CHAPTER 19

I spent the next two nights at Edward's place, and the only thing that kept me adhering to my rule and going back to my apartment was that I knew I had to water my fiddle leaf. I was bound and determined not to kill the thing.

On the nights I didn't stay there, we still had dinner together, either out in town or in the breakroom at the bar. And on the following Friday and Saturday, we were in College Station at a hotel together. That trip went smoother than I had anticipated, and to my slight surprise, Alec and Edward were quickly becoming good friends, which kept Edward distracted from Tyler and kept Tyler at bay from egging Edward on anymore. Tyler knew better than to get on Alec's bad side, and he didn't want to find a new band. Alec wasn't lying when he said his drumming was mediocre at best.

The morning we left from College Station after our weekend playing there, Edward and I had made plans for a double date with Alec and Irina for later that night, and though I hadn't spent much time with Irina, I was honestly looking forward to it. She always seemed really sweet and down to earth the times that I talked to her. Even Winnie was also coming with us so she could meet their dog, Sammy.

When we got back to Edward's apartment on Sunday morning, we relaxed for a few hours before getting ready to head to Alec's house. I left my hair down and got dressed in faded jeans, my maroon lace bodysuit, and chunky cardigan.

Edward came out from the closet, holding his boots in his hand, and gave me a sweet smile I didn't quite recognize as I stood in the middle of the room putting my earrings on.

"What?"

He shrugged and sat on the bench at the edge of his bed. "Nothing." He replied nonchalantly as he pulled his boots on.

I tilted my head at him but didn't press him any further.

Not long after, we were pulling up to Alec and Irina's cute townhouse. As soon as Alec let us in, the two dogs started to run circles around each other, and Alec took Edward to see his music room, leaving me to visit with Irina in the kitchen.

"Hey, girl, how ya been?" Irina greeted as she sliced some potatoes.

"Pretty good. Do you need help with anything?" I asked her.

"Actually, if you don't mind, I have the stuff for a charcuterie board in the fridge if you wanna put it out for me. It doesn't need to be fancy." She laughed.

"Yeah, of course." I said and opened the fridge. "So how've you been?"

"Just working." She sighed.

"I'm sorry." I giggled and started to set out the food on the board.

"One day, Alec will be rich and famous, and I can just be a little housewife, barefoot and pregnant." She said wistfully.

"Is that the dream?" I teased.

"It is. A farm in the middle of nowhere would also be nice, but really, I'll take what I can get at this point."

I laughed.

"Oh, and there's wine in the fridge if you want some, too. We have plenty of backup bottles, so don't be shy."

"I'll get some in a minute." I told her.

The guys' laughs traveled from down the hallway.

"They're gonna be in there all night." She said knowingly.

"Oh, no doubt."

We worked in silence for a while, and after I finished the charcuterie board, I made myself a generous glass of wine from the slightly suspicious, unmarked bottle in the fridge and sat on the couch with Irina while the food cooked for the next half hour. We put a show on the television for background noise and drank a few more glasses of wine before eventually, we got too hungry to keep waiting on the guys, so we brought the charcuterie board into the living room to snack on.

"This is gonna be gone if they don't come out soon." Irina giggled, taking a bite.

"Not my pasture, not my bullshit." I replied and grabbed more fruit from the board.

I'm not sure why that set Irina off, but she was laughing so hard that she was nearly hyperventilating. Her laugh alone set me off, and soon we were both dissolving into fits of giggles.

"Fuck, I need more wine." She said, wiping her eyes after she had eventually calmed herself down. "Do you want some?"

"Sure." I replied. "Thanks."

She took my glass and then went into the kitchen to get our drinks and check on the food. When she came back, she handed me my glass and sat back down. "The food is ready, but honestly, I'm really fucking full on that fancy cheese."

"Honestly? Me, fucking too." I laughed and took a sip of my drink.

"You know I love my husband, right? And that I think he's the most handsome man in the world? And that I'm like completely fucking obsessed with that guy?" She asked randomly.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah?"

"Good. I just wanted to make it clear that I'm not being creepy when I say what I'm about to say. You did good, Bella. Holy shit."

I choked, and wine almost came out of my nose. "Thanks, Rina." I giggled.

"You're very welcome."

