer me some last night, but I don’t remember what you said.” We
laughed.

“Trust is something that has to be earned and it’s very difficult to get back when it’s lost. I
think if you can work through all this and be on friendly terms with Ben, it would benefit all
of you. If you can’t than at least get on talking terms so you don’t miss out on your niece or
nephew.”

“Spoken from a guy that obviously knows. Want to talk about it?” I offered.
“Maybe someday.”
I told Edward to drive to his house and I’d walk home. It was a nice day and I could use the
fresh air. We got out of his car and I stopped him before he could go inside.

“Edward thanks again for last night.”
“You’re welcome. And thanks for letting me grope you. In case you were wondering, they’re as
fantastic as I thought they were the last time.” He kissed my forehead. “See you at work.” He
bounded up his steps and in through his door.
I walked home thinking about his hand on my chest, and his kiss to my head.
Once I got back to my house, I threw in a load of laundry and finished cleaning up the
leftover pizza from the night before. Edward must have had some as there was only one slice
left. There was still half a bottle of wine left, so yeah me; I didn’t drink three full bottles. I
dusted and vacuumed while singing along to 70’s disco music at the top of my lungs. I
cleaned both bathrooms, my kitchen and made sure to dust both bedrooms. I was a cleaning
machine. This was a miracle in itself as I was still a teensy bit hung-over. I decided to give
Alice a call before hitting the shower and getting ready for work.

“I was just going to call you. What happened with Ben?” she asked.
“Well, you know he accosted me at work, so I sat with him and we talked. He apologized a
ton, wants me to trust him.”

“Did he explain why he tried to break in?”
“Yes, but not to my satisfaction. Once I got home, I got drunk, ate pizza and fell asleep on my
couch with Edward.”

“Edward was there?!” she screeched.”How come I couldn’t come over, but he could?”
“It’s not like I invited him, Alice. He took it upon himself to make sure I was okay. I guess after
I passed out on him, when he went to lay me on the couch, I asked him to stay so he did.”

“This is an interesting turn of events, Bella.”
“He groped my boobs, too.”
“I’m gonna kill him! He came over and pushed himself on you while you were drunk?!” she
seethed.

“Slow down, Alice! Nothing happened, not really. When I woke up on the couch this morning, I
had my back to his front and one of his hands was on my boob. It was an innocent thing, I
promise. “

“So you say,” she joked. “I get why he came over, though. I don’t know the whole story but I
know he had a big trust issue he dealt with. It’s why he moved back.”

“He mentioned that in passing, but didn’t go into detail. Shit, Alice, I have to go or I’ll be
late for work.”

“We will finish this conversation later, missy,” she scolded and hung up.
I hopped into the shower with thirty minutes to spare until I needed to be at work. After
the quickest wash down in history, I tossed on deodorant, pants and white shirt; towel
dried my hair and ran for my keys, purse and shoes. I barely had time to put my stuff down
before I had to clock in. I braided my very wet hair during the meeting.
Alice cornered me as we waited for our tables to be seated.”So quick synopsis on Ben,
please.”

“He was angry.” I shrugged.
“Angry? That’s the reason he tried to get in? What a dick! What are you going to do?”
“Let him sweat it out while I decide what I want to do.” I grabbed waters and greeted my first
table.
The evening went quickly which is always a good thing. All my customers were happy and left
good tips. I grabbed my stuff to go, when Edward called me into his office as I was passing his
door.

“Hey, how’d your hangover go?”
“Well, that’s kind of a loaded question, no? It faded by the time I got in the shower, but I still
don’t feel all together. I’m going to actually sleep when I go home tonight.”

“That sounds like a good idea. If you want company, I’m available. As a matter of fact, hand
me your phone.” He held out his hand and I gave it to him. He punched in his info, called
himself and handed it back to me. “I got you now.”

“Well, if I need another chest rub, I’ll let you know. “ He laughed and I went home.

****

By Monday, I was feeling better in general and ready for classes. Alice and I decided we’d
have breakfast then head to class. We flipped a coin over who’d drive. She won for today. We
still needed to figure out how we’d work it all out, but it would happeneventually. There are
times when we won’t want to ride together. I tend to get really high strung when I have a test
and I’m not pleasant to be around.
After classes, we had time to eat and relax. The restaurant being closed on Mondays meant
we could go into work if we wanted to or not. Today we chose not. The rest of the week, we’d
be there. We hit up our favorite deli near campus and grabbed an outside table.

“Do you have any repeats?” Alice asked.
“Repeat what? Offenders?”
“No silly,” she laughed.” Repeat teachers. I know you probably don’t recognize any ofthe
other kids in class as you prefer to snob it up online.”
I choked on my pickle. “You’re killing me, chick. No repeats for teachers of kids in class. You
never know when you might run into someone from high school.“ We both shuddered.

“Right? You’d think it would make us smart enough to move away or only go online for
classes.”

“I kind of like being on campus. Makes me feel all collegiate,” I said, trying to keep a straight
face.

“Ha ha. I think I’m just over school. I don’t really need the degree any more. Mom said neither
of us does. Honestly I know the software you work with is idiot proof. “

“Are you calling me an idiot?” I tried to sound indignant, but it didn’t work.
“If the small brain fits…..” She trailed off, so I smacked her arm.
“I’ve thought about not finishing, you know? I don’t have that much left for my associates, so
maybe I’ll stop there. I do like learning, though. Maybe I should just take a few fun classes
next time.” I suggested.

“Basket Weaving? Film? Oohhh I know tennis!”She was laughing so hard, she fell out of her
chair. Since she was picking on me I didn’t help her up. We laughed so hard, my side hurt and
I could barely breathe.
The whole ride back to my house, we’d take turns laughing still over the conversation.

The week went pretty well, considering I had to get back into the study groove. I had a good
grasp on all things accounting by now, though. I cut back my hours waiting tables to Fridays,
Saturdays and Sundays. No more lunches either. Victoria happily picked up a few extra hours,
but it was obvious we’d still need to hire one more person.
Today, Alice, Edward and I were having another meeting about the menu items. We had a few
feedback items to discuss from the staff as well. I checked my watch and noticed I had time
to stop for a ginormous coffee from Starbucks. I wouldn’t normally give them my hard
earned cash, but I was craving a Caramel Macchiato. I took a pic of the lobby and sent it to
Alice with a, ‘you want?’ Her order for three cups came back fast.
I paid and grabbed the carry-all with all the cups, setting it carefully on the passenger seat. I
only had two blocks to drive, so as long as no one slammed into my car, they wouldn’t spill.
Alice met me in the parking lot to help me with it all. “No scones?” she asked.

“Did you request them?” I pointed out.
“Wishful thinking,” she said. “Come on, I need to hand one of these to my handsome man
before we all sit down. Can you give this one to Edward? He’s sitting at our usual booth. “She
handed me one of the cups and trotted off to Jasper’s car.
I walked in, put all my stuff down at the booth and nodded to Edward. “I need to grab my
notebook; I’ll be right back down.”

“Thanks for this,” he said, holding up the coffee. “Can you grab the box of donuts from my
desk, please? I hooked us up, but left them there.”

“Sure.” I ran up the stairs, depositing my things in my office and headed next door to
Edward’s. I hadn’t really taken the time to look around the one time I’d been in here, so I did
this time. There were a few pictures of him with Alice and Carlisle and Esme, as well as one of
what looked like a much younger him with people that I can onlyassume were his parents. I
grabbed the donuts and was back at the both before Alice even came in.
He opened the box and yanked out a bear claw as soon as I sat down. “Yummy goodness. I
got this one for me. Help yourself.”

“Let me grab Alice, first.” Just as I stood, she joined us.
“Sorry.” She tried to look contrite but failed. “Oohh donuts.” She reached in and grabbed one,
stuffing it into her mouth before we could say anything to her. I took a chocolate one and we
got down to business.

“Since her mouth is full, guess I’ll start,” Edward said. “So far, I think the menu changes are
great. We’ve sold more soup and sandwich style lunches. Jake’s beenbusier at the bar too.”

“About that, I have an idea,” I said. “As Alice and I are no longer working lunches or

dinners Tuesday through Thursday, what about a part time bartender that can also pick up
tables if needed?”

“What do you mean?” Alice asked.
“Maybe they can help at the bar on Friday nights, but wait tables on Thursdays? Just an idea.
We really need two more bodies in here, but economically, it’s not wise yet. I don’t want to
hire two people then not have enough hours for them.”

“Let me talk to Jake and see if that’ll work. Worst case scenario? I can jump behind the bar if
needed, as well. “

“You know how to bartend?” I asked.
“Cuz has skills,” Alice said.
“Really, Alice? Cuz?” He shuddered.
She dismissed him with her hand. “I like it, if it’ll work, Bella. Of course, once you and Istop
working the floor, the extra money will be there.”

“But I like the floor.” I pouted.
“And the floor likes you too, Bella,” Edward stroked my arm in jest before he could
stophimself. I glanced at his hand on my arm, before slightly moving away.

“Plus Alice and I are both here on Wednesdays, as well as Thursdays. We can always help out
on the floor too. I can start keeping work clothes in my office as a just in case.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alice agreed.
We talked numbers for about twenty minutes before we ended our meeting. When I stood,
Edward grabbed my arm. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure.” I sat back down as Alice waved and headed to her office. “What’s up?”
“Is it true that you’ve turned Jake down for a date?”
“That’s an odd question, but the answer is yes, numerous times. Is he bitching about it,
again?”

“No, not at all. I was wondering why?”
“Not sure where you’re headed with these questions. What does it matter why I don’t want to
date him?” If Jake was using Edward to get me to go out with him, I was goingto kill him.

Edward put his hands up in supplication. “Call it idle curiosity. He said you told him you don’t
date people you work with.”

“I did tell him that,” I agreed.
“Is it true?”
“Partially, but I don’t still don’t understand why this matters to you. “
“Because I wanted to invite you out,” he said, shocking me.
“What?!”
“Never mind,” he muttered, standing up.
“Edward, wait.” I grabbed his hand, yanking him back onto the seat. “You surprised me, that’s
all.” I took a deep breath. “I told Jake I wouldn’t date him primarily because I find him
annoying. The fact that he’s only a few years younger than I am but acts like a teenage boy
sealed the deal.”

“Oh.” He smiled.”So would you like to go out sometime?”
“I suppose it would depend on where you wanted to take me.” I winked and got up, walking as
normally as possible to Alice’s office. I needed to bounce all this off her.

“Alice?!” I screamed as I ran into her office, slamming the door behind me. I leaned up
against the closed door, panting.
“What’s wrong?” Alice was immediately at my side. She grabbed my arm and yanked me to
the chair. “Sit and breathe, Bella. Now tell me what happened.”
I suddenly felt silly, she was worried about me and nothing really happened. “Everything’s
okay, I think, Alice. I just got surprised.”
“By what? You seem really freaked out.”
“Edward asked me out.”
“And this is what caused your panic?” She tsked me. “I thought something bad hadhappened,
Bella. You had me worried. “She pulled her chair next to mine. “So, what’s the problem?”
“I guess I’m surprised.”
“Why? I told you he liked you.”
“Maybe because he was such a dick to me in the beginning. I feel as if I barely know him. Hell,
we’ve only been on polite terms for a month or so.”
“Let’s dissect this, shall we?” she suggested. I nodded so she rambled on. “First things first:
Are you even interested in going out with him?”
“I hinted that I would, but he didn’t outright ask, so I didn’t answer him in the positive.”
“Back up, you’re acting like this and he didn’t ask you out? I thought you said he did. Maybe
you should start at the beginning.”

