Sometimes, the best thing someone can do to take their mind off of things in their life is to clean.
Bella has been cleaning her entire apartment on this particular weekend like a mad woman. Her bedroom, kitchen and living area were so spotless you could eat off the floor. The last thing to conquer was her bathroom. In fact, she had done the same deep clean in Edwards kitchen just the day before because it had been taking her mind off of everything and had been very therapeutic. After all, the last thing she wanted to do on the weekend was the same thing she did all week - obsess about how weird things had gotten with Edward.
She had woken up on November 1st buried in the comfortable duvet of his guest bedroom and immediately felt remorse for how things had gone down between them the night before. The last thing she remembered was drunkenly falling asleep in her halloween costume on the couch when Edward had left the room briefly, and though he reassured her that she did nothing embarrassing and that everything was good between them, Bella thought otherwise.
Edward had truly kept his distance from her the entire week and though Bella knew keeping a professional distance was for the best, she didn't have to like it. Alice had showed up on Monday and spent half the day with Edward going through things and then spent the afternoon with Bella. They reviewed household expenses, discussed the changes to Edward's website they wanted to implement and also went through the latest batch of mail that had arrived at his P.O. Box. Alice had kept Bella so busy she hadn't had time to dwell on the silence from Edward.
When Alice had first arrived on Monday, she spent almost three hours with Edward locked away in his office discussing the entire messed up situation between him and Bella. He had spent all of the Sunday after Halloween envisioning all the possible the worst case scenarios, like that Bella would quit or even accuse him of sexual assault or something, and had insisted Alice come over for a bit to talk things out with him.
For her part, Alice tried her best to talk Edward down off the ledge he had put himself on. She figured out rather quickly through a conversation with Bella, that she didn't recall kissing Edward at all, but that just put Edward in a different frame of mind. He was disappointed she didn't remember kissing him. Was he not memorable? Sure, it was just a quick peck but he had been told in the past he was a pretty good kisser.
"Listen, I think this truly is something you just need to get over. Just move on and live your life," Alice suggested as Edward leaned back in his desk chair, his hands immediately going to run through his hair in aggravation. Alice was not being as helpful as he had hoped. "You keep that shit up and you will go bald, ya know?"
"Stop making jokes. I'm really confused here," Edward admitted. "Bella does a great job helping me out around here, and her cooking is just… it's wasted on being my pseudo private chef. However, I can't help but find myself unable to find a happy medium in our working relationship. I need to keep my feelings for her separate from work and I can't."
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to tell me how to fix all this, Alice. Usually you force your opinions and ideas on me without any sort of shame, and now when I actually want your help you have nothing?" Edward chastised.
"I was actually trying to keep business and personal separate myself," Alice laughed. "Do you want my advice as your business manager or your sister?"
"Yes." Edwards vague response just made Alice even more frustrated. She was used to his inability make a decision, but he was being overly dramatic these days.
"Okay then, as your business manager I think you are taking far too many risks in putting your feelings for Bella ahead of your work. You need to finish your book and keep her at am arms length for the time being. Truly find a separation between work and life. You were able to do it with Bree, so what makes this girl so different?"
"And my sister thinks…."
Alice paused and ruminated over exactly how to say what she wanted without it being misconstrued. "I think she makes you happy. Perhaps you should throw caution to the wind and just ask her out. Maybe by having an honest conversation with each other you can find a balance between work and romance that works for the two of you."
"Your answers contradict each other; this isn't helping," Edward lamented as Alice pulled out her laptop and waited for it to load up. "Plus, what if she actually isn't interested in me romantically and I've just fucked up the business side of things?
"I'm trying, Edward. I think no matter what answer I give you, it will not make you happy. You need to decide which is more important to you - work or love. Now, let's focus on the latest contract negotiations from your publisher. After your next book is published you are free to move on and they want to keep you, so let's make it worth your while."
For Bella it wasn't until Tuesday when Edward sent a text requesting lunch be brought into his office, rather than just strolling out of his office around 1pm for a break like he usually did, that Bella began to think that maybe he was avoiding her completely. She knew he had a deadline looming for his latest book, but he had been on such a roll and he had mentioned that he was even hoping to submit his first draft early, so she didn't understand the complete radio silence from his end.
However, she just let it go. She did her work, made the meals and kept the house running like a well-oiled machine. She went out for drinks with Angela on Friday night, who spent most of the week texting and calling to apologize for replying to Bella's texts on Halloween, and vented to her about how weird things had suddenly gotten. Then on Saturday, she picked up some groceries and spent the rest of the day cleaning.