The guys finally emerged from the music room a couple minutes later and saw us on the couch, extremely tipsy, with a charcuterie board that was nearly three quarters already eaten.

"We leave the two of you alone for ten minutes…" Alec trailed off, shaking his head with a smile.

Irina rolled her eyes. "It's definitely been forty-five minutes. At least."

Edward sat down next to me, smirking, and started to snack from the board.

"Dinner's ready if y'all are hungry." Irina said. "We're full."

"Very full." I emphasized. "Only enough room for more drinks." The glasses were starting to get a little on top of me, but it was just really good. "What is this, by the way?"

"Cherry bounce. Her grandad makes it." Alec replied. "Shit's stiff, too."

"Oh, no." Edward chuckled.

"Yeah, she's smashed. Fucking lightweight." Alec said, smirking.

"What're y'all even talkin' bout?" I huffed. "I ain't had that much."

"Bullshit." Edward replied.

"Her pasture isn't yours, sir." Irina said angrily, and I giggled. If I was smashed, she was slaughtered.

"Yeah, that's way out of context." Edward laughed.

"No." Irina argued and scooted closer to me to link our arms together. "Her alleged drunkenness is none of your concern. Therefore, it is not your pasture, and nor is it your bullshit."

Edward opened his mouth to reply, but I put my hand over his lips. "You lost, law school. You lost." He raised an eyebrow at me, and I could feel him smirk under my fingers. I held my empty glass to him. "Now go eat, please. And bring back wine."

"I think you've had enough." He said teasingly against my fingers.

"Nah-uh. Who's the bartender here?" I asked, and moved my fingers from his mouth to touch the tip of my nose. "It's my job to know when people have reached their limits, and I can tell you for a fact that I have not reached mine."

He shook his head at me with amused eyes and stood up to go to the kitchen. Alec followed behind him.

"Hey." Irina whispered.

"Hey." I whispered back.

"Is he a lawyer?"

"Yeah."

"Come here." She giggled and stood up before taking my hand and trying to sneakily walk down the hall.

"Where are y'all going?" Alec asked as we passed by the kitchen.

Irina put a finger over her lips and continued to drag me down the hall. She pulled me into the bedroom and let go of me to go into her closet. She came back out with a long white garment bag. "You gotta try this on." She was still whispering.

"What is that?" I whispered back.

She shook her head. "Don't worry about what it is. Just put it on." She said as she hung it on the bathroom door. She slowly unzipped it, and I caught a glimpse of white satin.

"Irina!" I screeched, giggling. "We've only been together for a couple of months."

"Shhhhh. Put it on." She shook her head, taking the dress out of the garment bag.

"Was that yours?"

Her jaw dropped, and then she pouted. "You don't remember my wedding dress?"

"Honey, I don't even remember showing up to your wedding, much less what you were wearing."

She huffed and pushed the dress towards me. "Try it on. Try it on."

"Alright, alright." I laughed and started to get undressed.

She helped me step into the dress and then zipped it up. I walked towards the mirror, and my jaw dropped.

The dress was an a-line with a fitted, strapless bodice and a long slit in the skirt. It wasn't my style, but it was truly gorgeous. And there was just something about standing there in that dress… for the first time in years, I wanted it. I wanted the wedding and the flowers and the ring. More than that, I wanted the marriage itself. So fucking badly.

"Damn." Irina commented.

Damn, I look like a bride, and damn, I don't fucking hate it. I nearly started hyperventilating. "You gotta get me out of this thing."

"Okay, okay. Hold on." She said, her hand moving back to the zipper. "Fuck, I'm too drunk to get the hook." She giggled.

"Rina." I groaned. I was still staring at myself in the mirror, having a full blown existential crisis.

"I can't get it. I think I'm gonna have to get one of the guys."

"No!" I yelled.

"I'm scared I'll tear it." She whined.

I whimpered.

Someone knocked on the door. "Y'all good?" Alec called through the door.

"No." Irina called back.

He opened the door and guffawed. "Now that's something I never thought I'd fucking see. I gotta check the weather forecast. Hell's about to freeze over, I'm sure."

Edward had come to see what Alec was laughing at, and he stared at me wide eyed for a moment before his lips curled up into a wide grin.

"Irina forced me to try it on, and now I'm stuck." I said angrily.

