July 11

Dear Rose,

I can honestly say I didn't get it before. She was the first person I met and the last person I expected to find at my parent's house. Everyone in Delta spoke so highly of her, as if she belonged to this town. But I didn't see any of it.

I do now.

I wanted to thank you for your advice last weekend and I suspect you may have spoken with her as well; though I know you'll never admit it and I would never ask you to.

I came to Delta looking for something; I thought it was something in me. Since my parents passed, I just haven't been the same. Not that I could be, or even that I want to be that man, but I lost a lot of myself when I lost them. I thought if I came here, if I saw those cars that were such a big part of my childhood, maybe I could start to move on or at least start trying.

I realize I'm rambling, but the intent of this letter is to inform you how much I appreciate the fact that you not only welcomed me into your home and made me feel like a part of your family, but that you were so willing to help me repair my relationship with Bella.

Writing a letter may seem rather formal, but regardless of the fact that it's so old-fashioned, I find it's the best way to articulate exactly what I would like to say.

So thank you for all your help, I'm not sure if you could ever understand how much it means to me to be on good terms with Bella. She was important to my parents and is equally important to me.

Yours,

Edward

It had been a week.

A week since Edward and Bella had called their truce.

A week since Edward started writing again.

A week since Bella slowly began to open up and offer her friendship and trust to Edward.

In that week, Bella had allowed Edward to follow her around the house and observe her cleaning routines. 'If you insist on helping, you might as well do it the right way so I don't have to re-do it later anyway.' Bella had complained, but Edward knew she would have told him to leave if she actually minded. Well, she did tell him she didn't want his help folding laundry on Monday.

"What? Folding pants is too complicated for me?" He asked jokingly.

"No, I don't want you to see my underwear – pervert." She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly before shutting the laundry room door in his face.

"But my underwear's in there." He protested from the kitchen.

"Nice. Boxer briefs." Her laugh was muffled by the door.

Once she finally let her guard down around him a little and came to terms with the fact that he was staying, they both discovered they got along quite easily.

Bella liked to boss Edward around to test his limits, but found that he'd do whatever she asked of him, not knowing that his previous profession, as well as a loud-mouthed little sister primed him for her personality and demanded patience. No matter what she did, Edward was always right there to graciously offer her help or make idle conversation if she insisted on doing the task alone. It was however difficult to avoid talking about what he had been doing for the last three years, but instead he tried to focus on bonding with Bella using his parents.

Besides the laundry, the only thing she refused his help with was the cars. Regardless, he followed her into the hanger Saturday morning after breakfast, Jake steadfast behind them. Edward sat and watched her tune up the black '60 Pontiac Catalina convertible with interiors that matched the paint job.

Bella's feet were planted on the cement as she leaned over the engine. Again Edward found himself admiring her curves in the tight cut-off shorts she'd worn the day they first met, but she had on a heather grey tank top instead of the white wife beater.

"Edward?" Bella glared at him, disrupting his ogling, "Pervert," she muttered, "I asked for a wrench."

Edward stepped forward and handed her the heavy tool. "Tease." He whispered so low, he didn't think she heard him until a soft giggle passed through her lips.

Edward blushed as he realized she had, in fact, been flirting with him. "So – uhh, what kind of engine did you say this had?" He choked.

"It's a 389 automatic." She chuckled, knowing she made him uncomfortable, "Grab me a towel, will ya?"

Edward found a rag on the floor and handed it to her so she could wipe the sweat from her brow. But in doing so, she also managed to smear a streak of grease along her forehead.

"Err – Bella?" Edward said hesitantly.

"What?" She asked innocently, throwing the rag over her shoulder.

"You have something…" He motioned to his forehead and she mimicked his action, but only managed to make it worse. "Here—" Edward strode toward her and was mere inches away from her face as he reached forward to help her get clean when she suddenly flinched away. A look of fear flashed along her face for a split second before it was gone.

