Chapter 36

I found Edward sitting on my front porch mumbling about 'grandma in a bathing suit'. I nudged his thigh with my foot. "I'm ready."

"Your car or my car?" he asked standing.

"Mine's fine." I made sure to lock up and arm the alarm. "Can I ask you something?" I said as I backed out of the driveway.

"You can ask me anything, Bella," he replied taking my hand in his.

"Why were you nasty to me when you first got here?"

He immediately dropped my hand and rubbed his hands down his face. "So that was the plan, huh? Wait until you had me in a position where I couldn't walk out?" He chuckled though so I knew he wasn't angry about it.

"No plan at all, but I am curious. Especially as we seem to be hitting it off, now."

He took a deep breath and looked around, probably for an escape route. "Can we talk about this later, when we have more time?"

"Maybe. What's it worth to you?" I joked.

"It's worth everything, Bella." His tone was very serious, so I gave up on the fun stuff.

"Of course we can, but until we do talk about it, there won't be anything else happening here." I gestured between us.

"Message received loud and clear." He smiled, and grabbed my hand again. We drove the rest of the way in silence but as it was about three blocks, it wasn't uncomfortable.

Once I was parked, Edward leaned over to kiss me. "I don't think we should do anything in the building," he explained.

"Probably a good idea. At least for now." I kissed him back and we got out of the car. Edward headed straight to the kitchen and I went to locate Alice. Her door was closed, so I knocked waiting for her to answer before barging in, just in case she was reprimanding any one. When I got no answer, I headed to my office, deciding to text her.

I settled in and blasted my iTunes while I separated the items in my inbox into piles of 'Now' and 'Next Week'. I hadn't heard anyone come up the stairs or into my office, so when I saw Esme sitting directly in front of my desk out of the corner of my eye, I yelled, loudly, causing Esme to practically fall out of her chair in laughter.

"What the hell, Esme?! Is giving me a heart attack on your list of things to do?" I reached over and turned off my music.

"Just a minute, dear. I need to catch my breath," Esme said, wiping tears from her eyes. "That was precious, Bella." She chuckled a few more times before calming. We hugged and she got right into it. "Alice tells me that Jacob's complained about you. Care to share?"

"Where do I start? I'm very angry about the whole non-issue to tell you the truth. It's no secret that Jake has pursued me since he got here. I've told him 'no' a ton of different ways. But he never took that as an actual answer," I explained.

"Has he ever tried anything?" Esme looked furious.

"No, not here, Esme." I tried to placate her.

"What do you mean, 'not here'?"

"A few weeks ago, Alice and I went out and we ran into him. He danced with me once but tried to kiss me. I stopped him and he apologized to me."

"Have you ever led him on? What I mean by that is have you ever flirted with him or given him any reason at all to think there could be something between you two?"

"Hell no! As a matter of fact. I told him he should take Victoria up on her offer to hang out with him. Why? What's going on, Esme?" Suddenly I was a bit scared about losing my job.

"Alice asked me about his file. I wanted to touch base with you before I went and spoke to him, that's all. I want to remain objective when I do. So tell me about you and Edward." She switched gears.

"There's nothing to tell. He and I are getting along." I tried to shrug it off, but I'm, sure the smile gracing my face gave me away.

"Have it your way." She grinned. "Suffice it to say, he's been through the some dark things, but I can see he's doing much better. Any questions about your actual job?"

"Nah, I'm good." I waved her off. She stood, kissed my cheek and headed to the door. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"I do, second mama. Love you!" I shouted as she disappeared into the hallway.

I got back into my work and emptied my inbox. I sighed knowing it would be full again in a day or two. I finally had a text back from Alice indicating she was finally here, so I closed up my laptop for the day and went to find her.

"Have a seat, chicky." She greeted me when I found her at her desk. "What's up?"

"Had an interesting conversation with your mom, "I said. "Did you know she was coming to talk to me?"

"No, I just told her what was going on with Jake."

"Then why'd she ask about Edward?"

"Probably because he stops over there to see them and she noticed his behavior is different. How are things with him?" She wiggled an eyebrow.

"Tonight we're having the talk about why he was nasty."

"Oh, okay," she trailed off, suddenly looking at her phone.

"Alice do I not want to know this?"

"It's just one of those situations," she expressed, "You do need to know, but I know how difficult it's going to be for him to tell you. Hey what about a weekend in Vermont?" Vermont was a little over an hour away, so we tended to go there a lot.

"Where in Vermont?" I asked.

"How about Manchester?" She suggested.

"It would depend on when you want to go. Let me get through this with Edward and then we can revisit this idea, okay? Besides, the three of us would need to be gone from here and that leaves no one in charge. Oh and Edward needs to sit down with us. Can you please tell him what day works best for you?"

"I'll tell him tonight. Oh and Mom would do it," she said. "She misses it. Oh shit! Is that the time? I need to get ready for dinner service." She shut off her laptop and tossed it into her bag. "Chat later." She ran out as if someone was chasing her.

I decided to tell Edward bye and head home since I wasn't working tonight. I found him in the kitchen talking with Mike about the upcoming specials. "Hi Guys!" I interrupted. "I'm getting ready to leave, did either of you need anything?"

"Did you see the item list I threw on your desk?" Mike asked.

"Yes and I can address it with you next week."

"Works for me," he said, leaving me with Edward.

"Can I come over after work?" he asked.

"I can come to you, if it'll be easier for our chat."

"Do you feel you need an exit plan?"

"Maybe." I winked and took a look around. Since I didn't see anyone, I gave his cheek a quick kiss. "How about you call me when you're leaving, and I'll meet you in your driveway."

"Sounds like a plan." I kissed him again and left. As I drove home, I convinced myself that Edward's story couldn't be as bad as I was picturing it in my head.

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing- everyone seemed pretty happy about the groping-

Next up? The Big Reveal-