So, I did. I told her how he was asking about Jake then said he wanted to ask me out. “I
basically left it open that if he asked I would say yes.”
“But he didn’t ask?” She tapped her finger to her chin. “I may need to talk to him, he seems a
bit rusty. “
“Please don’t, Alice. Let’s see where this goes before you get involved. Besides, he’s told me
how awesome my boobs are, so I guess that’s a start.” We laughed and I got up to leave. “I
have work to do. Catch you later.” I left her office, grabbed another coffee and went upstairs.
Edward’s music was blaring but his office door was shut. I contemplated knocking on it and
talking about the date, but decided it was up to him to come to me when he had an idea. I’m
pretty sure today he was just feeling me out on the possibility. I pushed it to the back of my
mind and got to work.
An hour later, I realized I couldn’t hear just music from Edward’s office any more. It sounded
like he was getting some in there. I sat there shocked at the noises, and grabbed my phone.
“Hey Alice, it sounds as if Edward’s deep into someone in his office,” I whispered.

“Why are you whispering? I can barely hear you.”
I cleared my throat but still kept my voice low. “Come up here,” I demanded and hung up the
phone. What seemed like seconds later, Alice poked her head in.

“You bellowed for my presence.” I waved her in and she shut the door behind her. “Bella,
what’s going on?”

“Shhhh…. Come here.” She placed her ear against the wall, just like I had mine. She opened
her mouth to speak but then shut it.

“What’s going on over there?” she whispered.
“I don’t know but it sounds as if he’s getting his knob polished,” I said.
She smacked my arm.”I highly doubt that’s what’s going on.” Of course just as she said that,
the female voice got really loud. “Holy shit. I’m going to stop this, right now.” Alice stormed
over and banged on his door. “EDWARD! Open this door right fuckingnow!”
Funny thing, the noises didn’t stop but I heard the door open. From there it was muffled
voices, and laughing. I was really confused. More laughing then I heard the door shut again.
Alice was back in my office with tears running down her face. “He’s watching something on
Funny or Die. It’s like amateur porn starring animals. It’s hilarious, “she explained then she
raised an eyebrow.
“Would it have bothered you if he was doing someone over there?”

“Sheesh, Alice. He just asked if I was interested in going on a date, and then hooks up with
someone like two hours later? Yes, that would bother me.”

“Good to know. See you later.” She left me to sit there wondering about all of this. Edward
knocked on my doorjamb a minute later.

“Can I sit?” he asked.
“Sure, come on in. What’s up?” I tried to be cool.
“I want to apologize for what that must have sounded like to you.”
“It sounded as if you were doing some chick on your desk.”
“Note to self, walls are pretty thin up here,” he laughed. “I didn’t think when I opened it,
that’s what it was going to be. It’s not like I watch porn at work, Bella.”

“But you do watch it?”
“Don’t we all?” He laughed and stood. “I need to check in with Mike before the staff gets in.
See you later.”

“Bye.”
“Oh, I’m trying to think of what we can do that you’ll agree to. After all, you told me it would
depend on what the plan was.” I rolled my eyes and waved him good bye.
I finished up what I was working on and changed into my uniform. I made a mental note to
bring an extra one in to leave here. I actually had a tiny closet to use. I put my hair up and
headed to the pre-dinner meeting. We were fully staffed tonight, as we’d gotten busier due
to the time of year.

“Jake, can I have a word with you after?” Edward asked. Jake nodded and he got to business.
“We’re busy, keep things flowing, and ask for help if you need it. Any comments, concerns?”
No one said anything, so he dismissed us.”Alice, Bella? Can you join me with Jake?” We
nodded and met at the bar so Jake could set up.

“Jake, we know you’ve been slammed back here. Do you feel you need full time help or part
time?” I asked.

“Are you going to come back here and help me out?” Jake asked, full of innuendo.
“I’m going to help you out of a job, if that continues,” I said and his face fell. “We’re
tossing around whether to get a part time bar staff slash table server. It will depend you.”

“Okay, cool. If I’m out here alone and they’re waiting on tables, who’ll help out in a rush?”
Jake asked.

“I can easily jump back there if needed, Jake. Just have someone grab me,” Edward stated.
“Sounds like a plan. Let me think on it okay?”
We all agreed, and Alice and I headed to the hostess stand and Edward to the kitchen.
The next week flew by in a blur of classes and work. Edward still hadn’t asked me out, so I
decided he wasn’t serious. Maybe that was for the best seeing as we had to work together. If
anything went wrong, I’d be out of a job.
I was trying to read a few chapters and progress on homework before I headed in to work
tonight. I was caught up on my office work, so I had to only show up to wait tables. We also
had the new bartender starting tonight. I hadn’t met him, yet, but Alice said he was
handsome. I looked over to see I had about two hours until I had to be at work. I closed
my book, deciding to take a very long hot shower. I made sure to bring an extra uniform with
me to keep in the closet.
I had just parked in the lot when Alice came screeching in next to me almost on two wheels. I
love how much she complained about my driving. “In a hurry short stuff?” I asked when she
opened her door.
“I have got to pee!” she screamed and ran inside. I laughed and followed her in. I grabbed a
soda because I wasn’t in the mood for coffee and went upstairs. I had ten minutes to drop off
my stuff and check the inbox on my desk. Usually food requests and inventory checks were
left in there for me, as well as any bills. I sighed when I saw how much was already in there.
It wouldn’t be time consuming, just monotonous.
I braided my hair as I walked down to the meeting. I saw a very nice new face that winked
when he saw me. I stopped mid-step, wondering what that was all about, but took my place
next to Alice.

“He’s cute, no?” She nudged me, keeping her voice low.
“Not bad, what’s his name?”
“Eric.” She gave him her best smile and paid attention as Mike called everyone to order.
“Push whatever you want. We’re sitting pretty on all the items. We have a new face at the bar.
His name’s Eric and he’s on his first night, so be on your best behavior, please. Feel free to
stop over there and introduce yourselves. He‘s met Jake, Edward and me so far. Let’s get to
it.” Mike dismissed us and I headed to the front.
I checked with the Rachel, the hostess. As usual she had Alice and I up front with Victoria
closer to the bar area. Thinking of the bar, I decided to head over and introduce myself. Jake
was going over a few things with Eric when I got there.

“Hey Bella. What’s up?” Jake asked, “You need a drink?”

“Personally, I could always use one.” I laughed, “However I came over to introduce myself
before we got busy. Hi Eric, I’m Bella.” I put my hand out and he took it, lifting itto his mouth
and kissing the back of my knuckles.

“Don’t even bother, dude. She refuses to date anyone she works with,” Jake said.
“Maybe it’s the person asking,” Eric responded.
“You might be on to something,” I said, thinking of Edward. “Anyway, I’m also the money girl
slash assistant manager slash server. Welcome aboard.” I turned to see a scowling Edward
standing in the doorway. “What? Did I get a table and no one told me? Rachel knew where I
was,” I asked hurrying in his direction.

“No, it’s...never mind.” He stormed back into the kitchen.
I re-joined Alice up front. “It seems Edward’s back in douche mode.”

“Ignore him. You’re up; I already have my first table.” I looked over to see Rachel seating in
my section. I went over to tell them the specials.
The night flew from there. I loved how busy Saturday nights were. I cleared my last table
and went into the kitchen to grab a big glass of water. “Hi Mike,” I said when I saw him near
the dish room.

“How’d it go out there?” he asked.
“I’ll have Alice or Edward check in with the bar staff, but it seemed to run smoother. I need
to finish up so I can go.” I gulped down my water, handed the glass in to Embry in the
dish room and went to finish my clean up.
Once that was done, I decided I was ready to head out. I looked around and saw Iwas the last
one. Alice must have left already. I ran to my office to grab my things andmake sure
everything was locked up. Edward was sitting at his desk, so I stepped inside his office on my
way out.

“Hey, I was just leaving.”
“’Night.” He barely looked at me, so I rolled my eyes and left. I called Alice to see if I could
stop by on my way home.

“Alice’s phone, hot guy speaking,” Jasper said.
I laughed. “Hey, it’s me. Can I stop over?”

“Sure thing pudding. See you soon.” He hung up before I could ask about the nickname. I

unlocked my car and got in. I waved to Jake and Victoria who were huddling next to his car. It
looks as if they were a thing, now. I smiled thinking about that.
I parked at the curb at Alice’s house, leaving the open space in the driveway for Jasper’s car
which was missing. One of them had left the front door open for me, so I just walked in.
“Hello?” I called out, walking towards their kitchen. Alice was already pouring me a glass of
wine.

“Here you go, sweetie. Want to chat in here or the living room?”
“Living room. Where’s Jasper?”
“Edward called, said he needed guy time.” She used air quotes when she said the word, guy.
“Hopefully Jasper can un-lodge the stick that Edward sat on. “ I drank half my glass of wine.
Alice got up to grab the bottle and sat back down. “I didn’t notice anything different, so what
did he say to you?”

“Nothing. That’s the point. He gave me a dirty look before we had any tables and then he
barely answered me when I said I was leaving. I don’t get it, Alice. He said he wanted to take
me out some time. It’s been over a week and nothing. It’s like he decided I wasn’t worth it or
something.” I filled my glass back up.

“Can I offer some advice?” she asked.
“As long as it’s not for me to do something stupid and immature, then yes. Advise away.” I
waved her on.

“Have you thought about asking him about it?”
“Why would I?”
“He told you he wanted to take you out. You told him he’d better have a plan. Maybe you
need to let him know he’s lagging.”

“Or I can go out with Eric. He was hitting on me,” I offered.
“Oh, well that explains it,” she said full of confidence.
“I know I’ve been drinking and everything but what are you talking about?” I refilled our
glasses, finishing the bottle. Alice’s wine glasses were more like beer steins.

“I’m going to use small words so you can follow along. When did Eric flirt with you?”

“Before service started, I went over to introduce myself.”
“What happened next?” She was practically rolling her eyes.
“Edward scowled at me and huffed into the kitchen.”
“Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact he saw you and Eric talking? I swear it’s
like you’re in junior high again. Do you like me? Circle yes or no.” She stood, “More?” she
asked pointing the wine bottle.

“Yes pleas. Can I crash if I drink too much?”
“Sure thing.”
We spent the next hour with her telling me how stupid Edward and I both were. I eventually
passed out.
I was rudely awakened the next morning by Jasper and his snake. His real one, not his trouser
one. He had decided to let Caius slither on me. I screamed, bolting up. “What the ever loving
fuck is wrong with you?”
He grabbed Caius, angling him around his neck.” The boy wanted to say ‘hi’,“ he explained.

“I swear Jasper, if Alice didn’t love you so much, I’d bury you out back.” I shuffled into the
bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I was here often enough that I had a
toothbrush in the drawer. I joined him in the kitchen when I was done.

“Here you go, sugar,” he said, handing me a mug of ambrosia also known as coffee.
“Thanks. What’s with all the stupid nicknames, lately?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Don’t know.” We laughed until he shushed me. “Alice’s still sleeping. So what
happened between you and Edward?”

“As in?” I quirked an eyebrow.
“He needed to vent last night, that’s why I hung out over there. I didn’t get back here until
about three hours ago. By the way, you snore.”

“Do not.” I punched his bicep. “What did he need to vent for? He was a prick to me. I’m the
one that needed to vent. More please.” I held out my cup.

“Greedy.” He filled me back up. “I’m gonna have to make more, today’s a two potter. So,
here’s how I see it. Edward likes you, for some reason.”

“Hey!”
“Quit interrupting me, woman. As I was saying, Edward likes you. He said he mentioned
wanting to go out sometime. Then he said he saw you flirting with the new guy. Way to
crush his ego.”

“Typical guy, jumps to a conclusion without talking to someone.” I handed my cup to him for
yet another refill. “I walked over to the bar, introduced myself. Eric kissed my hand which I
grabbed back from him. End of story. No flirting, at least not from me.Besides, for a guy that’s
all jealous, he hasn’t even bothered to ask me out. He only asked me if I would consider going
out. I said yes, he never brought it back up.”

“He’s emotionally stunted, Bella. Something bad happened in New York. He won’t talk about
it, but it’s obvious, “Alice explained, joining us. “My head hurts, but I didn’t think we drank
that much.”

