Bella P.O.V
"Bella can we go play by the water?" Nick asks excitedly. Jason and Heather are nodding in agreement at that so called amazing plan. Tanya just shakes her head softly as she smiles. She was with me helping me with the kids for the day as I promised Nick, Heather and Jason I would take them for ice crème. They just finished their ice crème's and were pretty set on going to the park to play. Tanya decided to come with me because she was off work, she had gymnastic lessons with Heather so she wasn't a stranger by any means. I have to admit that it was actually a fun day with the kids. The parents were kind of annoying at the beginning calling every ten minutes to see how their kids were doing. Except Emmett of course but that's because he trusted me. But after about an hour the parents stopped bothering us and let us enjoy our day with them.
"Alright but you have to promise to be careful ok?" I say to them. They nod eagerly and run towards the water hand in hand squealing. I smile and Tanya is just smiling softly at me.
"What?" I ask applying lip gloss on looking at my compact.
"You really like this Emmett guy," She points out.
"Oh Tanya please-
I start to object but she holds her hands up.
"It was just a statement do what you will with it," She says and that was the end of the conversation. It's around six o clock when I drop Jason and Heather back at their homes. Their parents thanked me and had brief conversations with me and Nick was last. I drive up to the large looking house and my eyes widen a little bit at the gates.
"Whoa," I say to Nick who's licking a lollipop in the back.
"Daddy calls our house the Lion's den," He says I laugh at how cute he is before I press the button on the speaker. It rings for a few seconds and then I hear his voice.
"Hello?"
"Emmett?" I say.
"Hey Bella,"
"Hey I have your son, do you want him or can I take him home with me?" I joke into the speaker.
"Nooo," Nick says laughing in the back. Emmett chuckles and then the gate opens.
"Thanks," I say before I drive up the long driveway. When I pull up in front of the house Emmett was standing in the front in nothing but jeans and flip flops. His hair was wet so you could tell he just had a shower. What a mighty fine shower it was look at those abs…. STOP. I help Nick out of the car and when his feet touch the floor he's laughing.
"Daddy I had so much fun," He says loudly running into his arms.
"Did you?" He says looking at him.
"Yup, Bella bought us ice crème and then she and Tanya let us play in the park by the water," he says all in one breath. Emmett laughs,
"Whoa their speed can you calm down and go say thank you?" He says. Nick nods his head and Emmett settles him on the floor and Nick runs into my legs. I laugh picking him up.
"Thank you Bella," He says kissing my cheek. I kiss his and he blushes a little bit.
"No problem little man," I say
"Can you put me to bed? Daddy always tries to skip through the bed time story," Nick says and I laugh out loud.
"I do not the Pirate book is really that short," Emmett defends and Nick rolls his eyes at his father. I think that is the cutest thing I've ever seen. After getting a look saying that it was ok from Emmett I smile at Nick.
"Of course I'll put you to bed," I say and he jumps up in success and then runs into the house.
"Was he good today be honest?" Emmett asks genuinely worried.
"He was perfect. Held my hand when crossing the street, asked permission, didn't stray. Didn't give Tanya a heart attack," I add to the list and Emmett smiles a little smile.
"You don't have to put him to bed if you have to be somewhere," He says.
"Do you not want me to?" I ask hesitantly.
"Oh no! I would love you too I swear because I hate bed time it seems to go on for hours," He says and I giggle at his stammering. Giggling really Bella? I walk passed him and into the house taking everything in.
"Wow," I breathe out. The place was a beautiful house that was so well decorated. "This house is beautiful," I say.
"My mom did all the work trust me," he says "She's an interior decorator, she took reins on this place and knocked down walls however she damn well pleased," He adds. I smile a little bit.
"She did a perfect job,"
"What does your mom do?" he asks.
"She's an appraiser for ancient artefacts and art work at an auction house," I answer. He nods in approval and I smile.
"Your dad?"
"Architect,"
"What about yours?" I ask taking my turn with the questioning.
"Doctor," He answers and I nod my head. I hear little fast footsteps and a blur of a person as they run into me. I look down and smile when I see Nick in his Batman pyjamas and toothbrush in his hand.