He shook his head and walked behind me to fight with the hook and eye and try to get me free. Irina and Alec ducked out of the room after Irina told me to just lay the dress on the bed when I got out of it.

"You do look beautiful, bellbottoms." He got the hook undone right away.

"Yeah, right. I look like a cupcake." I grumbled.

"No, you don't." He chuckled and pulled the zipper down.

I held the bodice up with my arm and turned to face Edward.

He gave me the same smile he had at his apartment earlier that day and then kissed my nose.

"Thank you." I whispered.

He pushed the hair from my face. "You're welcome, baby." He replied and kissed my lips softly.

"I need to put my clothes back on."

He smiled crookedly and nodded. "I'll have a glass of wine waiting for you."

I smiled. "Okay."

~ Coffee & Bourbon ~

"Oh, you look rough as fuck, babe." Carmen said as I clocked into work on Monday morning.

"I feel rough as fuck, babe." I moaned and leaned on the bar. "I'm never drinking again."

Carmen snorted. "Yeah, okay."

"Car… what would you have done if your husband had walked in on you trying on a wedding dress after y'all had only been dating for a few months?" I asked.

"That's a very specific question. Is this hypothetical?"

"Of course."

She raised an eyebrow at me and then shrugged. "Die, probably."

I groaned.

After I had gotten out of the dress last night, I slowed down on the wine, ate some of Irina's well-reviewed pot-roast to sober up, and refused to bring up the wedding dress debacle with Edward ever again for as long as I lived.

With a dramatic sigh, I managed to pick myself up off the counter and get to work. The bar was mostly empty that morning, and Carmen and I stayed busy with odds and ends tasks and chit chatting.

"Well, if it isn't our blushing bride." Jasper chuckled as he walked out from his office to behind the bar.

"Jasper Wyatt, I will kill you, and I will make it painful." I threatened.

"Ya know what's really funny? I didn't even hear it from Edward this time."

My head whipped towards him. "What?"

His blue eyes twinkled. "I told you. I know everything." He gloated.

"Who told you?"

"Alec told your brother, who told my sister, who told my wife, who told me."

"There are over eight hundred thousand people in this city, and yet somehow, I am the most exciting person that y'all have to discuss?" I snapped.

Jasper smirked. "Have you tried being less of a pain in the ass? That might help to keep people from enjoying your misery so much."

"Please fire me so I can punch you in the face and feel less guilty about it."

"Eh. Firing is more of your man's forte. That's not really my thing. Ya know, with my sunny disposition and all."

I scrubbed my face with my hands. "I recall a time you almost fired me." Coincidentally, that was also over throwing a punch to someone's face.

"You were never going to get fired for that. It was just to cover my ass so that I could say you were given a formal reprimand if a situation ever arose."

"Are you fucking serious?" I said, looking over at him.

He shrugged. "My lawyer advised it."

"Ugh."

"So, tell me. Fall or spring wedding? Personally, I think I'm more of an autumn palette, but since it's for my boy, I could suffer in Easter colors for a day."

"Jasper." I grumbled, begging him to stop.

Carmen piped into the conversation. "So, that question you just asked me wasn't so hypothetical, was it?"

"No." I moaned.

She giggled.

"It was the cherry bounce. It wasn't me." I whined.

"You need to start handling your booze better. It seems to get you into trouble." Carmen commented.

I sighed as light flooded into the dim bar due to someone opening the door. I turned to see Edward walking towards the bar in his work suit and with a drink caddy of coffees in his hand.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. I hadn't seen him before he left this morning. He had gone into work early, and I didn't think much of it as I took full advantage of having his king sized bed to myself for a while until I had to get up for work.

He chuckled. "Glad to see you, too, darlin'. I have a meeting with Jasper and Alice in fifteen minutes." So that's why he went to work so early.

I looked at my watch, a little surprised to see that it was already nearly noon. "Oh."

He smiled slightly and set the coffees on the bar before reaching into his work bag and pulling out a Red Bull, which he handed to Carmen.

"Finally, someone remembers that I don't like coffee." She commented pointedly.

Jasper rolled his eyes and picked up the coffee cup Edward had pushed towards him.

I took the cup he handed to me and took a sip. "Jasper's being mean." I said.

Edward laughed. "Can you two just go five minutes without fighting? Jesus Christ. I can't be around to separate you all the time."

