A/N: I'm glad so many of you enjoyed Esme. There were some questions as to why Esme recognized Bella and Edward doesn't, Esme has been talking to Bella off and on whiel Edward has not talked to her for years.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Without my amazing beta Mesmerizeme, this thing would have waaaay too many spelling errors and not nearly enough commas. Thanks bb!

-Edward-

I cannot afford to take another day off work, so I kiss my mother on the cheek, as she sits eating a bowl of Lucky Charms, and head out the door. Surprisingly the forecast for the day is sunny, and my mother is planning to spend some time sightseeing. I make sure that she has my work number and knows the areas that are considered unsafe; you can never be too careful.

I check into work and take a seat at my desk; after about an hour working on a new project I realize that many of my co-workers have gathered in the conference room down the hall. Not wanting to miss out on something important, I make my way toward the conference room. I hear yelling and I push my way through the crowd only to see two of my co-workers, James Chase and Victoria Hightail, sitting on the side of the conference table, both in a state of half dress. James' pants and boxers are around his ankles and Victoria's hand is idly running over his still erect penis. I suppress a snort at the sight of how small he is, not that I'm one to look, but if it's out there... of course the fact that he is actually able to have sex makes swallowing my scoffing much easier. Victoria is not any better, her shirt is unbuttoned, her bra is on the floor and her skirt is hiked up so that she is sitting on what appears to be her bare bottom. They were very obviously caught having sex on the conference room table in the middle of the day. From the look on their faces, they are either very drunk or very high; not giving a care in the world as Mr. Grimsley stands there yelling at them. Finally, Mr. Grimsley has had enough and calls security to escort them out of the building, but not before letting them know in no uncertain terms that their positions at the company have been terminated.

After the pair are redressed and removed from the building, Mr. Grimsley approaches me. I groan a little because I know what he is about to ask me; James was a project manager, a damn good one too until he met Victoria and he just went downhill from there. Now that both he and Victoria were gone, someone needed to take on what they left behind. I try to walk away and pretend that I did not see him approaching, but he still catches up to me.

"Mr. Cullen?"

"Yes, Mr. Grimsley."

"I was wondering if I might have a word with you." I nod my head and follow him into his office. It is a nice office, with a professional looking pressed wood desk and a small window that show the brick wall of the next building. At least he gets a breeze I realize almost jealously. I take a seat and wait for him to begin.

"Edward, may I call you Edward?"

He is still flustered from the earlier situation so I give him a small smile and a nod.

"Thank you. Now Edward, as I am sure you are aware, Mr. Chase and Ms. Hightail were working on a very large project. Now that they are gone, I need someone to continue their work. You did such a good job covering for them when the team was sick the other day that I was hoping you'd take the project on as the new lead."

I was only partially surprised as he asked me this. I knew that with my previous experience that I would be asked to help, but to take over the project was something else entirely, especially since I had only been working there for a couple of weeks. I wasn't sure if I had it in me to actually lead a group of people.

"Mr. Grimsley, I am sure that there are more qualified and more senior personnel that could do this job better than I can."

Mr. Grimsley held up his hand to stop me from continuing.

"I'm going to level with you Edward; I have no idea why you are working here. I have seen the work you do; you are far too smart to work in a mindless place like this, but I do not intend to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I'll leave you to your own reasons. However, I do know that out of all the workers we have hired, in the last five years at least, you are the fastest and most efficient. So, it does not matter if someone out there is more qualified or has more tenure with the company, you'll actually get the work done, and that is what I need. I had wanted to give you this opportunity after I saw how much you accomplished when you covered for them before, it was more than the entire team had done in a week, but I had no reason at the time to remove Mr. Chase. Now that he is gone, you are the only person to immediately come to mind."

I wasn't sure what to say, so I kept my mouth shut and said nothing. Mr. Grimsley scowled after a moment and then leaned forward.

"You drive a hard bargain, Edward. I'll tell you what, I'll raise your salary equal to Mr. Chase's. Do we have a deal?"

"What about my current project?"

"I'm sure I can find someone to take that over."

"Then you have a deal, Mr. Grimsley."

We shook hands and I departed his office. Looking at the clock, I was shocked to find it was already time for lunch. I grab my things and head out to the sandwich shoppe.