“Sounds as if we need a trip to the diner,” Jasper said, putting his mug in thedishwasher.
“You guys go ahead, I need to get home.” I added my cup to Jasper’s and went to gather my
things. “See you at work!” I called out, got into my car and went home. Itossed a load of
laundry in before changing clothes and hitting the grocery store. I made it almost through the
whole store before I ran into Edward. I sighed and tried to move past him, but he stopped me.

“Hey, Bella. Can we talk?”
“What do you want?”
“I want to apologize. I handled things wrong last night.”
“You think?” I moved to go around him again, but this time he put his hands on my cart.
“Give me a minute, please.” He scrubbed his hands down his face. “I’m a man, we don’t talk,
and we act. It’s just how we are.”

“Is this your apology, because so far it sucks.” I tapped my foot.
“I refer you to the previous mentioned fact that I’m a man. I’m sorry. I saw Eric kiss your
knuckles and all of you laughing. I got the wrong idea and took it out on you instead of just
asking.”

“That’s not the only thing you haven’t asked,” I mumbled. “Why would you get the wrong
idea?”

“What?”

“As in, why would it matter if I had been flirting with Eric?”
“Am I wrong about us?”
“What ‘us?”
“I thought we had something starting. I guess I misunderstood you.” He went to walkaway.
“How could we have anything starting when you haven’t asked me to do anything, yet?”
“I haven’t? Really? I could have sworn I did.”
“You’re right, you are a man,” I sighed. “You asked me if I would be amiable to maybe go out
sometime. I said yes, but you had to have a plan. I never heard another word about it. That
was more than a week ago. I thought you changed your mind,” I explained.

“Why would you think I changed my mind?”
“Seriously? Because when someone says they want to go out, they usually do some kind of
follow through by asking me to go.”

“Can I stick to my ‘I’m a man’ defense? “
“No,” I laughed.
“So what are you doing today?”
“Working, same as you. Why?”
“Did you want to hang out after work? We can go to Aro’s or my house.”
“So now you want to do something?” I joked.
“Yes, I do. If we go to Aro’s, it’s along the lines of a date. If we go to my house, it’s just friends
hanging out. You choose where, just let me know later, okay. Can you call me before you leave
for work, though? This way I can bring clothes to change into. If you do the same, so we can
go straight from work, if we’re going to Aros. If it’s my house, you can come over all food
stenchy. ”

“I don’t believe I have ever smelled ‘food stenchy’. Let me think about it, but I promise to call
you with plenty of time to pack a bag,” I answered.

“Great. I’ll see you later, I need to clean in case you do come over.” He winked and
headed out of the aisle, leaving me flabbergasted.
I sent Alice a quick text looking for advice. Her answer was, do you want to do

I spent the two minute ride home making a mental pro and con list about tonight. I still wasn’t
sure, so I called Alice.

“Hey, it’s me. So not sure where I want to go tonight,” I said.
“What options did he give you?” she asked.
“Aro’s for drinks or his house to hang out.”
“Well, if you go to Aro’s with just him, not in a group setting, it’s definitely a date. If you go to
his house, it’s friends hanging out.”

“That’s what he said.” I laughed. “So I guess I need to decide if I want it to be a date or not.”
“Well, there are benefits to both. The bar means everyone we work with and pretty much
know will immediately think you’re dating. If you hang at his house, you can havedeeper
conversations and more to drink.”

“I’d need to drive home no matter what, so the drinking comes off the table.”
“Would you feel more comfortable if Jasper and I come along, too?” she offered.
“You’re sweet to pony that up, but I think this is a date.”
Alice squealed. “Yeah, finally. Dust off your hoo-ha.”

“It hasn’t been that long, sheesh. Besides, I don’t sex up on the first date.”
“Sweetie, you have moths. Second date?” she laughed and hung up on me before I could say
anything. That’s okay though, I’ll get her back later. I had my answer so I sent Edward a text
telling him to bring a change of clothes.
I sang along to the radio as I drove into work. Since it was nice out, I had the windows down,
not caring who heard me or not. I was still singing as I walked into work.

“Has anyone ever told you that you can’t carry a tune?” Eric asked.
I turned to see him sitting up front talking to Jake. “Anyone told you I don’t care what other
people think?”
He got up and walked over to me.”Hey I wanted to ask you something.”

“Can it wait? I have a few things I need to do before I serve tonight.”
“I guess so. Can you stop over at the bar when you have a minute?”

“Sure.” I waved to Jake and walked towards Alice’s office. “Hey, you.” I knocked on her
doorjamb.

“What’s up, chicken butt?” She took off her reading glasses. “Make your decision?”
“Why yes, Miss Scarlett, I did.”
“And?”She made the international hand signal for ‘get on with it’
“We’re going to Aro’s.”
“Wow, Bella, jumping in with both feet.” She got up to give me a hug. “I’m proud of you and
remember if he’s an ass, call mom.”

“I will.” I laughed, “Heading up, see you soon.” I detoured for a cup of coffee, waving to Mike
and sniffing the Chicken Tortilla Soup before I was seated at my desk working. I was
interrupted by a knock on my door and couldn’t help smiling when I saw Edward standing in
the threshold.

“Hi. I brought you some soup,” he said, walking in and handing me the bowl.
“Thanks, Edward. How’d you know I was considering the soup?”
“I saw you inhale it on your walk through.” He handed me a spoon and a napkin.
“You thought of everything. What’s up?” I pointed to the chair at my desk so he sat.
“What day works for you for another hands on meeting?”
I pulled up my calendar to double check my homework load. “Either Monday afterclass or
Tuesday morning works the best for me. How’s Alice looking?”

“Don’t know yet. “ He shrugged, “Thought I’d ask you first.”
“Aren’t you the sweetest?” I batted my eyes and he rolled his. “Is everything ready to go for
tonight?”

“Seems to be.” He stood to go, “I’ll see you down there.”
“Bye.” I finished my soup and paid a few bills before grabbing a hair tie and walking down
to the meeting. Everyone was early, so I looked like a schlep. Oh well. I stood braiding
my hair as Edward went over everything.

“Hey, can you meet me at the bar when this is over?” Eric whispered. I nodded, getting a
weird look from Edward in the process.

“Bella and Alice, can I see you after?” Edward asked.
“Sure thing, boss man,” I replied. Everyone left but us. “What’s up?”
“Alice, can you look at your schedule and let me know when the three of us can sit down
again? You and Bella coordinate and let me know.”

“Sure, I’ll get back to you tomorrow on that. Anything else?” Alice asked.
“Nope, that’s it,” he said and Alice left us alone. “Are you sure about tonight?” he asked.
“I was, until now. Aren’t you?” I asked.
“Yes, but this makes it very public and we live in a small town.”
I scrunched my nose. “You are a confusing man, Edward Cullen. Did you or did you not want
to date me?”

“Yes, I did.”
“Are you trying to back out?”
“No…”
“Then allow me to break this down for you. Yes, we live in a small town. Whether we hang out
in public or not, people will talk. If we give them a glimpse of what’s going on, there will be
fewer questions. It’s like you forgot all this when you moved away.” I glanced at the front.
“I’ve got to go.” I walked to the hostess stand to greet my first table of the night.
Two hours later, I remember that I hadn’t stopped over to talk to Eric. I looked over to the bar,
but they were really busy, so I decided I would talk to him later. Later became closing time,
as there were no breaks for me tonight. While I waited for my last table to leave, I wandered
over to see what Erica wanted. Edward was standing at the end of the bar talking to Jake, so I
waved Eric over to the other side.

“Sorry, I got busy and couldn’t make it over before now. What did you need? Although I should
warn you, any drink thoughts need to go to Jake and then to Edward.”

“It’s not that important,” he said looking to make sure Jake was busy. “I just thought that we
should hang out sometime.”

“Oh, thanks, but no.” I started to walk away, but Eric grabbed my wrist.
“Can you tell me why not?”

“Sure. I’m already dating someone.” I felt Edward’s eyes on me, so I turned my head in his
direction. He was looking at Eric’s hand on my arm, though. I wiggled my hand.
He immediately removed his hand. “Sorry. “
I caught Edward’s eye, winked and went to finish my clean up. I really needed a drink. Alice
met me at my table, “Is it okay if we join you tonight?” she asked.

“Check with Edward, this is a date, so it’s really up to him. But, I’d be fine with it.”
She grumbled but walked away to find him. I waved at the staff that was leaving and walked
into the kitchen to drop off my last plates. “Bye Mike!” I yelled, before grabbing water and
heading to my office. I had a few minutes to at least fix my make-up and change before
Edward would be ready to go.
I had just shut my door to undress, when there was a knock on it. I opened it back up only to
get pushed inside and up against the wall by Edward. His mouth descended onto mine and
before I had a chance to react, we were kissing.
We parted when we’d both run out of breath. I put my hands on his chest to move him back a
little. “What was that for?”

“Marking my territory?” I shook my head. “How about, it was a thank you.”
“For?” I prompted.
“For agreeing to go tonight as well as allowing me to not get jealous with Eric earlier.”
“I can’t go with you tonight, if you don’t leave so I can change.”
He moved away from me, and went to open the door. “See you out front?”

“Give me about ten minutes, okay?”
“Okay.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead before leaving my office. I leaned against the
wall wondering what just happened.
After basking in the afterglow of the kiss for a few minutes, I realized I needed to change so I
could leave. Edward was chatting with Alice when I got outside.

“Jasper and I are going to meet you there, is that okay?” she asked.
“If its fine with Edward, it’s fine with me, although I’m not sure we need a chaperone.” Alice
rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I got nothing better to do than make sure you two keep your hands to yourself. Maybe
I should have followed you upstairs.” She nudged my arm and ran to her car.

“How did you know?” I yelled after her.
“It’s written all over your face!” she yelled back.
“Did you want to ride together, drop one of the cars off or meet there?” I asked, turning to
Edward.

“Let’s drop a car off at my house. This way you can leave from there whenever you want to.
No pressure, Bella.” He winked and strolled over to his car.
I followed him to his and he walked over to mine. “If you drive, this means you’ll haveto stay
sober. “he reminded me. “I don’t mind, either way.”

“Well, I shouldn’t get wasted on a first date anyway, so I can drive.” I hit the door lock and
Edward climbed in. We made small talk on the way to the bar.
Edward grabbed my hand as we walked into the bar. Right at the door, I stopped. “Contrary
to popular belief, you can’t just kiss a girl without at least buying her a drink. You get a free
pass this time.”
He laughed and we went to join Alice and Jasper. They must have driven two cars, because
their house is further out than mine or Edward’s. They already had a pitcher too. I slid in and
Edward took the outside of the seat.
Alice poured us each a glass and lifted hers in a toast.”To friends that turn into more.” She
clanked the sides of our mugs before I could say anything. “Don’t give me that look, missy.
You came down today looking like a girl that had some good kissing happen. “

“Really, Alice? You want to do this now?” I asked.
“Sure, why not?” She shrugged. Turning to Edward she said, “What are your intentionswith
Bella. Not only is she my dearest friend, but mom and dad treat her as if she belongs to
them.”
Edward choked on his sip of beer. “Sheesh, Alice, this is our first date. Don’t you think you
may be pushing it a bit?” He moved his pointer and thumb next to each other to signify a very
small space.

“So pushing her up against the wall and attacking her with your mouth didn’t mean
anything?” she stated.

“How do you know these things?” I asked.

She tapped her head. “I’m a knower, I know things.” We all laughed and ignored her
comments. We drank beer and talked. Every once in awhile Edward would put his hand on my
leg and I didn’t push him away. I had to admit, I liked it.
After we’d been there for around thirty minutes, Jake, Eric and Victoria walked in. Jake’s
eyes zoned in on how close Edward and I were sitting before he looked away in disgust.
Alice kicked me under the table and mouthed out, ‘uh-oh’ to me. I nodded because I knew
this could get ugly.
Carmen came around and we ordered a second pitcher. I was only on my second beer,
because I was driving. When the pitcher landed on our table, I looked over to ask for the
check, only to see Jake standing there.

