I'd like to spend this entire author's note gushing about how much I appreciate you guys and your response to this story, but I don't think any of you want to hear it, so I'll just say, once again, thank you.
EmDempster and EllisBell725 are the ones who make this pretty, but I have a habit of correcting things that don't need to be fixed, so any and all mistakes are mine. Disclaimer still applies. Enjoy!
"Brandon, please be careful," I called across the yard. He was climbing the wooden play set like a spider monkey and Lily, Rosalie and Emmett's five-year-old daughter, was coaching him up from the top of the climbing wall. He, of course, followed her request and scrambled up the thing before I could call out my warning. When those two got together, the emergency room should be on standby.
"That child either has no fear or no sense of self-preservation," I muttered. Rosalie overheard me from her chair and laughed.
"I think it's a little of both," she said. "He's a boy, Bella. Boys are not the smartest creatures, even at an early age."
"I heard that," Emmett said as he stepped through the French doors. "I'm perfectly capable of holding my own in a math tournament, thankyouverymuch."
"I know you are, honey," Rosalie cooed. "That's why you're such a good math teacher." Emmett gave his wife a big, dimpled grin and stooped down to lay a big kiss on her cheek. Momentarily placated, Emmett turned his attention to the grill. My best friend rolled her eyes at me and refocused on the kids playing in the yard while I giggled.
"Are Angela and Ben coming?" I asked. Since becoming my boss three years ago, Angela had also become one of my closest friends. She and Rosalie were my confidantes and support system. Without the two of them, I'm not sure how I would've made it through that first year.
"She said they were, but they'd probably be late. And unfortunately, I think Tanya is coming."
Her perfect nose curled into a sneer. It was no secret that Rose wasn't fond of her husband's cousin. I wasn't either, but I had to work with the woman so I pretended to tolerate her. But I avoided touching her for fear that she might be carrying some flesh-eating tropical venereal disease contracted from one of her many conquests.
"Well, at least all the men here are either related to her, too young for her or taken."
Emmett froze mid-hamburger flip and eyed Rosalie and me warily. "We may have invited someone else that you don't know. He's a new teacher and baseball coach at the high school." I groaned loudly when I realized why Emmett looked like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Along with Angela and Ben, those two were always trying to set me up with someone. I had my own little posse of matchmakers around here.
"You two are never going to give up, are you? Well, you might as well tell me something about him. What's his name?" I asked. Rosalie's smile spread across her entire face. Shit. Big mistake. Always act uninterested, Bella! Don't feed the frenzy!
"Edward Cullen." Well, that I could certainly handle. But I had to play it cool, otherwise Rose would start planning the wedding.
"Oh, him," I replied, waving my hand in nonchalance and trying to act like I didn't care. In reality, my insides were fluttering at the mere mention of his name. "We actually met in the grocery store."
She arched one perfectly waxed eyebrow in amused interest and I could see the wheels turning.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. That was a week ago and I haven't seen him since. Unless you count the parking lot at the gym, but he took one look at Brandon and I could see the questions burning a hole through his head."
Rose tossed her long, cornsilk hair over her shoulder and shrugged. "Well, any normal guy would question if an attractive woman with a child is tied down. You can't blame him, Bella."
"I know, Rosalie. It's just so complicated and I don't want to bring a string of guys in and out of Brandon's life." I looked over at him then, smiling when I saw how happy he was playing with Lily. It was gratifying to know that I could give him that. I didn't want to interrupt his life with a revolving relationship door.
"Like that'd ever happen? Bella, you've only been on a handful of dates in the past three years. How many guys have you introduced to Brandon?"
"One," I said sheepishly.
"Right. One. And Brandon was only a little over a year old at the time, right? I hardly think you qualify for hussy of the month."
