6
"Here." Esme thrust a plastic bag in front of Bella's camera just as she snapped a picture of a member of one of the two female teams battling through a sudden death match. The two teams — from Russia and China — had split the first two sets evenly and were now battling to reach fifteen first.
"Goddamn it, Essie, you just ruined my shot," Bella snapped, grabbing the bag and placing it in the sand in front of her. Of course the moment had passed and she no longer had a shot. "Thanks for nothing."
"You're welcome," Esme laughed and settled in the sand next to her. "I got you a kale salad with almonds, cranberries, and a light vinaigrette."
"Ew," Bella groused as she opened the bag and pulled out a juicy cheeseburger and spicy curly fries from their favorite diner. "You're a bitch, Essie."
"I am, aren't I?" Esme smiled and pulled Bella's pills out of her bag. "I should have gotten you the salad, though, but then you wouldn't have eaten it and, well, don't tell Carlisle, okay?"
"My lips are sealed," she said, accepting the handful of pills and bottle of tea. "I'm surprised he isn't here today. I figured the two of you would be following me around like you did after he diagnosed my condition."
"He wanted to."
"But?"
"But he knew you'd be pissed. Believe it or not, Bella, he loves you. He's just trying to help."
Bella sighed. "I know, and I'm grateful. Really, I am, but this is hard enough without everyone walking on eggshells around me."
"I don't know what I'm supposed to say," she said, softly. "I know I'm annoying and overbearing, Bella, but . . . Well, I've lost Mom and Dad. I just don't want to lose you, too. You're symptoms are progressing so much faster than his did."
"You think I don't know that, Essie?" Bella whimpered, dropping her burger back into the bag. "Every day I wake up and the first thought I have is wondering if my legs are going to hurt, or if my hands are going to shake. Or maybe I won't be able to speak that day, or watch the sun set. When I get through a day without an episode, I'm thankful that I had one more prefect day. I don't want this life, Essie. I don't want to end up like him, but I am and every time I can't surf because my legs hurts, or I can't work because my hands shake too much, or I can't . . . I can't tell you how much I love you," she cried, "I'm reminded just how fragile my life is, just how much I'm losing."
"I love you, too," Esme whimpered. "Even when you're being a stubborn brat."
"Yeah, I'm stubborn one," Bella laughed through her tears. She leaned her head on Esme's shoulder. "Don't give up on me. Not yet, okay? I'm doing the best I can."
"I know you are." Esme kissed the top of Bella's head before standing up. "Eat. You know how your meds mess with your stomach if you take them without food."
"Okay, Essie."
And listening to her sister, Bella ate the burger and fries without complaint. It was important to Esme that Bella take care of herself, and right now, she'd give her sister anything she wanted if that meant another day with her.
—BD&BH—
"How's it going, Swan?" Felix asked, stopping next to her as she packed up her equipment for the day. She'd filled two memory cards with photos, but she wouldn't know how many were keepers until she got to her studio and could really look at them.
"Good," she said. "Got some great shots today."
Felix nodded. "And, um, you're feeling okay?"
Bella sighed, shifting her body so that she was facing him. "I'm fine, Felix. I promise."
"I've known you a long time, Swan. Long enough to know when you're full of shit and, honey, you're swimming in it."
"Ew, dude, that's nasty." Bella shuddered and picked up her bag, pulling it onto her shoulder. "What makes you think I owe you an explanation? I haven't seen you in eight years, and the last time, things didn't exactly end on a good note."
"I . . . I know, but . . ." Felix fidgeted from one foot to the other. "I'm worried about my friend."
"Yeah, you and everyone else," she quipped. "But don't, okay? I'm doing the best I can, so just don't make a big deal out of this."
"It's that bad?" he asked.
Bella nodded. "Pretty much the worst thing you can imagine short of death."
Felix's eyes widened, though he managed to keep from gasping.
"Look, I've gotta go. Essie's going to be pissed about waiting for me, so I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
Felix nodded and stepped out of her way. She understood that he cared, but she was fed up with people who looked at her with pity in their eyes. Those closest to her—Carlisle and Alice—of course knew truth. They'd been with her and Esme while they watched their father slowly fade away. Alice was with Bella when she had her first episode and held her while she sobbed more times than she cared to count. All Bella wanted, though, was to enjoy what life she had left, no matter how short that time was.
