A/N: Hi All, I'm back and surprisingly I have very little to say. LOL. Huge thanks, as per always to my beta, MaggieMay14, and my pre-readers Risbee, Flightlessbird11, TillyWhitlock, TwiOthGirly and Beegurl13. You ladies rock my world.
Onto the fluff, because let's face it… this story is 99.9 percent pure fluff as I finish it off.
I don't own Twilight, but I am fucking hungry, so I'm going to get lunch now.
BPOV
I had suffered more than necessary in my young life. With my illness, its reoccurrence, the loss of my mother and Edward's heartbreaking departure, Alice always joked that she was a shocked I never tried to off myself. However, the day I drove Edward to the airport in Seattle so that he could head back to Dartmouth and start his final year of college was one of my most challenging and heart wrenching days ever. To put it simply, I didn't want him to go back.
I knew it was selfish of me to think this way, and I was fully aware that we would see each other as soon as we could since he was going to try and make it home for Thanksgiving, but it just felt like it was final or something. It was the last weekend in August and Edward started classes right after Labor Day weekend and he wanted to get back to his place to get some things settled and prep for the school year, which I fully understood. However, it didn't make me feel better about our situation. Though at this point nothing would make me feel better except for Edward staying in Seattle, which just wasn't possible.
Since our camping trip, Edward and I had gotten unbelievably closer in the two short months we had together before he had to leave. We spent every possible moment together and when I found out I got the nursing job at Seattle Children's Hospital, I was over the moon with excitement. Charlie, on the other hand, was not as excited about the prospect of me moving to Seattle to live on my own. He knew that Alice & Jasper lived in the city, and they promised him that they would keep an eye on me, but he was worried about more than just my physical safety.
A potential relapse was always in the back of my father's mind, so it took a lot of convincing on the part of both Sue and I to get him to relax about the concept of me leaving the nest. After all, he and Sue were now looking more than ever for a new place to move into with Seth, because Leah was going to move to Port Angeles permanently after getting a full time job at a daycare there. She had gotten her early education degree and was finally putting it to use, to the pleasure of her proud mother.
However, when Charlie finally came around to the idea, he then proceeded to spend way too much time with Edward on my laptop mapping out potential apartments in the safest neighborhoods in Seattle. Between the two of them and their grandiose planning, I figured I would be living in a convent. Finally, Edward and I ended up spending a weekend in Seattle checking out as many potential apartments as we could and I was shocked when the third apartment we viewed on our first day of looking, was the one that knocks both of our socks off.
It was a small one bedroom, one bathroom apartment with a nice balcony that overlooked the sound and the Olympic Mountains. It was more than enough space for me and my sparse belongings, but Edward kept insisting that he had enough stuff to fill the place when the time came.
"I'll probably have to sell a lot of my stuff before I move back from New Hampshire, but the essentials will definitely fit in here," Edward said with a small smile as he wrapped his arms around me and surveyed the small Avalon Belltown apartment that we were checking out. It was a few blocks from the hospital I was going to start working at on September 6th, so I could walk to work if I wanted to, so a car would definitely not be necessary right away.
"It's too much Edward. I can't afford it," I stated as I checked out the price sheet that was given to us by the apartment manager. "Even if I lived on ramen noodles and macaroni & cheese, I probably couldn't afford this place on my own."
"Bella, you can definitely afford it. With your salary, savings and the fact that you really don't need to buy too many things for the new place because Charlie is giving you so much when he moves with Sue in a few weeks, you can definitely afford it," Edward said reassuringly as we walked through the apartment again. I was checking out all the small little details, making sure that this place wasn't a lemon and I wouldn't hate it if I did move in. "You could easily afford the rent, groceries, bills, spending money and some savings if you moved in here. Think of how much you would save on gas and car expenses." I was just nervous about shelling out a more than a quarter of my salary every month for the apartment, but Sue had told me that it was the average cost of housing in Seattle, but it seemed like so much to the girl who never paid anything in rent before.