“Hi guys,” he said.
“Jake,” Edward answered, removing his hand from my leg and placing it on the table. “What
can we do for you?”

“Nothing, just wondering what’s going on tonight?” he asked, focusing on me.
“Hanging out, having a drink. Probably the same as what you’re here to do,” Alice answered.
“What’s going on with you and Victoria?” She smirked, knowing she had him.

“Not a lot, yet.” He smiled, “But you never know.”
“Well, you guys have fun tonight,” I said and waved him off. Jake took the hint, but none of us
missed the glare he gave me. “Fuck, he’s going to be unbearable at work.”
Edward took my hand in his.”Don’t sweat it. He doesn’t want to piss off his boss.”

“You can’t threaten his job over this,” I said.
“He can’t but I can,” Alice said. “I have the write ups in his personnel file to back it up. If he
gets out of line, tell me and I’ll take care of him.” She cracked her knuckles to emphasize her
point.
We finally flagged down Carmen so we could pay, leaving her a nice tip for putting up with us.
We walked outside together, saying our goodbyes. I got behind the wheel and drove us back
to Edward’s.

“Did you want to come in for a bit?” he offered.
I thought about it, but decided it wasn’t a good idea. “Not tonight. But thanks. I had fun.”

“Anytime. Maybe our next outing can be just you and me,” he suggested.

“I’d like that, Edward.”
“Before I go, I need to ask. Has anything happened with you and Jake?”
“Other than me telling him no each and every time he asked me out? No. We didn’t even go
to school together, he moved here after I graduated.”

“Okay, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to walk into any sexual comments about
you. I’d hate to have to punch people.”

“If you hear any, they aren’t true. But feel free to punch anyone you want as long as it’s to
protect my virtue. ”

“Well, as long as I have your permission…” he left off. He unfastened his seat belt and leaned
over to kiss me. It was short and sweet.
As soon as I got home, I sent Alice a text.
I think I like him
Her reply:
I know you do
I was rudely awoken the next morning to my cell phone ringing. I noticed the time was five
and when I saw it was Ben, I almost didn’t answer it.

“Hello?” I mumbled.
“Sorry to wake you, Bella, but we had to rush Angela to the ER and I need someone here with
me. I know we’re not great right now, but please? I need you,” he begged.

“Be there in ten.” I hung up, and jumped out of bed. I managed to brush my teeth and hair at
the same time. I was calling Alice as I yanked on jeans. I left her a voicemail and hurried out
the door and into my car. I found a spot not too far from the entrance and barreled through
the doors.
I didn’t see Ben, so I went up to the desk.”Hi, I’m looking for Angela Weber.”

“I don’t have any Webers; let me see what I can find out for you.” The girl, whose name tag
said ‘Jane’, started typing. “I have an Angela Swan being seen right now and her husband’s
with her. Would you like me to grab him for you?”
“Please, tell him Bella’s here.”She got up and hustled down the hall. Ben’s head poked out
of a door a few seconds later and he came to greet me.

“Thanks for coming.” He tentatively put his arms around me and I tightened the grip, showing

support.

“What’s going on?” I asked, pulling away from him.
“We don’t know yet, we’re waiting for her Doctor. “ He wiped a tear from his eye. “She
woke up screaming in pain. It’s too early, Bella.” He slumped into the nearest chair.
We sat there holding hands until someone came over to ask if he was Ben. “Mr. Swan?” We
looked over to see Angela’s doctor. “Come on back and we can talk.”

“Is she okay?” I asked.
“She’s fine. Are you the sister?”she asked.
I stood up.”Yes, I’m Bella Swan, Bens’ sister,” I explained.

“I’m Doctor Denali, but you can call me, Tanya. Come on back with Ben and we can talk about
Angela.” She led the way back to the treatment room. Angela was sitting upwith a strap
across her stomach.

“Hi Bella,” Angela said when I entered the room. Ben went right to her side and grabbed her
hand.

“Okay, Swans let’s get this going. Before I called you both back, I ran some blood tests.
Angela has a slight Urinary Tract Infection, which caused the pain. She’s fineand so is the
baby. I just need you to be more aware of what you’re eating and when you’re tired, you
need to rest. Try to stay off your feet.”

“Bed rest? But I really don’t do much right now as it is,” Angela complained. Ben leaned
over to kiss her forehead.

“Not bed rest, Angela. Just relaxing time. I know you work from home, so maybe on the couch
instead of a desk. This is your body’s way of saying, ‘slow down’. So, let’s listen to it. We’ll
keep you for a few hours. If you’re BP goes down, we’ll release you. If not, it’s an overnight. I’ll
be back later,” Doctor Denali said as she walked out the door.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Angela.
“Tired, sore, stupid, “she answered.
“Why stupid?” Ben asked.
“Because I had cramping a few days ago, and I thought it was normal, so I didn’t call Tanya.
Now I know,” she said.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I said, getting up.”Do you need anything?”
“Thanks for coming, Bella. I’m fine. I can send Ben out if this turns into an overnight,” she
said.

“Call me if you change your mind. Ben, can you walk me out?”
“Sure. I’ll be right back,” he said to Angela.
When we got outside the sliding doors, I accosted him about her name. “Mrs. Swan?
Husband? You got married?!” I screeched.

“Yes. We went to the courthouse last week.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Ben?”
“It’s not like we’re talking Bella. I figured you wouldn’t care.” He shrugged.
“How can you say that?”
“When have you called Angela to see how she’s doing? She’s five months along and not one
word. Hell, you were pissy about going through old boxes for baby shit, Bella.” He threw his
hands up.”How was I to know I should call you about anything? Now I need to get back to
her.” He turned to go, but I grabbed his hand.

“Please call me later and tell me how she’s doing?” I requested. “Oh and Ben, you and I need
to figure out how to get along for the sake of your child.” I turned and went to my car. I
snatched my phone and noticed two missed calls. One from Alice, one from Edward. I called
Alice back, first.

“Hey, what’s going on? Is Angela okay?” she spewed out the minute she picked up.
“Some kind of urinary infection,” I answered. “Oh and she and Ben got married.”
“What?!” she shrieked.
“Yeah, I guess they hit the courthouse and he didn’t feel he could call me because of our
issues.”

“That really sucks, Bella. I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. It’s mine for not contacting him. I’m just still angry and I’ve allowed it to take
priority. He even pointed out that I never called Angela to see how she was doing. And
she’s five months along. How selfish can a person be?”

“It’s not only your fault, Bella. He gave you no reason to trust him. It’s not easy to regain
that.”

“I know.” I sighed. “I’m exhausted and going back to go to sleep. “
“Okay. Need me to get any homework for you?” she offered.
“I can email my prof. Thanks, though.” I yawned and drove back home. I called Edward once I
was safely back in bed.

“Hey,” I said.
“Everything alright?” he asked.
“Think so.” I yawned. “I’m tired. Can I call you later and fill you in?”
“Of course you can. We’ll talk later.” We hung up and I zonked out.
I woke up around noon and stretched like a cat. I hopped in the shower and headed to the
restaurant to get some work done.

Edward was in his office when I got upstairs so I flopped onto his couch. “Hi Bella. Get some
sleep?” he asked coming over to sit next to me.

“I did, but I’m still tired. “
“How’s Angela feeling?” he asked putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling meclose. I
snuggled into his chest.

“She’s okay. I need to call and check in on her. I’m more concerned about Ben.”
“Why?”
“They got married at the courthouse and he didn’t think I’d care or want to come. I just don’t
know what to do to be on good terms with him.”

“You’ll figure it out.” We sat there for a little while until someone banged on the door.
“Yo, Edward! We’re waiting on you,” Jake said, coming in and freezing the minute he noticed
me sitting there. “What the fuck is this?” he demanded.

“What’s what?” Edward asked, making no move to disentangle himself from me.
“I guess the excuses were pure bullshit, huh Bella. We’re waiting, Edward, so how about you

do your job and have your stupid meeting.” Jake stormed out.

“Big heavy sigh,” I said.
“Why not just make the noise? Why say it?” Edward laughed.
“I don’t think I can sigh that loud,” I explained. “Get to your meeting. I’ve got bills to pay.” I
stood up, kissed his cheek and went to my office.
Alice stormed in about ten minutes later. “What were you and Edward doing in his office?” she
asked, shutting the door behind her.
I started laughing, but after noticing her face, I stopped. “What are you talking about?”
She sat in the chair next to my desk. “I had a formal complaint about your behavior.”

“What?! What behavior? And I know it was Jake.”
“You and Edward acting inappropriate on his couch with the door open. Jeez, Bella. Save that
shit for behind closed doors,” she recommended.
“You know better than to think I was doing anything like that with a door open. Edwardand I
were sitting on his couch. He had his arm around my shoulder. We were talking about the Ben
situation. That’s all that was going on. For fucks sake, Alice. I wouldn’t do anything like
that here.”

“Jake claims he walked in on you two doing the deed.”
“Talk to Edward, see if his story matches mine. I know you have to because you’re the HR girl,
but really, we all know it’s a BS complaint. What a dick.”

“I know its bullshit, but I have to do my job and ask anyway. Oh and I already brought it to
Mom’s attention. The write ups in his file are pretty standard, but I wanted to get the
dirty details. You know, in case I need them.”

“Care to share with the class?”
“Nah, I’m keeping my cards close to the vest. I may need the ammunition later. How long are
you hanging out today?”

“Not sure yet. I have to pay some vendors. But I have to admit, all I want to do is go home
and have a good cry. Today sucks! “I pouted.

“Maybe you should. Sounds as if you need a good venting session. Call me if you need me,
okay?”She left me sitting there extremely pissed at Jake. I got up to poke my head next door
and see if Edward was back yet, but he wasn’t. So, I got back to work fully intending to slink

out as soon as possible. Today was definitely not a good day.
After I had the bills sorted I gave Ben a call.

“Hello?”
“Hey, Ben. How’s Angela?”
“They’re going to keep her overnight to be safe. But the antibiotics seem to be working. “
“I’m glad to hear that. Can I bring her anything after work today?”
“Aren’t you closing?”
“Nope, I’m only here to do paperwork. Let me scrounge up some food for you both, okay?”
“Thanks, Bella. That’d be very nice of you.”
A few more awkward pauses later and we disconnected. I cleared out my inbox and went to
see if Mike could give me some food to take to the hospital with me. I ran into Edward in the
hall. “Hey, what happened at your meeting?”

“Besides some extremely snide comments that I put a curb to? Nothing.”
“You need to talk to Alice. Jake filed a formal complaint about us. “
“He’s just asking me to fire him, Bella. I’ll go see her, now. Where are you off to?”
“Care packages of food from Mike if he’s got anything. Then I’m hitting the hospital to drop it
off and check on Angela. “

“Can I come over later?” he asked.
“Aren’t you being Mr. Forward? Inviting yourself over to see my etchings,” I commented.
“You’ll be allowed to show me whatever you want, Bella,” he stated. “I’ll call when I’m leaving,
okay.”

“That’s fine. I’ll see you later.” He gave me a chaste kiss good bye and I went to find Mike.
He was stirring soup. “That smells great, Mike. What kind is it?”

“It’s Broccoli Cheese. I have some of the chicken noodle left as well.”
“Which one has the lowest salt content? Angela’s five months pregnant.”

“I’d say the chicken noodle. Are you bringing her food?”
“Her and Ben. She’s on an overnight at the hospital,” I explained.
“Let me put some stuff together for you. Lemon Chicken, okay?”
“Anything you can spare is appreciated, Mike, thanks.” I sat at the counter to wait.
“Nice to see you pry yourself off Edward long enough to beg for food,” Jake snarled.
I whipped around on my stool. “You might want to remember that you’re speaking to
someone in management, Jake. Not one of your buddies.”