I order an All That and More albacore sandwich and lemonade. Isabella is sitting at her normal table, but this time I notice that she has left the space in front of the other chair open, almost as if she is waiting for someone. Rather than across from her, the chair is sitting at her side, so whoever sits there will still only see her side profile. My first hope is that she is waiting for me, but I quickly dismiss that thought. I would hate to assume and be wrong, I am not sure I could handle being rejected by my only real friend, if that is what you could call her.

I pay for my food and walk over to sit at the table next to her, just as I do every day. As I approach the tables, Isabella pulls out the other chair in invitation. I quickly glance around to make sure that she indeed means the gesture for me. I take a seat and she moves her head slightly toward me, but still not enough for me to see her face.

"Good afternoon, Edward," she starts.

"Hello Isabella, thank you for sharing your table with me today."

"It was the least I could do after practically running out on you yesterday. You're mother seems nice, I hope she wasn't put off by me."

"Thank you, she's great. And no, she was not put off at all; I told her about our lunches together and she seemed happy that I had made a friend here so quickly."

I hoped that I would not scare her off with that admission. Isabella's earlier comment reminds me of her meeting that she was running off to.

"I hope you made it to your meeting on time yesterday. So what is it that you do Isabella?"

She tenses up for a moment before seemingly forcing herself to relax.

"I'm self employed and I kind of work from home. I don't really go out often because I'm not very comfortable around people."

"I'm kind of the same. I mean I don't work from home, but I'm not really comfortable around people." I felt like an idiot, like I couldn't stop rambling or say anything right with her. "So, if you don't like being around people why do you come here for lunch. It can't be for the food; they deliver."

Isabella tenses again and I can't help but wonder what she is hiding. "M-my family tells me that I need to get out of the apartment at least once a day. So I've made this my 'once a day'." I've never heard Isabella stutter before and it makes me even more curious as to what she is keeping and why. Rather than press, I let it go and decide to move to a different topic.

"What do you do?" Isabella's question catches me a bit off guard and I briefly consider telling her an untruth, but I don't feel like being petty. If Isabella wants to keep things secret then she can, she owes me nothing in the way of explanation.

"I do data entry; I guess that I must be pretty good at it because I've already received a promotion. It's a mindless job but it fills the time" I tell her and wait for her opinion.

"So your guilt not only keeps other out, but traps you in." It was more of a statement than a question and shocked me to my very core. I couldn't understand where the lightning fast change in conversation had come from and frankly it made me a little mad. I refused to judge her for her life and here she was passing judgment on me?

Once again, I wondered if she was the one that had contacted Isa. Without thinking, I lashed out at her.

"So, what's trapping you?" I barely recognized my own venom laced voice.

Isabella's voice was almost seething as she gathered her things and prepared to leave.

"It's not guilt, if that is what you think."

And like a gust of wind from a hurricane, she was gone, leaving me very confused and even more of an emotional wreck. I was terrified that I had ended our friendship by taking offense, but as I had no way to contact her. I would have to wait until the next day at lunch to talk to her again. I swore in my mind that I would find the courage to ask for her number, for emergencies of course.

The rest of the day passed by somewhat fast as I turned over my project to another worker and began learning everything about James' project. Before I noticed, it was time to go home.

I drove my mother to the airport to catch her flight home and she promised to give my father my love. When I walked back into my apartment, I was barely able to keep my eyes open long enough to make it to my bed.

-Isabella-

I knew that Edward could tell I was keeping something from him. Even when we were innocents in the ways of the world, I could never lie to him. I hated hiding the truth from him, but he was nowhere near ready to know that I was his Bella, and especially that I am Isa. Those would come in due time, but not yet.

I don't know why I snapped and judged him like that, I guess Isa was slipping through. Part of the reason Isa never spoke to her clients was because I didn't want to say the wrong thing. Sometimes people found more truth in silence than in a hundred intellectual conversations. But that did not mean that Isa didn't have things to say, and apparently those things could not be contained where Edward was concerned. I just hoped that Isa could contain them when 'treating' Edward.

A/N: I mean no offense to anyone who does data entry. I just needed a job that Edward could get lost in.

I hope you all enjoyed the little James and Victoria scene. I do not plan on them showing up again in the story, Edward has enough crazy shit to deal with.

Reviews = Teasers!