"I brushed my teeth all by myself guys look," He says pointing to his teeth that still had some tooth paste on it. Emmett throws his head back laughing. He picks up his son and kisses his cheek.
"I guess I have to give you a lesson on brushing again huh?" Emmett asks with a little smile.
"Bella come upstairs wif us," he says and I smile at the way he said with.
"Ok little man," I say as I follow them up the stairs. I walk into Nick's bedroom and I smile softly. It was a royal blue with black furniture. I pick up a picture on the fireplace and It's Nick and a beautiful blonde woman. Must be his mother before she left.
"That's my aunt Rosalie," Nick says coming out of his bathroom with a freshly washed face and smelling of mint. Oh I guess it wasn't his mother but Emmett's younger sister, it was only then I noticed they had the same exact eyes. Nick shared those eyes with them. I smile as I put the picture down and he runs into my arms. I carry him to the bed and he jumps off runs and gets a book, he jumps under the covers gets himself settled right by my side I look at the front of the book and when I see the words "my fire truck" I smile before I open the first page and read. Nick starts softly playing with the ends of my hair as he sucks his thumb with the other, I smile softly.
"My daddy drives a big red fire truck," I read the first page and Nick points to the picture of the boy's father and I smile and nod my head.
"I want to drive a fire truck just like my daddy someday," I finish then I read the sentence on the next page. "But now I will just go get my cars and play," I say just then Emmett walks in the room he smiles and points to a sleeping Nick and my mouth drops.
"How did you do that?" He asks amazed.
"I have no idea," I say laughing a little bit. I close the book kiss Nick's forehead and gently remove his hand from my hair. Emmett and I walk out to the room quietly.
"Whatever you put in that boys ice crème let me know what it is I need to borrow some," he says as we walk down the stairs.
"I have no idea but if I find it I'll let you know," I say laughing a little bit. We reach the end of the stairs and I put my bag over my shoulder.
"It's getting late are you sure you can drive?" He asks rocking back and forth on his tippy toes. I smile as I reach out and touch his cheek.
"You're a good man you know?" I say smiling.
"I try," He says leaning into my touch a little bit. Just then someone walks through the front of the house and stops when she sees us. It was the girl from the picture what was her name again.
"Rosalie, what are you doing here?" He asks. Oh Rosalie that was her name. She was Emmett's younger sister. Good looks ran in the family I see, she was in red pyjama pants, a sweater and bedroom slippers.
"Well I was just coming over to see if you wanted food, I didn't know you had company," She says smiling. "Hot, young ,swim teacher company," She adds quietly still smiling at me and I blush.
"Um I was just leaving," I say
"Well don't be rude Emmett walk the girl to her car," Rosalie says her smile never faltering. Emmett just glares at her as if having a quiet conversation...siblings these days.
"Right, listen out for Nick," He says and Rosalie nods she skips over to me giving out her hand for me to take which I do.
"Rosalie nice to meet you," She says shaking my hand vigorously with excitement. "Emmett's younger sister that makes me Nick's aunty," She says still shaking my hand.
"Rosalie before you break her hand off," Emmett says.
"Bella," I say to Rosalie and Emmett takes my hand and the two of us walk outside towards my car. He touches the back of his head.
"Sorry my sister can be a pain sometimes," he says.
"I know what that's like don't worry," I say assuring him and he smiles. He extends is and out to me to shake and I roll my eyes laughing as I take it. Then I lean in and kiss his cheek. He smiles a bright dimpled smile.
"I'll see you," He says and I nod smiling as I get in my car. "Be careful," He says removing his hand from the hood and I give him my pinkie through the window.
"Promise," I say and he rolls his eyes and laughs. He walks into the house and then as soon as I make it past the gate I drive home safely.
Emmett P.O.V
"Nick's swim teacher dear God," Rosalie says laughing.
"Trust me it's nothing, Nick likes having her around." I say nonchalantly. Rosalie looks at me with a look of disbelief.
"What" I ask quietly as I go to my fridge and get a beer handing her one.
"Emmett," She says softly. "Nick likes having her around. Do you see the way you look at that girl?" Rosalie asks and I shrug.
