BPOV

It's been two weeks since Edward and I came back to reality and Granite Falls, and truth be told, between catching up with work, I haven't really seen or spoken to him. I've seen Alice because we work in the same office, but she's mostly kept our conversations to work-related topics and the wedding.

That is until I get a Venmo request from her to the tune of almost twenty-three hundred dollars. I stare at my phone for what must be a full minute before my desk phone rings, and I answer automatically. "Bella Swan?"

"It's Edward. Did you just get a Venmo request? Because I just got one from Jasper for over two grand!"

I look out my cubicle and sigh. "Yes! Alice sent me one too. What was your exact amount?" After he tells me and I realize we got charged the same thing, I know exactly what the bride and groom are trying to do. "They're trying to charge us the full amount for their little stunt."

"Oh, that is not happening." Edward sounds furious, and I can't blame him. These people are supposed to be our friends. They told us they were going to charge us for the week, and we would have gladly eaten half the cost, but this? This is insane.

"I'm going to walk over to talk to Alice and ask for a detailed bill. I want all the charges for the cabin, the car service, and the food. After I go over, I'll tell her that we're only paying half." I can feel a headache coming on, and I rub at my forehead.

"Jasper won't answer his phone, so I want you to make sure you drop Emmett's name."

"Why? I don't want to bring a bunch of other people into this, Edward."

"Emmett's dad is my lawyer, and he's a junior associate at his law firm. If she gives you any shit, be sure to tell her to contact my lawyer." He huffs out a breath, and I hear him swear under his breath. "Have you eaten today?"

Glancing at the clock, I can see that it's almost four in the afternoon. "Not really. I've been playing catch up since we got back."

"Go talk to Alice, and then see if you can head out early. You can come over, and I'll make you some dinner."

"Oh, that's really sweet, Edward, but you don't have to do that." I giggle and look around to make sure Alice isn't somehow standing right behind me.

"I think all of this counts as us having terrible days, Bella." The silence lingers between us for a few beats until it dawns on me what he's saying.

"Oh! Oh, sure. I'll text you when I head over there."

"Okay, kick her ass. I'll see you later." Edward hangs up, and I take a deep breath before I get up and go search for Alice.

She's never in her cube when you need her, instead she's always off kissing our supervisor's ass or flirting with the senior associates to get her work done faster. When I find her, she's actually walking out of the break room with a can of soda. She smiles too sweetly at me but sidesteps me before I can say anything.

"Alice, I need to speak to you for a minute." I turn, calling after her.

"Oh, I'm actually pretty busy right now, Bella." She keeps walking, so I trot after her and yank her arm to get her to stop walking.

I flash my phone, with the Venmo screen lit up, in her face. "Are you for real with this?"

"I told you I was going to charge you for the week. That's your half." She pulls her arm from my grasp and walks into her cube. When I follow her, she sits in her chair but swivels around to face me. "Pay up."

"I want to see an itemized bill for everything." I cross my arms, not budging.

"I'll email it to you—"

"Print it out now. I can wait."

She rolls her eyes and turns around, pulling up her personal email and opening several invoices. Distantly, I hear the office printer start to whir, and she turns back around to smirk. "Happy?"

"Absolutely not. Edward and I will be speaking to his lawyer about this. Emmett wants me to come by with all of this paperwork." I take one step out of her cube, and she's hot on my tail.

"Emmett hasn't passed the bar yet. What lawyer are you talking to?"

"Oh, that would be Emmett McCarty, Senior. He's Edward's lawyer. I don't know what the law is exactly, but you gifted us this trip, Alice. Nothing was in writing, and now you expect us to pay for it. We would have been more than happy to pay you back for half of the expenses, but you want to charge us almost five grand for a trip neither of us wanted. We did it to make you and Jasper happy."

I walk away from her and ignore the stares of our coworkers, who have heard everything I just said. Alice is so preoccupied with her image that she'll be reeling from this little outburst until we settle this.

I grab the printouts and move back to my cube. My direct supervisor, Liam, taps on the top of my cube. "Everything all right?"

Liam's a nice guy in his late forties who gives me a lot of leeway and opportunities he knows I can handle when they come across his desk. I interned with this company while I was in college, and he all but begged me to apply when I was close to graduation.

"Yes. I'm sorry. You should never work with friends." I roll my eyes and smile.

"Is this about the week you took off?" When I nod, he asks me to come into his office. He shuts the door behind us, and I'm suddenly nervous. "I'm going to ask you a few questions and I'd like you to be completely transparent with me."

"I always have been, Liam. What's going on?"

He leans back in his chair, sighing. "I don't dwell too much on office gossip, but—"

"Spit it out, please?"

"There may have been a rumor running around that you were in a short-term rehab program." It's silent in his office. I can hear the ticking of the clock on the wall behind me as my vision blurs just slightly.

"Does everyone think I have a serious drinking problem?" My voice is barely above a whisper, and Liam immediately leans across the desk to knock on the top in front of me.

"I don't think anyone believed it. I think people around here are wondering why you put up with Alice." He smiles gently, and I sigh.

"This is a very Richard Curtis moment," I mutter, and he laughs.

"Well, this ain't 'Love Actually'. So, what's the deal? Rehab?"

"No." I laugh. "Cabin in the woods with my mortal enemy to make friends before we're the maid of honor and best man in Alice's wedding."

"That sounds like a movie plot." He leans back again, and I smirk. Oh, if he only knew the half of it. "What do you want to do? I've been trying to get you to move up for two years now."

"I know. I'm interested, for real this time. Can we set up a time to really talk about it next week?"

Liam nods and tells me to go home and to work from home tomorrow. "Figure that shit out." He gestures outside his office walls, and I nod. "Then come back and we'll talk."

"Thank you, Liam."

He waves me off and turns to his computer as I walk out. I gather up my purse and laptop, packing everything I'll need for the next day, and head out. When I get to my car, I send Edward a text, letting him know I'm running home to change, and I'll be at his place in an hour.

Driving home, I feel giddy. I still have to deal with Alice and her bullshit, but after I change and hop back in my car and head to Edward's, I realize I'm excited to see him.

That's new.