When me and the girls walked down I was surprised to find the guys ready and waiting, the TV was off and they were talking about the game they had just watched. Emmet was complaining about how his team should have won and if the game would have been on home turf they so would have while Jasper just laughed at him and said that the reason why his team won was because they had better players and a better coach and that just made Emmet go off about how if they hadn't stolen this guys and that guy they wouldn't be so good and we just stood at the base of the stairs and laughed at them which finally got there attention. As usual Emmet had eyes only for Rose which I wasn't surprised about but Jasper was looking at Alice and he had this kind of boyish smile on his face, like he had never seen a pretty girl before and when I looked at Alice she had a shy smile and was even blushing, Alice never blushed and she was never shy, did I miss something.
"You girls finally ready to get going?" Emmet asked never taking his eyes off his wife when he offered her his arms. They were the perfect couple, the way she looked at him and the way he looked at her, it was something stronger than the average everyday kind of love and I wanted that kind of love for myself.
It took us twenty minutes to get into town and another five to find a parking space in the almost empty parking lot of the local supermarket and then we had to walk to the actual festival which was taking place towards the centre of the town although there were some people hanging around, but they were mostly drunk or heading back to their cars while they carried their drunk friends.
When we finally got to the centre of things my stomach was growling and it didn't help that the air seemed to be filled with about fifty different smells and all of them food related. The atmosphere was so alive and I looked around to take in my surroundings. The street lights were on and there were twinkle lights that hanged from one side of the street to the other, there were stales strewn out in random places, most of them were selling food but a few were selling small things like shirts that had the festival's name, some sold bags while others sold things like jewellery and perfumes. It made the place look like a mythic fairy town out of a story book, it was amazing.
We walked around for a bit and I bought one of the shirts and a bottle of perfume I knew my mother would just love but we couldn't decided on what to eat since according to Rose it all made her want to gag. I eyed her carefully and made a promise to myself that if she didn't go to the doctor tomorrow I would force her into the car and take her myself.
I started to became nervous as I looked around for Edward in the crowds of people and with each passing minute I found the knot in my stomach getting tighter and tighter.
A few of the local stores were still open and I noticed a small antique/book store that sat next to a bakery that had the most amazing smell of fresh baked bread coming from the open doors. I pointed this out to the others and with an approval from Rose we agreed to stop there and see if there was anything we could eat but I wanted to go into the antique store first and see what they had. Rose rolled her eyes when I told them this but they smiled and followed me in because they knew it would make me happy.
It was a small little place with the antiques on the first floor and a spiral iron stair case at the back of the store that lead up to a second floor that housed the book shelves that circled the room and the railing that would allow you to look over, out on to the lower level. I immediately went over to the stairs and made my way up. It smelled like old books and dust but it was a good comforting smell and I found myself smiling as I ran my hands along the spins of the old books. I could tell that a lot of them were vintage and some were more damaged than others but all they needed was some love and care. They were all second hand book's and most of them were old hardcovers with their faded canvas covers and frayed corners and spines
I looked over the railing to see what Alice and Rose were doing and found them looking at some old jewellery that was beside a few racks of old clothing that was found at the back of the store. Who ever owned this place must have really like old things. I went back to looking at the books and recognised a few that I didn't already have in my own collection but had already read and I grabbed them, as well as a few that looked interesting and made my way down stairs. We had left the guys to order us food from the bakery and Alice and Rose had just finished paying for their own purchase's.
"You guys can go meet the guys I'll catch up, I want to check out a few things" I smiled and after reassuring them that I would be all right by myself they walked out and towards the bakery. I looked around for a little longer but nothing really caught my interest so I walked up to the counter and smiled at the woman on the other side. She was probably in her late twenties early thirties and she was beautiful, her hair was a long reddy copper colour and she had kind hazel eyes and an open happy smile and she was very pregnant.
"Hello" she said with a warm smile as I passed her the books and I returned her smile with one of my own.
"Hi" I said and waited while she scanned my books through the system and then packed them in a bag for me.