"Snitches get stitches." Jasper muttered.

"Says the gossip queen of fucking Texas." I retorted.

"Where's Alice?" Edward cut in, still laughing slightly.

"On her way." I replied. Jasper's head quickly turned my way, and he looked at me wide-eyed. I shrugged. "You're not the only one that knows everything, Jasper Hale."

"When have you talked to her today? She's been in yoga class all morning." He said, peeved.

"She called me on my way to work." I replied haughtily. "She wanted to tell me to have a good morning, that I'm very pretty, and that she loves me more than she loves you."

Jasper glared at me. "Pain in the ass." He muttered.

I pursed my lips and then looked at Edward. "You're not going to defend me?"

"Baby, you know how much pride I take in my integrity." He teased.

I narrowed my eyes at him and then pouted. "You think I'm a pain in the ass?"

He smirked and shrugged. "Maybe a little, but I mean… you'll have that on those big jobs."

"When both of you find yourselves in a sinking bass boat, remember this moment." I stated grumpily.

Alice ran into the bar just then. "I'm here! I'm here! Sorry, I'm late." She said.

The three of them went to Jasper's office, leaving Carmen and I back alone in the barroom. Customers started to slowly filter in, and we stayed pretty busy for a while. At around three, Edward came out from Jasper's office and walked towards the bar.

"Want a beer?" I asked him as he leaned on the bar across from me.

"Nah. I'll probably head home, but I wanted to ask if you wanted to get dinner tonight. A nice dinner."

I tilted my head at him. "Why?" I asked, smiling a little.

He shrugged. "No particular reason."

We hadn't had a 'nice' dinner since our first date. We'd always end up at the same four or five restaurants over and over if Edward didn't cook at home. And if I didn't eat with him, my suppers still for the most part consisted of bar food or fast food and Evan Williams.

"Sure. That sounds lovely."

He smiled. "Do you want to meet at my apartment, or do you want me to pick you up?" It was his typical non-douchebag way of asking if I was spending the night, and for some reason, I always found it incredibly endearing.

"I'll meet you at your apartment." I replied softly and walked around the bar to give him a hug goodbye.

Edward wrapped his arms around me. "I do have a request for tonight."

I looked up at him. "What?"

"Wear that white dress. The one you wore on our first date."

I giggled and nodded. "I think I can do that."

"Thank you." He kissed me chastely, and his eyes turned playful. "I like you in white, cupcake."

I blushed. "Shut up."

He chuckled and kissed my forehead. "I'll see you tonight, baby."

"I'll see you tonight, E. And just for the record, cupcake better not stick. I'm not a fucking Pomeranian."

He laughed loudly and kissed me one more time. He looked at me for a moment, and it almost looked like he wanted to say something else. Instead, he only shook his head, still smiling.

"Y'all are so fucking cute." Alice cooed from behind the bar.

Edward smirked before bringing one of my hands to his lips and kissing it. "See you later, bellbottoms." He said softly and dropped my hand before taking a step towards the door. "Bye, Ali." He called.

"Bye!" She called back.

I walked back behind the bar. "Stop being a creeper." I laughed.

She rolled her eyes. "That's the thing about PDA, Bella. It's public."

I shook my head at her and then thought back to the fact that there was something I had been meaning to ask her. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"In terms of me meeting your parents in two weeks… exactly how much do I need to get my shit together?"

"I promise you that you don't." She laughed.

I looked at her apprehensively.

"Believe me. When you meet them, you'll understand." She said sweetly and skipped out from behind the bar to Jasper's office.

"Well, okay. Thanks for the help." I muttered to myself and went back to work.

When my shift ended, I happily clocked out and went up to my apartment to change and get ready. I rushed through the process, anxious to get to Edward's apartment.

Soon enough, I found myself on his doorstep and walking in. "E!" I called as I shut the door. Winnie ran up to me, wiggling excitedly. "Hey, my girl. I missed you, too." I cooed, petting her head.

The front door opened behind me, and I jumped in surprise, quickly whirling around only to see Edward walking in.

He smirked when he saw that he had startled me. "Had to get something out of my truck." He explained before leaning down to give me a kiss. "Hey, baby."

"Hi." I replied sweetly and kissed him again, wrapping my arms around his neck as I tried to deepen it.

