Best Laid Plans Heather Burkett
Chapter 32: I Am
I awoke the next morning to the delicious smell of eggs and bacon wafting from the kitchen. I Toucan Sam'd it, following my nose to the delicious aroma, catching Edward cooking in nothing but a pair of blue flannel pajama pants. I leaned against the kitchen doorway, watching as the muscle and sinew stretched and pulled beneath his fair, freckled skin as he stirred the scrambled eggs and flipped the bacon.
"Good morning." He said with a brilliant smile once he noticed me standing there. "Breakfast is almost ready. Hungry?" He asked.
"Starved." I wandered further into the kitchen, noticing a Keurig. "Do you have coffee?" I asked.
"Yeah. Mugs are in the cabinet just above the coffee maker and the K-Cups are in the drawer below it."
I turned the machine on, letting the water heat up as I removed a little coffee pod from the drawer and placed it into the machine.
"I only have half-and-half, but I think there's a vanilla flavored K-Cup in the drawer you can use." He instructed, plating the bacon and eggs for each of us and carrying it out to the dining room table.
I waited till the coffee maker spluttered out the end of its first cup before carefully removing the used coffee pod and slipping in a vanilla coffee pod I spotted in the drawer as Edward had advised I would.
"How much sugar do you like in your coffee?" I asked.
"No worries, I'll fix it." He answered as he came back into the kitchen.
I watched, fixated as he poured two counts of creamer into his coffee, followed by one spoonful of sugar, trying to memorize the way he fixed it for future reference. "Now who's stalking who?" He asked as he caught me staring, kissing me on the temple before sipping his coffee and walking out of the kitchen.
I blushed, smiling to myself as I prepared my own cup before following him out.
"So, what does your family normally do for Thanksgiving?" I asked, making small talk as I took a bite of my eggs.
"Well, usually Mom and Dad host but, this year, Liz invited everyone to come out to her apartment in Seattle." He answered.
I frowned, my plans dashed.
"Did you want to come?" He asked, trying to read into my expression.
"Actually, I was about to invite you to join us." I answered quietly, biting into the crispy bacon.
"What?!" His eyes went wide in surprise.
"Well, I've met your family; I was going to ask if you'd want to join my family for Thanksgiving. Get a proper introduction." I rambled, pushing my eggs around on my plate nervously. "But, I don't want to take you away from your family obligations-" I hedged.
"I'd love to." He beamed at me, and his excitement was contagious.
"Really? I mean, won't your family be disappointed?" I asked worriedly.
He took my hand in his. "Bella, I know this is a big deal. My family knows how much I've wanted to meet yours – they'll understand." He rubbed his thumbs against my knuckles. "Besides, it's not like I've just see them twice in two weeks or anything." He chuckled, lifting a forkful of eggs into his mouth. "What is Thanksgiving like with your family?"
"My parents will be hosting at their house. My daughter will be there, as well as my ex-husband with his parents and his girlfriend." I answered between bites.
"Is it weird at all? Between you and your ex?"
"We're not like most divorced couples you would meet; we have a unique relationship. We started as friends and ended as friends. There's no love lost between us – it just morphed back into what it started out as."
"So, you're close." He replied, slightly nervous.
"Well, we're not best friends any more, if that's what you mean. But, we're family. It's...comfortable between us, for the most part. We have our arguments, but I'd say we get over them fairly quickly. We just try to do the very best we can for Sarah. We try to give her as normal a life as she can possibly have in her predicament." I'd never tried to put my relationship with Jacob into words before – it was quite hard to explain.
"Does he know about me?" Edward asked nervously. I couldn't tell if he was hoping that he knew, or that he didn't know.
"He's noticed a few times that I've seemed happier, so I think he has his suspicions. But we haven't discussed it."
Edward smiled warmly, reaching over to take my hand. "Have you been happier?"
I shivered at his touch. "Well, except for the brief time we were apart...yes." I answered honestly.
"Me too." He beamed in response. "So, how do you think he'll react to me?"
I put down my fork, quickly losing my appetite at the thought. "Jacob can be...stubborn and temperamental. He's the main reason I was nervous about you meeting my family. I'm not sure he'll approve of our age difference." I answered.
"Oh." Edward said, feeling the weight of my words. "Does it matter what he thinks?"
"Only in that it might complicate my relationship with him. But, he owes me this much, so he should at least be cordial." I answered, biting my tongue.
"Why does he owe you?"
"It's kind of a long story." I replied, suddenly wanting to go back to bed.
"I have time." Edward insisted.
"He's sort of dating our other childhood best friend." Edward nodded, weighing what I had said. "Who may or may not legally be his step-sister." I added.
"Oh, wow." His eyes went wide as his jaw dropped.
"They were adults when they're parents married, so they never related to one another as brother and sister." I defended. "But yeah, it took quite a bit on my part to move past it, so he owes it to me to be on his best behavior, regardless of what he thinks or feels."
"I see." Edward said thoughtfully, mulling it over. "Is there anyone else I should be concerned about?"
"My parents and Jacob's parents will be absolutely polite, and Leah – Jacob's girlfriend – already knows all about you, so she'll be welcoming. I'm just unsure how my daughter will react."
"What if I meet her next weekend, instead of waiting for Thanksgiving? You know, give her a chance to get to know me one on one so that she has time to deal with whatever she's feeling before the holiday comes?" He asked, his brow furrowed in thought.