I nodded slowly at Edward as I walked into the bedroom and looked out the large window that faced Puget Sound. "And when I move in, we can make love in our bed every night, the bright stars shining down on us and illuminating your stunning body. Think I can get you to make love to me on the balcony?" he asked as he leaned down and swept my hair away so that he could kiss the side of my neck. Each and every thought he put into my mind about us living together made me consider the apartment more and more. I wasn't one hundred percent sold on the idea though since Edward and I had only been back together for a little while. Could we handle living together the next year? Would we even still be together by then? A million thoughts were running through my mind and all of them were pessimistic, but I couldn't help it.
"So what do you think Bella? Can you see us… I mean you, living here?"
"Yeah, I think so." It really was a nice little apartment with a great view. The convenience of living so close to work helped too. Of course, the final nail in the coffin was when the apartment manager told me that they had a current deal going on where the first two months were free if you signed a one year contract. I was sold.
The weekend before Edward was to head back to Dartmouth, he along with Charlie, Sue and Seth, helped me move into the apartment. Before I moved, I came to an agreement with my dad that he and Sue would keep Scrappy with them in Forks, even though he was technically my dog. We all knew that staying cooped up in my apartment all day in Seattle was no life for a dog that was used to the outdoors. So, even though I had a heavy heart about it all, I knew it was for the best.
On moving day, everyone but Edward left when all the boxes and furniture were now in the apartment. Then he and I spent the night christening almost every surface of my first apartment. I would never be able to look at my kitchen counter again without thinking of Edward lifting me up on to the cold granite counter before going down on me and making me scream out his name in ecstasy.
Not that I was surprised, but Carlisle and Esme were very supportive when I told them of my decision not to join his practice in Forks. They expressed their disappointment, as was to be expected, but they understood my need to spread my wings and get out on my own. Esme reassured me that she would come to visit every time she came to the city and promised Edward that she would keep an eye on me, which I thought was laughable. Edward trusted me completely and I felt the same way, until he mentioned on the phone one night a few weeks after he had gotten back to Dartmouth that he had ran into Heidi, his former 'fuck buddy.'
"So, in the interest of being completely honest with you… I want you to know that I ran into Heidi today and had coffee with her." Edward sounded downright remorseful as he spoke and I tried to have faith because I trusted him implicitly. It was Heidi I didn't trust.
"Oh," I replied, trying to sound casual and nonchalant without accusing him of anything. After all, the last thing I wanted to do was come across like the jealous girlfriend. It was hard enough being away from him, but the entire situation was made even worse because I knew that he had previous girlfriends, fuck buddies or whatever they were, on campus with him.
"Yeah. I was coming out of Barnes and Noble after picking up some reading material for one of my classes and there she was, about to walk in. We had coffee at Starbucks, where I was shocked to learn she was engaged," Edward said, the surprise still obvious in his voice.
"She's engaged?" Thank fucking god, I thought to myself as I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding.
"Yup, and to make it even funnier, it's to the guy she broke up with back in California before heading to Dartmouth. How ironic is that shit? We both reunited with our true loves over the summer," Edward said with a chuckle as my breath caught at hearing him refer to me as his true love. As much as I could laugh it off, I knew without a doubt that it was true. There was no one that was more perfect for me than Edward Cullen, even if he was thousands of miles away at the moment.
Sure, we had gone through some rough patches, in fact rough was probably an understatement, but I think it just made us stronger. Four years ago I would have completely overreacted at hearing him talk about Heidi, but now I was able to laugh it off.
"I'm really happy for her Edward."
"You're relieved aren't you?"
"Why should I be relieved? She was not a threat to me, was she?" I asked skeptically as Edward laughed even harder in the background and I could hear a female voice asking him what he was giggling about. Victoria was number two on my hit list of people to worry about when it came to women Edward used to be involved with. Not that she was a serious threat since she was apparently very serious with James, but the mere fact that she wanted Edward first and always seemed to be in the background when I talked to Edward concerned me. Hell, all the girls within a five hour drive of Hanover, New Hampshire concerned me.