“Like I give a shit what you fucking think,” he sneered, advancing. “All I know is that you’re a
damn liar, and a tease.”
Before I could answer, Alice came in to the kitchen. “Jake, I’m pretty sure that after our talk
today, you’re not harassing anyone, let alone someone that’s technically considered your
boss.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Of course not, Alice.” He stormed out of the kitchen.
“Alice, a word to the wise, I may be in management but I also might kill him if he keeps this
up. I will not take that attitude from him or anyone. “

“Let me handle it, okay,” she said.
“Here you go, Bella.” Mike handed me a bag full of food.
“Wow, thanks Mike. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I grabbed the bag. “Alice, we can talk either later
or tomorrow, okay. Right now I really need to get out of here.”

“Sure thing.”
I went out through the back door to avoid everyone and got in my car.

I found a decent parking space, grabbed the bag of food and headed into the lobby of the
hospital. Jane was still at the desk. Poor girl must be exhausted. “Hi Jane. I’m here to see
Angela Swan, but I don’t have her room number.”

“Oh, it’s you again.” She smiled, typing on her computer. “Mrs. Swan is in room 320.Elevators
are right over there.” She pointed over her shoulder.

“Thanks,” I called out and headed behind her. I tapped my foot along to the horriblemuzak on
the short trip up. I found the room easily and knocked on the doorjamb.

“Hi, Bella. Come on in,” Angela invited.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, putting the bag of food down on a small table.
“I’ve been better” She grinned, “But overall, I fell really great.”
“Where’s Ben?” I asked, taking a seat.
“He ran home to get me some jammies. He should be back soon.”
“Oh, well I can’t stay long. I stopped in with food, though. Some soup and chicken. “I
motioned to the bag.

“Thanks, that’s very generous of you.”
“I want to apologize to you,” I said. “Ben pointed out that I never contacted you to
congratulate you on the baby or even to see how you were doing.”
She grabbed my hands in hers. “Bella, we both know Ben was the catalyst for your ill feelings.
He wants to prove himself to you. He realizes the trust is a big thing, but he does need your
support. And to be honest, so do I.”

“I’ll do my best. I need to go. Enjoy the food and please call me when they release you
with an update, okay. I need to know what’s going on with my nephew or niece.”
I was at the door when I heard her voice again. “It’s a girl, Bella. We just found out.”
I turned and winked before walking back to my car. I hit the liquor store on the way back to
my house, picking up three bottles of wine. Once I was home, I changed into flannel pajama
pants and a tank top. I scoped out the freezer, deciding I needed pizza, so I turned on the
oven, poured a glass of wine and grabbed the remote. I chose some odd movie I saw years
ago and just sat there thinking.
When the oven beeped, I got up to put my pizza in and found a notebook. I spent the rest of
the afternoon writing out my feelings and having a much needed emotional release. It’d
been a long time coming.
I was surprised when Edward called to say he was on the way. It was early, so he must have
skipped out on the evening service. I washed my face when I heard the doorbell, so I went to
answer it.

“I come bearing gifts,” he said, leaning in to kiss my cheek.
“Come on in. What’d you bring me?”

He walked into the kitchen. “I brought food, because I wasn’t sure if you had eaten.” He
pulled out some soup. “I also brought you this.” He showed me a bottle of wine. “I thought
you might need it.”

“You’re so good to me. I actually bought bottles on my way home, but I’ve only had one glass
so far. Did you want some?” I offered.

“No, thanks. I brought beer.” He yanked a six pack out of his magical bag and I put it in the
fridge.

“Note to you, I usually do have beer, so unless you want a specific brand, you reallydon’t
need to bring any with you.”

“What kind of guest shows up empty handed?” he asked, pulling me in for a hug. “Howare
you doing?” he asked, kissing the top of my head.
I pulled him into the living room and pushed him on the couch. “Not as bad as I thought I
might be. I’m very pissed at Jake, though and I’m not sure how to handle it,” I admitted.

“Alice has a plan, so leave him be for now. Just walk away if he confronts you and try not to be
alone with him.”

“Walking away isn’t something I do when I’m confronted. I almost punched him earlier in the
kitchen.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. Did you stop in and see Ben?”
“He wasn’t there, but I did chat with Angela. She’ll be home tomorrow and she gets that I
need to try and at least get along with Ben for the sake of my niece.”

“Niece?” he asked.
“Yeah, a girl.” I grinned.
“Cool.” He shifted so he could pull me into his chest. “What is this shit you’re watching?”
“No clue,” I said.
“Hand me the remote, woman!” he demanded.
“No.” I tossed it away and Edward attacked. We wrestled until we fell off the couch laughing.
We laid there panting trying to catch our breath. “Hey.” I nudged him. “Thanks.”

“For what?” he asked, turning to look at me.

“Making me feel better.”
“That’s what I’m here for.” He stood and lent me a hand up. “Time for more food. Didyou want
that soup or more of your horrible frozen pizza?”
I followed him into the kitchen. “I’ll have you know that’s the best frozen pizza out there, food
snob.” I grabbed the soup container and poured it into a saucepan. “How about we eat both?”
I offered.
After we heated up all the food, Edward filled my wine glass and grabbed another beer for
himself. We curled up on the couch watching whatever he chose. I allowed it this time.
Another hour later and I couldn’t stop yawning.

“Bella, I’m going to go. It’s obvious that I’m keeping you awake and you’ve had a long day.”
He took our trash into the kitchen and put it on the counter. I followed behind with the leftover
food.
We walked to the door, but I stopped him before he could open it. “Hey Edward, do you
want to stay?”

“On the couch?” he looked confused.
“No silly, in my bed. Not an invitation to do anything more than sleep, though,” I said yawning
again.

“That’s fine; I can cuddle like nobody’s business.”
“I remember. “ I locked the door, and we turned everything off and headed to my room. “I’ll
be right back,” I said, going to brush my teeth. I took more time than usual as I was
suddenly feeling shy. “It’s all yours. I kept your toothbrush from the last time, it’s in the other
bathroom, let me grab it for you.” I hurried across the hall, handed it to him and hopped into
my bed.
I was almost asleep when Edward joined me. He shucked off his clothes, leaving him in his
boxers before joining me. Sadly, I couldn’t see enough to enjoy the show. He pulled me into
him and I fell asleep with my head on his chest.

I woke on my side, being spooned by Edward. He was running his hand lightly over my
stomach. It tickled so I started laughing and kicking my legs.

“You’re ticklish?” His voice had that ‘just woke up’ huskiness.
“Not usually.” I squirmed. He ran his hand over my stomach a few more times before
stopping. “Can I cook you breakfast?”

“Of course you can. Help yourself to whatever you can find in the kitchen.”
He kissed my temple and got out of bed, heading to the bathroom. I turned onto my stomach
and buried my head in the pillow. I took a deep breath and did a fangirl scream into it, kicking
my feet.

“Bella, are you okay?” Edward asked. I stifled my laughter in the pillow, choosing to nod my
head instead. Great, he saw me being a freak. He grabbed his pants off the floor, smacked
my ass and left me alone.
Once I smelled the coffee brewing, I got out of bed. After brushing my teeth and putting my
hair up, I joined him in the kitchen. “Morning.” I greeted him leaning up to kiss him. “Need
any help?” I asked.

“I’m good,” he said against my mouth and kissed me again. “Coffee?” He nodded towards the
pot on the counter.
I grabbed mugs and poured it.”Do you take anything in it? There’s sugar and frou frou
creamer in the fridge,” I offered, handing him his mug.

“Frou frou?” he looked confused.
“Alice,” we said together, laughing.
“What’s your plan for the day?” he asked, flipping pancakes.
“Work. I didn’t get much done yesterday. I need to get started on any homework from
yesterday. I also need to call Ben while I have a few minutes.” I grabbed some plates and
handed them to Edward. He joined me at the counter once we had food. “What are your
plans?”

“I was hoping we could decide on when the three of us could sit down.”
“I’m sure we can do that first thing. I’ll call Alice to remind her,” I offered. We ate our
breakfast making small talk.

“I’ve got to go,” he said standing and putting is dish in the sink.
“Let me walk you out.” I headed to the door, turning off the alarm and unbolting it.
“Have you considered not locking up sp tight, now that you know it was Ben?” he asked.
I shrugged, because I really hadn’t. “I feel safer.”

“Got it.” He leaned down for a kiss. “See you soon.” He was halfway down the porch steps

when I yelled for him.

“Hey Edward!” He turned and looked at me. “Thanks for not groping me while I sleptthis
time.”
He laughed and bowed. “I make no promises for next time.”
He left and I locked back up. I located my phone and decided to check on Angela before I got
ready for work. Ben answered on the second ring.

“Hey Bella, I was just getting ready to call you.”
“You were? Is everything alright?”
“Everything’s great, actually. Ang’s blood is back in a normal range and they’re gettingready
to release her.”

“Fantastic. Call me if you guys need anything. I don’t work the floor, but I’m on call just
in case.”

“On call? That’s new. What does it mean?”
“It just means that I stay nearby and sober in case I have to help on the floor. We hired a
new bartender slash server to help pick up the slack.”

“That’s different.”
“It’s only for now. Alice and I have every intention of scaling back to no hours on the floor,” I
explained.

“Oh, okay. I need to get everything ready. I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up and I headed to
find the remote. I needed loud music and some dancing as I got ready to go.
I had just gotten out of the shower when I heard a knock on the door. I grabbed my robe,
belting it as I looked through the peep hole. Since it was Edward out there, I opened the
door. “Hi, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Stopping by to say hi.” He leaned in to kiss me.
“Come on in.” I opened the door to let him pass by.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt you.” He pointed to my wet hair.
“No biggie.” I shrugged. “Make yourself at home; I need to grab a towel.” He sat on the
couch, turning the music down and I rejoined him toweling my hair. I sat on the loveseat

facing him. “What’s up?”

“Oh, um…, “he stuttered.
“What is it?” I tried to catch his eyes, but they were slightly downcast. “Edward?”
“Shit, Bella...” he exhaled loudly.
“What?”
“Stop with the towel already. “ He took a deep breath. “You’re wiggling and it made your
robe open up and all I can do is stare at the boob that’s now hanging out in the open,” he
rambled.
I caught about three of the words he spewed out and looked down. Sure enough, there was
lefty, greeting the world all naked. “Oh,” I said. I went to pull the robe shut, but Edward was
on his knees in front of me before I could.

“I’ve wanted to see these since that night at my house. May I?” He gestured to my semi open
robe.
I hesitated, not sure what exactly he was asking. He noticed my pause and backed up closer
to the couch. “God Bella. I’m really sorry. “

“I might even believe that, if you were looking at my face.” He got red-faced, so I decided to
give him a break.”Did you want to see them? Is that what you’re asking?”
He plopped back on his knees in front of me, nodding his head like a boy on Christmas
morning. I moved to the edge of the seat and slowly unbelted my robe enough to allow both
of my breast to be free from the material.

“Fuck, Bella. They’re stunning.” He reached his hand in front of him before pulling back. “Can I
touch them?” I nodded and he leaned closer placing his hands right below my breasts and
cupping them. I moaned at the contact and that spurned him on. He ran his thumbs over my
nipples, caressing me lightly.

“That feels good, Edward.” I encouraged him. He added more pressure with his hands before
leaning in and taking one nipple into his mouth. I arched my back and let out a hiss. He
lapped at both of my breasts, taking each nipple into his mouth and sucking. I was
squirming all over the loveseat and reaching for the button on his jeans when my cell rang.

“Ignore it,” Edward said around a mouthful of boob. I went to close my eyes but saw the
clock over his head instead.

“Edward, we need to stop.” He immediately did as I asked and moved back.

“I’m sorry; did I push you too far?”
“Not at all.” I ran my fingers through his hair.” We need to leave for work.”
He looked at his watch.” Crap. “

“I agree.”
“Rain check?”
“Of course!” I exclaimed. “If you give me a few minutes, we can ride together.
“I’ll be out here, trying to will my hard on away.” I laughed, got up and kissed him deep.
“Back soon.” I squeezed his dick as I passed him.
“Not fair,” he groaned.