"Emmett you're falling in love with her," She says softly. I burst out laughing.
"I just met the girl," I say and Rosalie smiles.
"I'm going to have the last laugh," She says.
"Go home," I say she just shrugs as she turns on her heels and leaves my house with an evil laugh.
The rest of the week went by nicely. Bella, Nick and I would go to the beach all the time after swimming practice and honestly he loved her so much and I really liked her attitude. The three of us were on the beach today. It was a Saturday and I promised him I would take him. I've just been so busy we haven't really been bonding lately. He of course wanted his best friend for life Bella their not that I had a problem with it. He was currently building a sand castle right beside us and Bella and I were just lying down side by side in the sun talking about pretty much anything. I liked it couldn't remember the last time I was this relaxed.
"So how is everything at the restaurant with the renovations and everything," She asks calmly as she rubs sun screen on her arms. She hands me the bottle for me to do her back and I do it without question.
"Going good a little stress full though I hate the fact that I have to keep Nick at my parents' house. They say it's no big deal but I don't know I feel like I'm burdening them?" I reply honestly Bella rolls her eyes at me.
"Have you met your son theirs no way he can be a burden on anybody," She says slapping me lightly twice on my cheek. I laugh and she does to laying out now and letting the sun hit her perfect body. No seriously her body was fucking perfect and I was surprised I didn't fucking attack the girl the minute her cover up came off and exposed the long legs and perfect b cups, flat stomach thin waist. She was gorgeous.
"I know but I mean I feel like I'm taking advantage of them you know. Nicholas is my responsibility their old they don't need that stress,"
"Emmett you're too hard on yourself your parents love Nicholas. Even though I've never met them I know they do,"
"They do"
"Exactly," she says smiling. "Plus this will all blow over when the renovations at the new place are done," she says. I smile as I look at her.
"Are you ever wrong?" I ask her and she laughs.
"Yes," She admits smiling softly. I'm looking into her eyes and I'm about to lean in to kiss her but then Nick runs up to us crashing into her. She laughs and I smile. He's in his sponge bob swimming trunks and he has his toy cars in his hands. Bella smiles as he gets comfy getting close to her.
"I'm hungry can we go eat daddy?" He asks me quietly. You could tell the beach was draining him. Bella brushes a few strands of hair out of his face he needed a haircut. She kisses his forehead and he plays with his toy cars in the air as he waits for my answer. You could hear the
"Vroom, Vroom," As the cars hit each other causing some big explosion. I look at Bella asking her if it was ok and she nods her facial expression showing it wasn't even an issue.
"Sure little man just let us put everything away ok?" I say and he nods going back to playing with his cars. Bella helps me roll up the towels and put them in the beach bags. I close the large beach umbrella we had and when I hear Nick groan I look at him and follow his gaze. I groan too and Bella looks at the both of us looking sexy as hell with her eyebrow raised.
"Mrs. Higgins," We both say and Bella tilts her head to the side in confusion.
"Who?" She asks.
"Emmett Cullen!" She says loudly coming over to us. She was wearing a full piece bathing suit that had a bunch of flowers on it and looked like it was for old people. It didn't really flatter her body. "It's such a coincidence running into you here. Hello Nicholas," She says. Enthusiastically. Nick just waves with four fingers as his thumb is in his mouth and he's sitting on Bella's lap, his head against her chest. He was tired I knew after he ate he would knock out for sure. I kind of hide my smile as Bella softly runs her hand through his hair and they just looked so I don't know. Complete looking at them made me feel complete I guess. Mrs. Higgins clears her throat looking at Bella and Nick. The two of them don't seem to notice as their wrapped in their own little world. It's only when Ms. Higgins forces her hand in Bella's face to shake. Bella has an annoyed look for a second but then she's back to her smiling, happy, bubbly self.
"Mrs. Higgins Nick's principal and a close friend of Emmett's," She says smiling smugly. Bella bites her lip smiling as she extends her hand.
"Bella nice to meet you," She says. And then it's awkward because even though she said it I was not by any means a "close and personal" friend of hers. So there was no conversation.
