Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyers owns all things Twilight but Aiden is ours. No copyright infringement is intended. Beta'd by Melissa Ann
Somewhere to Begin
Chapter 3 Happily Ever After My Ass
Edward POV
If someone would have told me two months ago this would be my life, I would have laughed. Thirty years old, a divorce that was just finalized today, and living at home in my parent's pool house. 'Life is just great,' I thought sarcastically.
I may be talking outta order, but whiskey will do that to you. Let me explain how my life has turned into one bad acid trip.
Once upon a time on a beautiful sunny Wednesday afternoon…nah I'm just fucking with you.
Truthfully, Gianna and I met in college, she was my first love. She turned my world upside down and I couldn't imagine myself with anybody else but her. What I really loved about our relationship is that we were best friends…or so I thought. We felt we knew each other so well that getting married at 19 didn't seem like a problem, both of our parents disagreed but we were wrapped in the haze of love, cue eyeroll. At that time, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, have children with her and build my investment business…a happy life, right? Ugh.
KNOCK, KNOCK…KNOCK…KNOCK
Maybe if I'm quiet she'll go away
"Edward! Edward, I know you're in there!"
Damn
"Okay, I'm coming in." she said while unlocking and opening the door.
This is going to get awkward.
"What is that smell! Why is it so dark in here?" Esme asked while opening all the curtains. Once the sunlight was blinding me and she was able to get a good look around the room I knew the proverbial shit had hit the fan.
"What…in the wholly hell…" She trailed off.
"It's exactly what it looks like" I replied
"You're right." She nodes. "It is what it looks like, you're in a mind-life crisis and…"
"In a funk." We stated simultaneously
"No Ma! I'm not in a mid-life crisis!" I defend in a raised voice.
She looks at me for a moment, and exhales loudly. "Okay Edward… there are take-out boxes, empty whiskey bottles, dishes in the sink, and clothes everywhere. If this is not a mid-life crisis what would you prefer, we call this?" She inquired, pausing for a moment and awaiting my reaction, likely. "I mean you haven't been to work in weeks and what is that smell!" She calls suddenly, pinching her nose at the scent that seems to be assaulting her.
"It's the smell of despair mom" I reply with a slight pout as I tug the gray throw blanket around me more tightly with one hand, while the other hand grips the whiskey bottle. I sink further into the couch, mumbling under my breath. "What was that?" My mother questions, her attention on me fully once again. "My life is just going down shit's creek right now and I'm embracing it." I admit while taking a rather large gulp of whiskey.
"Very well." She replies, taking the whiskey from me. "Son, I know it's been difficult with the divorce, the custody battle, and selling the house but you can't stay in this space forever, you've been like this for three months. You're only thirty years old, you can begin again!" She tries to reason. "And not just for Renata but for yourself! When Renata is not with Gianna, we're keeping her in the main house to give you time to process all of this, but this… is not acceptable." She chastises gently, as only a mother can.
"Ma, I'm sorry. I know I'm not trying, and I could do better, but I'm just so angry. For fucks sake we went to counseling! Counseling Ma! I thought we were fixing things, being proactive! Look at my life, I'm a thirty-year-old single parent that lives with his
parents—"
Esme interrupts me, "You chose to stay here."
I ignored that comment, "We had a plan! We had a fucking plan and she just…" I bellowed while running my fingers through my hair in frustration. "What more could I have done? I know I have my part but… I wanted this…us…and she just threw it all away… threw me away." I confess sadly.
With her hand on her chest and tears in her eyes, Esme stretched out her arms while walking towards me and plops herself on the couch. Pulling me in for a hug she calmly reasons with me once more, "First of all, you weren't thrown away. You have us, your family that loves you and a daughter that adores you. I know this hurts right now, and I wish I had the words that could take your pain away…I… wish I could fix this for you. It's great that you were willing to make things work but…it takes two, sweetheart."
"But Ma my house!" I exclaim, sounding as though I'm whining as my daughter when she doesn't get her way. While being caught up in my emotions I forgot the predicament I was in and toss the blanket off of me while jumping up from the couch.
"OH MY GOD, EDWARD ANTHONY CULLEN! YOU'VE BEEN NAKED THIS WHOLE TIME!" She exclaims in surprise.
While trying to cover all of my grown-up parts, I turned to her and in an embarrassed tone try to explain myself. "Well Mom, I've been in a funk." I remarked with a shrug and feeling myself blush all over.
"That's it, I'm done. I can't, I'm going to go get your father." She said while keeping her eyes covered.
"I'm sorry Ma, I forgot." I try to apologize.
"CARLISLE! CARLISLE!" she shouted my father's name while getting up from the couch. Her eyes are still closed, and her hands are out in front of her, feeling for the front door. "CARLISLE! CARLISLE!" Bam
She walks right into a wall
"GODDAMMITT!" She said through clenched teeth. "CARLISLE!"
