Assumption Chapter 13

Cleansing

BPOV:

It took over two weeks and several arguments with Edward and his family to finish cleaning out Charlie's house. All of it. I had the shock of my life when I hit the attic and the basement. Charlie, it appears, was a closet hoarder. There was everything, and I mean everything, stored in there. Thankfully, I had the Cullen's, who were willing to come over every day to help me out.

One of the big surprises that I found was a trunk that held everything from my parent's wedding, from the dress that Renee wore to his wedding ring to the divorce decree. I knew that he never got over losing Mom, but I didn't realize that he loved her that much that he kept all of this. There were a few letters at the bottom of the trunk that he had written Mom, but never sent, begging her to come back just until things were settled with his parents and then he'd go anywhere she wanted to live. I wondered why he never sent it. What stopped him? I sighed and decided that I could just pile those questions with the ever growing list of questions that I had for him that I was never going to get to ask, nor would I ever get answers to.

That fact had led me to crying in Edward's arms one night. We had been cleaning out some more of the basement when I came across a box that had photocopies of my school report cards and copies of the pictures that Mom would insist we take before she drove me to school. There were more boxes that contained memorabilia of my childhood that I had no idea Mom had sent him. I started pulling things out of the boxes and I was in shock over how much of my life was in there. Even the very short stint I did with the Girl Scouts when I was eight. The tears just started flowing and as I progressed through the boxes I started sobbing uncontrollably. Suddenly, Edward was there behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me back to his chest, holding me as tight as he could. I cried until I fell asleep in his arms and then he must have carried me down to my room and put me to bed, because that is where I found myself when I awoke the next morning. It did make me smile when I found a note from him promising me that he'd be over after he closed the shop that afternoon.

Edward and I were developing quite the friendship and were spending time together outside of cleaning out the house. One day I was stuck on a small part of my book; it wasn't as major as the months that I spent unable to work on it, I just had some dialog that wasn't coming out right and I couldn't seem to get it where I was really happy with it. So I decided to call it quits for the day and picked up some takeout Chinese and headed over to Edward's bookstore to surprise him. I ended up spending the rest of the day and evening just hanging out with him. I was beginning to understand that I was going to miss Edward when it was time to go home.

Last night was a shocking horrifying traumatic experience for me. I had been working on the book all day. I was so focused on the book that I barely got up off the couch to get anything to drink, let alone eat. I didn't even bother getting dressed or run a brush through my hair. I didn't even hear Edward knocking on the door, so he scared the daylights out of me when he appeared in the living room in front of me, holding Charlie's mail and laughing at me. Whether he was laughing because I was so tunnel-visioned that I didn't hear him at the door, or my frightful appearance in my ratty pjs with my hair barely still in the ponytail I'd pulled my hair in last night, I didn't know. And I didn't want to ask. I know that I probably should have been embarrassed by the way that I looked but I wasn't because it was Edward. For some strange reason it was impossible to be anything but relaxed around him. I took the mail from him as he flopped down on the couch next to me and asked me what I felt like doing for dinner. We hadn't had dinner apart in over a week. I even went to Sunday dinner at his parents because I was expected to be there, according to Rose. She liked to stop by in the mornings after Emmett left for the station to have a cup of coffee with me and chat.

I started flipping through the mail and noticed that it was mostly junk mail with the exception of the electric bill and cable bill. I started opening the bills while Edward started playing with my tangled mess of hair. The electric bill was pretty much what I had expected it to be after hearing Rose and Emmett complain about theirs one night. I moved on to the cable bill which was higher than I thought it should be.

"I can't believe you guys pay so much for cable. I don't pay this much for mine in Arizona."

"Our cable isn't so bad. But Charlie does have the sports channels package. Maybe that is why it's so high?" Edward suggested as he leaned closer to look over my shoulder. My eyes drifted over the bill and then I flipped it over and what I saw literally made me scream and drop the papers as if they had burned me. Charlie had been renting On Demand movies and not just any movies either. He was renting porn!

Edward started laughing after he picked up the papers off the floor and looked to see what had freak me out, "It's not funny! That's just….something I never, and I mean NEVER needed to know about my father!" I shuddered and jumped off the couch and fled the room. Like if I could get out of there then that didn't just happen. I heard a drawer open and close and then Edward found me standing at the sink, "I've hid it and we can deal with it later, Ok?" He leaned his chin on my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my waist. For some strange reason it seemed almost natural to be affectionate with each other like this. It was unusual for me but I liked it too much to question it.

But today I was on my own and doing something that I knew needed to be done, and yet every time that I thought about it, I got this strange uneasy feeling. I was so anxious all morning and I couldn't sit still. I needed to get back home to my life and there was absolutely no reason for me to keep the house. I kept repeating that to myself in my head. It was the truth, so why did I feel that it was utter bullshit. I had sat in my truck in front of the office that I needed to be at this morning, unable to force myself to get out and go in. I had sat there until I was ten minutes late for the meeting. I just kept looking down the street to where Edward's shop was and thinking about how quiet and sullen he'd gotten when I told him that I had made this appointment. I was going to miss him too.

