When I woke up the next morning I thought that last night was a dream, maybe there was something wrong with the dinner I ate, maybe Chris had tried some new spice that I was actually allergic to. But to my distress after getting out of bed I saw the envelope on my dresser with the rest of my tips from that night.

Over my usual breakfast of cereal and coffee I considered what this would mean for me. On the one hand it could have just been a fluke, despite the relatively small town the restaurant was in it was one of the better places within a thirty mile radius and we often had people come in from out of town. And really, what were the odds that I would see the Cullens come into the place again? They didn't eat so lying to people to get out of going for dinner should be old hat by now.

Having convinced myself that there would be no further contact with the family I once considered my own I finished getting ready and made my way to the bookstore. It was my day to open the store and I was looking forward to the half hour alone, not that Maggie was really a huge distraction from my own thoughts.

I entered the store and started turning lights on and opening windows. The entire process of getting the store ready for business took five minutes, and I was left to think some more. For the first time since they left I allowed myself to imagine what the Cullens had been doing since they left.

I imagined Carlisle had continued to work as a doctor and Esme had continued to play homemaker, maybe she'd done some decorating. The so called Cullen children had probably either gone back to high school or on to college for another round of Ivy League degrees. Of course the fact that they were here lead me to believe that they had gone back to high school, maybe as older children, or maybe they had been living somewhere close by. That thought stung, had the Cullens been living near me for the last few months without my knowledge? Not that I would have done anything if I'd known… except maybe moved.

Giving up this line of thought I turned to the newspaper I had brought in with me. I'd been reading for a few minutes when the bell on top of the door rang signaling the entrance of Maggie. "Morning Maggie, there's coffee on in the back, but we're out of the hazelnut stuff you like." I didn't bother to look up, but in hindsight perhaps I should have.

As I continued to read it struck me as strange that Maggie hadn't said hello to me, which was unusual in itself, but perhaps even stranger was the fact that there were no footsteps to indicate that she had even come into the store at all. Puzzled by this I looked up, and was immediately greeted by two pairs of dark gold eyes that I thought I'd never see again.

"Alice, Jasper what the hell are you doing here?" I said as I struggled to get my heart rate back under control. I felt a wave of calm pass over me, and I passed a glare to Jasper who merely smirked at me.

"Well, Bella, I would have thought that was rather obvious… this is a bookstore, I need a book," Alice responded with an impish smile playing across her mouth.

I stared at her for a moment, not believing her for one second. "Alright, what book do you need?"

"The dictionary"

"Really. You need a dictionary? Please you need a dictionary like I need a Porsche."

Jasper's lip twitched like he was trying to hold back a laugh while Alice's eyebrows knit together as she glared at me.

"That's weird Bella I never took you for the sports car type."

"Well I never took you for the type to need to look up the meaning of a word in any language known to man, let alone the one you grew up speaking, so tell me the truth, what are you doing here?"

She grimaced for a moment, "I honestly did come in for a dictionary, we moved to town recently so we're making the rounds to local businesses in order to dispel the stories that are sure to come up if we don't get our faces out there early. It's a bit of a Cullen tradition."

"Ah, well rest assured that I will not be spreading any sort of rumors about the huge family that moved into town, but never came into the bookstore, and therefore must be illiterate." I continued to stare at them and they stared right back at me. "Was there something else you wanted Alice?"

"How are you?" she asked.

"How am I?"

"Yes."

"I'm fine Alice, why do you ask?"

"Are you really fine Bella? Because you don't look so good, you look way too thin, and when was the last time you got anywhere near a full night's sleep?"

For some reason her words angered me, what right did she have to come into my life and ask me personal questions like that?

"Why are you upset Bella?" Jasper said after a minute of my silence.

"Well Jasper, I'm upset because apparently despite not caring enough to at least say 'Goodbye, you were swell for a few laughs' three years ago, to the day actually, she suddenly feels as if my life is any of her concern." They both looked at me in shock, seventeen year old me had never actually gotten mad at them before. Well seventeen year old me also thought that they cared about me, even loved me.

"Bella – "

"Forget about it Alice, I'm sorry I snapped at you, I should have seen it coming, you guys really couldn't have stayed in Forks for much longer and it was unreasonable of me to expect some sort of great send off. I promise you won't get any problems from the bookstore, not that you would have anyway, but please, just go." I was fighting to keep the tears from pouring down my cheeks.

"Okay Bella, but just so you know, I always cared about you."

I couldn't look at her, and I didn't look up again until I heard the bell over the door ring again, surprised to see Maggie come in as Alice and Jasper left.

"Who were they, I haven't seen them around before," She asked.

"They were just my past coming back to bite me in the ass." I replied.

Maggie looked frightened, "You're not in some kind of trouble are you Bella?"

I thought about it for a moment, "Yeah Maggie, I'm in trouble, but not the kind anyone can help me out of. Don't worry, I'll deal with it."

She didn't look convinced, but Maggie let it go. The day went fairly normally after the appearance of the Cullens. Maggie tried to talk me into going out again that night as I didn't have to work the bar, but I declined the offer, saying I had a headache, which was actually true.

I made my way out to my car and was relatively unsurprised to see someone waiting there for me.