Chapter Twelve: The Talk

I woke up this morning feeling confused about Edward and a little stressed. But before I did anything else, I showered, got dressed, and organized my house a little bit. When I was ready, it was only 8:30 AM.

Esme's talk helped me a little bit, but the main takeaway that I had was that I choose how involved I am. I hope that Edward clears that up for me. I think that I am going to tell him, yes, but it's something that we have to work up to.

I was about to start getting my house decorated for Thanksgiving when my office phone rang. "Thank you for calling Sweet Swan. This is Bella."

The person let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, Thank God. Bella, it's Kirsten Rhodes." Ah, Rosalie's accountant.

I got the paperwork pulled out for her. "Hey, Kirsten. What can I help you with?"

She sighed. "I love my husband. I really do. However, If I don't have something down in big bold letters on neon paper, he wouldn't remember it. Our daughter's first birthday pictures are tomorrow. I told him to order the smash cake and the cupcakes from anywhere." Kirsten let out an angry chuckle. "It's a cupcake themed photoshoot."

I pulled up my calendar for other orders that I have this weekend. The only other thing that I have this weekend is an order of chocolate chip cookies for Sunday. "How many cupcakes would you need?" She replied with 12. "What time would you need this by tomorrow?"

"I would need it by noon." She paused. "I completely understand if you are not able to do it."

Even though she couldn't see it, I smiled. "Kirsten, it's not a tough order. If I start the order right after I get all of the information, it can be ready for you." She let out a sigh of relief, and I got the paperwork finished.

"Bella?" I heard from the front door.

God, I hope that is Edward.

"Edward?" I called out.

I almost let out a sigh of relief when he walked into the office. "Hey, Tesoro." He sat down across from me. "Here is your requested tea."

"Thank you," I said with a smile. "You're here early."

He chuckled. "I'm impatient." I nodded because that is one of his main personality traits. Impatient. "I was waiting for you to answer for like five minutes before I opened up the door." He paused. "By the way, why was your door unlocked?"

I shrugged. "Habit. Rosalie comes and goes as she pleases, so I keep the door unlocked for her."

He gave me a stern look. "Keep it locked."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Anyway, this is going to have to be a work and talk kind of thing. I was on the phone with a client that is why I didn't answer the door." He nodded his head. "It's a real simple thing though."

We stood up. "Let's take this to the kitchen." We went to the kitchen. "Make yourself comfortable. I am going to grab some stuff out of the pantry. I will be right back." I grabbed out all of the ingredients to make the cake and cupcakes.

"What do you have to do?" Edward asked once I had everything set up on the counters. He grabbed my order form. "What does all of this mean?"

I moved to stand right next to him. "So, obviously, we have the clients' information, card number, and delivery information."

He nodded. "Right, but this client only ordered 1 cupcake?" He paused. "If the client wanted one cupcake, why couldn't she go to the fucking grocery store?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again. "First off, mind your manners. This is my business. Not yours. Secondly, she ordered 1 cake, but she wants it to look like a cupcake for her daughter's first birthday. Then she ordered a dozen cupcakes - half chocolate and half vanilla."

"Ah. That makes sense." I started to get working on making the batter for the cake/cupcakes because I am just going to use the same one for the chocolate and the vanilla. "How do you want to start this conversation?"

I looked at him. His emerald green eyes were staring right through me. I pursed my lips out for a second. "I want to say yes to the whole situation," his eyes lit up. "However," his face fell. "I want it to be on my terms."

He nodded his head. "You got it, Tesoro."

"I don't want the big, fancy dinners or the flashy bling. I just want the simple and small dinners." I paused for it to sink in for a second. "Did that make any sense?"

Edward chuckled. "I know you, Bella. I wouldn't expect anything else from you." He winked. I got the batters into the ovens. " What else do you have going on this weekend?"

I shrugged. "Nothing much. I just have an order for chocolate chip cookies. But other than that nothing much really."

Edward nodded. "Let's go out on a date tomorrow night."

"Maybe." I winked at him. "I'm going to lay out all my rules for you. Then you can decide on if you want that date." His face turned serious. "I don't want this to be rushed. I want it to be a decent pace. I need to have my own sense of freedom." I motioned my hands around the kitchen. "This is my life. I can't give it up."

He stood up and walked over to me. "Tesoro, I would never asked that of you. It's your life. I know that you don't want to live in the city. We can build out here."

My eyebrow raised. "What?"

Edward shrugged. "It's something that I have thought about in passing. We can build a house on this street for us, and you can keep this as your production place or when you need to get away from me." I frowned. "What?"

"I have neighbors. Granted they are about three or four houses away from me, but still. I can't put them through that." He chuckled. "What?"

"The houses that are around here have been vacant for awhile." My jaw dropped. "There are only three houses around here. Yours, the house to your right, and the house across the street and down quite a ways away."

Oh.

"Anyway. We have a lot more time before we get to this discussion." He could only nod. "I don't want to be bought." I pointed at him. "The first sign of infidelity. I'm out."

He nodded. "Yes, Tesoro. I understand that. You don't have to worry about that." I put the cupcakes and cakes in the refrigerator to cool for a bit before I iced them. He walked around the island and wrapped his arms around my waist. "So, we doing this?" The right side of his mouth turned up to a smile.

I couldn't resist him, so I wrapped my arms around him. "We doing this." I held my finger up. "Slowly."

Edward kissed me. It took all of my strength to not melt to the floor. "What else do have to do today or is it just this order?"

"This is it." I started to make the pink buttercream icing. "Why? What do you have in mind?"

He smiled. "I'm taking you on a date tonight." He winked. He was about to say something, but he was interrupted by his phone ringing. "Fuckers," he mumbled. "What?" He walked outside to have a private conversation.

Boy. I would hate to the person on the other end of that line because I am pretty sure that he just growled.

I had just finished icing the cupcakes when he came back inside. "Everything okay?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have to go handle some business." He kissed the top of my head. "I'll be here at seven to pick you up."

I hugged him. "Okay." He kissed me. "I'll see you tonight, Edward."

He kissed me again. "I'll see you later, Tesoro." He slowly walked out of the house. "Then we can talk about my rules!" He called out before the front door shut.

It took me a minute to realize what he said.

Fuck.