Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Story is rated M for language, and lemons.
Chapter 52
BPOV
A week after my birthday, Emmett told me that his girlfriend, Rosalie, was ready to meet with a larger group of us so he made plans for dinner and some drinks. That Friday night, we headed to the duplex that Emmett and Jasper split to hang out. I'd been to Jasper's half of the house, but tonight was my first time at Emmett's place. Felix and his wife were coming so Rosalie wouldn't be surrounded by strangers, so I'd get to meet a few more people on the perimeter of our group.
Jasper led Edward and I inside as Emmett was picking up the food from the Lodge, but most people were already here. Kate, Garrett, and Alice were sitting on the sofa laughing and joking around, James and Victoria were mauling each other on one of the chairs, and another couple sat awkwardly on the loveseat. Assuming they were Felix and his wife, I walked over to introduce myself.
"Hi, I'm Bella, and this is Edward. It's nice to meet you." I smiled down to them as Felix offered his hand.
"I'm Felix and this beauty is my wife, Gianna," he said.
Gianna greeted us as well and we fell into conversation with them. It seems they were looking to buy a house, but had been having problems.
"So many of the places around here are fixer-uppers, but that isn't my thing," Felix was telling us. "If it's under the hood of a car, I'm your guy, but I can't do little projects around the house, much less the work most of these places require."
Edward was grinning as I was nudging his ribs, "Well, I own a construction company, and we're about to start flipping properties. So if you wanted to buy a place and have us remodel it, or buy a property from us after we renovate it, I'd be happy to work with you."
"To be honest, we'd much rather not be involved with the decision making, so if you had a property you're thinking about flipping, we'd much rather go that way. It'll give us a few more months to save up towards a down payment, so our loan would be less. I can't handle getting vapor-locked over tile samples." Felix laughed as Gianna jumped right in.
"The only thing I'd want a say in would be the paint colors, because that I do have an opinion on, but otherwise, we just want something comfortable. We're starting a family, so we need a house that will be kid friendly. It doesn't have to be the grandest house in Forks." Gianna watched Edward, like she was afraid she might have offended him, but he was excited at the prospect of having a buyer for a property we hadn't even found yet.
"That's fine, and most of what we do is around those lines, unless someone asks us to play up a certain architectural detail. Why don't you come out to our house next week? I just finished it a couple of weeks ago, but we can go over my portfolio and I've been looking at a few properties, so we can find one that you like and make an offer and go from there." Edward was buzzing with the prospect of having customers for his first flip, and I knew if Esme saw a prospective buyer, she'd be even more excited than she was at dinner.
Just then, Emmett showed up with dinner and a gorgeous blonde. I was about to say something when Edward whispered, "Looks like Emmett's been holding out on us."
