Chapter Four
EPOV – Present Day
I walked out of the courtroom two and a half hours later, but for the life of me, I couldn't tell you what had happened in there. My mind was too full of Bella. I shook hands with Mike and walked back out into the sunshine, scanning the crowd as I went on the off chance that I might bump into Bella again. I sighed and pulled my phone out
"Hello!" Emmett answered on the first ring
"Em, I saw her" I waiting for Emmett to ask who and was surprised when he didn't
"How was she?" Emmett finally asked. I was shocked. How had he known who I was talking about? I hadn't said her name. Unless...Unless he knew she was here?
"Emmett? How did you know who I was talking about?"
"I...Um...You just told me!" Emmett stuttered
"No, Em, I didn't. I didn't say her name!" I said through gritted teeth. I heard Emmett exhale loudly on the other end
"Ed, bro, I've always know she was here. Ali, remember?" I should have known. Alice would have told Jazz and of course Jazz would have told Emmett. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed
"Lunch? Meet me at our restaurant in 10?" I asked. I need to do this face to face. I needed answers
"Ok. See you there, bro" I snapped the phone shut and called for a cab
Ten minutes later the cab deposited me at the curb outside Bella Italia downtown. Emmett and I had brought the restaurant four years ago as an investment opportunity. I had named it. Bella Italia. No prizes for guessing the inspiration for the name. She had always loved Italian food, so I had chosen to name it Bella Italia for her. I missed her. I had always missed my best friend.
I walked into the restaurant and was greeted by Laurent, our manager. He looked after the day to day running of the place and he was damn good at it too.
"Mr Cullen! What a pleasant surprise!"
"Hello Laurent. How are things?" I said shaking his hand
"Good, Sir. Very good. Are you stopping for lunch?"
"Yes. For two, please? Emmett is meeting me here" Laurent nodded and led me to a private booth. I slid in and ordered a coke with ice and lemon while I waited for my brother to show up. I didn't have to wait long. Emmett strode in, spotted me and slid into the booth facing me.
"Look, Bro, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you never seemed to want to talk about her after...well, you know" Emmett started right away, holding his hands up in a surrender gesture. I couldn't help but laugh. He was actually worried that I was angry at him
"Em, it's ok. It was just a shock, you know. I mean I haven't seen nor heard from her in eight years!"
"I know. I'm sorry" Emmett looked down at the table and then up at me. I smiled to show him that I wasn't upset and he seemed to visibly relax.
We ordered the house specials and started chatting about how she had looked and her reactions. We were still talking when Emmett swore
"Fuck" I looked up at him and saw that he wasn't looking at me, but over my shoulder. I turned to see what he was looking at and froze in my seat. Three very beautiful women had just walked in, but that wasn't the problem. No, the problem was that it was none other than Alice, Rosalie and...Bella. I felt Emmett stand up and turned back to see what he was planning to do. Before I could stop him, he had walked over to the girls and lifted Alice bodily. She was squealing and the other two were laughing.
"Emmett Cullen. Put. Me. Down!" Alice screamed. Emmett obliged and then turned to Bella and did the same to her. Bella was laughing and I could do nothing but sit and stare, dumbstruck. She looked beautiful. She was stunning as she laughed and screamed at Emmett to let her down, her mahogany hair falling in waves down her back, her eyes twinkling with amusement, her full pouting lips laughing. She was amazing
"Emmett! Put me down!" Bella was still laughing as she thumped Emmett on his shoulder playfully
"How are you girls? Long time no see!" I rolled my eyes. Trust Em to state the obvious, eight years was a long time
"Em, we saw you two weekends ago!" Bella replied, I stiffened in my seat. Wait! What?
"I know, Baby girl, but it's been an entire week too long!" Emmett finally turned to Rose
"Hi Rose" Rose smirked at him. Some things didn't change
"Hi Emmy, how are you?"
