Chapter 4
A/N: It's Sunday! You know what that means. I'm so grateful for the reviews and follows of this story. I want to reiterate that this story is a fun fluffy story, but there is some drama and such, but no real angst. Thanks again to AGoodWitch for all her help on this story. She is awesome! Let's see what our Piano man and girl are up to!
After leaving the note, I remembered I needed to do laundry. I was slow to gather all my laundry into my two laundry bags. I put them in my basket, pulled my mask on, grabbed my keys, my kindle, and made my way down to the laundry room. I put in both loads of laundry and sat to read my book on my kindle. I was a few pages in when I heard footsteps coming down the steps and in walked Edward with his laundry.
"We really gotta stop meeting like this." Edward said. He loaded his clothes and turn the machines on.
"Should I be concerned you're stalking me, Edward?" I asked him, teasing.
"I don't know. You that interesting, Bella?" He replied, teasing me right back.
"Oh yeah. I live a life of mystery and action." I told him.
"What do you do, if you don't mind me prying?"
"I stare at spreadsheets all day and want to tear my hair out. I had a remote job before this whole lockdown thing happened, the first time. I'm an executive assistant to the CEO of a software company. I do some writing too." I explained.
"Very cool." He said.
"What about you?" I asked.
"A little of this, a bit of that. My first passion never panned out into a job that gave me any stability, so I went and got a degree in business and accounting. Luckily, I built up enough clients to keep me pretty busy to do my work remotely."
"An accountant, huh? I just don't see you as the accountant type." I said, giggling.
"Hey, I will have you know it is a very glamourous and edgy profession." He said with mock seriousness.
I laughed out loud. He shook his head and chuckled. I paused, and I knew that it probably wasn't any of my business, but I wanted to know about his sadness early. I'm sure he'd tell me if I was overstepping. "Hey, how are you doing with all this? I know you said your mom is worried, but you seemed sad on the roof earlier. Is everything okay?" I asked, with genuine concern.
"Oh, yeah. I mean, other than my mom worrying. It's just things aren't as easy as they used to be. It's pretty lonely sitting in your apartment every day by yourself. I mean, there are things to make it easier, but there is still a detachment. No actual face-to-face interaction."
"Yeah, I get that. I envy people who have families. It would be nice to have a husband or even boyfriend to share time with. It gets lonely."
"So, there is no boyfriend who is missing you."
"Nope. You."
"No. How's that work out? You seem like the type of girl who could find a boyfriend easily."
I laughed. "Do I? I'm a very structured person. I'm not very spontaneous and I take things pretty seriously. I don't know, guys my age don't seem very stable."
"How old are you?"
"25. How are you still single? You a heartbreaker, Edward?"
He huffed a laugh. "Hardly. Just haven't found the right girl. All the ones I have found aren't serious enough for me. Though, I tend to date quite a few years younger than me. Like your age."
"How old are you?"
"30 ish."
"Ish?"
"Yeah. I don't know. I don't think age matters so much. You seem to act older than 25, so you know that more than anyone."
"True, and it's not like I ask guys for their ID before I date them."
Edward jumped up to sit on the counter next to the machines. Keeping the responsible 6 feet from me. He seemed to be studying me. "You know the worst part about those e-readers."
I smiled, looking at him over the top of the kindle. "You can't see what other people are reading?" I asked. It was a thought I had often.
He looked at me, his eyes widening. He nodded his head. "Exactly."
"That's not what I miss the most about books, though. There's just something about holding it in your hands, turning the pages with fascination because you can't stop reading. The smell of the pages is another. I usually only use this for some books and when I'm out and about. Can't lug my whole library around with me."
"So, what are you reading?"
"The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I first read it when it came out, so it's a reread right now."
"Never heard of it."
I huffed and went to the first page. It was what drew me into the book the first time I read it. I cleared my throat and started to read it:
If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. Today's young people want to know everything about everyone. They think talking about a problem will solve it. I come from a quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.
Lately, though, I find myself thinking about the war and my past, about the people I lost.
Lost.
It makes it sound as if I misplaced my loved ones; perhaps I left them where they don't belong and then turned away, too confused to retrace my steps.
They are not lost. Nor are they in a better place. They are gone. As I approach the end of my years, I know that grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us."
I looked away from what I was reading and looked at Edward. He was staring at me intensely. It was so weird to not be able to see his entire face, but the eyes always give it away. He was definitely interested. He shook his head a little.
"Wow, sounds pretty interesting, It's about war?"
"It takes place in France during world war 2. Read it, you won't regret it."
He nodded and started typing on his phone. We were quiet for a bit, both waiting for our laundry to finish. I went back to reading my book. I know that most in this situation would think, hey you both keep running into each other, maybe there is something there. They may be correct, but as he pointed out earlier, everything had changed with lockdown. There was no proper way to date now.