I found Edward sitting on my front porch mumbling about ‘grandma in a bathing suit’. I
nudged his thigh with my foot. “I’m ready.”

“Your car or my car?” he asked standing.
“Mine’s fine.” I made sure to lock up and arm the alarm. “Can I ask you something?” I said as
I backed out of the driveway.

“You can ask me anything, Bella,” he replied taking my hand in his.
“Why were you nasty to me when you first got here?”
He immediately dropped my hand and rubbed his hands down his face. “So that was the plan,
huh? Wait until you had me in a position where I couldn’t walk out?” He chuckled though so I
knew he wasn’t angry about it.

“No plan at all, but I am curious. Especially as we seem to be hitting it off, now.”
He took a deep breath and looked around, probably for an escape route. “Can we talk about
this later, when we have more time?”

“Maybe. What’s it worth to you?” I joked.
“It’s worth everything, Bella.” His tone was very serious, so I gave up on the fun stuff.
“Of course we can, but until we do talk about it, there won’t be anything else

happening here.” I gestured between us.

“Message received loud and clear.” He smiled, and grabbed my hand again. We drove the rest
of the way in silence but as it was about three blocks, it wasn’t uncomfortable.
Once I was parked, Edward leaned over to kiss me. “I don’t think we should do anything in
the building,” he explained.

“Probably a good idea. At least for now.” I kissed him back and we got out of the car. Edward
headed straight to the kitchen and I went to locate Alice. Her door was closed, so I
knocked waiting for her to answer before barging in, just in case she was reprimanding any
one. When I got no answer, I headed to my office, deciding to text her.
I settled in and blasted my iTunes while I separated the items in my inbox into piles of ‘Now’
and ‘Next Week’. I hadn’t heard anyone come up the stairs or into my office, so when I saw
Esme sitting directly in front of my desk out of the corner of my eye, I yelled, loudly, causing
Esme to practically fall out of her chair in laughter.

“What the hell, Esme?! Is giving me a heart attack on your list of things to do?” I reached
over and turned off my music.

“Just a minute, dear. I need to catch my breath,” Esme said, wiping tears from her eyes. “That
was precious, Bella.” She chuckled a few more times before calming. We hugged and she got
right into it. “Alice tells me that Jacob’s complained about you. Care to share?”

“Where do I start? I’m very angry about the whole non-issue to tell you the truth. It’s no
secret that Jake has pursued me since he got here. I’ve told him ‘no’ a ton of different ways.
But he never took that as an actual answer,” I explained.

“Has he ever tried anything?” Esme looked furious.
“No, not here, Esme.” I tried to placate her.
“What do you mean, ‘not here’?”
“A few weeks ago, Alice and I went out and we ran into him. He danced with me once but
tried to kiss me. I stopped him and he apologized to me.”

“Have you ever led him on? What I mean by that is have you ever flirted with him or given
him any reason at all to think there could be something between you two?”

“Hell no! As a matter of fact. I told him he should take Victoria up on her offer to hang out
with him. Why? What’s going on, Esme?” Suddenly I was a bit scared about losing my job.

“Alice asked me about his file. I wanted to touch base with you before I went and spoke to

him, that’s all. I want to remain objective when I do. So tell me about you and Edward.” She
switched gears.

“There’s nothing to tell. He and I are getting along.” I tried to shrug it off, but I’m, sure the
smile gracing my face gave me away.

“Have it your way.” She grinned. “Suffice it to say, he’s been through the some dark things,
but I can see he’s doing much better. Any questions about your actual job?”

“Nah, I’m good.” I waved her off. She stood, kissed my cheek and headed to the door. “You
know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

“I do, second mama. Love you!” I shouted as she disappeared into the hallway.
I got back into my work and emptied my inbox. I sighed knowing it would be full again in a
day or two. I finally had a text back from Alice indicating she was finally here, so I closed
up my laptop for the day and went to find her.

“Have a seat, chicky.” She greeted me when I found her at her desk. “What’s up?”
“Had an interesting conversation with your mom, “I said. “Did you know she was coming to
talk to me?”

“No, I just told her what was going on with Jake.”
“Then why’d she ask about Edward?”
“Probably because he stops over there to see them and she noticed his behavior is different.
How are things with him?” She wiggled an eyebrow.

“Tonight we’re having the talk about why he was nasty.”
“Oh, okay,” she trailed off, suddenly looking at her phone.
“Alice do I not want to know this?”
“It’s just one of those situations,” she expressed, “You do need to know, but I know how
difficult it’s going to be for him to tell you. Hey what about a weekend in Vermont?” Vermont
was a little over an hour away, so we tended to go there a lot.

“Where in Vermont?” I asked.
“How about Manchester?” She suggested.
“It would depend on when you want to go. Let me get through this with Edward and then
we can revisit this idea, okay? Besides, the three of us would need to be gone from here and

that leaves no one in charge. Oh and Edward needs to sit down with us. Can you please tell
him what day works best for you?”

“I’ll tell him tonight. Oh and Mom would do it,” she said. “She misses it. Oh shit! Is that the
time? I need to get ready for dinner service.” She shut off her laptop and tossed it into her
bag. “Chat later.” She ran out as if someone was chasing her.
I decided to tell Edward bye and head home since I wasn’t working tonight. I found him in the
kitchen talking with Mike about the upcoming specials. “Hi Guys!” I interrupted. “I’m
getting ready to leave, did either of you need anything?”

“Did you see the item list I threw on your desk?” Mike asked.
“Yes and I can address it with you next week.”
“Works for me,” he said, leaving me with Edward.
“Can I come over after work?” he asked.
“I can come to you, if it’ll be easier for our chat.”
“Do you feel you need an exit plan?”
“Maybe.” I winked and took a look around. Since I didn’t see anyone, I gave his cheek a quick
kiss. “How about you call me when you’re leaving, and I’ll meet you in your driveway.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I kissed him again and left. As I drove home, I convinced myself that
Edward’s story couldn’t be as bad as I was picturing it in my head.

I decided to bide my time doing inane chores that I didn’t want to do. I changed into grubby
clothes, cranked my stereo and headed to the garage. I had a lot of boxes in here that I had
never gone through. I decided to re-open the ones with baby clothes inthem and pull out all
the girly things for Ben and Angela. This would give them more clothing and I had no need for
my old baby things. Once I had the washing machine going, I opened up a box full of
pictures of us growing up. I set that aside, intending to have Ben go through it with me. It
was his childhood too and maybe it would help us out.
I was out there for what felt like ever, when I realized I probably only had a few minutes until
Edward was going to call. I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to stay at work all night. I jammed
the items in my hand back into the box it came from and shut down the garage. I felt as if I’d
accomplished something. My phone rang just as I was jumping in the shower, so I grabbed it.

“Hey, it’s me. Dinner’s going great so I’ll be home within thirty.”

“Perfect, I’m getting in the shower now.”
“Didn’t you shower this morning?”
“Yes, but I got dirty.” I dragged the word out and he laughed.
“I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“I’ll tell you all about it, promise. I’ll see you soon.” I hung up, threw my hair into a bun and
hopped in for a quick clean up. Since I washed my hair earlier, I just concentrated on my body.
I dried off and threw on my Star Wars pajama bottoms and a tank top. If he was going to
date me, he’d need to know how geeky I was up front. I grabbed my keys, stuffed my feet into
sandals and drove to Edward’s.
He was just getting out of his car, so I pulled in next to him. He came over and opened
my door for me, kissing me as soon as I was standing. When we finally stopped tongue
wrestling, he led me to the door, ushering me in. “Hi,” he said, kissing me again, but
chastely this time. “Nice outfit.”

“One would think you hadn’t seen me in days. And don’t hate on my wardrobe,” I said,
heading to his kitchen to grab a beer.

“Hey, why don’t you help yourself?” he mocked, reaching for one as well.
“I think I shall, mister. Come on, let’s get this over with.” I grabbed his hand and walked into
his living room, kicking off my shoes once I got there. “Do we sit together, or will you need
space for this?”

“Hmmm…” He pretended to think about it. “Let’s share. “ He sat down, taking me with him so
I was sitting on his lap. Before I could say anything, he’d attached his mouth to mine again. I
let him kiss me for a minute, before pulling away.

“Are you trying to get extra points or are you afraid there won’t be any kissing after we talk.”
“Neither.” He smiled, patted my ass and shoved me to his side. “Are you ready for this?” he
asked and I nodded. “How much about me do you know?”

“Not a lot, honestly. I’m not even sure why we’d never met.”
“How long have you known Alice?” he asked.
“She’s two years younger than me, so since high school.”
“I thought you were older than that, “he said.

“Is my age a deal breaker?” I pouted.
“Not at all,” he stated. “My parents died when I was twelve and I went to live with my
mom’s mom in Greenwich.”

“That’s not too far away. Alice made it seem as if she never saw you.”
“She didn’t.” He looked sad, “It was too hard to go to the restaurant, and so I hid awayfrom it.
It’s in my blood though. That’s why I went to Farmingdale in the first place. However, I didn’t
intend to come back. “
I took his hand in mine, trying to show him a little comfort. “It’s never easy to lose your
parents, Edward. I can understand why you felt as if you couldn’t be around any happy
memories. “

“Thanks.” He smiled and continued. “I met Claire junior year of college. She was a year
younger than I was, but in all my classes. Her family was pretty well known in New York for
their Italian restaurants. They have about five of them throughout the Burroughs.” He finished
his beer and got up. “I’m grabbing another one. You?”
I looked at my beer and realized I’d barely had any of it. “I’m good for now.” He was back
pretty fast and sat down at the other end of the couch this time.

“Claire and I hit it off immediately. We had a lot of the same interests and she loved
the restaurant business as much as, if not more, than I did. We were inseparable going into
my final year of school. We even talked about living together after I graduated, but it would
depend on where I got a job.” He took a few breaths. “Claire called her dad and got me a job
at their Brooklyn eatery to start the day after I graduated, so she and I started looking for
places closer to Brooklyn as that’s the same place she’d be at as well. We found a place that
gave her a 45 minute train ride to school but she said she was fine with it.”
I shook my empty beer bottle and got up for another. “Did you want?” I offered.

“No, but thanks.” He put his empty beer bottle on the coffee table. I was back in a minute
and prompted him to continue. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready.” He tried to laugh. “So nitty gritty time. I worked in Brooklyn,
and my hours were crazy. I’m not even really sure why Stefan hired me. He’s Claire’s dad. He
was doing the job I had the degree to do while I was pretty much a glorified bar back. It
seemed as if everything was going okay though between Claire and I. She spent a lot of time
at the campus kitchen or at home versus the restaurant, but it was expected as she was
finishing up her final year of school.

“When she graduated, her dad gave her their second place in Brooklyn to run. With her on
one side of Brooklyn and me on the other, things got crazy. We never saw eachother and we

lived too far away from work. I mentioned looking for a place closer, but it kept getting
pushed to the back burner.

“Finally, she agreed and we spent weeks trying to find the ‘perfect’ place.” He made air
quotes. “Once we did, we still didn’t see each other that often. It’s odd how you can spend
that many years with someone and not see the signs or any of the bad things.

“I had decided to surprise her at work one night. I took the day off and took a cab over to her
place. They closed earlier on Monday nights so I knew it’d pretty much be her alone finishing
her evening paperwork. I let myself in, because I had a key, and went to her office. She was
bent over the desk being fucked by her head chef.”

“Shit, Edward! I didn’t see that coming.” I scooted closer to him and squeezed his hand.
“Looking back on it, it all makes sense. Her refusal to try and talk to her dad aboutbetter
hours for either of us. Her insistence that we work at different places. I foundout later, he had
been her high school boyfriend. “

“You never stood a chance,” I commented, “Oh well, it’s her loss. I still don’t get your
attitude with me, though.”
He pulled me to his chest and put an arm around me, kissing my temple. “It’s simple, really
Bella. The last thing in the world I wanted or needed was to be attracted to someone I not
only worked with, was a really good friend of my family. If things went sour, I’d have nowhere
to run.”
We sat in silence for a while, me taking in his story and Edward just running his hand down
my arms every once in a while. He finally stood, took my hand and pulled me up. “Let’s go to
bed.”