"M'good"
"So, what are you doing here, Em?" Alice asked
"Lunch with my bro" I noticed that he gave a sidelong glance at Bella. She had stiffened and Alice and Rose shot her a look I couldn't decipher. I decided it was time to go over and say hi. I walked slowly over to where they were standing. I didn't want to scare Bella. Alice spotted me first and squealed
"Edward!"
"Hi Ali, how are you?" I caught her in a hug, looking over her shoulder at Bella
"I'm great! How are you?" I nodded that I was fine
"Hi Rose" I said
"Hello Edward. How are you?"
"I'm good. You?" she nodded at me and then her gaze flickered to Bella. I took a deep breath and turned to her.
"Hi Bell" I said softly. Bella did not look at me
"Izzy. It's Izzy" She answered. I was confused. Why had she changed her name?
"No, you will always be Bell to me, Bell"
"I'm nothing to you, Edward and its Izzy. I.Z.Z.Y, Izzy!" I saw Bella's eyes flash and I nearly laughed at her tiger-kitten fury. Eight years had not changed her that much.
"Fine. Izzy. How are you?" I smirked
"I'm fine, Edward. And you?" Bella asked politely.
"I'm good. So you live in NYC?" I was dying to know what she had done in the last eight years and the reasons she had for never contacting me, but now was not the time to ask. Thankfully, Rose interrupted and broke the slight tension which had mounted between us.
"Shall we sit? You guys are welcome to join us for lunch, if you like?" Emmett glanced at me, a pleading look in his eyes. I nodded my consent. As if I was going to say no! Hell I wanted to speak to Bella more than he wanted to speak to Rose! We slid into the booth Emmett and I were originally sitting in. Alice, Rose and Bella sat facing Emmett and me. It was silent for a long time before Alice finally spoke
"So, Edward, what have you been up to?"
"Nothing much, Ali"
"Oh come on, Edward! What do you do for a living?" Alice knew full well what I did for a living. Jasper was my partner and she was Jasper's better half, but I knew she was only asking for Bella's benefit so I played along
"Well, as you know, Jazz and I own our own business. Architecture. We're doing very well. I have lived in NYC for two years now and am really beginning to love it here" At the last part my gaze flickered briefly to Bella. She was looking down at the table biting on her full bottom lip.
I want to bit that lip!
What. The. Hell?
Oh come on, you can see what a beautiful woman she has grown into!
Alice interrupted my inner musings
"Well, Bella is a Lawyer. She works for Volturi & Sons and she is good at what she does"
"Oh? Jazz and I use them!" I blurted out. Bella looked up at me at this, but still didn't speak
"Oh! What a coincidence!" Alice exclaimed just as Laurent walked over
"Mr Cullen, here are the figures you requested yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to courier them over to you" I cringed. I wasn't sure if I wanted the girls to know that we owned this place. I nodded and took the file from Laurent and waved him away. I caught Emmett's eye and gave him a pleading look. Emmett cleared his throat
"Yeah…Um…Do you guys like it here?" Smooth, Em, I thought sarcastically
"Like it? Izzy-Bella and I come here every week for lunch and Rose joins us once or twice a month. We love it here! The food is great!" Alice, true to form was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. I couldn't help but smile. I really had missed her. And then something sunk in
"Izzy-Bella?" I asked
"Oh! Well, you know she likes to be called Izzy now, but I always liked Bella, so we compromised and I call her both!" Bella looked at Alice one eyebrow raised
"Compromised, Ali?" Her voice sounded like music to my ears after not hearing it for so long
"Ok, fine! I told her that's what I'm going to call her and told her to suck it up!" We all laughed at that. Typical Alice. I thought maybe we had gotten away with the restaurant thing, but then Rose spoke
"Why is the manager here giving you figures?" I winced and looked at Emmett. He seemed to be wearing the same expression as me. We looked at each other and then Emmett shrugged
"We own it" he stated simply. There was a stunned silence for a long moment and then
"You own what, Em?" Bella's voice was low; I could hear an undercurrent to it
"The restaurant" I heard Alice and Rose gasp and Bella suck in a deep breath. I watched several emotions play across her face until understanding dawned and then she looked up and met my eyes
"Who named it?" she whispered. It was the one question I wasn't sure I wanted to answer. I didn't say anything. I couldn't speak. I couldn't pull my eyes away from hers and for a long moment we simply stared at one another. She finally spoke again, this time louder
"Who named it?" she asked again. Emmett caught my eye and nodded. I took a deep breath in and then exhaled before I answered
"I did"
My words hung in the air in the middle of the table. For several moments there was silence at the table.