"You know you have nothing to be worried about right?" he asked sweetly. "There's only one girl for me."
"I know baby. It just sucks being far away from you and not being the one you spend all your free time with.
"Bella, the only thing I spend time with these days is my textbooks and my iPod. They are my new girlfriend."
After Edward made the comment about spending all his time with his textbooks, I spent the next few days feeling like shit. I had a life here in Seattle, having made friends with a few co-workers and I went out fairly regularly, at the insistence of Alice who didn't want me moping while Edward was gone. However, it seemed like Edward was living like a monk and even though I didn't want every girl with a pulse hitting on him, I didn't want him to be isolated either. I wanted to him to have fun, so when he told me a few weeks later that he wasn't going to a Halloween party with James & Victoria, I got upset with him and insisted he go.
Edward got angry with me and implied that there was something more behind me wanting him to go and I got so frustrated I just hung up on him and watched TV while crying profusely about the entire situation. It was our first big fight since he had moved, hell it was our first big fight since getting back together, and I hated every single second of it. I crawled into bed at eight o'clock that night after having handed out the last piece of candy to the small number of neighborhood kids and finding myself exhausted from my tears.
"Did I wake you up baby?" Edward asked when my phone rang and I reluctantly picked it up. I just wanted to go back to a few hours earlier when Edward and I hadn't argued and things were normal. Well, as normal as they could be given our situation. He sounded a little drunk and very sad as I gave him a quick 'hmph' and he sighed in resignation. "I can let you go back to sleep you know."
"I'm already up," I replied tentatively as I pushed my hair back from my face and sat up in my bed, a pillow propped up behind my back for support. "How was the party?"
"Pure shit. I felt like an asshole for us fighting, so I was no fun at all. I drank to try and lift my mood, but nothing worked. James ended up insisting I head home since I was bringing the entire party down."
"I'm sorry," I said genuinely as I heard another sigh on the other end of the phone. "I only encouraged you to go because I felt like you weren't enjoying yourself at school. I felt like you were holing yourself up in your house so that you could avoid temptation or something like that." It sounded stupid as the words fell from my mouth, but I just hoped Edward would understand. "I don't want your sole focus to be on studying Edward. You need to have fun."
"Bella… my focus is on graduating. I want to finish so I can get back to you, and if that means holing up in the house and studying my ass off, then so be it. There are no temptations for me here Bella. I have you, and that is all I need. I love you… only you," he said forcefully as I nodded my head in reply, not that he could see me. I giggled sleepily at my stupidity and hoped that Edward hadn't caught on.
"I'm sorry about tonight," I said simply in response.
"It's okay. You trust me right?"
"Yes, I trust you."
"Then trust that I know what is right for me… for us," he said as my heart leapt in my chest and I suddenly didn't feel very sleepy. He was right though, I needed to trust that he knew what he was doing while he was away.
"So the party wasn't much fun?" I asked, trying to get us onto a new topic. "Did you dress up?"
"No. The entire party was mainly freshmen who were either dry humping strangers against a wall or drinking their weight in tepid beer. It wasn't my scene, even when I was a freshman," Edward explained as I heard him shifting on his bed and my smile grew, realizing that for the one of the first times, there was no way Victoria was around for our phone call.
"What are you doing over there?"
"Getting ready for bed. It's late here." I glanced at my clock and noticed it was now 10:30 here, so it was 1:30 in the morning for him. "Why were you in bed so early by the way?"
"I was feeling sorry for myself because we had our first argument. I decided I just wanted to hide from my life and curled up in bed after I dished out candy to the like… five kids that showed up," I replied honestly as I shimmied out of my pajama pants and tossed them onto the small chair in the corner of the room. "However, I know how you can make it up to me."
"Oh really," Edward asked, his voice straining higher in curiosity. "Well, don't keep me in suspense, Bella."