"These's are some good reads." she said while she placed the bag on the table "I don't see a lot of people your age reading stuff like this anymore"she smiled sheepishly at me but I didn't take what she said as an insult but rather a compliment, I could tell that she wasn't trying to be rude but that she was genuinely curios
"I know but getting lost in a good book is one of the few simple pleasures in life" I replied and if it was possible her smile grew even bigger. She looked like a person who understood what I was talking about. When ever I would read at home Mike would either call me a nerd or make me put the book down, it was probably one of the few things that really irritated me about him, he never read.
"Spoken like a true book lover" she said and was about to read my total out to me when I saw a piece of jewellery in the display case caught that my eye. It was a sliver chain necklace with a simple round pendant on it, the pendant had a green stone in the centre and a circle of white crystals surrounding it. It reminded me of Edwards eyes and I smiled softly down at it.
"Beautiful isn't it" she asked me and I looked up at her. She had set my books to the side so that nothing was obscuring my view of the necklace and I was thankful for that.
"Very, it reminds me of someone I know" I said without thinking and just laughed at her "or their eyes anyway" she laughed under her breath and then unlocked the display and pulled the necklace out so that I could get a closer look at it. It was more stunning without the glass covering it. I ran a finger over the pendant and smiled.
"It belonged to my father" she said and I looked up at her confused " and before you ask he told me when he gave me this that I was to 'sell it to a good person so that maybe the luck me and your mother had would be given to them someday and they would be as happy as we were" she smiled at the old memory of her father and I saw a tear fall down her face but she quickly whipped it away and smiled at me "sorry, didn't mean to go all teary eyed on you" she said and then shock her head a little before looking back at me.
"It's ok" I touched her hand with my own "it's a beautiful story" I said and looked at the necklace again. "and a beautiful necklace to go with it" she studied me for a while and then smiled again, the tears gone from her eyes now.
"He would have liked you, I think you should take it, I think he would have wanted you to have it" she told me and I bit my lip. It cost two hundred dollars but I decided that I didn't care about the price, it was something more than just a necklace, it was a sign of who much a man loved his wife.
"I'll take it then" she clapped her hands and then opened a drawer behind the counter and brought out an old velvet jewellery box that was a deep green colour and I realised that this was the original box for the necklace.
"your total is 225 dollars " I fished around in my purse and decided that I liked her enough to make small talk with her, she was kind and friendly and I could use some of that in my life.
"How far along are you" I asked and she placed a hand on her large stomach and smiled even more as she did, I don't think she went one minute without smiling form ear to ear every second of everyday, I'm pretty sure she slept with a smile on her face and I wish my life was that good that I could just smile all the time.
"I'm about eight and a half months now" she said looking down at her swollen belly like it was the most precious thing in the universe and I thought so as well. "He'll be my first" she sounded so happy but I wondered why she was working here if she was so far along, surly she shouldn't be on her feet.
"Shouldn't you be resting" I asked and handed her the right amount of money, luckily I had drawn out before we left for the lake so I didn't have to pay by card "I mean there has to be someone who can cover for you" she just smiled at me and shrugged her shoulders
"My younger brother was supposed to be in but he ran off about an hour ago saying something about meeting up with a girl he just meet but I don't think it will last, his not very serious about relationships, his a bit of a wild card." she said and I laughed with her
"Maybe this one will tame him a bit" I joked
"Hopefully, it would be so nice to see him settle down and be happy with a nice girl and maybe this mystery one will be the one" she gave me my packet of books after having placed the necklace into the bag.
"Thank you..." I let my sentence hang there until she clicked and told me her name
"oh I'm Esme" she said extending her hand towards me so that I could take it, it was warm to the touch and pleasant.
"Isabella, but my friends call me Bella"
"It was nice to meet you Bella" she said and I felt happy that she called me Bella when I had implied that my friends called me that. It would be easy to be friends with her and I could already tell we got along well.
"Like wise" I waved as I exited the shop and smiled down at the bag in may hands thinking about the necklace and Edwards eyes. I really hoped I would get to see him tonight.