Usual thanks to my extraordinary ladies, Kitty & Mary for their help with this chapter. I do not own these characters it's all Stephenie Meyer's.

Chapter 26

I was a nervous wreck as I rode up the elevator—my palms were sweaty, my hands were trembling and I felt sick. I glanced to my left and checked my appearance in the mirrored wall. The pinstripe skirt, and matching jacket made me feel the part, even if the general consensus seemed to be I was a waste of space. I'd wanted to wear my hair down, but I'd been outvoted and my hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail. It looked great, but it gave me nowhere to hide when I came face to face with Edward—it left me exposed and I still wasn't sure I was strong enough to deal with it. Even though it had no bearing on how I felt on the inside, I appreciated the effort Amber and Carmen had put in to at least make me look presentable. The last thing I wanted was for the whole company to see me looking like the girl who'd just had her heart ripped out and trampled on in the cruellest of ways.

"Morning, Bella," Alice said, tapping me on my shoulder and I turned around in surprise.

"Oh, hi, Alice," I said as friendly as I could. "Sorry, I didn't see you."

She shrugged and nudged her way through the crowd of people to stand beside me. "Is everything okay? You were gone for hours yesterday and then when you came back you seemed… distracted."

"It was my review and my interview for the editing position," I told her, biting down on my lip because I felt the same gut-wrenching pain when a brief flash of yesterday ran through my mind.

"You breezed it, right? Aside from one or two backbiters who you shouldn't even worry about, we can't wait to have you in our office." She smiled and added, "We can use you as our spokesperson for the meetings with Mr. Cullen given that you're the only one he seems to be nice to."

The forced smile I was holding fell instantly and I all but ran from the elevator as soon as the doors opened to our floor. "Bella?" Alice called out and I stopped to face her.

"I didn't get the job," I said and looked down at the floor. "My review wasn't great so Phil and Irina extended my probationary period for another six weeks."

"How could you not get a good review?" she asked and the narrowed her eyes. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," I said simply and we walked over to my desk. "It would seem there are several areas of my work and attitude that I need to work on."

"Says who?" she asked and I inclined my head towards Edward's office. "Oh."

She started talking about something, but I didn't hear a word, because I couldn't take my eyes from Edward. He was there, in his office, sitting at his desk. I scrutinized his face for a hint of something that showed he was feeling this as much as I was. I needed to know he was hurting, that his words yesterday really meant something and they weren't just a guilt reflex.

He didn't look up, not once and he had to know I was there.

"Do you mind if I join you and Emily for lunch?"

I looked at Alice and smiled. "Sure."

Just as I was about to return to my desk, Edward's door opened. "I can find you some work to do, Miss Brandon, but somehow I doubt you've read all of those manuscripts you were assigned yesterday."

She nodded and hurried away, leaving me alone with him. I glanced up at his face, still hoping to see the Edward I knew, even if it was just a glimmer of the real him, but all I got was an icy glare in response.

"I turned on the coffee machine," he told me. "I'll have one if it's not too much trouble."

"Given your evaluation of my performance so far I'd hazard a guess that coffee-making would be quite the challenge for me, Mr. Cullen," I said curtly.

"Black," he said again and slammed the door.

I took off my coat and turned on my computer before I got him his coffee. I held my head high and slammed the cup down on his desk, spilling some of it as a result. He looked down at the mess but left it alone and I certainly wasn't cleaning it up.

"Call the editing team and have them here in twenty minutes, we need to discuss a few changes." He didn't look up from his computer and I didn't say anything in acknowledgement.

I followed Alice and the rest of them into the office eighteen minutes later and pulled out a chair, but Edward shook his head. "Your presence is not required, Miss Swan," he barked.

In any other circumstance I would have turned blood red and felt like a complete fool, but this time I just nodded once and walked out of the door. I didn't return to my desk, instead I grabbed my purse and coat and headed straight for the elevator. I'd put up with a lot of his shitty behaviour in those first six weeks, but in the past thirty minutes he'd pushed me over the edge. I could not and would not work for him for one more second. I stepped out into the lobby and came face to face with Emmett.

"What's happened now?" he asked and pushed me back into the elevator gently, waving away a few other people who were waiting. "Take the next one."

"I'm quitting," I told him and he sighed. "I can't work with him, Emmett. It would be hard enough if he at least tried to be civil, but it's clear he's too immature for that and I can't do it. Not after what he did… I just can't."

"Listen to me, Bella. Edward might be my friend, but he's the asshole in this I know that, but don't throw all your hard work away because of him." Emmett rubbed my arm and I nodded. "Go back to your desk and stick it out. I'll deal with Edward, okay?"

Reluctantly, I returned to my desk and saw the meeting was still going on. I got on with my work and watched the clock, but the minutes ticked by slowly. When the meeting was finally over I didn't fail to miss the smirks from Colin and Embry, nor did I miss the even more confused expression on Alice's face.

She hesitated by my desk but I shook my head infinitesimally and she carried on walking, whispering under her breath, "I'll see you at lunch."