"What are you wearing?" I asked boldly as I heard more shuffling on the other end of the phone.
"If this is going where I hope it's going, then I'm wearing nothing." I could hear more noise on the other end of the phone including some footsteps and was instantly concerned. "I also just locked my door, shut off the lights and crawled into bed. Bella, what are you wearing?"
"My silk pajama top from that set you got me and a pair of white cotton boy shorts, nothing overly sexy actually," I replied shortly, a little disappointed that I couldn't even make up something sexy to be wearing. Not that Edward would care since he seemed to find me most attractive in one of his t-shirts and nothing else.
"Unbutton your top baby," Edward breathed out huskily as I propped the phone up between my shoulder and ear, before fidgeting with the buttons on my top excitedly. "Put the phone on speaker Bella. You are definitely going to need your hands free for what I have in mind."
Ugh yes! I thought excitedly to myself. I did exactly what he asked and rested the phone on the pillow beside me on speaker. I could hear Edward moving on the other end of the phone and my fingers worked swiftly to undo the buttons on my shirt and it fell open, my breasts immediately covered in goose bumps as the cold air hit them, my nipples hardening instantly.
"Edward," I said quietly, as though there was someone in the other room and I didn't want to be caught. "I miss you."
"Fuck, I miss you too Bella," he replied with a slow sigh. I knew going into the situation that this was going to be hard on us, but I wasn't expecting it to be this difficult. "Let me love you baby… take your panties off." I did exactly like he asked and tossed them beside the bed as I crawled back under my sheets, pulling them tight against me since it was fairly cold outside.
"If I was there right now, I'd be kissing your chest," I said nervously, unsure of exactly how to do this. Was there a guide I could get to giving phone sex to my boyfriend? I considered getting out of bed and looking up some help on Google, when I heard Edward speak forcefully on the other end of the phone.
"Massage your breasts Bella. Pinch your nipples and tell me how you feel," he asked of me as my breathing slowed and I did just what he wanted, my hands cupping my breasts and kneading them gently as my fingers pinched my highly sensitive nipples. I moaned in pleasure, enjoying the feel of myself in my hands and I could hear Edward's breathing pick up on the other end of the phone.
"Do you play with yourself when I'm not there Bella?"
"Not really."
"What do you mean not really? You must have… umm… needs, right Bella."
"I've tried. It's not the same without you," I admitted boldly as I heard Edward cough frantically on the other end of the phone. There had been so many nights when I had gotten home from work and just desperately needed some sort of release to evaporate the stress of the day, but no matter what I did or what I thought about, I was unsatisfied
"Don't you still have that toy Alice & Rosalie gave you?" he inquired with a small groan as I briefly remembered the gift the girls had given me so long ago.
"I threw it out ages ago actually. It's not like I ever used it."
"I'll have to send you a new one to use… when we... you know."
"Edward…do you… do you play often?"
"Yes I do. Like morning, noon and night. Every time I think about you I get hard."
"Are you hard now?"
"Like Chinese algebra, Bella." I couldn't help the giggle that escaped at that comment and struggled to maintain my composure. Couldn't he have picked a different analogy? Although I couldn't help it, knowing that he was aroused and clearly played with himself A LOT while thinking about me was doing something to me I had never experienced before. Well, not while I was by myself.
"What are you doing?" I asked as my voice croaked with both anxiety and arousal.
"What I wish you were doing… stroking my cock," he replied boldly as my hand moved involuntarily down my naked torso to my overheated center. Fuck, I was so horny and it was never like this when I was alone. With Edward it was a completely different story. After we were together in the tent, it was like we were insatiable with each other, and I missed that. I missed him and his warm breath on my neck, his fingers touching me with ease and causing my skin to ignite into flames.
"Mmm, I like the sound of that. I can picture your hand moving slowly, yet forcefully as you stroke yourself… fucking hot." Where the hell was this coming from? I wasn't that much of a dirty talker on a good day, but apparently being without Edward for almost two months brought it out of me.