"Let me talk to Jacob and see how he feels about it, okay? I don't want to spring anything on him unexpectedly." I answered, hoping he would understand my reluctance.
Fortunately, he did.
"Hey Jake." I said, walking into his garage Monday afternoon.
"Hey. Is the Guardian driving okay?" He asked, kissing me on the cheek while trying not to get any grease on me.
"Yeah, I just figured it was time for an oil-change and a tune-up." I answered nonchalantly.
"Sure thing. Do you have anywhere to be? I'm almost done installing these brake-pads."
He asked, wiping his hands off on an oily looking shop rag.
"Sure, take your time. I can wait."
Take all the time in the world. I thought, procrastinating.
"So, how's business been?" He asked, hunching down beside the Honda Civic he was working on.
"It's okay. Got a few holiday parties coming up that I'm working on. You seem to be doing well." I acknowledged.
"Yeah, work is pretty steady. Helps that I have so many repeat customers now. They help spread the word."
"That's great. That's the only problem with my job – not too many repeat customers." I pouted.
He nodded. "Yeah, I guess people can only throw so many parties, huh?"
"Exactly."
We chatted idly as he finished his work on the brakes.
"So, what are you really doing here, Bells?" He asked, standing up and wiping his hands off on that nasty rag again.
"What do you mean?" I asked, caught off guard.
"You always schedule your maintenance like clockwork, and you're not due for a tune-up for another month or so. What's on your mind?" He sat down on a rolling stool, his legs splayed wide with his hands clasped between them.
"You always could read me like a book." I blushed.
"And yet, you always seem to think you can pull one over on me. When will you ever learn?" He smiled warmly. "So, talk to me. What's going on?"
"I've been seeing someone." I answered, jumping in feet first.
"That explains why you've seemed so much happier lately. How long?" He asked.
I assumed his relationship with Leah made hearing this a little easier for him, for which I was grateful. "We've dated off and on since August."
He nodded thoughtfully. "You thinking of inviting him to Thanksgiving to meet everyone?" He asked.
"Actually, yeah. But, you've sort of already met him."
"It's the kid from your party, isn't it?" He asked.
"Wha?! How did you-" I stammered.
"It was pretty obvious at the party, with the way you two kept looking at each other. I know what it's like to be in love with you, Bella. I recognized the look."
"You seem to be taking this quite well." I acknowledged. "It doesn't bother you?"
He clenched his jaw, revealing a little more than he intended. "He's a lot younger than you." It was a statement, not question.
"Yes."
He looked down, pursing his lips in thought. "I won't lie – I'm not crazy about it. But, no one knows more than I do that you don't have much say in who your heart chooses to love, inconvenience be damned. So, if he makes you happy and treats Sarah well, then I don't have much more to say about it than I wish you well."
I took a deep breath. "Sarah – being as astute as she is – already knows I've been seeing someone, but she hasn't met him yet; though she told me she wants to. I didn't want to introduce her to him till I was sure. If you're okay with it, I'd like to introduce them this weekend, to give them a chance to get to know one another before Thanksgiving. I just wanted to have the decency to run it by you, first."
Jacob nodded. "He seems like a nice guy, and I trust your judgement. If you think this is the right time, then that's fine."
I stood up, patting him on the shoulder. "Thanks for being so understanding, Jake. I really appreciate it."
He huffed. "Thank Leah. She's the one who talked me off the ledge when I first figured out something was going on between you two."
"It was that bad, huh?" I hedged.
"You know I have a temper." He answered honestly.
"I'll make sure to thank her."
"Still want me to check out your car?" He asked smugly.
"Naw, I think I'm good." I smiled, climbing into the driver's seat and closing the door.
"Hey Buttercup!" I greeted as Sarah climbed into my car Friday after school.
"Hey Mom. How are you?"
"I'm great, how was your day at school."
"It was okay. Same old, same old."
"I was thinking – how would you like to go rollerskating tonight?" I asked.
"Really?!" She asked excitedly. "What's the occasion?"
"Well, do you remember when you figured out that I was seeing someone, and you told me you wanted to meet him?" I asked tentatively.
"I get to meet him?!" She said thoughtfully, biting her lip.
"Yes. If it's okay with you, I thought I'd introduce you two tonight." I answered.
"Cool." She replied casually.
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" I hedged.
"As long as he's cool, I'll be okay. I promise."
"Well, there's one thing I should tell you about Edward."
"Uh-oh." She replied, turning in her seat to face me better. "What is it?"
"Edward is..." I took a deep breath, readying myself for her reaction. "...younger than me."
"But he's not your step-brother so, all in all, it's still better news than Dad's situation." She shrugged.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud in relief. "No, I guess it is a little bit better than Dad's situation, isn't it?"
She nodded, smiling suddenly before breaking into a laugh herself. "Leave it up to you and Daddy to go find the most awkward boyfriend and girlfriend you could." She shook her head as she continued to laugh.
Once the laughter died down, I asked "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
She bit her lip, mulling it over. "I mean, don't get me wrong. It's weird. But, I want you to be happy, Mom."
I reached over, brushing her hair back from her face. "You're a good kid, you know that?"
"Yeah. You're awfully lucky to have me." She smiled, self-satisfied.
"Yes, I am."