My thoughts drifted to Riley, the one and only guy I had been in a relationship with since Brandon had come into my life. He was a great guy and he stuck it out for a while, but he wasn't too happy about the idea of an instant family. We had fun for a few months and then he moved on. It had been hard at the time, but I don't know if I would've ever considered myself 'heartbroken'. That proved to me that he wasn't 'the one' to begin with. Ironically enough, he moved on to a girl named Victoria and had her knocked up within six months.
"I know. I just want to be careful. I have a lot of priorities that come before a relationship right now," I replied quietly.
She nodded in agreement, but she always had to have the last word. "I know you do. When the time is right and the perfect person comes along, you'll see. It'll all work out."
~ D ~
An hour later, the barbeque was in full swing. Angela and Ben had arrived with their four year old son, Eric, in tow. The kids were climbing and playing in the back yard, lots of screams and an occasional case of tattle-telling making their way to the parents. Brandon was guaranteed a good night's sleep.
Edward had indeed shown up to the party. As did Tanya, who had been trailing him like a hungry puppy since he had walked through the door. Her blatant attempts at seduction and general efforts at whoring herself out to him received no response. Actually, he had sought me out soon after his arrival and snuck up on me while I was standing in the yard watching the kids.
"Just so you know, I was invited. This isn't on my list of prime stalker locations." I glanced back to the voice and was met with that warm, inviting smile that I vividly remembered from the grocery store.
"So, you're admitting you do stalk?"
He sighed loudly with a dramatic look of defeat on his face. "I really keep digging myself a hole, don't I?"
"Pretty much," I laughed. "Need help climbing out?"
"A hand would be nice." I reached over and held one out. He chuckled as he grabbed and tugged on it a bit, succeeding in pulling me a bit closer to him. I didn't object. He smiled like he was proud of his achievement and let his hand linger in mine for a moment before they dropped back down to our sides. I shuffled my feet and blushed, a little flustered by his tiny intimate gesture. Trying to regain my senses, I cleared my throat and made small talk.
"I haven't seen you around lately. Are you getting settled in?" Let's try not to sound too desperate there, Bella.
"No, not really. I'm staying with my parents temporarily. Between moving here from Chicago and trying to get things settled in my new classroom, I haven't had time to look for a house." My inner-business woman perked up at the sound of opportunity knocking on my door.
"Are you looking to purchase a home?"
"Mmmhmm," he replied with amusement etched across his face. "Wouldn't know anyone who might be able to help me out, do you?" He had a glint in his eye and I realized that he already knew I was a realtor. Though we never had a conversation deeper than analyzing his 'stalking' habits, we had been involuntarily gaining knowledge about each other today. Gotta love that friendship grapevine of information. We should just send our friends on our first date. First date? Getting ahead of ourselves aren't we, Bella?
"Absolutely! I'm sure Tanya would be thrilled to help you out," I teased. I saw real horror flash in his eyes and laughed.
I chanced a glance over in her direction only to see her face flaming red with irritation as she watched Edward and me interact. If she were a cartoon character, steam would've been coming out of her ears. She wasn't a graceful loser. I had found that much out the first year I beat her in sales.
"Actually, I had been informed that you were the best around." Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Cullen.
"Psssh, whatever. Angela is the top producer for the county."
"Well, when the topic came up a few minutes ago at the table, she recommended that I come to you." Oh, I could see where this was going. Matchmaking culprit number two. I looked back over at Angela and caught her eye. She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, grinned and turned back to her conversation. Real subtle.
"I suppose I could make time in my schedule," I teased. His eyes lit up immediately.
"Really? That's great."
"Sure. You want to just meet up-" My sentence was cut off by a familiar wail. Brandon came running up holding his arm for me to see, his face scrunched and mouth opened in mid-cry, but there were no visible tears.
"What's wrong, sweetie?"
"La-La! I scwatched my arm on 'da swide!" With the way he was acting, one would've thought he had cut his arm completely off. Luckily, it was just a small, almost microscopic, scrape on his forearm.
"Honey, you aren't even bleeding. I think you're okay."
"But it hurts!"