"You better be touching yourself."
"I am," I rasped out as my hand dipped between my legs, which I spread wide as my eager fingers began tracing my clit slowly as I listened to his erratic breathing. "I'm imagining your tongue circling around my clit and you biting it between your teeth and tugging on it." Edward gasped lowly as I pinched my clit and let out a loud groan of my own.
"Jesus Bella… what are you doing?"
"Everything I'm imagining your tongue doing."
"Which is?" he asked with a growl as I eased a finger inside of me, pumping it slowly as my thumb pressed hard against my clit, making me jump slightly because I was so fucking turned on. Why couldn't it ever be this primal and hot when I tried this by myself?
"I'm finger fucking myself Edward. Isn't that what you want to hear baby?"
"No. I want to see it. I want to see you fuck yourself Bella," he replied with a grunt as I moved my hand faster while I envisioned his hand stroking his cock harder and harder with each pass. "Oh fuck, I want to watch you so badly. I need you."
"I need you too baby. I need you to cum for me," I replied as I curled my fingers inside of myself and twisted my hand slightly, bringing myself right to the edge. I was panting and unable to get a word out as I listened to Edward grunt louder than ever and then curse out my name repeatedly. The knowledge that he had just cum drove me over the edge and within seconds I was pulsing around my hand, my other hand clutching my sheets tightly as I came, screaming his name.
"Fuck."
"What's wrong?"
"You live in New Hampshire. That's what's wrong baby." I let out a huge sigh and threw my head back against the pillow out of frustration.
"Bella… I'd be there if I could. You know that," he replied, the sadness and remorse replacing the pleasure he had just had a moment ago. "I love you."
"I know you would. I love you too Edward."
"How about we get webcams? Would that make it easier?"
"Probably harder actually."
"I know seeing you would certainly make parts of me harder," Edward tossed in with a snicker as I rolled my eyes at him, but couldn't help the small laugh that escaped. He always knew exactly what to say to make things better.
I fell asleep that night with a smile on my face and with my heart full of love and hope. I knew without a doubt that my heart belonged to Edward and he had given me his a very long time ago, now if we could only make it through these next couple of months, we would be golden. At least I thought we would.
After our steamy night on Halloween, I became bogged down at work and was taking on shift after shift as I tried to prove myself a valuable asset to the hospital. Before I knew it, Thanksgiving was coming up fast and I was sort of dreading it. Edward was overwhelmed at school and wasn't able to come home and I had come to terms with it, even though I wasn't particularly happy about it.
Charlie and Sue had finally moved into their bigger home on the western edge of Forks three weeks earlier and had invited all us of kids' home for the holidays. I hadn't been able to get back to town to help them move thanks to my hectic work schedule, but Seth enlisted the help of most of his friends to get it done with minimal cost. Charlie and Sue were both pleased with the major change in their life, so I was happy for them.
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I spent the afternoon doing laundry in my small laundry room in my apartment and packing to go home for a few days. Sue had called to remind me to make sure I brought my Grandma Swan's pumpkin pie recipe because my father was insistent on me making it for Thursday's dinner. We hadn't had a holiday yet where it hadn't been made by either me or my grandma, and I wasn't about to stop one of the only traditions we had in the Swan household.
"I promise Sue, it's already in my purse. I emailed you the list of ingredients so that you can pick stuff up today," I explained casually as there was a soft knock at my door and I continued talking to her on my cell phone, heading across the apartment and towards my door. "You said you were gonna go today right?"
"Yeah Bella, I printed the list off. I promise to get everything you listed. Is there anything else you want?" she asked sweetly, her voice coming across so motherly that I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face.
"Edward to be at Thanksgiving dinner?" I asked, my voice dripping sarcasm cause I knew that wouldn't happen. Edward and I had last spoken the night before with him apologizing over and over again because he couldn't make it and with each apology, even though I knew he was remorseful about the situation, it simply made me miss him more.