"I have never heard of a Bella before," She says looking at me. "Are you the long lost mother," She says and Bella's mouth drops and by the look in her eyes she's about to spit some mean and horrible words. I've gotten to know Bella and I know that she was a spitfire. I hated it just as much as she did the fact that Ms. Higgins said "long lost" in front of Nick. You could see the tears well up in his eyes.
"I don't have a mommy Bella," He whispers to her and the look in Nick's eyes is enough to make me cry. When Bella looks back at Ms. Higgins who finally realizes that her poor choice of wording struck a nerve with my son she looks very apologetic.
"I think it would be best if you left," I said calmly.
"Leave!" Bella says angrily. "You have absolutely no respect," She says her words like venom. Ms. Higgins doesn't say anything as she turns around and walks away quickly in a haste and Bella and I focus our attention on Nick who forced his tears away like he always does. I knew that boy was going to explode one day he needed to release his feelings. But I try all the time telling him it's ok to cry but he just shakes his head furiously takes in a gulp of fresh air, and then he's done. No trace of tears. Right now he was just resting his head against Bella's chest again. Quiet, thumb in mouth not saying a word, he had a sadness in his eyes that I seriously just wanted to make go away.
"Little man," Bella says softly. "Look at me," She adds and he does.
"My mommy left me Bella are going to leave me too?" He asks so small and vulnerable. Bella shakes her head tears in her eyes.
"How could I ever," She says passing her hand through his hair. "Leave my little man,"
"Because mommy left because I was a bad boy," He whimpers
"You are not a bad boy," I say strongly. "I already told you," I assure him softly kissing the side of his head.
"You are the most well behaved, sweet boy I've ever met how can I ever leave you?" Bella whispers putting her forehead to his.
"Promise you won't leave?" he asks. She holds out her pinkie for him.
"Promise," She says and he grasps onto her pinkie with his for dear life sealing the deal. She kisses his cheek and then tickles him he's back to his regular self.
"Come on lets go get you some food," Bella says taking him off her lap and wiping off his pants helping him into his pink t shirt. My sons fashion sense was very dashing. He picked out his own clothes and always went with the weirdest combinations. But honestly he always looked like someone from fashion week dressed him. Alice always approved of what he was wearing because he was original without looking stupid. I rarely helped in getting him ready. I pull my t shirt on and after we make it to the car to put the umbrella and bags in there. We go to the boardwalk that had restaurants all lined up. They were fancy but casual at the same time people going into the restaurants in cover ups and their swim trunks. Like Bella and I. She had her cover up over her bathing suit it was still sexy though it was loose and didn't even go passed her knees and had a deep cut, giving you some view of her bikini underneath. She was wearing flip flops.
I was holding Nick balancing him on my hip easily and my other hand had found Bella's. We didn't even acknowledge the fact that we were walking hand in hand we didn't need too. We liked it we did it end of story. Nothing serious or romantic about that.
"I want pasta daddy," Nick says as the three of us are trying to decide what the heck we want.
"I guess Italian it is," Bella says smiling. The three of us enter the Italian restaurant and the lady at the podium looks at Isabella with envy as so many women did.
"Three please," I say and she nods. She takes two adult menus and one child. She walks us to a nice table by the window where you could see the sun starting to set. Nick gets in beside Bella and I sit across from them. Nick takes his menu trying to look all grown up and I smile as Bella helps him pronounce some words.
"Ok I know what I want," Nick says finalizing it.
"I want the pasta with mozzarella cheese and meatballs," He says nodding his head.
"Well I guess your all set little man," I say taking his menu and placing it off to the side. I look at Bella asking her what she wants.
"Uh the grilled shrimp Caprese in the garlic sauce," she says. I nod. "What are you having?" She asks as she puts her menu on top of Nicks.
"Shrimp scampi," I say and she nods. When the waiter comes looking at Bella like she was a piece of meat I glared at him. I think he noticed my dislike towards the server because he giggled softly as he plays with his cars on the table. The "Vroom, Vroom" was very quiet as he knew not to be too loud at the table. I give our orders not wanting the man anywhere near our table. He delivers our food soon and when the three of us eat in silence after Bella helps Nick put his paper bib on. He liked it, it made him seem like a caveman. Bella laughed and took a picture of him smiling a toothy grin.
