Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Edward and I parted ways that night with an agreement to talk, but talking with him was never easy. He had way of touching me with his cold demeanor mixed with his smart ass comments, into pushing me towards reactions that bordered on being violent. He claimed it was me throwing a tantrum, but the truth was it was all him. It was always him that caused such a reaction within me and as much as I hated him because of it I could not help, but to feel alive as a result of seeing him once more.

It was with a walk to my piece of shit car and a simple promise to call that Edward ended our night. His half grin haunted me as I laid in the darkness of my room trying to come to terms with what I had done. I was so wrong and I knew it, but there was no going back now. Edward was making sure of that with his devious grin and casual shrug of a mumbled promise to work out the finer details later while never mentioning when later would be. It was an almost playful response, yet there was a glimmer in his eyes that made me nervous.

I was lost to the image of him standing beside me in the dark, protecting me from the cold wind as it whipped around us while he said his good byes. There was something about the image of his dark hair tangled from the wind while he was pink cheeked from the cold standing under the street lamp watching me go that made my heart pound in my chest. It was eerily reminiscent of times before when he had watched me go.

"Bella, are you even listening to me?" Seth called out to me, pulling me from my memories of the previous night spent with a man that I no longer knew.

"Of course I am," I sputtered, denying my preoccupation over a good bye that felt oddly final instead of the beginning it was supposed to be.

"Ok then," Seth continued on with a dark look in my direction as I returned my attention to the wedding cake that was half decorated before me.

"Jane Weston will be in to discuss her daughter's baby shower cake," he continued on, rambling on about the itinerary that he had created for me for the rest of the day as if I cared who was coming or when.

I found myself nodding a long as he listed person after person who would be stopping in to see me concerning some order that had been placed. In a normal world I would be thrill or even overwhelmed by such an afternoon, but now I was useless, just a ball of emotion that was never meant to be.

"You're twelve o'clock is here," Seth announced as the door chime went off, alerting us to what would be another incoming customer.

"I'll greet them," he announced as he moved towards the door and away from me, giving me the breather I needed before facing whatever crazed mother or the bride was waiting for me.

"You pull your head out of your ass," he teased before tossing the hand towel at me with a laugh as he ducked out the kitchen with a loud laugh that brought a grin to my face even though there was nothing funny about his teasing. I was in no mood to deal with his smart ass comments since I was still drained from my night out with Edward.

Edward.

He was different, colder, and there definitely was a distance between us that time and situations had created, yet there underneath it all I could still kind of see him. I could see the remnants of the boy I had loved with all my heart. It was that lingering ghost of my boy that made me wonder if my offer was the mistake I had convinced myself that it was.

"Oh, Bella," Seth called out in a sing-songy tone that set me on edge. It was the same tone he used when something was wrong so to be called out to face whatever irritated customer was waiting for me was like a punch to the gut with the mood I was in.

Slowly, I braced myself to face whatever irate bride or confused father seeking out a birthday cake for his child. It was a deep breath and a plastic smile that hurt my face as I walked out of the back kitchen to face whatever nightmare that had come looking for me.

I looked around the small shop area only to find the typical crowd awaiting me. There were older women chatting over coffee and cake while the young moms huddled together with their strollers cluttering the narrow walk ways as they bribed their children with cookies in hopes they would behave just long enough to share some gossip with a friend. These were my patrons and I loved them more then the cash flow that local businesses provided me with their standard orders and box lunches.

"Bella," Seth called out to, directing me towards the corner where my eyes immediately locked with a pair of familiar blue eyes that were watching me with an almost amused look.

I should have expected him to come find me. He told me would, but he had said that before only to leave me behind.

I walked slowly towards where Edward sat in the back, away from the others, unsure of what to say since I had spent all my bravado on him the previous night as I offered myself in the form of a sacrifice to help us both. I had nothing to offer him today except a weary smile and a worn out offer of getting when he wanted even though he had already turned me down on that offer.

"Were you expecting him?" Seth asked in a low whisper as I walked by him, not caring about him or whatever else nonsense he had to offer when it came to Edward.

I watched as Edward stood up to greet me. There was elegance to him now that had been missing in our teen years. It was that grace that set me on edge, reminding me that he was no longer the boy I loved. He was a man that I didn't know.

"Bella," he greeted me with a soft grin that was still laced with the same deviousness that he worn last night.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded from him in a huff without thinking of my lack of manners or how it was an asshole move on my part.

"You were also so blunt," he chuckled softly as if my rudeness was welcomed even though I knew better.

"I missed that," he whispered softly, almost seductively to me as I stood before him, unable to breathe as he held my gaze with his.

"You…" I began as I struggled to call him a liar, but the words would not form as he watched me with that damn grin of his.

"I did, you know," he continued on as if I had not uttered a word and maybe I hadn't. Maybe I had not managed to make a sound, I wasn't sure. The only thing I was sure of was that I could not take his naughty grin and his whispered words of regret. It was too much and too painful since I was not about to admit that I had missed him too.

"What are you doing here?" I repeated, the words barely escaping my lips as my throat tightened around them making them sound strained and not sinister like I had hoped.

Edward, never to be one that was fazed by my anger, just shook his head at me with that damn grin of his as if I was the crazy one, not him.

"You asked me to marry you last night, yet you refuse to have lunch with me," he mocked with a sorrowful shake of his head and a soft laugh, reminding me of my Hail Mary offer to get the money I needed even though the cost was too high.

"I…" I began with a scramble of words causing him to laugh even louder. It was far from the happy one I had once known. This laugh was dark and hurtful. It was what I had expected from him even though I hated to hear it.

"Bella, if we are going to do this then we have to start somewhere," he continued on with that damn dark laugh that made me cringe with discomfort since it seemed so wrong for him to behave like that.

"Lunch is a start," he stated with a firm tone as he motioned for me to sit down.

"What do you mean?" I questioned even though I understood him perfectly.

He was in.

He was going to play along with the most fucked up plan I had ever conjured up for us.

I had expected him to say no, to be that voice of reason that he always was, but he wasn't. Instead, he had lost his damn mind and I was going along for the ride.

AN:
Thanks for reading! Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends : ) As always, I am thankful for you!

Xoxo,

Mamasutra