"No can do sweetie. I can't perform miracles. Now go answer your door and I will talk to you later," said Sue as I reached my door and turned the knob. Without looking up, I hung up our call and tossed my cell phone on the table beside the door.
"Can I help you with something?" I asked as I turned around and looked up, coming face to face with the sparkling green eyes of Edward himself. "Holy shit."
"Is that a good holy shit?" he asked sweetly as he dropped his bags onto the floor outside my door and swept me up into a huge hug, his arms wrapping tightly around me as he buried his head into the side of my neck, drinking me in.
"That's an excellent holy shit," I said as he put me back on me feet and I grabbed his hand and dragged him into my apartment. "What on earth are you doing here? Last night you said you couldn't make it."
Edward grabbed his laptop bag and luggage from the hallway and brought them in with him, resting them on the floor and closing the door behind him. "I'm behind on some class work but James basically forced me to leave. He said he was tired of me moping around and made me come home to you. He insisted I could get most of my reading done on the flight and so far he's been right. He was heading home last night on the red eye, so we drove to the airport together. You're not upset I surprised you right?"
I stood there in my living room, still shocked to see him standing a few feet from me. His hair was all over the place, he had big bags under his eyes and he looked like he had lost about ten pounds since heading back to Dartmouth, but the bright smile across his face belied everything else. "Fuck, I missed you," he breathed out as he stalked across the room, wrapping his arms around my waist, his lips instantly attaching to mine as he pushed me against the far wall. I let out a small gasp as he moved his hips against me, his arousal clear as day in his jeans.
"I missed you too. Of course I'm not upset, I'm thrilled to see you," I gushed cheerfully as Edward pulled back slightly. "I'm in the middle of packing. I told Charlie & Sue I would come to see them for Thanksgiving," I said, my voice laced with a hint of regret because had I known Edward was going to be here, I would have changed my plans so I could be alone with him for a few days.
"I know. We're going together. Sue already knows I'm coming and is planning accordingly." My mouth fell open in shock as Edward grabbed my hand and dragged me to the couch, where I sat comfortably on his lap and he nuzzled my cheek tenderly with his nose. I would definitely give Sue a stern talking to when I saw her for misleading me on the phone. "I called her from the airport when I landed because you mentioned your plans to me last night. Esme and Carlisle are coming over to your Dad's place for dinner too. There may have been promises of pumpkin pie."
"I'm still shocked you are sitting here. I know it's only been like three months that you've been away, but it feels so much longer," I admitted nervously as I felt his hand move slowly up my thigh, rubbing it gently. "This was harder than I thought it would be."
"I know baby," Edward replied as his lips descended on mine once more before pulling away. "You don't even know the number of times I contemplated just giving up and coming back, effectively losing my last year. I wanted to be with you that much."
"Oh my god, I was so lonely without you one day that I almost quit the hospital. One of the other nurses, my friend Jodie, convinced me I was being insane and that the wait was worth it. However, can I just say for the record that being away from you completely sucks."
"I agree," Edward said firmly as we both nodded our heads in agreement. "However, speaking of sucking," he said in a whisper as his mouth descended on my ear and he sucked my lobe into his mouth. "We only have one night alone before we have to drive to Forks tomorrow… I don't want to waste a single second."
Without any warning, Edward swept me up into his arm and carried me into my bedroom, with me giggling the entire way. We spent the rest of the night making love, talking about our concerns about being apart and reassuring each other that the separation was worth it. I loved him and I couldn't imagine not having him in my life, so being apart was just something I would deal with.
I finished packing early the next morning as Edward made us breakfast. Of course this was after we took a very long shower together, which culminated in us fucking against the tile wall in my cozy shower. The drive to Forks was long, but it gave Edward and I even more time to chat about things that were happening in our lives. Jasper had asked Emmett to be his best man at his wedding next summer and had asked Edward to be one of the groomsmen. Of course, Alice had planned it all out that we would be walking with our significant other. She had come over the week before for a night of wine drinking and made me help her plan her wedding website, which had we not been drunk, would have probably turned out really nice. As expected though, Jasper wasn't really thrilled with the fact that she wrote she was marrying Gerard Butler instead of him on their website. We giggled about it for hours and she called two days ago to let me know that the site was working correctly, with the proper name, courtesy of some work from her fireman fiancé.