Edward pulled away. "We're not going to eat tonight if you keep that up." He warned.

"Maybe that was the plan." I giggled.

He rolled his eyes playfully and backed away from me. "Just let me change my shirt, and we can go."

Half an hour later, we were seated in a back booth of a fancy yet still cozy feeling steakhouse, sipping bourbon and waiting for our food.

"So, how was the meeting earlier?" I asked him.

"If you're asking if we've decided to get a mechanical bull, the answer is still no."

I pouted.

Edward chuckled. "We are thinking about opening up a few new management positions in the next few months, though." His tone was too casual, and after the wedding dress fiasco, I didn't know how to go about telling him that I wasn't management material and that was completely alright with having the job I could up and quit on a moment's notice without feeling too guilty about it. I didn't have to tell him anything, though, because he smiled wryly. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"What?" I asked softly.

"There's that I kicked your puppy face."

I bit my lip. "I'm sorry… it's just that management sounds very much like a career, and career just sounds like…"

"A prison sentence?" He finished.

I nodded slowly, swirling the whiskey in my glass.

"Even if it involved planning private events and booking shows for the weekends?"

My hand stopped its movement, and my eyes flew up to Edward. "Y'all need to hire someone for that?" I asked, disbelievingly.

Edward nodded. "I know we haven't been there on a weekend in quite a while, but from what I'm seeing on the statements and what I'm hearing from everyone else, it's been insane at the bar lately. It's almost unmanageable the amount of customers that are coming in. And people have started calling about trying to reserve it as a venue for private events recently. It'd be great to be able to do that, but Alice and Jasper can't handle that with everything else they're doing. The increased business is already making them busy enough, and searching for talent every weekend is just adding more headache to everything. I've been helping with paperwork and accounting as much as I can, but I've been busy at the firm, too. We need more people. New managers. More bartenders. More people in the kitchen. Someone to coordinate events."

I pursed my lips, thinking. I had heard that the bar was extremely busy lately, and I had noticed an uptick on Thursdays and Sundays when I worked. I just had no idea how busy it had gotten on the weekend nights.

He continued. "This is nowhere near a formal job offer. It's just something to think about… And if it makes you feel any better, it wasn't even my idea to tell you about the possibility of a promotion. It was Jasper's."

I scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Edward smirked. "You're not the only one that didn't want to grow up and find a nine to five, bellbottoms. He might know where you're coming from a little better than you think he does."

I sighed. "So, now I guess you're gonna tell me I should be nicer to him?"

He laughed. "I'm not getting in the middle of a cat fight."

I giggled.

Our food came to the table, and we ate our dinner without talking anymore about the bar. When we finished, Edward drove us back to his apartment, and as soon as we got inside, I kicked off my shoes by the door and went to the fridge to get a beer. Edward took Winnie out, and I hopped up on the counter to wait for him. I connected my phone to his speakers and hit play on whatever playlist was already on.

When he came back inside, Winnie ran over to her chair, and Edward walked over to stand in front of me. I put my beer down on the counter next to me and wrapped my arms around his neck. We stayed in a silent hug for a few moments, and I reveled in the calmness and warmth of being in his arms.

And in those few quiet moments, I briefly wondered why he dealt with me and my shit. Surely, he had to be sick of me by now. Surely, he had to be tired of taking three steps back after taking one forward. Positively, he deserved a better girl than me. And selfishly, I was glad he did keep me around. I was glad he had the patience he had with me, even if I knew he was crazy to have stuck around to watch the shitshow these past few months.

The song changed to Vienna by Billy Joel, and Edward wordlessly pulled me down from the counter, grabbed my hand, spun me in a twirl, and then wrapped a strong arm around my waist. I smiled up at him for a moment before bringing my hand to his shoulder and resting my head on it.

It was the first we had ever slow danced. We'd two-stepped half drunk in rowdy bars, but this was different somehow. I was barefoot with my hair already pulled down and messy since dinner, and we were just in the dimly lit kitchen, alone in an easy silence aside from the music coming from the speakers. But it just felt like we were alone in the world. Like nothing else mattered or existed for those too-short three and half minutes.

And in those too-short three and half minutes, I decided that if this–in Edward's arms in this little downtown apartment–was how I could spend every night for the rest of my life, it's a place I could really get used to being.

A/N Until the next one, bebs.