AN: Hi! This is my first attempt at a multi chapter fic. I am not working with a beta so I apologize in advance for all the mistakes I will make. But if anyone wants to help my beta my story or pre-read and give me advice please let me know. I hope you will give this story a chance. I only have a couple of chapters pre-written and will hopefully be able to post regularly.
Thanks for reading!
Twilight belongs to Stephanie Myer. No infringement intended.
BPOV
"Alice, I swear to God I am going to kill you! You need to pick up your damn phone and help me!" I was pacing in the bathroom while trying to get a hold of the woman I call my friend. "How could you do this to me? You lied to me. You better be awake and answer your damn door. I'll see in twenty minutes!" I had to get out of here. As I exited the bathroom, I had to school my face so that I could pass for feeling ill. I walked back to my table to face the man I was "set up" with for the evening.
"Hey Collin. I think I'm going to head out. I'm not feeling well and I really should get home and rest. Sorry. "I put some money on the table and was getting ready to leave, not giving him a chance to respond.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Let me walk you out," Collin said as he started to stand. "Please don't leave the money I've got this."
"No, it's the least I could do considering I've ruined your evening and please just sit and enjoy the rest of your meal." I rushed out of the restaurant before he could ask me for my number, if he was even thinking about asking me for it.
I tried calling Alice again on my way to her house. She better answer her fucking door. I pulled into her driveway, stomped up to her door and knocked in case Bree was sleeping. I heard footsteps come up to the door but no one opened it. "You better open the door Mary Alice Whitlock!" I heard the lock turn and saw Jasper standing in front of me looking sheepish as I glared at him.
"Bella, don't look at me like that, I had nothing to do with it." Jasper pleaded with me as he opened the storm door to let me in. Yup, everyone was afraid of my death stare.
"I know Jasper," I sighed. "Is Alice still awake?"
"Yeah she is. She'll be down in a minute. I was going to call and warn you but you had already called her cell so I figured it was too late." Just then I saw Alice hesitantly poke her head around the wall to the kitchen.
"Bella, I'm sorry. I didn't think this guy would be so bad!" Alice said before I could even say anything to her.
"Alice, where did you even find him? He told me he doesn't know you too well, and not so bad? He did nothing but talk about himself and how big his dick supposedly was, flirt with the server and stared at my boobs all night."
"I'm sorry. I met him at the pediatrician's office, and he seemed like a nice enough guy. Plus, he was pretty good looking."
"Yeah pretty good looking and arrogant! What the hell was he doing at the pediatrician's office?"
"He was taking his son in for a check-up."
"Are you sure he was even single?"
"Yes! He told me he was in the middle of his divorce"
"Alice! What the hell! In the MIDDLE of his divorce?!"
"I'm sorry Bella! I just want you to be happy and I thought you would like him," she said as she started crying.
Oh God, the hormones. I should have known better than to yell at a pregnant woman. I went to hug her and said, "I know Alice. I'm sorry I flipped out. It's just that you lied to me. You told me you wanted to meet me for dinner. When I got there and I didn't see you, I waited at the bar and then some guy I didn't know walks up to me, and acts like he knows me. He started saying that he's glad Alice hooked us up. I was so confused. When I realized it was a set up, God Alice, I was just shocked. I tried to get to know him before I made snap judgments but, he wouldn't stop talking and I just had to get out of there. He was such a creep."
"I'm sorry."
"I know. Never do that again. You're done setting me up. What is with you and the pediatrician's office anyway?"
"I don't know. I'm already there because of Bree, and he said he was single."
"Okay, well I'm going to get going. You guys have a great night and I'll talk to you later." I said as I was walking to the door. Jasper was walking me out so he could lock up for the night.
"Bella, please don't be too mad at Alice. Yes, what she did was wrong but, we all love you so much, and we just want you to be happy." Jasper said.
"I know she means well. I love you guys too." We hugged each other goodnight and he watched me get in my car and start it before he closed the door.
While I was driving home I couldn't help but think back on all the losers I've gone out with. Between work and volunteering and making time for my friends and family, I don't have time to go out and meet men. It also doesn't help that my closest friends are married and have kids. That's why Emmett and Alice have taken it upon themselves to set me up.
Why is it so hard to find someone? My friends tell me I'm a pessimist when it comes to love. They tell me I'm too picky or that I'm refusing to give a guy a chance. Maybe I just don't have my priorities straight.
I'm a banking center manager right now, and I'm trying to work my way up the corporate ladder. I didn't even study business or finance in college. I studied English and secondary education. Yes, that's what my degree is in. Why am I in banking? I was working as a teller through college to pay for school and living expenses and just kept moving up. By the time I finished college I was the teller manager and I wanted a change of scenery. So I applied for an assistant manager position in the Chicago land area and that is how I ended up in Barrington, Illinois. I figured I'd stay in banking until I found a teaching position but I kept putting it off. I worked as an assistant manager for the next two years. My manager at the time retired and I thought, what the hell, I might as well apply for the job and see what happens. By some miracle, I got the job. That's what I've been doing for the last three and a half years.
Do I regret never looking for that teaching job? Yes and no. My passion has always been literature, and when I started college, I wanted to share my love of books with kids. Heck, I still do. But I got caught up with trying to move up in the company. I've been making enough money to buy the house I live in now, and to put money in savings as well. Would I be making that much teaching? Possibly, I don't know. All I would really have to do is get certified to teach in Illinois, but I keep putting it off.