As it turned out, all of our friends were going to be back in Forks for Christmas, so I skirted around the issue with Edward, thinking that because he was here now, he probably wouldn't be able to make it then, and I was surprised when he mentioned being out of school for over almost three weeks for Christmas. "Of course I'm coming home," he said with a grin as he pulled into the Forks town limits and I directed him towards Sue & Charlie's place.
"This was just an added bonus. My parents have already paid for me to come home then. The e-ticket is actually in my email as we speak," he said as he reached over and wrapped his hand around my fingers tightly. "In fact, I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I stayed with you for a few days before and after the holidays. If you are okay with that of course. I can't stay for the entire three weeks because I need to get some work done back in Hanover, but I have like a week planned to come back to Seattle."
"Hell yes I'm okay with that," I replied excitedly.
Within minutes we were pulling into the gravel filled circular driveway at the new house. It was a decent sized two story, light blue old farmhouse. They had over three acres of land behind the house, but they didn't really have plans for it. It was the house and its details that compelled them to buy it. Seth was standing in the driveway working on his new car. Well, it was new to him but it was actually his dad's old car. Sue was going to scrap it and Seth decided to restore it as best as he could, not only so he could drive it, but also in memory of his dad. Sue had mentioned in passing that Jake was helping him fix it up when he could, and I tried not to get upset about the situation. Even though Seth was like my little brother now, he had known Jake as long as I had, if not longer. I couldn't deny them their friendship, because that would be like denying myself Edward. It was just something that was, Sue often called us a force of nature.
After greeting Seth and not letting him hug me since he was covered in grease, Edward helped me bring my luggage into the house and we spent a bit of time catching up with Sue and my dad before Edward took the rental car, which he had picked up from the airport the day before in his effort to surprise me, and drove to his parents' house for the night. Leah showed up just after dinner and even though I busied myself making the much desired pumpkin pies while talking to her and Sue about the changes in all of our lives, it felt like something was missing from my night.
The next day, Edward came back over to Charlie & Sue's house with Esme and Carlisle. Seth cornered him and dragged him back outside to see his car while I was in the kitchen talking to Sue. We were discussing how our lives were progressing and she was telling me about all the changes she and my dad wanted to make to the house in the next year or two.
Now that Esme was healthy again, she had been spending more time out and about with Sue, discussing decorating for both of their houses. I knew Sue was anticipating a proposal from my father and I feared that he would never do it after the way things ended with my mother. I shook my head from the memories of her and looked back towards Sue who was getting a tender kiss from my father before he strolled out to the backyard to get some logs for the fire, with Scrappy following closely at his feet. I loved that they were building their lives together and often found myself daydreaming about Edward and I settling down, having a house and tending to a garden.
"Shit… my garden," I cursed as I saw Edward walk into the kitchen with a smile on his face.
"What's wrong with your garden?"
"It's just there at the other house. No one is tending to it anymore. I know that Sue and Charlie did when I moved out, but now no one lives there. He's talking about renting it out, but renters probably wouldn't give a shit about my garden," I stated as Edward wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed just below my ear.
"Bella… I'll build you a garden anywhere you want one."
"You do realize I will take you up on that one day, right?"
"I'm counting on it."
A/N: Just so you know, the next chapter is 75% done and should make it to the beta in the next few days. I'm kinda eager to get this story completed by the end of the month, so I may be slow on updates for Sundrenched World, but don't stress, they are coming.
I'm also up for auction again this year as part of Fandom Gives Back. More details to come closer to the auction in June, but if you want to sign up visit their site: thefandomgivesback (dot) com