Disclaimer; I do not own twilight.
Chapter 4
BPOV
After picking up the model and getting back to the office, I was finally ready for the meeting. It seems that having Jasper take over could be beneficial not only to the account but also to Alice.
I made my way into the conference room joined by Alice, Jasper and Mr. Banner.
"Let's begin" Mr. Banner stated. "This aspect is a little new for me, usually my father takes care of this end and I deal with the finances. Forgive me if I am not up on everything yet."
"Of course, we will be happy to go over anything you need clarification on." I added.
"Yes, Miss Swan will be available for whatever you may need Mr. Whitlock." Mr. Banner said.
"Yes both Miss Swan and Miss Brandon have been very accommodating. They are both very talented and I would very much like to get the contract signed right away." I couldn't help smile at Alice.
After that part was taken care of Mr. Banner excused himself which left the three of us to discuss the project in more detail. We spent a little over an hour getting things ironed out. "I think we have done enough for today, perhaps you ladies would like to accompany me for a late lunch."
"I would love to." Alice didn't waste anytime answering. They both looked at me expectantly. "As much as I would like to I do have some work I need to get done, but thank you for the offer and please feel free to contact me at anytime." It was pretty clear that they wanted to be alone anyway and it was a perfect excuse for me to pick up Masen early.
I got to the drop in center. Masen saw me and came running over. "Mommy!" he wrapped his arms around me. "Hey buddy, I missed you." I said giving him a kiss on his head. Holly walked up slowly behind him. "Hi Bella" she looked around disappointed.
"Hi sweetie, are you guys ready to go?" Her face lit up. "I get to go too?" we walked over to the check out area. "If that's okay with you." She nodded "I'm Bella Swan and I am picking up Masen Swan and Holly Cullen." I had Masen's last named changed to mine the day Jake walked out on us.
"Yes I see Mr. Cullen has authorized you to pick up his daughter, you just need to sign them out." We got into the car. "Are you guys hungry?" I looked into my rearview mirror. "Yes" they said at the same time. "How about McDonalds?" "Yeah" they agreed again.
I realized I should call Edward and let him know. I pulled out my phone and noticed that the battery was dead and I didn't have my charger with me. Crap I should have just ran home and called from there but we were already out and I did promise them a happy meal.
I was pretty sure that there was a McDonalds next to the building where Edward worked. At least I think it's where he worked. I vaguely remember Jessica saying Edward was a reporter for the times.
"Holly, I need to let your dad know that I have you with me, and my phone died so I thought we would eat at the McDonalds next to his work." I said as we pulled up. "Does this building look like the right one?" I hoped.
"I think so, it looks right, we were here this morning." She said. Good
"Okay, let's run in real quick and leave a message for him." I said as we walked over to the receptionist she was talking with another women.
"May I help you?" the she asked. The women next to her turned around she looked me up and down before noticing Holly. Her eyes widened with surprise but she didn't say anything. "Yes, I would like to leave a message for Edward Cullen."
"You know Edward?" the woman asked as the receptionist handed me a piece of paper and a pen. "Yes, I do." That should be obvious I thought. She smirked. I could feel the anger building. That shouldn't be upsetting to me.
"Oh hi honey." She said much too sweetly. I wanted to hurl. So she knew Holly. Awesome. She turned to look at me then. "Of course, you must be the nanny." I opened my mouth to say something but she turned back to look at Holly. "It's so nice seeing you again. Tell your daddy I said hi and I'm sure I'll be seeing you again very soon."
I should have just let it go but before I could stop myself I opened my big mouth. "No, I'm not the nanny; Edward is a very close….. friend of mine and I'm sure I will be seeing him a lot sooner than you will."
I finished with the note and handed it back to the receptionist. I turned around without saying another word and we walked across the street to the McDonalds. After we were done eating I let the kids play in the play land.
What the hell was that?? I questioned my sanity. Why would I imply that I was with Edward to his obvious girlfriend? This isn't going to go over well. I'm sure he won't appreciate it, I know his girlfriend didn't.
Why did it bother me so much that Edward was with someone? Maybe because I didn't peg him for the type of guy that would go out with someone like her. Though I only met him today so what did I really know about him anyway. And it's not like I'm looking for a relationship with anyone. I don't have time or a desire, but I can't help but being upset.
And how should I handle this? Do I tell him what happened or just pretend that it never happened at all. Though I'm sure he would be hearing about it from her soon enough.
What was I thinking? I successfully pushed thoughts of Edward from my mind and watched the kids play before I drove myself crazy.
When we got home I found my charger and plugged in my phone. I thought I better call Edward myself in case he hadn't gotten back to the office. Butterflies were assaulting my stomach as I dialed. I got his voice mail. "Hi Edward this is Bella, um Swan. I got off work early and so I picked up the kids. Feel free to give me a call when you get this."
I got out some crayons and paper for the kids. About 20 pictures later Holly held one up for me. "This is for you Bella. I'm going to make one just like it for daddy." I took the picture it was a picture of Masen, me, Edward and Holly. I was holding Edwards hand.