"I can get it." She said frantically, hoping Edward didn't think twice about her reaction. She pulled the hem of her tank top up and wiped her forehead clean. Edward tried not to stare at her pale, flat stomach as she did so, but at the sight of her navel of all things he couldn't stop thinking about how good she would taste.

Ignoring the obvious straining against his pants, Bella closed the hood of the car. "Finished." She declared.

"Already?" He asked in surprise. They had only been in the garage for a few hours.

"It's too hot to work outside." She whined and breezed past him. Since the rain on Sunday, the humidity had been steadily increasing.

"We should go swimming." Edward blurted out. Then mentally kicked himself, because although his suggestion sounded like it was a way to avoid the heat, he knew he really just wanted an excuse to see Bella in the white bikini top he'd seen her wear.

"Okay," she jovially agreed, while they made their way toward the house. "Then Jake can come too." She said in a sing-song voice to her K-9 companion. "I'll meet you at the dock." She told Edward before disappearing into her room.

"Thank you, Alice." Edward said aloud as he pulled out a pair of swim trunks from the luggage he still hadn't completely unpacked. He grabbed two towels from the linen closet at the top of the stairs and yelled, "Bells, I've got a towel for you," before bounding down the stairs and out the back door.

The humidity was stifling, but it was a perfect day for a dip and Edward had also been itching to spend more time by the lake. If it had been cooler, he could have written outside, though he would have had to deal with the bugs and Bella couldn't very well play the piano outside.

Edward sat down on the dock and let his long legs break the surface of the water. He turned to look up at the house and saw Bella taking her time walking toward the lake through the backyard with Jake running circles around her short form, clad in none other than Edward's favorite white bikini. However, Edward was pleasantly surprised to take in the white boy shorts that matched the halter top.

He gave her a loud cat call as she neared him and Bella stopped dead in her tracks. She raised her arm and pointed her index finger straight at him, "I'll have none of that." She tried to sound threatening, but the light girlish tone to her voice let Edward know she wouldn't follow through with any actual violence.

"C'mere squirt." He chuckled.

"Don't call me that." She huffed, but began walking toward him again. When she had closed the distance between them, she thrust out her hand, shoving a bottle of sun screen in Edward's face that he hadn't seen her holding as he was too busy looking at her chest.

"Oh, I'm fine. Unlike you I can tan." He beamed.

"It's not for you, idiot." She clicked her tongue and sat down next to Edward on the dock, "I need help with my back." She said suddenly timid.

"Do you, now?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Please." She said seriously, silently asking him to stop joking.

"Turn around." He instructed her.

Bella swung her legs out from the lake and folded them beneath her as she repositioned herself so her back was facing Edward.

He granted himself a brief moment to take in her small, flawless back. He swept her mahogany hair to the side, accidentally brushing his finger tips across her neck. The second he made contact with Bella, her skin erupted in goose bumps and the current between them flowed freely.

"So soft…" Wes whispered to himself and hoped that Bella hadn't heard him – she had.

She offered him a quick thanks before taking the bottle from him, standing and smearing more sunscreen on her face and neck. Jake began whining at her feet with a Frisbee in his mouth. The disk was tattered and covered in drool, but Bella didn't miss a beat as she bent down and won a quick match of tug-of-war over the toy. Jake finally gave up and Bella flicked her wrist, sending the Frisbee soaring over the water. Upon releasing the toy Jake leapt into the water in a very inelegant belly flop, but made fast work of swimming out to retrieve the disk.

"You gonna get in?" Edward asked Bella.

"I dunno, it felt a little cold." She paused by the edge of the dock, looking over at the softly rippling surface.

"Oh well." Edward laughed before picking her up, ignoring her shrill pleas and dropping her into the water with a loud splash.

Moments later she surfaced, coughing and sputtering, "I can't swim – you jerk!" She choked, while flailing around in the water.