"I have several appointments today," Edward said from the doorway to his office, his briefcase in his hand and jacket over his arm. "I see no reason to hold them here so I'll be out for the majority of the day."

"Is it a wise decision to leave me alone? I was under the impression I needed constant supervision and guidance to simply make it through the day without fucking up." I glared at him and he looked down. Recognising that neither of us could go on working like this I took a deep, calming breath and said, "This can't carry on and I'm willing to at least pretend to be civil to you at work, but you have to return the favour. Otherwise, you're only going to raise more questions about us than silence them, Mr. Cullen."

"Okay, I suppose that's for the best." He nodded.

"Good." I turned to leave.

"Bella," he said quietly, but I held up my finger as I spun around.

"Don't call me Bella," I snapped and he closed his eyes. "You don't get to call me that after the way you treated me. For the sake of work I can pretend that there's nothing amiss here, but as of yesterday you and I have nothing but a professional relationship and for that you only need to call me Miss Swan."

"I hate this." He took a step towards me.

"Hate what you did or hate what's become of us?" I asked.

"Hate that we can't at least be friends," he said and I laughed.

"You can't be serious?" He didn't say anything and I said, "That's not going to happen. I like my friends to be loyal and trust worthy—two attributes you're severely lacking. Unless there's anything else, I really need to be getting on with my work otherwise I may be out of a job in six weeks."

I sat down at my desk and stared at my computer. He lingered there for a short while and then I heard him close the door to his office and walk away towards the elevator.

It was another quiet morning and just as I was about to go for lunch, Emmett walked over to my desk. "Is he not here again?"

"Out for the day," I told him and he huffed in frustration.

"We had lunch plans." He shook his head and then looked at me. "You're still here I see. I have to admit part of me thought you might have gone already."

"I considered it, but why should I walk away from a job that I enjoy? I told him we need to act like mature adults and that's exactly what I'm going to do." I stood up and walked over to the coffee machine. "Do you want one?"

"Thanks," he nodded and sat on my desk. "So I've been talking to Phil."

My heart raced. "You didn't tell him…"

"Not my place to tell your secrets, but I feel like I had to make things right somehow after what happened." He smiled.

"Go on," I said nervously.

"I simply told Phil that I thought your bad review was more a reflection of difference in personalities rather than incompetence and he seemed to take it on board. I reiterated what I'd already told him about you and tried to explain that Edward has a tendency for seeking out the worst in people—old habits die hard and all that. I know it's not a fix but—"

"Thank you," I said earnestly. "I appreciate that, Emmett."

"Call me stupid but I hope you two might figure this out…" I could see this was hard for him—he was just a guy stuck in the middle. "I think he's hoping to put things right…"

"Don't," I stopped him and shook my head. "Please."

"One line from Emmett, friend of the asshole in his defence?"

I groaned, "Emmett."

"He loves you and he was a mess last night. He knows he fucked up and I told him repeatedly that he did. Perhaps, in a few months when you've both had the chance to heal your wounds, and find your feet here maybe you'll hear him out?"

"Can we agree on one thing, Emmett?" I asked, ignoring his request. "No more talk of Edward, please. Work related stuff I have to deal with, but personal stuff I just can't. You're Edward's friend and I would never ask you not to be—I just need to move on now and hearing you say things like that doesn't help."

"Okay, no more Edward talk." He smiled and leaned forward. "So, Rosalie's pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah she is." I grinned. "I'm sure she's even better now Royce is out of her life."

"Not out of her life enough, apparently. She's going for a fresh start completely. New house, new clothes, and she even quit drinking."

"Good for her," I said, meaning it. "Maybe I'll drink her share instead?"

"You'll be fine, Bella, trust me," Emmett chuckled. "All you need is some time."

"I thought it was love?" I said and he rolled his eyes. "Yeah I'm pretty sure it should be All You Need Is Love… that's what John Lennon thought anyway. Maybe I'll change the lyrics to All You Need Is Wine?"

"We Can Work It Out."

"We can what?"

"And I love her…"

"Huh?"

"Just talking your language." He smirked. "More Beatles songs that you could use to relate."

"Shut up," I laughed and saw Alice approaching.

"Don't give up on him," he said quietly and I shook my head.

"Too late."

TBMOA

Having spent lunch with Alice and Emily, I hadn't been able to talk freely about what happened in the review and unsuccessful interview. Alice was curious and suspicious as to why I'd been given a bad review, so I did my best to alleviate that. I wasn't doing it to protect Edward, far from it, but I didn't want any more rumours circulating the company about me. I held back and edited the replay day so I could talk to her about it in confidence. It was Friday night, so getting a little tipsy with a friend didn't seem like such a bad idea. I did find out from Alice, that in the meeting Edward had revealed that the two new positions would be filled from outside the company and interviews would take place in the next week or two.

"He's definitely back to the jackass he was before the party," Alice grumbled. "You should be relieved you got to miss the meeting—why did he kick you out anyway? I mean, you needed to know some of the things we discussed."

"Maybe something to do with my review," I said casually. "He probably thinks I;m too inept to even take notes."