Esme was waiting for her at her car, as Bella knew she would be. The look on her face was a mixture of irritation and relief that she was okay. "It's about damn time!"
"Sorry. Felix stopped me, started asking a bunch of questions," she said, climbing into the passenger seat.
"What'd you tell him?" Esme slid in behind the wheel and started the car, but didn't shift into drive.
"What do you think I told him? I said I was fine and not to worry about me."
"So, basically, you lied." She shifted into drive and pulled out into traffic. "I know you don't like people knowing, because in your twisted mind, they'll treat you differently."
"Twisted mind, huh? Nice choice of words, sis," Bella snarled, folding her arms in front of her.
"I didn't mean it like that," Esme assured her. "You won't be able to keep this from him for long, Bella. He's not a complete idiot."
"He'll feel sorry for me, Essie. I'll be poor little Swan: so sick, so fragile. I'll be just like him."
"Dad gave up, Bella. You haven't.
"Not yet, anyway." Bella blew out a heavy breath and turned toward her sister. "Why are you driving so fast? Got a hot date tonight?"
"Kind of," she said, blushing. "It's mine and Carlisle's anniversary of the first time we kissed."
"What? The anniversary of the first time you kissed and you spent the day at PV with me?" Bella teased. "Essie, you should have been getting your thang on with him all day."
Esme laughed. "First of all, my thang? What are you twelve? And secondly, I plan on getting my thang on with him all night tonight."
Bella pretended to gag. "That's gross."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Esme said, pulling up in her parking space. "Peanut offered to come stay with you tonight."
"I don't need a babysitter, Essie!" she exclaimed, throwing open the car door and attempting to climb out, but Esme grabbed her arm.
"I didn't mean it like that," she argued. "I just thought, given what happened yesterday, that you'd like to have someone here with you."
"Worried I'll burn the place to the ground?"
"No, more like that you'll go surfing, have a seizure, and drown," she snarled.
"I'm not stupid enough to go surfing the day after an episode."
"Yeah, well, he did," she groused and climbed out of the car, closing the door behind her.
"I'm not Dad, am I?"
"No, you're not, but you're just as pigheaded as him. Fine, you don't want her here, I'll text Peanut and tell her not to come, but you have to swear to me that you won't leave the house."
"Fine, whatever," Bella muttered.
"Look, I'm sorry if I'm overprotective, Bella, but at least I care enough to worry."
"You do, but I understand. I'll be a good girl. I promise."
—BD&BH—
Esme rushed out of the house two hours later, dressed to kill in a skimpy red dress that would make Carlisle ravish her the minute he saw her. She had texted Alice and told her not to come over, which prompted a long, drawn out exchange of texts between Alice and Bella about why her presence was not needed, why Bella was being a pain in Alice's ass, and a lot of teasing from Bella about how Alice was flirting incessantly with Jasper. Which she denied, of course. In the end, Bella won and would be spending the night curled up on the couch with Netflix to keep her company.
She'd just settled back onto the couch after making a bowl of popcorn when someone knocked on the front door. Sighing, Bella placed the bowl on the coffee table and scrambled to her feet, rushing over to the door. When she pulled it open, she groaned.
"What are you doing here?"
Edward laughed, a smirk tugging on his lips. "Told you, Bella. If you didn't meet me at JJs, I was coming here."
"What are you talking about?"
"This morning, on the beach, you were crying and I told you to meet me for dinner. Any of this ringing a bell?"
"Oh, yeah, um, right," she mumbled. She'd forgotten about Edward asking her to dinner. Or more like insisting that she meet him for dinner. Was this another symptom? Memory loss had been something she knew would happen at some point, but she'd hoped to be years from then. Or at least months. "I didn't think you were serious, though."
"I'm here, aren't I?" He held up two plastic bags from Uncle Phil's Pupu Bar & Grill. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I grabbed a little of everything."
"You did, huh?" she asked, eyeing him closely. "Get any opah?"
"Sautéed and Crab-crusted." Once again, he smirked. "Are you going to let me in?"
"Well, since you brought food." Bella stepped backward, opening the door wider. "Leave your shoes by the door. My sister will pitch a bitch-fit if you track sand into the place."