"Oh God!" Edward leaned over the side and reached out to help her. He was only playing and it would just be his luck to drown the one person he wanted to stick around.

However, the moment Bella grabbed hold of Edward's arm, rather than wait for him to pull her up, she yanked forward, bringing him crashing into the water.

Edward gulped in air as he clawed his way above the water, but he met Bella's chocolate eyes, sparkling with mischief as she smirked. "Payback's a bitch." Then she leapt on top of him, dunking him under the water again, giggling all the while that he had fallen for her damsel in distress act.

"You are so gonna get it!" He threatened, splashing her with water while she squealed and tried to swim away. "Jake can't save you now!" Edward shouted maniacally, yards away by the dock.

The two horsed around for a while, in between playing fetch with Jake and playing tricks on each other. After a few hours, Bella declared that she needed to start dinner. When she was safely out of the water and wrapped in a towel, Edward almost knocked the wind out of Bella as he threw her over his shoulder and jogged back up to the house.

"Let me down you Neanderthal!" She screeched, though she held onto him for dear life, fearing he might drop her.

"You like it." He laughed and playfully smacked her ass. Bella yelped and pounded on his back in protest. "Careful, I don't want to drop you." He teased.

"No! Don't!" She cried.

"Don't worry… I won't let you go." He whispered huskily as he gently set her down, just as he crossed the threshold of the back door.

Their eyes met for a brief moment as Bella tried to comprehend his advances and he tried to decipher her reaction.

"Jerk!" She said suddenly and half-heartedly punched him in the arm before taking off up the stairs.

"You better run!" He called after her as he gave chase, only to have Bella slam her bedroom door in his face. "Belllaaa…" he said sweetly from outside the door, "Let me in." He coaxed.

"No!" She yelled from behind the door, "You can't come in!"

"Why not?" He wasn't sure how far he wanted to take the little game they'd been playing.

"Because I'm changing!" Bella shouted.

"Are you naked?" Edward joked.

"Go clean Jake up before he gets mud all over the carpet, you pervert!" She commanded.

"Fine, I'll get you later, tease." He chuckled, then quickly dried off in his room before throwing on some fresh clothes and jogging down the stairs to find Jake.

Bella hesitantly walked into the kitchen a few minutes later in a pair of tight black yoga pants and another tank top. "Don't try anything." She warned him as she skirted around the edges of the kitchen, keeping as much distance between them as possible.

Edward raised an eyebrow as he released Jake, who was clean of all sand and mud. He rushed to his owner's side while Bella tied her red apron around her waist.

"What do you think I'm going to do?" He asked curiously, slowly approaching her, but leaving the kitchen island between them.

"I don't know; you just make me nervous." She eyed him suspiciously.

"You know I'd never hurt you, right?" Edward removed himself from behind the island, fully aware of the double meaning to his statement.

"I know." Bella replied coquettishly as she set out the ingredients for dinner on the counter.

Edward slowly came to her side as she began to wash the vegetables in the sink. "Do you need any help?" He asked softly.

"Not tonight, thank you though." She tried her hardest to ignore the way he smelled so good and how every nerve in her body stood on end when he was so close to her.

Unable to control himself Edward stepped closer to her and slowly slid his hand around her waist. She stilled against him, her breathing patterns increased. He brought his nose to the column of her neck, which was exposed due to the fact that she had tied her wet hair up in a ponytail.

Edward breathed her in, noting that she smelled sweet and fresh and he almost laughed aloud wondering if it was possible for someone to smell like sunshine.

"Will you play for me tonight?" He asked softly as he just barely nuzzled her neck.

After a minute she nodded slowly in agreement and relaxed a bit in his hold. Just as Edward brought his lips to ghost over the tender spot right behind Bella's ear, the kitchen phone rang loudly and the two practically jumped apart. The spell they'd been caught under was broken.

"Hello?" Edward spoke into the receiver.

"Where have you been all day?" Jasper asked in exasperation.