"I'm sure it does," I cooed, consoling him. "Do you think we need to go to the emergency room? They could give you a shot," I teased as I poked him in the ribs. He giggled at my exaggeration.
"No, La-La! You're so silly. I don't need a shot!"
"Okay then." I kissed his boo-boo and looked up to see him staring at Edward.
"Brandon, can you say 'Hello'? This is Edward Cullen."
"Hello, Brandon," Edward greeted and stuck out his hand, but retracted it with amusement when Brandon shrank behind me and hid his face in the back of my leg. I reached around and patted his shoulder. He gave a muffled 'Hello' back, but that was as good as it was going to get for him.
"Go ahead and go back to playing," I coaxed. He loosened his grip on me and ran back to the play set. "Be careful, please!"
"Okay, La-La!" The shyness immediately dissipated once he was away from the stranger and the tiny hints of tears that had finally built up in his eyes were already dry. It was as if the incident was long forgotten. Though he'd most likely remember the scratch and use it as a handicap when I told him to pick up his toys at home later.
"Cute kid," Edward said thoughtfully a moment later. Here we go...
"Thanks." Three...two...one...
"Why does he call you 'La-La'?" Not exactly the question I was expecting, but maybe he was working up to it.
"When he was learning to talk, I kept repeating 'Bell-La...Belllll-La' to him, but he'd just cock his little head at me and refused to say anything." I smiled at the memory of a rounded-face, chubby Baby Brandon. "One day, he popped out with 'La-La' and stuck with it, like he had just been contemplating on a nickname for me the whole time and finally decided on one." I could recall that day vividly in my mind, remembering the way he spat out the name as if he had been holding it in until just the right moment.
"Huh. That's cute." He turned to smile at me briefly then was quiet again for a few moments. "So, am I correct in assuming that since he doesn't call you 'Mommy', he's not yours?" I blanched a little because I felt that Brandon wasmine, but from the tone of his inquiry, I knew his words held no malice.
"Well, let's just say I didn't give birth to him, but he's mine in every other way. The rest is a long story. Maybe we can save that for a rainy day?" I asked quietly, hoping he'd let it go for today.
"Of course, Bella. You have no obligation to tell me anything. I didn't mean to intrude. I was just curious." Now I felt like a bitch.
"I know, and it's okay. It's just a bit of a long story and not something I'd like to get into today." He nodded in understanding. "But make no mistake, that boy owns me. He is my entire world."
His face lit up in a grin and he laughed quietly. "I can see that."
There were a few more awkward moments before he blurted out, "So, can I have your number?"
Even though I knew we would have to exchange information if he was serious about house hunting, his sudden question startled me. The shock must have shown on my face because he was hasty to provide an explanation.
"You know, so I can call you to get information on houses and other stuff..." He trailed off shyly. In that moment that I realized if he ever asked me out, there was no way I'd be able to resist him. I had no will power. Zero. Zilch.
"Sure." I rattled off my number as he punched it into his phone. He placed a quick call to my phone and I saved his number in my address book.
"There. All set. Can you come by the office sometime next week?" I immediately went into full-blown obsessive girly mode in my mind, mentally scanning through my closet and picking out my most flattering outfits. I needed help with my sanity.
"Sure. We start back to school next month, so I'm trying to get set up in my classroom and have meetings with other coaches, but I'm free at some point almost every day. Would Monday be okay?"
"Absolutely. We can go over your budget and pull some listings. If you have time, we can even look at a few. I don't have much going on that day."
"Great, Bella. I look forward to seeing what you have to offer me," he said, with a hint of laughter in his voice and a spark in his eye that made me think there was another meaning behind his words. His shyness from just a few moments earlier was gone, replaced by cheekiness. He was such a flirt.
"Well, I hope I don't disappoint," I countered saucily. So I flirted back. Sue me. It was the power of the pretty.
"I have a gut feeling that you won't," he replied with an adorable smile.
Yep. I was a goner.
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