Law and … Target?
Summary: Bella never thought she would see the green-eyed lawyer she met at the divorce mediation again … but what happens when fates collide in the most likely of places?
Disclaimer: I don´t own twilight but If I did? I would have totally included a few more lemons in the story *winks*
A huge thank you to my wonderful Beta Kat who helped me with this story even when she had a lot of things going on in her life! And my awesome friend Susan who ended up being Beta #2 in a moment when I thought I wasn´t going to make it! You guys are awesome!
This O/S is a little gift to one of my twitter besties Mel. Happy birthday sweetie! I hope you had a great day and hopefully you will like this one *mwah*
BPOV
Here we go again I think to myself as I am walking to one of the conference rooms at Denali & Hale to meet my client, the one and only Rosalie Hale, daughter of Patrick Hale, my boss. She and her soon to be ex-husband, Jacob, are going through a divorce but they can´t come to an agreement when it comes to property division. They are trying to keep it as quiet as possible so we are meeting Jacob and his lawyer to settle this once and for all.
I arrive and spot her already sitting and drinking a coffee. She stands up when she sees me and asks, "Would you like some coffee, Bella?"
"Yes, please."
I sit down and she seems very calm . . . almost too calm. That alarms me a bit. What if she starts screaming at him? Or tries to slap him and makes everything worse? The Rosalie Hale I met when I first started working at this law firm was a smart girl but also wild and unpredictable so I guess we will have to wait and see. We start making small-talk about my step-brother and his wife who just relocated here from New York but we stop when the door opens and we see Jacob Black and his lawyer, (a new one in town and also a really good one from what I have heard) Edward Cullen.
"Good Morning, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Black. Please sit down." I try to sound as neutral and calm as I can. Edward is the most handsome man I have ever laid eyes on. He is tall, with very expressive green eyes, a nice body and oh my this man definitely looks good in a suit. Stay calm Bella, act professional and don´t turn into a horny mess! In short: he is HOT. What the hell is wrong with me? I never act this way. My internal monologue is interrupted when Jacob greets Rosalie with, "Are you ready to say goodbye to the house, Rose?" and my hopes of a zero nasty meeting just went down a million percent.
Our meeting has been going on for two hours and so far they have agreed to split everything they bought and gained during their marriage with one exception: their main house here in Dallas. They both want it so neither are willing to sell it and split the money, but they can´t agree on who gets to keep it.
"Rosalie, I've heard your reasons for wanting the house, but you must remember that it was a wedding gift from my Dad. Obviously, since he is my father, I have the right to keep it. You can buy a new one, or better, your daddy can do that for you." he smirks at her and I see the wild girl coming to the surface. Uh oh.
"Awww, now you want it because it was a gift from your father? How sweet! Have you forgotten the small fact that you hate him? Or how you always said you couldn´t wait to get back to the city because you disliked living in the suburbs? Why do you want the house now? Or is Leah the one who wants to have the house?" Just as we were about to interrupt what it looked like a storm bubbling from the sea, she asks him an unexpected question, "Or does she want to raise your baby in it?"
As soon as she says this the color drains from Jacob's face and there is a look of utter shock on Edward's. I can tell that he ignored this little piece of information as much as I did , and I have a feeling this is about to change everything.
She starts laughing and looks right into Mr. Black´s eyes saying, "You didn´t think I wouldn't find out, did you? But guess what? She confessed it to someone I know! Did you know that a lot of people I know have gone to Marfa lately? They saw you two watching the lights and noticed her not so subtle bump. So you can keep the house Jacob! I don´t give a damn about it! I just wanted you to admit it and judging from the look on your face, I can tell you are totally busted." Rosalie then looks at us and adds, "Can you please prepare the settlement so we can sign the papers and move on with our lives? And just for your information, I'm pregnant too."
She stands and leaves the room without looking behind her as we sit there in shock. What just happened? We snap out of it and Jacob thanks us without making eye contact before saying goodbye, leaving Edward and I looking at each other before exploding in a mix of laughter and giggles. I think he even snorted once or twice. "Oh my God that was crazy," I tell him and he looks at me with a no shit expression.
"I could kill him for not telling me about the pregnant girlfriend, but I think by the look on your face at the end you didn´t know about hers either, right?" I shake my head before starting laughing again.
We work on the case for a while and when we agree that the terms of the settlement are what we discussed, we part ways wishing each other good luck on our next case. He pauses when we shake hands at the end, as if he wants to say something but then snaps out of it and says goodbye. For a second I got the feeling that the attraction was mutual. Damn I need to stop reading all those fan fictions!
I end up sipping a margarita with my sister-in-law, Alice, while Jasper, my step-brother, is looking after their daughter, Samantha. We talk a little about what happened today and when I tell her about the other lawyer she gets a funny look on her face and asks me his name. When she asks me what I thought about him, I tell her that even if we didn´t talk a lot I can tell that he is not only handsome but also smart and really funny. It is a real shame that we were working on a case together because I would have totally asked him out.
I like spending time with Alice. They just moved here from New York and I haven´t seen them in a long time. I was there when they got married, but because I was working my ass off I missed Samantha's birth, her christening, and her first four birthdays. Now that they have moved back to Dallas I promised them I was going to be at Sammy´s fifth birthday party next month.