“I didn’t bring anything to sleep in,” I said laughing and twirling around in my pajama pants.
“Even better.” He walked me upstairs to his room. “Did you want me to grab you a shirt and
some boxers?” I nodded and he turned on his bathroom light when he walked to his dresser.
Handing me clothes, he leaned in and kissed my lips softly. “I’m going to lock up. There’s an
extra toothbrush in one of the drawers in the bathroom.”
I changed, brushed my teeth and took down my hair. When he joined me, I was
comfortable under his blankets. “Thanks for telling me,” I whispered.

“Thanks for listening,” he responded, kissing my forehead and cuddling me under his arm.
“Hey, you never told me how you got dirty,” Edward said, pulling my chin up to look at me.

“Oh, I went through my past today.”

“In what way?” His forehead crinkled.
“I have boxes in my garage that have been there since my parents died. Other than looking
specifically for baby clothes the one time, I haven’t gone into them.”

“How’d that go?” He kissed my temple.
“Cathartic. It sort of brought me a bit of peace. I’m, not sure if I can explain it.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“It also gave me a way to try and connect with Ben again. I’m going to call him tomorrow.”
I leaned my head back down into his neck and closed my eyes. “Thanks for baring your
soul to me tonight.” I kissed his chest.

“You got it.” He pulled me even closer and kissed the top of my head. I fell asleep feeling
happy.

I woke up to gentle kisses all along the back of my neck. I grinned before I turned to face
Edward. “I like waking up like this.”

“Me too,” he agreed.
“Can I take you to breakfast?” I asked.
“I have no problem with you showering me with riches.” He ran his hand up and down my
back, snuggling me closer. “Five more minutes, just like this, please.”
We lay there caressing until my stomach rumbled. “Times up,” I laughed, pulling away from
Edward. “I didn’t eat last night,” I explained.

“Silly girl. Did you want to shower?” he offered.
“Nah. I’m only going to get dirty running around later, anyway.”
“Okay, you can have the bathroom first.”
“I can use the other one,” I said.
“Why would you? Isn’t your toothbrush in this one?”
“Are you saying I have bad breath?”
“You just woke up, of course you do.” He got out of bed. “You snooze, you lose. I’llonly be a

few minutes.”
I fell back to sleep while Edward showered and got ready to go. He woke me up with a sharp
smack on my ass. “Up, lazy.”

“If you hadn’t rubbed one out in the shower and taken so long, I wouldn’t have fallen back
to sleep.” I joked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

“How’d you know I took care of business, did you spy on me? Not that I’d mind or anything.”
He laughed, pulling shorts on under the towel he had wrapped around his waist. I took a few
seconds to stare at his chest. I’ve laid on it, but never really looked at it. “Eyes up here, lady.”
I raised my eyes and he was laughing.

“It’s a nice chest and I’m unashamed of my ogling.” I shrugged and stretched my back. “Your
bed is comfy.”

“Well you can join me in it anytime. Get ready, I’m hungry.” He tossed his towel at myhead.
“I’m up, quit yelling.” I shut the bathroom door behind me, hearing him laugh. It took me only
a few minutes to wash up and get dressed. I found Edward in his kitchen drinking water.
“Ready to go?” I asked, shaking my keys.

“Yep, let me lock up. I assume you’re driving?”
“Unless you prefer to be in charge?” I batted my eyes.
“You’re dangerous, aren’t you?” he said, shoving me out the door.
We were seated and drinking coffee in no time flat. Yet another benefit to living in a small
town. “Can’t you smell the weather?” I asked, sipping my coffee.

“You can smell weather, Bella?” he queried.
“It’s a combination of football and winter out there,” I verified. Our food was dropped off and I
jumped into my plate of waffles with gusto.

“Sheesh, woman, you act as if you haven’t eaten in a week.” He delicately cut up his sausage
and I snorted.
I reached to his plate and stole a piece of bacon. “Thanks.” I smiled.

“And you’re a food thief. I may have to rethink this whole thing. Back to the weather, you
were saying it smells like football?”

“Are you new or just being silly? Do you not remember living up here? Fall smells like football.

You can smell it in the air. And winter? Yeah, you can smell that too. It’s when the bite starts.
Since it’s now October, you can feel them both,” I explained.

“Thanks, weather girl.” He stole a banana slice out of my fruit cup.
“Hey!” I smacked his hand. “So, what exactly is this?” I gestured between us.
“This is breakfast,” he scoffed and I kicked him. “Ouch! Quit abusing me. This is us. Are you
not feeling it?”

“Not yet.” I raised an eyebrow and we both laughed.
“Since you seem to need clarification, we’re dating. You can’t date anyone other than me. I
basically own all your time now.”
I laughed, spitting water on the table. “You slay me. So now that you own my time, what are
my plans for the day smart ass?”

“I’m not good at time management. For now, you can make your own plans.”
“Why thanks,” I mocked.
We finished eating and I dropped him back at his house. “Will I see you later?” I asked.

“Are you working today?”
“Yea, I didn’t get that much done yesterday.”
He leaned in to kiss me good bye, turning it into a tongue war. “Then yes, you’ll see me later,
Bella.” I watched him walk in his door, because I liked his butt. Once it closed behind him, I
drove home. I took a shower and tossed in a load of laundry before Icalled Ben.

“Hey Bella, what’s up?” Ben answered on the second ring.
“How’s Ang feeling?” I loaded my dishwasher while Ben told me about her health. “Well, I’m
glad she’s feeling better. So, I was wondering what you were doing tomorrow around three.”

“I work until five, but I’m sure I can leave early if you need me to, “he offered.
“No, Ben, don’t lose any money over this. When’s your next day off?”
“Wednesday.”
“Perfect. Can you come over after three then?”

“What’s this about, Bella?” he huffed.
“This is about you and me burying our hatchet a little at a time, okay. Please just be
here around three.”

“I’m intrigued, so yeah, I’ll be there. “
“Thanks, Ben. Say ‘hi’ to Ang for me and I’ll see you later this week.” It felt good to have an
actual conversation with my brother. It made me feel hopeful for our future. I tossed on some
jeans and a tee and left my hair down to air dry before heading over to my office.
After a quick detour to Starbucks for a muffin, I was at my desk bopping along with
some tunes. I had made a significant dent in my piles and that made me feel good. I had all
the checks printed and ready for my signature as well as Mike’s inventory list. I had
highlighted a few things I wanted to talk to him about, so I signed the checks, put them in
envelops, stamped them and headed to the kitchen.
Mike was sitting with Paul and Edward. They looked to be in a heated debate so I re-routed to
Alice’s office instead. I banged my knuckles on her doorjamb to alert her to my presence.

“Hey bestie, come on in.” She motioned me to her desk, so I sat down and put my feet on the
corner. “How’d it go with Edward last night?”

“The story wasn’t as bad as I thought I might be, so great.” I smiled huge.
“Where are things sitting between you and him?” she inquired.
“Nosy little girl. Things are progressing. We’ve shared a bed but not in the biblical way.Yet,” I
stressed.

“Good. I like you two together.”
We chatted for a few minutes until I figured I’d given the boys enough time to fight it out. I
bid Alice farewell and went back to the kitchen. I found Mike alone, stirring soup. “Can
we chat?”

“Of course we can.” He and I hashed out his request and agreed we needed anothermenu sit
down with Edward and Alice involved. I noticed the time and decided I was done for the day.
After grabbing my things from my office and the outgoing mail, I ran some errands and went
home.

I was running late to meet Ben, so I zapped him a text that I was just leaving campus.
Knowing what was going to happen today, I had been trying to get in the right mindset. Alice,
Jasper and Edward had offered to be there too, but I really felt that Ben and I needed to do

this alone.
He was sitting on my porch when I got there, so I waved when I pulled into the driveway. “Hey
Bella,” he greeted me as I climbed out of the car. Opening the house, I invited him in.

“Did you want anything to drink, Ben?” I offered, removing my coat.
“No, thanks. Can you just tell me why I’m here, please?” He sounded nervous, so I
immediately wanted to abate that.

“No reason to be scared, Ben. I just thought that maybe you and I could go throughthe boxes
in the garage today. I already pulled out more baby stuff for you and maybe there are other
things you’d like?”

“Wow…I don’t know what to say.” He wiped at his eye.
“Come on, then.” I turned on the lights and opened the roll up in the garage. “Did you want
to pull your car in the driveway? This way we can just load it up as we go along.” I suggested.
I grabbed us each a beer while Ben backed into the driveway. I handed it to him and we got
to work. “I already have two boxes of baby stuff, so open your trunk.” He clicked the remote
and we loaded that in. “Now, there are a ton of pictures, but mom made copies of everything.
Let’s sort them into two boxes and you can take one of those with you as well.”
We worked together, slowly going through each box. Surprisingly, there were no harsh words.
We talked a lot about the baby and Angela’s health. After a few hours, we ordered a pizza
and Ben took a break to call Ang. We ate and made small talk. It was good and when he left,
we had definitely called a truce.
I was exhausted so I gave Edward a quick call and went to sleep.

*****

Alice accosted me as soon as I got to work the next morning. “How’d it go with Ben?” she
asked hot on my heels on the stairs. Just to prove a point, I stopped and she ran into my back.
“That was uncalled for, young lady.” She smacked me between my shoulder blades and
I continued into my office.

“Good morning, Alice, how are you today?” I put my stuff down and joined her on the couch.
“Enough with the formalities, I’m dying here.”

“It went good. Really good. Probably better than I anticipated.”
Alice reached over and yanked me to her in a gigantic hug.”I knew it was going to be okay.”

“Maybe you could let me breathe?” I asked.
“Oops.” She released me. “Sometimes I just don’t know my own strength.” She flexedher
arms and we both collapsed in a heap of giggles.

“Sounds like there’s too much fun going on in here,” Edward said from the doorway.
“Hi Edward,” I said, “Join us?” I waved at the space next to me on the couch.
“Sure.” He sat and kissed my temple. “I take it, you’re doing okay today?”
“Did you both think this was going to be difficult for me or something?” I jeered.
“Ha ha, Bella. We both knew howbad it could have gotten. But it seems you survived. I’ll leave
you two for a few. We’re meeting in twenty, right?”
Edward nodded and she flitted out. “She moves like a butterfly, don’t you think?” I asked.

“Maybe?” He shrugged. “Tell me honestly about yesterday. I was worried about you.”
“Didn’t I tell you I was fine when I called you?”
“Yes, but I’ve met women and nine times out of ten, fine means I’m not fine,” he laughed.
“Trust me, in this case, it meant exactly that.” I filled him in on the Ben situation before I
grabbed my notebook and we went downstairs for our meeting. Mike and Alice were already
there, so Edward and I slid into the bench seat across from them.
We went over inventory, menu changes and staff expectations. I guess the two
malebartenders had gotten bit too friendly with female customers. This was a huge issue
when you think of how word of mouth is around campus.

“Jake has a lot of write ups in his personnel file. I have three new complaints in my office. He
needs to go,” Alice said.

“He’s not very nice to the girls in the kitchen either,” Mike added.
“You may want to bring Esme in to deal with him, Alice. This way he can’t accuse youof
favoritism,” Edward suggested.

“I agree with Edward,” I said.

“Of course you do,” Alice teased.”But it’s a good idea. I’ll call her after this and see what she
thinks about it.”

“I’m hungry,” I said, rubbing my belly.”What’s the soup, Mike?”
“Chicken Corn Chowder.” He smiled, knowing it’s one of my favorites.
“Yum. Gonna have to detour to the kitchen before going back upstairs.”
“Anything else?” Edward asked us, looking around the table. We all shook our heads and got
up.

“Hey Bella, we’re totally due for another girls night out, I think,” Alice said walking into the
kitchen with me.