I guess I do put my job ahead of not only my love life, but also life in general. Maybe I just haven't found that person that's worth putting first in my life. I don't know what I'm saying or thinking. I had a long day at work and a crappy blind date. I just want to get home, go to sleep and forget this day ever happened.
As I make my way through my house to make sure everything's locked up, I keep thinking about my priorities. Maybe I should take a look at my life and the choices I've made.
Am I really happy? Sure I'm content, but am I truly happy with everything in my life? Am I headed in the direction I want to go? The direction I want to end up in? All I know is this is not where I pictured my life would be at twenty eight when I was eighteen, twenty one or even twenty five for that matter.
Maybe it's time to think about what makes me happy. What do I need to change in my life to make me truly happy?
The last thing I think about as I fall asleep is that it's time to rethink my priorities.
I woke up with a start. I looked at my alarm clock thinking I was going to be late for work but remembered it was Sunday. I lay in bed for another five minutes before making my way to the kitchen to start the coffee before I started my morning routine. I went to brush my teeth and take my shower. Sundays are usually busy for me with church in the mornings and then I usually have a volunteer thing in the afternoon or evening. I volunteer for the high school youth group at my church, that's how I met Emmett. When I first moved to Illinois and got myself settled in Schaumburg, an affordable suburb near Barrington, I set out to find a church.
I was raised Catholic. My parents were never really religious, or practiced regularly. Sure, we went to church for the big holidays, Christmas, Easter, and I was in the required CCD classes until I was confirmed, but that was it. It wasn't until high school that I really found faith. My best friend in high school was in a car accident that almost took his life.
Alan was hit by a drunk driver and was in a coma for a week. When his parents called me after his accident, I rushed to the hospital to be with them. While he was in surgery I couldn't sit still so I started wandering the hospital and found myself in the hospital chapel crying and praying for the life of my best friend. He pulled through the surgery and I visited him every day. When I wasn't with him I was in a church praying that he would wake up and everything would be fine. One day while I was sitting in a pew praying, I felt this calm wash over me. It was a feeling of indescribable peace. I went to the hospital to see Alan, and he was somewhat sitting up in his bed and talking to his parents. He turned towards me, looked at me with his blue eyes and smiled at me. I knew right then that the peace I felt was God's way of telling me that he was okay. After that experience I started going to Mass regularly and praying often.
One of my customers asked me how I was settling into the area and I mentioned that I was looking for a catholic church to go to, and she recommended her church. I went that Sunday and liked it there a lot. At the new parishioner welcome meeting I went to, a giant man walked up to me and stuck his hand out, "Hi. I'm Emmett. I'm the youth minister of the high school youth group," he said.
"I'm Bella; I heard your presentation on the youth group. It sounds fun. I wish they had something like that back in Forks. I would have gone."
"Nice to meet you Bella, I'm assuming that you're new?"
"Yes, I just moved to the area."
"Well, I'm fairly new to the youth minister role here in this parish as well. I'm glad that you seem to like the youth group. I'm actually looking for adult volunteers to help with the teens. Do you think you'd be interested?"
Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that. "Um, to be honest, I haven't worked with teens since I did my student teaching back in college."
Emmett just shook his head and said, "That's alright. They're teenagers, they don't require much. Just come to a couple of our events and see what you think." He looked at me with a big smile and I found myself agreeing.
As it turns out I did enjoy it, and the job of adult leader wasn't difficult at all. Emmett and I became good friends, best friends really and I couldn't be happier. I eventually met his wife Rosalie, and his kids and fell in love with his family. He had an awesome family and welcomed me into the fold as an honorary McCarty.
As I arrived at the church and was looking for a pew to sit in a little blonde haired girl was waving frantically at me. "Aunt Bella! Come sit with us," little Emily McCarty practically shouted. It was a good thing Mass hadn't started yet.
I couldn't help but laugh at her exuberance as I made my way to their pew.
"Emily! Quiet," Rose hissed at her daughter. Once I was in their row, Rose smiled at me apologetically and gave me a hug. "I'm sorry about that Bella."
I just shook my head at her. "Don't worry about it Rose. She wouldn't be a McCarty if she wasn't loud."
"That's right," Emmett boomed out while tickling his little daughter. The people in the pew in front of us turned around and shushed us, while Rosalie just rolled her eyes at them.
"Emmett I swear if you wake Claire up and get us kicked out of church you will be in big trouble mister," Rosalie told her husband while rocking the youngest McCarty in her car seat.
The twins, Jane and Alec, looked over at me waved and whispered hi to me, since they were on the other side of the pew.
Emily wriggled out of her father's arms, came over to me and gave me the tightest hug her little arms could. "Auntie Bella, I missed you," she whispered in my ear with her arms still around my neck. I loved all the McCarty children, but little Emily and I had a special bond. Emily was born two years after I had met Emmett and Rosalie. Because I've been there since the day she was born, we were able to forge a bond I didn't have with the twins. When Emmett and Rose asked me to be her Godmother, I was shocked, but also truly honored.
The cantors gathered in front of the choir area and asked everyone to join in the gathering song to start mass. Half way through the service baby Claire woke up and I took her from Rose to hold for a bit. As I was rocking her in my arms throughout mass, I looked over at the family sitting to my left and realized that this is what I want. I want a husband, a companion to share my life with. When I was younger I didn't think I would want kids, but now as I get older, I've come to realize that I do want that. I want a family, but most of all I wanted to love and be loved. It was time to rethink my life, really think about what I wanted and my priorities, and maybe, find somebody to love.
AN: Okay, so this story isn't too religious, Bella just goes to church and Emmett works at one. It doesn't talk about God too much, don't worry.