"Wow, Holly this is a great picture. But I'm not sure your daddy would want one of us holding hands." I didn't want to add to the already uncomfortable situation. "Why not?" she asked.
"Well, I think he would want to be holding his girlfriends hand instead." She looked confused for a minute. "Daddy doesn't have a girlfriend." What? "Um, are you sure?"
"Yes" was all she said. I didn't want to pry but I did anyway.
"Because it sounded like that lady from his office could be." I was hoping she would give me something more to go on. "Oh she's not, she wants to be though." Again I couldn't help my smile. "Did he tell you that?" I asked but just then my phone rang and she didn't get a chance to answer.
"Hello?"
"Oh Bella, I can't thank you enough." I knew it. "Hi Alice I take it lunch with Mr. Whitlock went well." I could almost hear the smile she must have had. "Well doesn't describe it."
"Tell me all about it." I encouraged her. "Well first of all he has got to be the sweetest man alive, and absolutely gorgeous. But you've seen him for yourself. He held doors open for me, paid for my lunch; he invited me for dinner later this week."
"And I take it you like him?" I joked with her. "I swear if I have it my way, we'll be married by this time next year." Wow. "Slow down Alice, don't you want to get to know him a little better?"
"I know how that sounds, but it's like I've known him my whole life. He is so easy to talk to, and we have so much in common." She gushed. "I am very happy for you Alice; I thought I saw something pretty special between you two this morning."
"Thank you Bella." "You deserve it Alice, you really do." She did sound pretty happy.
"You do too Bella." Just then my other line beeped. I looked at the caller id to see it was Edward. "Hey Alice, Edwards on my other line and I have to take this, but call me later tonight, I can't wait to hear the rest."
"Edward? I will definitely be calling back; I need to hear more about this. I'll talk to you later."
I switched over. "Hello?" I said trying not to get sick. "Bella?" "Edward, did you get my message?"
"Yeah, thank you so much for picking up Holly. I'm still working, and I might not be done for a while. I don't know what I would have done without your help." He didn't sound upset maybe he hasn't talked to her yet.
"Of course, I don't mind helping out at all. We're all having fun. Do you want to talk to Holly?" "That would be great." I put Holly on and they talked for a minute before she gave me back the phone.
"So um I'm just pulling into the office now but I'm sure my boss is going to want to go over everything with me so it might be a few more hours. Would it be okay if Holly stays with you for that long?" he sounded kind of nervous asking.
"She can stay as long as you need Edward. Just come by when you're done. Do you have my address?"
"I know you're 2 doors down from Jessica." He mumbled. "It's the brick one to the right." "Seriously Bella, you're a life saver, I will be there as soon as I can."
"See you when you get here." and I hung up the phone. "We're bored" Masen said.
"Hmmm. Well how about we build ourselves a fort?" that seemed to be a good suggestion as both kids jumped up and down.
We got all the available sheets and blankets and tied them to various pieces of furniture. By the time we were done we had a 3 room condo that took up almost every inch of the living room.
The doorbell rang and I crawled out of the fort to get it. It was Edward. "Very impressive." He said taking in the sight of our enormous fort. "Daddy" we heard Holly call from somewhere inside.
"Hey Sweetie, where are you?" He peeked through the fort entrance. "In here, come in I want to show you the fort we made. He kicked off his shoes and crawled in the entrance. I heard Holly call to me. "You too Bella."
I bent down and started in. "And this is Bella's room. You'll have to share with her daddy, otherwise there isn't room for you." Oh no. I crawled in beside him. "Looks like we're roommates" he said with a wink.
He winked. Huh.
The home phone started ringing. I was going to try and answer it but my path was blocked by two kids and a gorgeous man. By the time I made my way to the entrance a message was already being left.
"Bella, it's me. Look I'm sorry but I can't make it to Masen's game this weekend. Something came up. But I'll plan a camping trip or something to make it up to him. I promise. I'll talk to you later."
I sighed heavily and turned around to see Masen standing there with a tear running down his cheek. Damn it.
"Hey buddy" I said giving him a hug. "You know I'll be there and maybe I can tape it so you can show it to your dad later on. I know he hates to miss it and this way he can still see what a great player you are."
"It's the first game of the year. He said he wouldn't miss the first game." I could see how much this was starting to affect him. "I know buddy, I'm really sorry."
"You have a soccer game this weekend?" Edward asked. "Yeah, they have a game every Saturday for the next 6 weeks." He whispered something in Holly's ear and she nodded.
"Well if it's okay with you could me and Holly come and watch?"
The look on Masen's face must have mirrored my own. He threw himself at Edward and gave him a hug. "You really want to watch me play?" he asked in almost disbelief. "Of course we do. I can't wait to see you in action."
"Mommy, did you hear that? Edward and Holly are coming to my game." The excitement was very evident.
"I heard honey, that's great." He and Holly disappeared back into the fort. "Thank you Edward." I said giving him a hug of my own. "You're welcome Bella, and I really do want to see him play. I used to be a soccer player when I was a kid."
"Really? Well, I'm glad you're coming." He smiled. "Me too."