We end up wasted, talking nonsense that I don't even remember until my dearest brother shows me the video he took of us talking about Mr. Cullen´s pretty face. This includes me singing "I want to have his babieeeees," at the top of my lungs. To say I am embarrassed is an understatement. Then he says, "Who knows Bella, maybe he is closer than you can imagine." I roll my eyes at his cheesy comment and start getting ready for a relaxing day of doing nothing but reading one of The Mortal Instruments books and being in PJs all day.
Time passes very quickly and the next thing I know I am heading to Target. It is one week before my niece´s birthday and I need to get her a DVD of "Tangled," because apparently that´s her new favorite movie and the theme of her party. I park my car and start chanting in my head I won´t buy a lot of crap, I will only buy one DVD for my niece´s birthday. I start walking around looking at everything, trying not to look twice at the things I want to buy. All my resolve ends when I see a rack full of beautiful dresses that I must look at. Before I know it, I have 5 that I really, really like and I text Alice a picture of all of them asking which ones I should buy.
She calls me and starts laughing at me, "Weren´t you going to Target to get Samantha's birthday present? Now I am getting a text asking which dresses you should buy? Woman, just get them all. You work hard and deserve to have beautiful things as a reward. The striped dress will be perfect for Sammy´s birthday party and the blue one will be perfect for your first date!" Date? Before I can say something, she hangs up on me and I stand there confused in the middle of the women's apparel section.
I keep walking until I get to the entertainment section and start looking for the "Tangled" DVD. I spot it and am about to grab it when another hand comes from behind me and grabs it first. How rude! I turn around to tell the person to wait their turn when I am suddenly looking at the same green eyes I saw for the first time a month ago. He immediately recognizes me, "Shit I'm sorry! I thought you were looking at another title and I'm in a bit of a hurry and didn't think twice." I look at him not knowing what to say and then he keeps going, "Is the DVD for your daughter? Or maybe your niece? Your mom? Are you single?"
I find this utterly adorable and start giggling at him. I pick up my own copy of the DVD and point at it saying, "This is for my niece, Samantha. And yes to the last question." He smiles at me and I look up at him, "What's your excuse for buying the DVD?"
He laughs and replies, "If you must know, it's for my God daughter whose name also happens to be Samantha. She loves the movie and her birthday is next Saturday, so I decided to give her this movie as one of her gifts."
I look at his cart and I see that he also has a bunch of Tangled merchandise but before I can tease him about it I remember what he just said and ask him, "Does your God daughter, Samantha, happen to have really unique parents? Alice and Jasper? Because if that´s the case we are totally talking about the same girl." He retrieves his phone from one of his pockets and shows me a picture of Samantha that I recognize is from the same day Alice and I got wasted. I remember because she was wearing her Tinkerbell costume when I picked her mother up. Then he starts telling me about how they played together, watched a couple of movies, and talked about Jasper´s famous step-sister and Sammy´s favorite aunt.
"They really love you and Sammy couldn´t stop talking about you! Jasper couldn't either; I think he is happy to be close to you again. When we lived in New York he always talked about how much they missed you. When I told them I was planning to return to Texas, they decided to do the same in order to be closer to you and the family. They are really happy to have you in their lives again! You know what´s really funny? Alice told me a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to introduce us at Sammy´s birthday because she thought we could be a good match!"
Suddenly I remember her face when I was talking to her about Edward Cullen and I start laughing. He looks at me expectantly and when I calm down a little I tell him, "Oh my God! She knew! When I first met you at the mediation I told her about you. She got a funny expression on her face that I didn´t understand… Today when I called her about a dress, she told me that a blue one will be perfect for a first date, so she knew it was you! She knew we would meet at Sammy´s birthday and that this time maybe I wasn´t going to be an idiot and would ask you out!" At my confession I stop looking at his eyes and start looking at my feet like they´re the most interesting thing I've ever seen.
Suddenly his hand is on my chin and he asks me to look at him before he starts speaking, "When I left that conference room I almost turned around to find you but I knew it wasn´t the time or place. Even if we just met that day, I thought you were a smart and beautiful woman and that I wanted to ask you out. I was too much of a chicken to do it, thinking that maybe you wouldn´t like me! Now that I know that you felt the same, well… aren´t we a pair?" We started chuckling and grinning like idiots in the middle of the aisle until another customer asked us to move.
We walk around the store, getting to know each other a little bit. When I remind him that he told me before he was on a bit of a hurry, he blushes and tells me that maybe he will be late to watch a game with Jasper, but it will be worth it. Before we know it, three hours have passed and we are still wandering around the store, not looking at anything, just talking and spending time together. He has three missed calls from my step-brother and I have a couple of texts from my sister-in –law. We head to the cash registers and pay for our items. Once we are outside the store he asks me for my phone number. He calls me. Grinning, I take the call and listen to his voice " Hi, I just want to say that I am glad destiny decided to give us a second chance at doing things right and this time I won´t let it pass. So, will you go out with me?"
I start giggling like a little girl and tell him "Yes, I will." He walks me to my car and gives me a forehead kiss as goodbye. I leave Target with my bags full of stuff, my phone full of texts, and my face full of smiles thinking that I just had my best first date ever… right in the aisles of Target.
A/N Thoughts?