"Okay," he laughed, sliding his shoes off and out of the way before walking into the house. He looked around. "Nice place."
"It's home," she said, closing the door behind him. "You bring drinks?"
"No."
"I've got tea and lemonade. Or water, I guess."
"Um, tea, I guess."
Bella nodded and walked into the kitchen. Releasing a heavy breath, she placed her hands on the edge of the counter and tried to remember talking with him that morning. Vaguely, almost like it was a dream, she could picture them standing on the beach, but had that been that morning?
"You need help?"
Bella startled and brought he hand up to her chest as she turned and faced him. "No, sorry. I . . . I'll be right there."
"Everything okay?" he asked, reaching for her hand, but pulling away when she took a step backward.
"Yeah," she murmured, unable to keep her voice from cracking. "Um, I'm fine. Have a seat. I'll be right in with our drinks."
"Okay, if you're sure," he said before turning and heading back into the living room.
Bella poured them each a glass of ice tea before grabbing two places, forks, and napkins. Edward was standing in the middle of the room with a picture of Bella and her father. Alice had taken it at Bella's birthday five years ago, the last birthday she had before their lives changed. He had his first episode not long after.
"This your dad?" Edward asked, holding up the picture.
Bella nodded.
"You look like him."
"Just what a girl wants to hear. How much she looks like a man."
Edward winced. "Yeah, sorry, I didn't think of it that way. Just meant that you have his eyes."
"I know what you meant," she said, quietly. "We have the same smile, too. And attitudes, according to my sister."
"She the one with you this morning?"
Bella nodded. "Esme." She placed their glasses on the table and held one of the plates out to him. "You can sit wherever you want, so . . ."
"Thanks."
He sat on the other send of the couch from her. They began dividing up the food. Edward hadn't been laying when he said he got a little of everything. Once she had her plate filled, Bella scooted into the corner of the couch, using one of the throw pillows as a table. She cut off a small piece of the crab-crusted opah and popped it into her mouth, moaning.
Edward laughed. "That good, huh?"
"Best opah on the island," she told him.
"Never been a big fish guy," he said.
"I was raised on fish."
"Part of growing up in Hawaii, I guess."
"Basically," Bella laughed.
"I saw a couple of surf boards outside. Those yours?"
Bella smiled. "One of them is. The other two belong to my sister and her boyfriend."
"So you can hang ten and catch the curl, or whatever the lingo is?" Edward asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep," she said with a smirk. "Spent more time on the water as a little girl than I did on dry land."
"Maybe you could teach me."
Bella snorted. "I don't think so, player."
"Player?" he laughed. "You think I'm a player?"
"Oh, I know you are."
"Why do you say that?" he asked, placing his empty plate on the table and picking up his tea.
"You're kidding, right?"
Edward shook his head.
"First, it would be your cocky attitude. All players have one. Like they were put on earth to charm the pants — literally — off every female dumb enough to let them stick their dick in them. Second, it's the way you think you're charming."
"You don't think I'm charming?"
"Nope," she said, putting her own plate on the table. She hadn't eaten half of what she'd grabbed. "I think you're an asshole who sees bedding me as some kind of conquest. You think I'm just another dumb local girl, who will fall for your sexy smile and nice ass."
"So, you're saying I have a nice ass?" he chuckled.
"See!" Bella exclaimed. "That's what I'm talking about right there."
"Hey, you're the one who brought my ass into the conversation," he pointed out, sliding his finger around the edge of his glass. "And you're not a conquest to me."
"Yeah? Then what am I?" she asked.
Edward shifted his eyes up to hers and she was surprised by how serious and sincere he looked. "You just someone I want to get to know."
Bella sighed and shook her head as she stood up. She picked up their plates and turned to walk into the kitchen, but stopped when her hands began to tremble. Feeling the muscles in her body tense, she barely had time to turn and look at Edward before the plates slipped from her grip, crashing onto the floor.
"Whoa, you okay?" he asked, scrambling to his feet.
But Bella couldn't reply as she dropped to the floor, feeling her body flaying in the food that had spilled. In the distance, she could hear Edward calling out to her, but the darkness swept over her and took her away.
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