"So, do you have any hobbies besides reading?"
I opened my mouth to answer him when the washer buzzed. I put my kindle down and went to go switch my laundry over. I loaded everything in the dryers, put my change in and turned it on. My phone started ringing. "It's my sister, I have to take this. Excuse me. Hello?"
"Bella."
"Jasper?"
"Yeah, Bells, I had to take Alice to the ER. She got a really high fever, and it won't come down. The Dr. is asking me if she is allergic to anything?"
"Um, she's allergic to penicillin. Jazz is she okay? Should I come down there?" I asked, knowing I couldn't be there. The tears started forming in my eyes.
"They won't let you come down here, she can only have one visitor and while they are examining her, I can't even go back there. I have to sit in the waiting room." He said soothingly, calming me.
"Is it –?" I started asking.
"I don't know," He said, not letting my finish that thought. "I don't think so, she just has a fever right now, but they are going to test her."
"And she's back there all alone," I said, letting the tears fall.
"Hey, Bella, she'll be okay. Even if it is something more, she is here and isn't showing any other symptoms. I will let you know as soon as I know more, I promise."
"Okay. No matter what time it is, you better be calling me."
"Yes ma'am." He said in his southern drawl.
I hung up the phone and Edward looked at me concerned.
"What's wrong, Bella?"
"My sister is in the ER. She has a high fever that won't go down. I can't be there with her." The tears still falling down my cheeks.
He crossed the space between us in two long strides and he pulled me into his arms. I gasped and even though it was the first human contact I had in weeks, I felt completely safe and comfortable in his arms. Even as I wound my arms around his waist and buried my face in his chest, I still questioned him "Isn't this forbidden?"
"You're the first person I have touched in weeks, I'll chance it. I'm fairly sure we're safe. Your sister will be okay, Bella."
"Yeah, I know her boyfriend, Jasper, will make sure they do all they can for her."
I felt him nod and I let the comfort he was offering seep into me and once the tears slowed, I cringed at the fact I had gotten his shirt wet. "Sorry, I got your shirt wet."
"It's just fabric."
I looked up into his face. "Thank you."
He wiped the rest of the tears away from my eyes and I smiled, even though he couldn't see it. We pulled away from each other and it was kind of awkward. His washer buzzed and he went to go switch over his laundry.
We sat and talked about our families. He told me stories about him and Em, his mom and dad. I told him about my sister and my mom. He seemed to pick up on me not mentioning my dad and I knew by the look on his face he wanted to ask, and normally I would just tell him, but I had enough of sad thoughts for the night. When my stuff was done drying, I gathered it all up in my laundry basket. He still had some time left. Normally I would wait until his stuff was done, but I just didn't have it in me tonight.
I thanked him again for the hug and we both bid each other goodnight. I ordered some food from door dash as I made my way up to my apartment. I unlocked my door and headed to my bedroom, dropping my basket right next to my bed. I flopped down next to the bed and groaned. God, he had smelled so good, and his arms around me felt so right. I can honestly say that though it was the only hug I've had in three weeks, it was still an amazing hug. He was warm and tall, so he completely encompassed me.
I got off my bed and grabbed hangers from my closet. I started folding and hanging my clothes, determined to put the hug out of my mind. I had just finished my task when there was a knock on my door. Yay, my food was here. I opened my door with my mask on and the creep next door poked his head out. He saw me, well shit!
"Bella, hey. How have you been?"
"Mike, hey. I've been great. You know, social distancing and all that."
"Yeah. I sure hope this lock down is over soon. Maybe we can go grab a drink."
"You know, I really don't think that's a good idea. Like I said, I don't date, so. Thanks anyway." I just wanted to get back in my apartment and eat my damn panda express. "I better go inside before this gets cold. Have a good night."
I turned to go inside my apartment when I saw Edward standing there in my hall. "Edward?"
"Bella?"
"What are you doing up here?"
"I live here. Right here." He said, pointing to the apartment right next to me.
I looked at him with my mouth hanging open, luckily he couldn't see that because of the mask. It finally clicked what he was saying. I said piano man at the same time that he said piano girl.
Well, shit!
A/N: Well, there you go. Guess the cat's out of the bag now. They know who each other is. It was always the intention to not drag out the reveal because this story is more about the love story. Let me know what you think. Sorry, no playlist for this chapter, but the book excerpt she read is from The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I had to read it for my advanced fiction class and actually got to meet the author. She is so sweet, and this book held on tight until I finished it. I totally recommend it. I have a Facebook group called Cullenlvr83 fics, come join. See ya next week, lovelies!