I do not, in any way, profit from this story and all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator.

AH OOC. ExB.

Prologue

As he walked out the door he turned to her and said "I love you baby, I'll call you when we land. I hate these months apart."

"I know Li, but you're gonna miss your plane." She pleaded while kissing him on the cheek.

"I love you Bella." He said as he searched her eyes, and denied what he saw.

"I can't wait for you to come home Liam"

She hated seeing that defeated look on his face, but that was what she could live with. He gave her a proper kiss goodbye and it was almost like it used to be.

"I miss you Bella." He said just before he shut the door.

Chapter One

This is my biggest interview this year and I am already five minutes late and I'm only halfway there. Shit. Since I am no exception to that Anita Blake twelve minute purse rule, it is damn near impossible to dig out my cell phone and navigate downtown Seattle traffic. Luckily a red-light saves the day and I remembered to program her number into my phone when I got the assignment. I just hope she isn't mad.

"Bella, thank you for calling. That was very considerate." the lilting voice on the other end of the phone said without a hint of sarcasm. Curious.

"Of course Mrs. Whitlock, this is Bella McGregor, but I guess you already knew that." I laughed with a touch of unease.

"You're caught in traffic. I already have my latte and I got you a raspberry cappuccino. I am actually enjoying this rare moment to myself. No worries. I'll see you in fifteen minutes."

"Ok?" I replied before I realized she had already hung up.

When I pulled into to the café, I half expected her to really be pissed at me. Typically moguls, even burgeoning ones, don't like to be kept waiting but Alice Whitlock's face lit up like a Christmas tree when I walked in and she all but danced across the floor to meet me. "Bella" she said taking my hand, inexplicably beaming at me.

"Mrs. Whit"

"Shh, don't start that again, it's Alice."

"I'm so sorry that I was late, I know how valuable your time is. There was this pile up, I really should have left earlier but my husband left today for London. He won't be back for a month. He's been doing this for over a year, but it still isn't easy." I babbled at her. Why can't I shut up? She doesn't want to listen to my freaking life story.

"I understand Bella, and I meant it when I said I was enjoying the time to myself. Between work, and my family, I barely get a moment alone."

"Well I suppose we should get started then." I said taking a sip of my cappuccino.

Alice and I discussed her winter line which will be released next month. She explained how she gets a lot of inspiration for her husband, Jasper Whitlock's, artwork. We talked about her plans to launch a swimsuit line this spring, and the designer scented sun block she is pioneering.

We touched on her childhood, being adopted by the world renown surgeon Carlisle Cullen when she was just a baby. That lead to what is was like growing up with two brothers and many crazy stories about water balloons and shaving cream and general silliness. I told her that I was an only child, unless you counted my husband who lived next door for most of my life. She gave me a look that I couldn't begin to understand, and that's when we realized we had been talking for three hours.

"Oh, Alice I am so sorry I kept you so long."

"Bella, please it isn't your fault, but I do need to get going, I am meeting my brother in an twenty minutes across town. Ha, now it looks like I'm the one who's going to be late."

"Ok, well please don't let me keep you any longer, I'm just going to sit here and type up my notes before I forget what I wrote." With my atrocious penmanship I would never be able to read it tomorrow. "I'll be in touch when the piece is finished so you can see it before it goes to print."

"If you say so." Alice said with a knowing smirk before pulling a knit cap over her short hair and walking into the misting Washington Monday.

What a quirky woman.