"I was busy – is everything okay?" Edward was surprised to hear from Jasper.

"Yeah, no, things are okay, I just had some stuff I needed to talk to you about and Alice'll be back any minute; she'd kill me if she found out I got you on the phone and didn't let her speak with you." Jasper laughed.

"Can you hold on a sec?" Edward asked.

"Sure."

Edward turned just in time to catch Bella pretend she wasn't listening. He knew she had to be curious because he hadn't gotten a single call at the house as Rose was really the only one who bothered to use the land line. "It's my sister's boyfriend." He answered her unspoken question.

Bella looked up at him briefly before returning her attention to cutting up vegetables. "I'm gonna take this upstairs so I don't bother you." Edward told her, "Would you mind hanging it up for me when I call down, please?"

"Of course." She smiled weakly.

Edward went to go upstairs but stopped, "Bella," He waited until she looked up at him, "You can listen in if you want; I don't have anything to hide." He flashed her a brilliant smile and she laughed. Edward wondered if she knew he actually had plenty to hide.

"Bella, I've got it – you can hang up!" He yelled down the stairs once he had picked up the portable phone from his parent's old room.

Edward heard a click, signaling that Bella had indeed hung up the phone, so he proceeded. "Hey buddy, how's everything been?"

"Really? You're gonna fuckin' ask me that like you didn't just take off randomly." Jasper seethed.

"I'm sorry, I—"

"Dude, it's fine." Jasper huffed, "It's just Alice has been climbing the walls since you've been gone. I barely see her anymore, she's been so focused on work, but it's hard to ignore all the questions we get about you." Jasper told Edward.

"I really am sorry about that." Edward did regret that he hadn't taken the time to plan out a proper cover story for where he was.

"I know you are." Jasper sighed.

"Listen, I don't want to sound like an asshole or anything, but is there a reason you called?" Edward didn't really mean to be so blunt, but he didn't want to spend th rest of the conversation waiting for Jasper to drop a bomb on him as he tended to beat around the bush when it came to bad news.

"Oh – uhh, well, I need to book your flight back here for the press tour." Jasper said quickly.

"The press – oh fuck." Edward sat down on his bed, he'd completely forgotten about the press tour he had to do for the second Phillip Kelley movie, which was supposed to be released on Labor Day.

"You have to do it." Jasper said adamantly, "They'll sue you for every penny you've got, then go after Alice. I won't let you—"

"Relax," Edward said, "I know I don't have a choice." He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "When do I need to leave?"

"They want you here the second week of August to shoot some promotional stuff, then the press junket, we're abroad for a week for foreign press then morning shows in New York before you hit the circuit in L.A. and finish up with the premiere on the 27th. I made sure you didn't have any appearances after that." Jasper finished and Edward could almost picture him on the leather couch in the living room on his blue tooth, scrolling through the dates on his Blackberry.

"Can you ask Alice to start working on a wig? I don't want to do extensions and I hate it when she bleaches my hair." Edward requested.

"I'm pretty sure she's already got one ready, in addition to a closet full of new clothes for you to wear on camera." Jasper and Edward laughed together. "I just need to know where you want to fly in from. I can book something as close as Hayward if you don't mind a connecting flight." Jasper was professional as always, "Unless you want me to charter a private jet."

"No, no, that's not necessary." Edward thought for a moment, "What about Jane? I couldn't fly before because—"

"Dude, you fired her and so did CAA when they got a not-so-anonymous tip about what she'd been doing to you. They assigned you a new agent. I figured you didn't want a publicist and I've taken over the managing duties." Jasper informed Edward.

"Geez, thanks. Uhh – remind me to give you a raise." Edward joked.

"Hey Anthony, give me a raise." Jasper laughed. "Okay, but seriously, what airport?"

