I chuckled, watching the trail of dust that followed JJ's back tire as his legs pedaled as fast as they could. I also noted his training wheels hardly touched the ground as he rode.

"Hey, Mister!"

"Hey there, JJ. Does your mama know you're here this time?"

"Yup! She said that it was okay for me to come over. Whatcha doing?"

"I'm getting ready to clean out the stalls. You wanna help?"

"Yeah!" He hopped off his bike and ran ahead of me into the barn. "Whoa, they sure are tall." He observed timidly.

There were only two left in their stalls, the others were in the pasture.

"Those two have a new home. After the stalls are cleaned, we need to give them a bath, make sure their shoes are nice and clean, and brush them." I opened the closet and took out a pair of gloves and a small shovel Jasper and I used as children. "Put these on, and I'll show you what to do." I handed him the gloves and was attempting to help him while he stuck two fingers into one hole when I heard tires stopping in the drive. "Be right back, Kid."

I walked out of the barn to find Bella standing awkwardly in the driveway, looking at the house with a forlorn expression.

"Looking for JJ?' I called.

"Just wanted to make sure he made it safely."

"It's just a long driveway."

"I wanted to make sure it was okay that he came to visit, too."

"He's about to help me clean stalls."

"Well, okay then. Just give me a call when he rides home or if I need to come get him."

I hesitated only briefly before calling back out to her.

"We could always use an extra pair of hands."

"Yeah, Mama! There are a lot of stalls in here!" JJ stuck his head out from behind me...I had no idea he was even there.

I saw the conflict in her eyes, but she finally decided on an answer and nodded, her head, shoving her hands in her back pockets and walking toward us.

"It's been a while, but I'm sure I can handle it." Giving a small smile, she entered the barn and grabbed a shovel that was hanging on the wall.

"Gloves are in the closet."

"I did live here once, you know." She retorts, bending to help JJ with his.

"I was gonna do that." I frowned.

"It's okay, I'm used to it."

She had him fixed in no time and was putting her gloves on, giving me a questioning look when I just stood there staring.

"Go on with Edward, I'll start on the other end." She told JJ, swatting his bottom playfully and walking to the last stall in the barn.

I watched her effortlessly put her first shovel full into the waiting wheelbarrow, reminding me of the competitions we had as kids, seeing who could finish a row first. Jasper loved it because he was the judge; the one who made sure they were clean and who finished first- allowing him to get out of doing the chore itself.

"Mister, aren't you gonna show me?"

"'Course I'm going to show you!" I assured him, going into the first stall and using my own shovel. "Just do what I do.

Bella and I met in the middle of the barn, JJ asleep in the fourth stall where he passed out in the clean hay we just laid.

"I guess the bath can wait, I promised JJ he could help me." I lifted my chin to the horses.

"He'll love that." She glanced at her wrist watch. "I should probably get home and start dinner."

"You could always stay here." I blurted out without thinking, closing my eyes and cussing silently. "You don't have to or anything.

"Are you sure?"

"There are steaks in the fridge, fresh from the butcher. I hadn't a chance to freeze any, so they're ready to cook."

"I guess I could make a salad or something, whatever you have lying around, to go with them while you grill."

"You remember the way, I'm sure."

"I think I can manage." She laughed. "What about JJ?"

"I'll carry him to the couch. We can have an early dinner and bathe the horses afterward. They are scheduled to be picked up around six."

She nodded and looked down at her boots, walking off without another word. I turned and watched her enter the house, the screen door slapping behind her, before washing my hands and lifting JJ over my shoulder. I followed her path, ignoring her presence in the kitchen as I walked through and entered the living room, placing JJ on the sofa and covering him with a blanket.

"Do you mind if I take a shower before cooking?"

"I was going to do the same thing." I shrugged. "Your room is just as it was," I added, walking down the hall to use the main floor shower.

I ignored thoughts of her showering in the bathroom above me, the same one we shared as kids and quickly soaped and rinsed. Wrapping the towel around my waist after drying off, I took the stairs two at a time to my bedroom to dress.

"Hey."

I turned around as I pulled a shirt down over my head and chest, finding Bella leaning against the door frame. Her wet hair was loosely braided, and she was wearing clothes that I knew were left here when we moved out to the cabin. She insisted that she had to leave some clothes in the closet and dresser so Papa C would know we weren't really leaving him and that we would always be around.

"They still fit," I smirked, running my fingers through my hair instead of using a comb.

"I'm surprised they're still here."

I didn't tell her I never went into her bedroom and that Daddy always mumbled 'she'd be back' when I told him to throw it all away. Her smile wavered as she looked around the room, shoving her hands into her back pockets nervously.

"What are we doing, Edward?"

"Talking?"

"I mean this," she motioned between us, "since I've been back you haven't been able to stand to be in my presence. Besides the one night spent together, we've been at each other's throats; nasty words spewing out of our mouths, throwing daggers at one another with our eyes."

"I know this isn't easy." I huffed and rubbed at my face with my palms, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I think we need to try. Today wasn't so bad, was it? We were able to be in the barn together and communicate without an issue. We're talking now, we could make this work."

"Make what work?"

"We could be friends or something of the sort." I shrugged. "Hell, I don't know, Bella… I do know I enjoy having JJ underfoot. If he and I are going to continue any sort of relationship, then we need to have one too."

"You'd do that for JJ?" Her eyes full of surprise.

"Kids are smart, they pick up on other people's feelings. I don't want him to sense any bitterness between us."

"So, it's all for JJ?"

I looked up at her, searching her face for some hidden meaning, my heart beating hard in my chest.

"I'm doing it for me too." I sighed. "I can't hate you; I can't pretend to anymore. I don't want to hurt anymore, and I don't want to hurt you any longer either. I know we both need to heal, find a path that will take us on that journey, and I'm hopeful we will. Till then, we need to at least be civil and work on being a positive influence for JJ. Can you do that?" Holding my breath as I waited for her response.

"I can do that." She said quietly after a brief pause.

"Mama?" JJ called from down stairs. "Edward?"

"I'll start the grill. There's fresh corn on the cob in the vegetable drawer, Rose's uncle brought a bunch by to can and I saved a few.

"Sounds good." She smiled slightly, eyeing me for a moment before turning and going down the stairs.

I sat on my bed and stared at the space Bella previously occupied, wondering where the hell the words came from that I just spewed. I couldn't deny the slight shift in me; that a small amount of weight that had been lifted.

It had taken awhile, but I now realized I needed Bella in my life, in whatever way she would allow.

A HUGE thank you to Fran for being patient with me and fixing my new chapters despite how long it has taken me! She is marvelous! Trust me… between the kids being home for summer and many things going on it was hard to focus on what I was writing so there were many errors and she some work to do. Sorry it took so long to update!

Love thy Enemy has been nominated on Twifanficrecs for top ten of July!

Also, some very exciting news! Pay it Forward will be featuring three fics in three different categories on their new blog each month. Number one will be a Rookie ... A new, first-time writer showcasing their first fic on their blog. Number two will be their Encore ... A new fic from a seasoned author giving us a sneak peek. Number three will be a Classic ... one from the vault, a time-tested oldie.
If you are a Rookie and need help, contact Fran on the PIF page, or myself. And if you have an Encore, contact her to get your new fic showcased. And anyone interesting in writing a summary on one of their favs, please feel free to send it in. Thanks!