We eat in a comfortable silence until Bella notices something under her plate. She picks it up and laughs out loud when she realizes it's his phone number. I just glare, I glare at nothing in particular I just knew I was glaring and she was laughing.
"I should go find him and punch him in the face," I say angrily.
"Daddy you always say violence is not the answer," Nick says his mouth covered in pasta sauce. He goes back to eating and muttering a "Yum" as he puts more pasta in his mouth.
"I lied," I snap at him and Bella is still laughing she smiles leaning over the table to kiss my cheek. She shows me the number and rips it up.
"I want a kiss too," Nick says he's what made me smile. The kid was adorable with that sauce all over his face. Bella kisses his cheek careful not to get any sauce on her own face and he smiles satisfied going back to his pasta. After lunch I made the decision that there was no way I was tipping him but also that I may have some feelings for Bella. Well not some a lot. I couldn't help myself I knew it was wrong she was young really freaking young. But I liked how she was with my son, I liked the way Nick liked her and she really seemed to love the little guy. I liked the way she listened to me those days on the beach with Bella and Nick we have such long and easy conversations I tell her everything. Which is new for me because I don't talk to anyone about my inner feelings, but it was so easy for me to talk to her. I liked how she got angry easily with girls who tried to throw themselves on me in public. She was hurt I knew that much was true. I knew she was still struggling with her past. She spoke to me about it. She once even called me at night because she had a nightmare and spoke to me in the wee hours of the morning. I didn't mind it I liked her voice. Then that same day when she saw me she apologised saying she knew better then to keep me up. I assured her it was fine because it was.
I liked that she ran to me for help. But I also liked that I can depend on her. She allowed me to be weak. I needed that sometimes. Nick and I walk Bella to her condo door. All three of us holding hands.
"We won't be going to the beach tomorrow because I'm with aunt Rosalie," He says sighing dramatically.
"No sorry little guy but you got to spend time with your auntie she loves you," She says teasing him.
"But you and daddy are funner," He says pouting.
"Well you'll get to be with me and your daddy the day after tomorrow ok?" She says.
"Ok," He drags out and I smile looking down at him. She goes down to his level.
"You're going to be a good boy for daddy tonight?" She asks he nods. "Going to go straight to bed after the bed time story?' She asks raising her eyebrow. Nick nods furiously.
"Ok that's my man, Where's my kissies," Bella says and Nick kisses Bella all over the cheeks and forehead like Bella does before he goes to sleep. She tucks him in bed all the time now and they invented their little. "Kissie times," which is basically them kissing the crap out of each other. She kisses his cheek and pokes him in the stomach before coming back up to my level. She gives me a hug and since I'm holding onto Nick's hand with one hand I only wrap one around her.
"Where's my kissie times?" I whisper to her and she smiles giving me an actual kiss. It wasn't long and intense since Nick was their but hell. When we pulled apart the look in her eyes I'm sure it matched mine. We just made a move from "Friends who hold hands" to "Friends who on occasion kiss" this needed to be discussed very, very soon. But not right now, right now we were too damn happy.
"Night Bella," Nick says. She leans down and gives him one more kiss.
"Night sweetheart," She says softly I give a little wave and then we're off. When the two of us are in the car and I smile a little to myself as I'm driving just thinking about her.
"Daddy?" Nick asks from the back.
"Yeah little man?"
"Does Bella make you happy?" He asks quietly.
"…. Yeah Nick she does is that ok with you?" "If I was with her?" I ask him softly. He did come first after all.
"She makes me happy too daddy," He says and that makes me smile brighter as I drive in the darkness home. Knowing that there was in fact a person who could make both of us happy but also seemed to be very happy with the both of us.
Sorry it took me so long to update this story. Trust me it won't be a regular thing for me to update this story weeks apart it's just my other story is almost done so I updated that story twice in a row just because like it's almost done and I didn't want to drag it out. But hope you guys enjoyed this. Until next time. Don't forget to review. =)