BPOV

"Alice, I swear, everything is fine. Edward even offered to make dinner." My best friend doesn't need to know that I coerced him into cooking tonight. That's neither here nor there.

"Edward? Edward Cullen is cooking dinner for you two? The man can barely reheat anything in the microwave, Bella." Alice sounds incredibly doubtful, and who can blame her? I've seen Edward bring the bare minimum to every gathering over the last ten years.

"He'll be fine. And if not, there's plenty of cereal." I laugh, but she doesn't join me.

"You make sure he doesn't set a fire or something." I can hear the nervousness in her voice, and I roll my eyes.

"Alice, honestly, he'll—"

"Bella, I'm serious. I'm already worried enough about you two being alone together in the forest. I know how many true crime documentaries you watch."

"Then why did you force us to do this? We would have settled down for the wedding." I'm perched on the windowsill, looking out at the scenery and feeling very betrayed by my best friend.

"It's been a decade, girl. If you two were going to bury the hatchet, you would have already done it." She makes two good points. One, I wonder if there's a hatchet around here, and two, Edward and I were never going to make nice on our own. I'm tempted to tell her that we were going to call a fake truce, but I know that'll just worry her more, so I keep my mouth shut.

"I think it might snow, so I'm going to make sure there's enough firewood inside, and then I'll check on Edward. I'll text you tomorrow."

"Jasper and I love you—both of you. We just want you guys to be able to be in the same space without killing each other."

"No, I get it. I'll try; I promise."

After I hang up, I take a few minutes to really take stock of the situation. It's true that Edward and I have never gotten along, and it's only gotten worse as the years have passed. But if Alice and Jasper are serious about us not being able to be friends, then I'm willing to put in the work and do what I need to in order to keep those relationships alive.

Changing out of my slippers for my sneakers, I walk out into the living room and find Edward lying on the couch, reading my book. "I think we might get snow tonight."

He drags his eyes away from the page to look up at me. "What makes you say that?"

I bite back the sarcastic retort, pressing my lips into a thin line before I respond. "I was looking at the weather, and the temp's supposed to dip pretty low. At this elevation, I just wouldn't be surprised."

"Sure, that makes sense. Are you cold? I could make a fire." He sits up, placing a piece of paper in the book to mark his place.

"I'm okay. I was going to see about bringing in some more wood though." I jerk a thumb over my shoulder and head out back to gather up a few armfuls and bring them back inside. When I'm done, I take a seat on the couch across from Edward. "I spoke to Alice."

"What are those traitors up to?"

I laugh genuinely, and he smiles. "She was just checking in, but … She's worried about us. To be honest, I think I am too."

"What are you talking about?"

"Can you lie to Jasper? He's your best friend. You've known each other since you were five." I lean against the cushions and stare out the window at the steadily falling rain. "I can't lie to Alice. She's my sister; I can't lose her."

"I can't do that to him. What do you want to do?"

"I'm going to supervise you making dinner. We're going to split a bottle of wine, and we're going to figure this out. Deal?"

He sighs, standing up. "Deal."