When she finally found the front door she ran out, almost tripping but still yelling "CARLISLE!"
I chuckle as I wrap the blanket around me so I could walk to the door to close it. I took a deep breath in and found myself in a coughing fit.
Oh, there is a smell…is it me?
After doing a quick check of the pits I realized I am contributing to the smell.
Once I was able to get a clear view of how I've been living for the past week since Renata has been with Gianna, I decided it wouldn't hurt to clean.
I picked up a random pair of shorts off of the floor, sniffed them and felt they didn't smell too bad, so I put them on. Just so it wouldn't be so quiet I decided to turn some music on while I finally cleaned.
First things first, obviously I needed to wash clothes. After collecting all of the dirty clothes from the living room and putting them in their proper place I started my first load of clothes.
Washing clothes—check.
Got the takeout boxes and whiskey bottles out—check. I realized I should take a break from drinking. Duly noted.
Open windows to air out smell—check.
Mountain of dishes cleaned—check. Now I can admit some dishes just went into the garbage.
Floors swept and mopped—check
As soon as I was done cleaning, I stood back to appreciate how beautiful the pool house was. Although Ma did renovations when Emmett and I moved out, it still feels like our Cullen hideaway. Cheesy name I know but I have so many good memories connected to this place. I remember when we would hole ourselves in here for the weekend and watch movies, play board games, swim, cook, and just talk about any and everything. The Cullen weekend hideaway was a tradition until we graduated from high school. I also remember the girls we would sneak in the pool house…but that's a story for another time. Ultimately, I remember feeling my safest here.
Yes, Esme was correct in saying it was my choice in staying here, I could have easily gotten a place for me and Renata but after everything that happened, I needed to feel security, assurance…and not feel like a failure.
I don't know…maybe to some I would seem immature or like a "mama's boy or daddy's boy" to run back home to my parents but they are who I trust right now.
When a strong breeze reminded me that I still smelled like warmed up ass I quickly headed to the shower.
Under the hot stream of water, it seems all my thoughts came rushing at me. I tried to retrace my steps to see where it all went wrong.
The plan was never for me and Emmett to start a business together, I was content with opening my own investment company.
Coincidently two years after I graduated from college my best friend Jacob was on the brink of losing his company, Black Enterprises. Jacob has had a love for cars since we were kids, so it was no surprise to me that his career choice was collecting and fixing exotic cars. I thought Black Enterprises was amazing idea! Of course, I invested and with Emmett's business and marketing background I knew he could help us rebrand the whole company. Emmett and I were able to come up with a business plan where he would not only collect exotic cars, but an added service of renting them. Something none of us expected was the clientele list he built servicing these vehicles.
Surprisingly the process of working with my brother was quite enjoyable, not to mention the success Black Enterprises has made by being on the Forbes list. It proved that we made a great team. Thus Cullen & Cullen Investments was born.
Before my brother Emmett and I could even blink Cullen & Cullen exploded! We were always busy; meetings in and out of town, flights all over the world, and endless business opportunities. While the money was great, I really fell in love with creating, taking on a business that was smaller or failing and seeing all the potential it could be, just made me feel so complete in a way I didn't know was missing. However, Gianna and I had so many arguments about me not spending enough time with her and our daughter Renata, I decided to take a step back and spend time with my girls once the business could finically afford it. In that time, we bought a home, traveled, and I felt Gianna and I were finally in a good place again….
With the intention on being proactive I suggested that we go to marriage counseling. Yeah, yeah, I know, men don't volunteer to go to counseling. Can't say I didn't give it that old college try but because I thought we were in such a good place I would have done anything to keep us there…and yes that included therapy. One of the most important things we learned from counseling was communication. I know it sounds cliché but at that time I believed it really worked for us. Before I jumped back into Cullen & Cullen, Gianna, myself, and our therapist, Dr. Goodwin had a VERY in-depth session about how I could better manage my time so she wouldn't feel neglected. Thousands of hours and dollars later we left the office with a game plan. The agreement was I would facetime at least twice a day, I would fly home if I wasn't really needed, and if they could Gianna and Renata would come with me. That worked for less than a month…
A/N: We have a Facebook page, The Moon Writers if you would like to see pictures and possibly teasers…? Let us know if you would like us to add teasers on our page for future chapters.
What are your thoughts on the Cullen men and Esme?
We notice there was some concern about Bella being an alcoholic or a possibility of co-dependence on alcohol, neither Edward or Bella have an addition problems…no worries there guys.
Rec: DarkStrip by CullenGaff Bella, running from her past is down on her luck. Edward is a cold calculating hit man for the mob. When Bella gets a job at his strip club, she has no idea that her heart may very well be Edward's next target. Check it out…it's a great WIP.