"Did he ask you out?" Alice asked randomnly.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Well, he seemed so intense around you at first and then he mellowed when you two seemed friendlier. I just wondered if he asked you out and you turned him down—that might be why he went back to being intense and pissed off again."

"This isn't about me rejecting him Alice, it's just about him being an asshole and I really don't want to talk or think about him anymore," I said quietly and thankfully she dropped it.

A day spent without Edward, time to think, and four cocktails straight from work seemed to help enormously. Even though I was alone with Emily, I still found it impossible to tell her everything. What I did say was clear enough for her to find several choice words about Edward and then tell me I was better off without him.

Unfortunately, four cocktails gave me little control over the waterworks and one or two tears ran down my face. "Sorry," I sniffed. "I hate that I keep crying."

"Hey, of course you're going to cry—you're in love with the guy and he hurt you, Bella." She put her arm around my shoulder. "I admire you so much for sticking it out and working with him. I'm not sure I could do it."

"I have to. I want Phil to know that I can do it, I want everybody to know I'm more than the spoiled little rich girl they still think that I am."

"Well, for what it's worth—I don't think that and I'm going to miss you so much when I leave," she said sadly.

"I'm afraid that's not happening," I told her and she laughed once. "I'm serious—you're the only one at work besides Emmett that I can talk to about this stuff and I feel like I'm putting him in the middle. I can't believe you're really going. How long?"

"About a month, I think. I'm still not entirely sure where I want to start so until I decide I can't book the flight. I keep flitting between London and Paris, I even made a list of the reasons why starting there would be the better idea." She shrugged. "This is so typically me… fussing over something instead of making a decision outright."

"I know how to settle this," I pulled a pen out of my bag, tore a napkin in half and scribbled London on one half and Paris on the other. "Pick one and that's that. Final decision, okay?"

I put my hands behind my back and she tapped my left shoulder. "Bienvenue à Paris!" I read from the napkin.

"Paris it is." She grinned and clapped her hands. "So I guess there's nothing stopping me now."

"You have to take a million pictures. I want to see the Eiffel Tower in the daylight and at night and make sure you take a picture of the Louvre Pyramid, okay?"

She nodded, laughing at my excitement. "Any other requests?"

"Obviously the Arc De Triomphe because… well that's practically a requirement and Notre Dame De Paris is something I would love to see." I saw that she was still laughing so I stopped. "I'm shutting up now."

"You know what I think," she said smugly. "I think you should come with me."

"Okay, I think you've had too much to drink," I told her and she shook her head.

"Why not?"

"I can think of plenty of reasons, Emily," I said but she refused to let it go.

"What reasons?"

"Work, my family, money... um…"

"That's three reasons." She looked at me doubtfully.

"Three pretty important reasons don't you think?" I asked.

"You're an adult, Bella, so you decide what you want to do. I know your dad made this big deal about being independent and not living off Phil's money, but you can get the money together on your own for the ticket—I'm getting an open ended ticket so we can just come home if we need to. Once we're over there we can earn money by working in bars and hotels or wherever so you're not using Phil's money to fund the trip." She grinned. "Come on, Bella, admit this is a great idea!"

It was a great idea and the thought of seeing so many historical and culturally different places filled me with so much excitement I could barely contain myself. "You want to leave in a month, Emily, there's no way I can raise that sort of money for a ticket without asking Phil."

"That's not technically true," she said slyly and I frowned. "How many pairs of shoes do you own, Bella?"

"What?"

"How many pairs of designer shoes do you own, Bella?" she asked again and I gasped.

"You want me to sell my shoes?"

"Not all of them, no, but you have like a thousand pairs."

"I do not have that many," I muttered and she laughed.

"Okay, maybe six hundred pairs. Why not sell some of them? You'd make yourself some serious money." She'd planted the idea in my head and now giving me solutions to the only real problem I had.

"I reckon one or two of the dresses I have might fetch a few dollars. Some of them still have the tags on," I said and she squealed excitedly.

"You're really going to do this?"

"Whoa, slow down a little." I held up my hands and said, "I think I need to think about it tomorrow when I've not had four cocktails, but right now I'm thinking why the hell not?"

I thought about it all night and most of Saturday morning. I even catalogued all of my clothes and shoes and realised the idea of selling them to fund my trip wasn't such a reach. I thought about calling my parents and talking to them about it before I made a decision, but Emily was right. I was twenty-three years old and this was my life. Maybe now it was time to start a new chapter all on my own?

Edward…

No more hiding. No more skulking away to offsite meetings. I'm a professional for God's sake, I just need to find the person I was before Bella. I managed without her for twenty nine goddamn years I can manage again. Phil wants me to take over from him and that's what I need to aim for. No more complications, and absolutely no more thinking about Bella as Bella—from now on she's Miss Swan. Miss Swan my assistant, not the girl I could have spent the rest of my life with… I'm so fucked.

So she's planning something!

I can't even begin to thank you enough for the response to the last chapter! I absolutely loved reading your reviews and frustration at Cockhead. Thanks for sticking with me

More to come next week and a teaser will post in the Facebook group on Monday/Tuesday.

Happy Sunday!

Katy