Edward thought about leaving from Hayward, but realized he'd rather be safe than sorry. "Better make it Minneapolis." He told Jasper. He knew Duluth was closer, but the twin cities had a bigger airport and there was a better chance he couldn't be traced back to Delta if he left from there. "Can you schedule a flight around noon?" Edward hoped Bella would give him a ride and though she'd lose a day, she'd get home in time for dinner. He didn't want her to have to worry about driving in an unfamiliar place at night.

"Sure. I'll have you fly into Burbank since it's private." Jasper said.

"That'd be great – umm, are you and Alice traveling with me?" The last thing Edward wanted was to be alone, across the Atlantic for a week. Idly he wondered if Bella had ever traveled. He enjoyed the foreign press tour the last time because barely any people knew who he was and nobody thought the first Phillip Kelley movie would amount to anything, let alone the blockbuster phenomenon it became.

"If you'd like us to join you, it can be arranged," Jasper replied diplomatically.

"Baby, who's on the phone?" Edward heard his sister's voice in the background.

"It's Anthony." Jasper barely got out the words before Edward heard Alice rip the Blackberry from her boyfriend's hand.

"Hello? Hello?" She shouted, still in the background.

"I'm on Bluetooth." Jasper told Alice.

There was a bit more scuffling before Edward heard his sister again, "Anthony?" She choked out his name.

"Hi Ally." He said quietly, secretly a bit choked up himself at the sound of her voice.

The second Edward spoke she began to cry hysterically. Edward managed to make out 'I hate you,' 'Where are you?' and 'I miss you,' in between sobs.

"Alice, calm down, take a deep breath or you'll hyperventilate."

"I can't—" She hiccupped, "I'm sorry—"

"Ally, take a deep breath; it's okay." Edward reassured his twin.

It took Alice a few more minutes and a glass of water from Jasper before she could speak coherently again. "Are you okay?" She sniffed.

"I'm doing really well." He smiled to himself.

"Is the Roadster really fixed?" She asked.

Edward laughed, "Yeah. Dad and a friend of his re-built it; they also painted it, it's original color."

"Really? Marina blue!?" She said excitedly.

Edward laughed again, especially since even Alice knew his dad's favorite car wasn't originally black, "Yup."

"Will you tell me about the girl?" Alice tried.

Edward chuckled in embarrassment and raked his hand through his hair, "What do you want to know?" He asked.

"Well everything, but mostly her name and how in love you are with her." Alice giggled.

"Her name is Isabella – err, Bella." Edward corrected himself, "She's the one that helped Dad fix the car, she's an amazing mechanic."

"So when can I expect some nieces and nephews?" Alice asked seriously.

"It's not like that—"

"You can't fool me Edward Anthony Cullen!" Alice declared, "Since when do you ask me for advice about girls?" When Edward didn't answer her question, she answered for him, "What is 'Never' Anthony. The answer we were looking for was 'Never.' The only time we've ever even discussed your love life was when everything went to hell with Tanya—"

"Don't fucking bring her into this." Edward warned. "Bella and Tanya – don't even – just, don't even go there."

"Wow, you've really got it bad for this girl." Alice was stunned.

"Shut up." Edward didn't even bother trying to deny it. He had learned at a very young age that trying to keep things from Alice was nearly impossible and never ended well.

"You said she was beautiful in your letter, what does she look like?" Alice asked.

"She's tiny," Edward laughed, "But I think when people say 'dynamite comes in small packages' they were referring to her. She's got these big beautiful, soulful, brown eyes that are just so expressive and her laugh is just so infectious, you can't help but just – god, I sound like such a fool." Edward said with chagrin.

"No, you sound smitten and let me guess – she has no idea." When it came to Edward, Alice was an expert.

"I shouldn't do anything." Edward said, knowing that the way he'd acted in the kitchen was more than inappropriate, "If she doesn't feel the same, I could put her in a really awkward position and that's the last thing I want to do."