Now I was sitting at the realtor's desk with the contracts in front of me, waiting for my signature. We had gone over everything and Mrs. Cope, the realtor, was positive that the house would sell quickly. As I lifted my pen and held it over the paper my mind wandered to Edward. He had become a close friend and was now rather important in my life. I had never expected that. I had never expected his family either. I enjoyed dinners at his parents and coffee with Rose. I loved feeling like I belonged. I loved the quiet that Forks had afforded me.

"I need a minute," I told Mrs. Cope before running out of the office. Once I was out of the building and in the fresh air, I leaned back against the building. I stood there trying to clear all these conflicting thoughts and internal arguments out of my head. They were driving me crazy. I sighed and told myself that I was just being ridiculous and walked back into the building. I sat down at the desk and with another sigh I signed the contracts that listed my dad's home for sale.

EPOV:

She was going to leave me, too. Bella was at the realtor's office right now listing Charlie's house for sale. This was really going to hurt. I had foolishly allowed myself to get close to her, knowing that she was never going to stay. I sighed and grabbed another pile of books off the counter and shoved my chair out of the way, making it slam into the counter. A couple of people in the store looked up at me in surprise, given the noise. It was strange how quiet everyone was being in here today. It was as if they all knew I was one thread from going insane today.

As I put the stray books away I thought about how I had stood at the door of the shop and watched her. She had been sitting in her car for the longest time and I allowed myself the hope that she would just drive away but she eventually got out of the car and went in.

I knew where the real problem lay; I had let myself fall for her. I had known since the moment that I pulled her off Mike Newton that she was beautiful, but as I had started spending more time with her I really got to know her. She had a great sense of humor and was the only person that I had found since my Grandfather died that I could sit down and really talk to about books. Every kind of books. I could sit and discuss Bella's books with Rose because we both read those and Mom like some literature but was finicky. Dad only read science books and journals, and Emmett… I don't think he's read an actual book in years unless it was one of Bree's that he was reading to her. Most importantly, Bella had a great heart and truly cared about everyone in her life. I knew that she was going to live with a lot of regrets regarding her father for the rest of her life.

I didn't tell her how I was feeling about her because I knew from experience that it wouldn't make a difference. Tanya knew that I loved her and left anyway, and Bella was on her way out of town too. No good would come of me telling her, it would only make things awkward between us or take away what little time I had left with her.

I was irritated today and that was not unusual lately. The other day I was angry after an argument that I had gotten into with Bella the night before. It was a stupid argument and I don't know if it was even possible for either of us to be right or wrong on the issue. I just knew that it had blindsided me at dinner the night before when she told me that she wanted me to have Charlie's boat. It's not that it didn't mean a lot to me, given how many times I had gone fishing with Charlie, but taking something like that…drove home the message that he was gone and would never return. Bella was insisting that she had no use for it in Phoenix and felt that Charlie would want me to have it instead of selling it to some stranger. The whole conversation upset me to the point that I cut short our evening and went home. It hadn't helped that she had told me the day before that she was ready to put the house up for sale and go home. It was all getting to be too much, too fast, and I was having a hard time with it all.

Emmett had suggested that I buy Charlie's house while we were walking together one afternoon getting signatures for his election petition. His point was that at least Charlie's home wouldn't go to just anyone or the first person to make the right bid. The idea was intriguing and worth considering. On one hand, I did have the apartment over the store that I loved but it was a small apartment. And buying Charlie's house meant that I would be closer to Emmett, Rose, and Bree, and that would be nice. And like Emmett reminded me, I had wanted to get a big dog for a long time but that wasn't possible while living in an apartment with no yard for the dog to run in, and Charlie's house had a big yard.

I slammed a few more books down before I heard a throat clear behind me. I turned to find Bella standing there. I looked around and noticed that the store was now empty of customers, "I rang them out for you. You were distracted over here and they seemed leery to try to get your attention."

"Thanks. Just having a bad day."

"I see that, but as an author may I ask that you don't take your bad mood out on the books by abusing them. It's giving me chest pains over here every time you slam one down."

I knew that she was serious and trying to be funny and lightening the mood a little, but I didn't think that there was anything that was going to make me feel better today. I just nodded and turned away from her, "So that meeting went fast. I didn't think that you'd be done so quickly since you needed to take the realtor back to the house to take pictures for the listing."

"Yeah, well…she's coming by later today."

"I see. I hope you get a buyer fast so you can get back to your amazing life in the big city. We wouldn't want to force you to stay in Forks one minute longer than absolutely necessary."

"Edward!"

"Excuse me. I'm not feeling well, I think I'm going to go ahead a close up and go lie down."

"Edward."

"Please Bella, just go."

"Ok." She looked so heartbroken as she walked out of the door, but that was just making me angrier. She was the one deciding to leave. I walked upstairs and crawled into my bed without even getting undressed. If she really wanted to she could stay here with me. It was obvious now that she just didn't want to.

A/N:

Happy Friday. Thank you to Sweetpea123 for being an awesome beta. I did make some changes after she sent this back so any screw ups are my fault. Thank you to all my reviewers, I love getting and reading every single one. Remember that reviews get teasers.