"So… Bella Italia, Edward?" Rose asked with a sideways glance at Bella. I sighed. It was time to come clean on how much I had missed her, how much she had always been in my thoughts. I didn't really mind, but I had hoped to not to do this with an audience. There was so much that needed to be said, so many questions that needed to be answered, and so many angry words to be had
"Yes, Rose, Bella Italia. Do you not like it? I always have" I answered, putting just as much emphasis on 'Bella' as she had. Rose shook her head a little frantically
"No, no. I think it's great! It's just…." I quirked an eyebrow at her in askance. In this entire exchange, neither one of us had looked at Bella. Rose let out a long breath, frustrated. I almost laughed, I had never once seen self assured, confident Rose flustered
"Ok, fine! I'll come right out and ask it, shall I?" Rose looked from me, to Bella, to Alice, to Emmett and then back at me "Why Bella Italia, Edward? What was the inspiration behind that name?" Rose asked in a softer tone, still putting the same emphasis on 'Bella' as before. I raked my hands through my unruly hair and tried to bring my thoughts into some kind of semblance of sense. How would I explain it? It made perfect sense to me, but how to explain it to the three people who mattered the most in my life, after my family? Emmett laid his hand on my shoulder and gave me slight smile. Emmett knew I would be internally struggling, so I was grateful for his assurance at that moment. I took a deep breath and finally looked at the one person who needed to answer my own questions, Bella
"I named it Bella Italia, because I never stopped missing you. You were my best friend and you left without explaining to me why you were leaving or where you were going. No matter how far you were, I never forgot you and this was my way of proving that" There. I had said it. Bella simply stared at me, shocked. I gazed evenly back at her. Now was not the time to get into the whole 'Tanya' discussion, her resulting disappearance and my subsequent breakdown, but at least it was a step in the right direction. Bella finally spoke
"Thank you, Edward" she whispered, I felt my heart soar at the way my name fell from her lips. It had been so long since I heard it and it felt good to hear it once again. I nodded. She was here, she was finally here. In front of my eyes. Within arms reach. I so wanted to just reach out and pull her into a hug, but the memories of the last eight years without her stopped me. There was so much more I needed to know, so much more that she needed to know. Now was not the time, I told myself again. The time would come, but now was not it.
APOV
I sat back and watched two my best friends interact with each other after eight long years apart and I almost cried. The loved each other. I could see it as clearly as day. Izzy had admitted to me in college how she felt. Of course, I told her I already knew it. It hurt my heart to see her in pain and in pain she had been for the last eight years. Sure, she masked it with a smile, but I knew better. I knew her better. The sadness had never left her eyes and on occasion I would see a flicker of some strong emotion flash through her eyes. Every time she saw a person with green eyes. Every time she saw the leaves in fall with the same bronze colour. Every time she heard Clair De Lune.
I watched my best friend - my sister - retreat into a shell and there was nothing I could do but watch, for the only person that could break her out was thousands of miles across country with no clue as to where she had gone. I cried often for them, but never in front of her.
I prayed one day, we would meet again, and that they would meet again. Someone up there owed Bella and Edward for all the heartache. Today, that prayer had been answered. So as I watched Bella and Edward interact, I sent a silent Thank you to the heavens.