Edward wondered if she felt obligated to tolerate his advances because, essentially her fate in Delta was in his hands. He made a decision then and there on the phone with Alice that unless Bella approached him, he would have to deal with his growing attraction to her and stop making unwarranted advances on her, "I'd rather be friends with her – be a part of her life than ruin it all."

"That's awfully mature of you." Alice sounded a bit surprised with Edward's restraint.

"She deserves that much from me." Edward shook his head, he knew staying away from Bella was easier said than done.

"I guess I better let you go." Alice said sadly.

"Okay, but listen, Jasper's worried about you, don't work so hard." Edward told her, "And you can call me whenever you want; tell Jasper I gave you permission to have the number."

"Thank you." She sniffed.

"I made the right decision." Edward said, "But that doesn't mean I don't miss you every day."

"Me too."

"Bye Ally."

"Oh, Anthony, one more thing," Alice said quickly.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"You should consider a better hiding place for the spare key to your room than the underside of the cookie jar."

"What!?" Edward screeched, but the line had gone dead, "ALICE!"

He stormed back to his parent's room and slammed the phone on the receiver. There was no way he'd be able to sleep in that bed, even with new sheets. He'd have to get a new mattress, but even then if they got into his room there'd be no telling what else they may have contaminated.

"Is everything okay?" Bella could easily tell he was still fuming when he stalked into the kitchen.

"They've been fucking in my room just to piss me off." Edward scowled.

"Watch your language." Bella slapped his hand when he tried to steal a fresh cookie from the cooling rack on the counter, "You can wait." She scolded.

"But you know how much I love chocolate." Edward whined, his bad mood all but forgotten.

"Why do you think I made them?" She smiled before turning to stir something on the stove.

Dinner was unusually quiet, despite the fun they'd had earlier in the day. But all Bella could think about was how close Edward had gotten before dinner and all Edward could think about was how it couldn't happen again. He knew he was abusing his position and the guilt of his earlier actions was killing him.

After putting away the leftovers and finishing the dishes, Bella joined Edward in the front room to play for him while he wrote. However the tension in the room grew so intense that he threw in the towel after forty five minutes because he was unable to focus on anything but Bella's small figure playing sad songs on her piano.

"Bella, I'm gonna go to bed, I'm more tired than I thought." He lied.

"Oh," She seemed disappointed, "Okay, good night then." She closed the lid over the keys.

"Good night." Edward sighed, watching the sway of her hips as she disappeared into the dark kitchen to let Jake out before she turned in for the night.

Edward closed his bedroom door and sunk down to the floor, covering his face with his hands.

Things had been going so well, he should have known better. He should have known better than to flirt so shamelessly with Bella because of course she couldn't tell him to stop, she feared for her job too much. What she didn't know was that Edward would have rather permanently vacated the premises than hurt her in any way.

Edward sat alone in his room for hour, just thinking and writing, always about her. Around one in the morning, he decided to sneak down stairs and steal more of Bella's chocolate chip cookies.

Just like the week before, he opened his door to hear the same haunting melody drifting up to the second floor from the front room.

Edward was frozen on the landing, unsure of what to do, that is until he heard her begin to cry. He silently descended the stairs and the sight of her tear stained face, illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the skylights above her, both filled and broke his heart at the same time.

She was so beautiful and he knew in that moment he needed to figure out a way to get closer to her. The light made her look so pale and fragile, as if he might break her if he touched her, but he had to take that chance.

He cleared his throat softly as he entered the room and made his way toward her. Bella's tearful eyes met his when he sat down next to her on the piano bench and pulled her tiny form, wracked with sobs against him.

Bella cried into is chest until she fell asleep in his strong arms. At that point Edward carried her up the stairs to her room and tucked her into her bed, kissing her tenderly on her forehead before leaving for his own room.

Though he often wondered what had made Bella so upset, he knew better to ask her and sure enough, the next day she acted as if it had never happened.

AN: This is the bonus chapter I promised since I was a jerk last week and posted the update late. Have a nice day!