In fact, she was deep cleaning her shower when a phone call from her father pulled her from her chores.
"Bells, how is my favorite child?" Charlie chuckled, as Bella rolled her eyes, glad that they weren't on Facetime so he couldn't berate her for her expression. "I hope you haven't been overworked in that new job of yours."
"Hey Dad. First of all, I'm your only child so I better be your favorite, and also no… I'm not being run ragged. Things are good at work," she lied easily. "Also, not all of us have it as easy as you do, being a part-time retiree. You get the rest you need but you get to keep busy, You got it good these days."
"Yeah, but it can be a bit lonely, Bells. After all, this is Forks. Nothing much happens here except there were a lot of downed trees from that storm a few weeks ago. Did you have any trouble?"
"Nope, things were all good by my place," Bella explained, leaving out the large part about being stuck with Edward for the night. Bella didn't feel the need to have a long-winded discussion about her boss with her semi-retired Police Officer father.
"Do you ever find time to write anymore?" Charlie quizzed as a small smile graced Bella's face. She had actually been writing a bit, some fiction actually, and though nothing had come of it, Bella found it was nice to be writing again during her slow times at work. Bella explained her latest story idea to Charlie, he was always the most supportive of her writing, but he was even more excited when she told him she would begin paying for her own bills.
"So, I'm calling with an ulterior motive." Bella immediately got concerned and then she heard Charlie chuckle on the other end of the line. "I'm kidding, I'm just wanting to know if you are coming home to Forks for Thanksgiving at the end of the month. I'd offer to come visit you, but let's face it theres no room for me in your little place."
"Oh, I hadn't even thought about it," Bella admitted reluctantly. Every year since her parents divorced, Bella had spent Christmas with Renee and Thanksgiving with Charlie, though with Renee traipsing across the world lately Charlie had gotten all of Bella's holiday time. "I'll check with work what days I get off and then we can make plans, alright?"
"That's perfect, Bells." They spoke for another five minutes before Charlie had to cut their call short. He made plans to go fishing with Billy and Jacob Black in the morning and it was going to be an early one. Bella promised to call her dad next week with more information about Thanksgiving and they hung up, leaving Bella without any further desire to clean. The shower would just have to wait.
Two and a half weeks later, Bella found herself driving back to her apartment on Thanksgiving Night after sleeping over on the Wednesday night at Charlie's. She spent the day preparing the turkey and all the fixings and they had an early dinner since Charlie was due for work coverage that night. He was always taking on the shifts no one wanted so the other officers could spend time with their families.
Edward and his family all congregated at his house on Thanksgiving Day and his mother, Esme, made a huge feast for them all. Bella had left behind a pumpkin pie and an apple galette for them to enjoy, but Edward had let her off as of Tuesday afternoon so Bella was able to get everything done in time to enjoy Thanksgiving with Charlie.
As she was driving home though, Bella noticed that her truck was not running as smoothly as it had on the trip to Forks. There were a few random noises that were unexpected and then as she was heading east along the 101, near Eaglemount, the truck gave up. Literally threw it's hands up in frustration and just stopped as Bella pulled it off to the side of the road.
She opened up her phone and began going through her contacts for help since she had no roadside assistance. Charlie was working, Angela and Ben were off with his family for a long weekend. There was Alec… definitely not an option, and she wasn't calling Alice or Edward. Or was she?
Two hours later, Bella found herself sitting in the passenger side of Edward's Volvo, all nice and warm, and feeling like an idiot. While waiting for him to show up, the weather had turned and it was a gross mix of snow, rain and ice. It was not pretty and since Edward didn't have snow tires on, it wasn't safe at all.
"We're not making it back to Seattle in this shit," Edward said cautiously as they pulled onto the highway at a snail's pace. "I saw a motel while I was driving here, so we're going to stop there for the night. I'm not risking it." Bella hummed in agreement, just happy to have Edward talking to her. Bella was surprised by how eager he had been to help her when she had called and she was also just surprised to see him out of his home. This was a first since she started working for him, and maybe this was a good sign.
Happy Sunday Morning! I'm horrible at responding to reviews etc... but thank you so much for all your kind words. They remind me to keep going when sometimes I get a little blocked on this story. This was always meant to be a short chaptered story, and we're probably at about the halfway point now. Lots of interesting times on the horizon, so thanks for reading and enjoy!