“Sure, Saturday as we’re both off Sunday?” I ladled up a mug of soup and grabbed a biscuit.
“Sure thing. I’ll make Jasper and Edward hangs out so they’re not bored while we get our drink
on.” She headed to her office as I headed to mine. I didn’t have that much left to do so I
changed to work the floor.
Carlisle and Esme were both at the evening prep meeting. Alice winked so I knew she’d called
them in. I stood next to Edward and Mike as Carlisle addressed us all.

“Hi everyone. Esme and I do check in occasionally with Edward, Alice and Bella, but we
wanted to stop in and see you all. I need to pull my managers and my bartenders aside,
though. Mike, can you please walk them through everything?”

“Or course, Carlisle.” Mike launched into the specials, and Carlisle steered all of us into Alice’s
office.

“Sorry to pull you all away right before the dinner rush, but there is something I needto
address. There have been some less than stellar reviews on Yelp lately. All of them seem to
mention being mistreated at the bar and they’re all from women. This is not acceptable in any
form. On top of that, Alice has three formal complaints written by female patrons. Now, Eric, I
know you’re new here, but you’ve been learning some incredibly bad traits from Jake. This is
your one and only warning. You’re dismissed, go and get the bar ready for service. Victoria is
helping you out tonight. If she’sneeded on the floor, then Edward will come and help you.”
As soon as Eric had left the room, Carlisle turned to Jake. “ Jake, you however, are fired.” He
handed him an envelope. “This is your final paycheck. Please pack your stuff up and go.”

“Are you serious?!” Jake roared.
“These complaints can turn into a lawsuit, you’re damn right we’re serious about this, Jake.

It’s not like you haven’t been warned over and over again. You’ve had more complaints than
anyone I’ve ever hired or fired in all the years I’ve been in the business. So I need you to get
out or I will call the police and have you physically removed.”
Jake stormed out and headed to the bar. Alice and I went to look at the table layout for the
night to make sure we were covered without Vic. Esme came along to make sure she wasn’t
needed in any capacity. Once we had everything squared away, she left us with hugs and
some kisses on our cheeks.

“I’m sorry it went down like that,” Carlisle said, hugging me good bye.
“It’s not your fault, dad, I told him last week that there had been some outside complaints. I
guess he didn’t believe me,” Alice reminded him.

“It’s never easy to let someone go, though. We like to think we’re family here,” he said. “Good
luck tonight and place another ad tomorrow.”

“Bye.” We waved as he and Esme left.

By Saturday night, I was ready to get my drink on with Alice. We’d decided to head to the club
again. Edward was hanging out while I got ready to go. We were going todrive to Alice’s and
he and Jasper would drop us off and then pick us up again later.
He whistled as I walked out of my bedroom. I looked down and noticed that I was still wearing
the jeans and top I thought I had on. “Really?” I arched a brow.

“You look hot, what can I say?” He shrugged.
“Thanks. Let’s go.” Alice and Jasper were out front when we got there. Once the got in,
Edward headed downtown. “Now, no dancing with other boys, or anything else with them,
ladies,” he warned.

“Yes, dad.” We answered in unison and started laughing.
“Text us when you’re ready to go,” Jasper said, kissing Alice good bye. I leaned overand
planted a big one on Edward and we got out of the car.
Luckily the line wasn’t too long, because it was cold out and we didn’t have jackets. We bee
lined for the bar and some tequila shots. Three shots and two beers later, we were getting
down on the dance floor and having a great time.

“One more round?” I asked and she nodded. We went back to the bar. “Two tequila shooters
and two beers, please?” I asked the bartender. “We’ll drink this round and then call the boys.”

“Works for me,” she agreed.
We clinked our shots in a toast and downed them. We watched the crowd around us drinking
our beers, when Jake sidled up to us. I immediately cringed, because I really wasn’t in the
mood for his brand of bullshit.

“Can I talk to you, please?” he asked, leaning in too close.
“I don’t think so,” I said, pushing him back a little bit.
“Please? I need to talk to both of you; I’m not trying to corner you.”
“Then back off a little bit. You can wait outside with us once we call for a ride home. You get
only that few minutes to say what you need to,” Alice said. This was a great plan as
security was nearby. We finished our beers and Alice texted the boys. Jake followed us out
front.

“Talk,” Alice demanded.
“I’m sorry,” Jake said, looking at his feet. “I was a total dick to both of you and I
mistreated my job.”

“Anything else you want to apologize for?” Alice prompted. I was letting her steer the
conversation.

“I’m sorry I made up an issue between you and Edward. It was out of spite.”
“I’m just not sure why you felt the need to do that, Jake. I told you I had no interest in dating
you, so you complain about my behavior at work?!” I screeched. “What if Carlisle and Esme
took that under advisement and I lost my job all because of your fucking pride, Jake?”

“Look, all I can do is say I’m sorry about my actions. I don’t know why I thought you would go
out with me, I guess I just hoped,” he explained.

“You’re an idiot, Jake and I hope you learned a few things about respecting women in all of
this. How do you think Victoria feels right now? As far as she knew, you were into her.”
Edward’s car pulled up and Jasper was already getting out. “What the fuck are you doing,
Black?” He yelled, putting himself between Jake and us.

“I was apologizing to them,” Jake explained. “Sorry. “ He walked back inside andJasper
ushered us into the car.

“What the hell, Bella? Why were you out there joking around with Jake?” Edward yelled.

“Calm down, man,” Jasper said from the backseat. “He was apologizing to them and they
weren’t buying it.”
I grabbed Edward’s hand and held it in mine. “He’s a douche and he can fuck off. I’m over the
junior high school dramatics that follow him around. Luckily, I don’t need to see him anymore.
“
Alice laughed and that caused me to giggle along. Pretty soon the two of us were a cackling
mess. “Fuck, they’re wasted,” Edward said.

“You may as well, just take her back to your house, man. She won’t be able to disarm her
alarm in this condition,” Jasper said.
The next thing I knew, it was bright in the bedroom and I was not alone. I barely opened an
eye and realized I wasn’t even in my bed. “Fuck...” I moaned out, putting my hand on my
forehead.

“There’s water and ibuprofen on the night stand,” Edward said from next to me, startling me.
“Fuck, Edward. You scared me,” I jumped up, just then noticing I was naked. “And I’m
naked?!” I screeched. “Shit! Did we do it?” I asked, pulling the sheet up to my neck.

“Do it? Are you twelve? And no, we didn’t do anything.” He laughed.
“Then why am I naked?”
“You were this way when I came to bed, Bella. Not that I minded, “he explained.
I lay back down, snuggling under his blankets. “I stripped and got into your bed and passed
out?”

“Yes.” He kissed my temple, and stroked my hair. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
he asked.

“You were picking us up.”
“No more tequila for you,” he laughed, “I dropped off a passed out Alice with Jasper at their
house and Jasper recommended I take you to mine. You were pretty much comatose when I
pulled into the driveway. Once I got you into the house, you said you could make it on your
own, so I locked up and joined you. It was just a lovely surprise that you didn’t have anything
on.”
I closed my eyes against the sun.”It’s too early, need more sleep.” I nuzzled his neck.
I felt him move a little.”It’s eleven. You can sleep some more if you want. I’m going for a run.”

“Mmm…kay...” I mumbled.
Seconds later, he was kissing the top of my head. “I’ll be back soon. Feel free to stay naked.”
I fell back to sleep. About one minute later, he was waking me up again. “Go away, Edward,”
I slapped at the air hoping to connect to some body part of his.

“It’s one, Bella. I let you sleep in, hell it was barely midnight when you passed out. You need
food, I made you bacon.”

“Bacon?” I uncovered my face and sniffed the air.
“Bacon,” he confirmed. “I put some sweats and a shirt out for you, if you’d like to shower, go
right ahead.”
I sat up carefully, not exactly sure how my head was going to feel. At least the room wasn’t
spinning. I stumbled into the bathroom to wash my face and remove the sandpaper from my
tongue. Once I felt semi human, I pulled on Edward’s clothes and joined him in the kitchen.
He was pouring me a coffee, so I put my arms around his waist and hugged him.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the coffee.
“For what?” He pulled a plate of bacon out of the oven.
“For being you. And for the bacon.” I grabbed the plate from him and stuffed a piece in my
mouth.

“Has anyone ever told you how dainty of an eater you are?” he asked laughing at my antics.
“No, I don’t think they have.” I winked and shoveled more bacon in.
After eating, I decided to walk home. I knew the fresh air would be good for me. Butwe did
make plans to grocery shop together. It felt a bit domestic, but I liked the idea.

“Are you sure that’s everything?” Jasper asked, loading another box into his car.

“I think so, but I’m going to look around just in case,” I replied, heading back into the house. I
took my time moving from now empty room to almost empty room, verifying I did in fact,
have everything. I touched the empty fireplace mantle, knowing my pictures were in just as
good as place.
I heard voices outside but no clear words until Alice was at my side. “It’s not too late to back
out, you know. Everyone would understand.”

I turned to her and smiled. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Well, then, let’s go.” She took my hand in hers and we met back up with everyone out front.
“Its official, Bella’s out. Time to move Ben and Angela in!” She clapped her hands causing
Charlie, my niece, to laugh with abandon and clap along with her.

“Is pizza okay with everyone?” Edward asked, phone to his ear. We all agreed and Angela
offered to run to the store for beer.

“Here,” she said handing me Charlie, “Can you keep an eye on her while I go?”
“I’d love to.” I sat on the lawn to watch the men parade in and out with the heavy things. I
pretended to bite her little hands, watching her face light up in glee. Charlotte Renee
Swan, named for our dad, Charles and our mom, Renee, made it into the world as the first
baby on the first of January. Ben and Angela won a year’s supply of diapers for it. She’s the
light of all our lives and makes me reconsider my thoughts on having a child. Okay, not really.
Edward and I have no desire to reproduce. Yet another reason we fit so well together.
Once the pizza got here, we all took a break to eat and play with Charlie. “Is this weirdfor
you?” Edward asked, handing me another slice.

“A little bit,” I said, “But I love this decision.”
“What do you love about it?” he asked cheekily.
“I love that I’m giving Ben the opportunity to own a house. A place for him and Angela
to expand their family if they choose. With the three bedrooms, they can easily add
another baby to the mix.”
I smiled proudly at Ben. He’d really turned things around for himself in the past year. He was
running Paul’s shop these days, allowing Paul’s wife, Rebecca to stay at home with their kids.
Angela’s blog had even taken off. Once she changed the theme of her posts to motherhood
challenges, she got more people to read it. I had decided to let them rent to own my house.
They were thriving and I was great to see.

“Hey, Bella. We’re ready to move some of your old furniture around. Are you sure you don’t
mind us buying it from you?” Angela asked.

“I’m positive, Angela. Are you sure there wasn’t more you wanted?” I offered looking at the
pile of things headed to Craigs List and Goodwill.

“There are some things, Ben and I just can’t buy from you.” She shuddered and pointed at my
bed.

“I understand,” I laughed.

We spent the next few hours getting their house set up and each taking turns playing with
Charlie. All of us were exhausted when we were done. Luckily, there wasn’t anything other
than a few pieces of furniture to move to Edward’s. Since Edward had his house more than set
up, already, we chose to use my office furniture and a few end tables.
I handed my keys over to Ben, hugged Ang and Charlotte and got in my car. Jasper, Alice and
Edward had already left for Edward’s house.
When I got there, they’d placed the desks and tables and were mostly done putting my boxes
in his garage. He and I would take our time to put things where we wanted them in the house.
We thanked Alice and Jasper for their help. I was going to owe them four lasagnas, and waved
from the front porch as they pulled away.

“Ready?” Edward asked, turning to me.
“Ready,” I said.
He took my hand and pulled me into the foyer, closed the door behind him and put his hands
around my waist. “Welcome home,” he whispered into my ear.

The End
A/N: Thanks for coming on this journey with me. It’s always a pleasure to respond
to your reviews. I can’t thank any of you enough for reading my wordsThe End