"Your sister?" The words feel foreign, and I don't realize I've said them until the murmur of the restaurant gets low, everyone listening, staring.

Emmett's brown eyes soften when they meet mine, and he nods.

"Edward," Sue says to him—noticing the attention we're getting, too—as he stands beside me, "can we use your office?"

I see him look my way from the corner of my eye. "Of course," he answers. I want nothing more than to get away from the prying eyes and stares, so I follow Charlie and Sue.

"Bella, just give me a chance to explain, okay?" Charlie asks softly, closing the door behind us. I take a deep breath and nod.

I'm standing in an office and I can see the tiny pieces of Edward in here. There are pictures of him and Alice, and some of the couple that I realize are probably their parents.

"Can you give us a minute?" I hear Emmett ask the blonde—Rose.

"Em," she pleads.

"Rose, we'll talk about it later. Just give me a minute with my family." His brown eyes find mine. Rose looks hurt for a second before she huffs, and she hits me with another glare; I have a feeling she won't be far.

I turn to Charlie, who sits next to Sue.

"Bella," he starts, rubbing the back of his neck, "I wanted to tell you about Emmett. I just didn't know the best way to do that. I knew how you felt finding out about me. You had every right to know as soon as possible. I'm really sorry you've been blindsided again."

I'm not sure how I feel, but a part of me does get it. He turns to Emmett when I nod.

"Em, before I told you Bella was coming, I wanted her to know about you. I'm not perfect. God knows this whole situation is messed up."

Emmett huffs. "Everyone in the town knew she was here, who she was. Rose even knew but kept it from me."

I realize I'm not angry, not at them. What do you do when the daughter you know about but has had no contact with calls you and suddenly she's there visiting? I get a feeling they were trying to feel me out; see who I was before they introduced Emmett to me. It tells me a lot; the both of them put a lot of thought into this. I can't blame them.

Unlike Renee, who would have kept the truth from me for who knows how long.

"It's funny, isn't it?" I finally say, smiling at Emmett. "Meeting family members you don't know about?"

He laughs. "I knew you existed. I just didn't know I'd meet you so soon."

The difference between Charlie and Renee is clear.

I turn to Charlie. "Sue's son?" I ask, raising an eyebrow, realizing he was talking about Emmett earlier.

Charlie shrugs. "I didn't know how to talk about him without you knowing the truth."

"I get it," I say, and I do.

I start to ask him if Renee knew about Emmett, but I have a feeling I already know the answer. She spun the biggest web of deceit.

I wonder what else she has kept from me.

I find out that Emmett is only two years younger than I am. Rose is his girlfriend and they've been together since high school, but she keeps a distance while we chat, sitting at the bar talking to Alice. I'm not sure why she keeps a distance, but I try not to let it bother me.

After we've spent a few minutes in Edward's office in silence, Alice knocks on the door, a small smile on her face.

"Everything okay?" she asks, mostly looking at me. I give her a small smile and say, "Yeah, it will be."

"Good! The food is ready… Edward pretty much cleared the restaurant out with strict orders for everyone to..." she uses air quotes "...'mind their business.'"

"Let's eat, then." Charlie watches me for a second, unsure.

"I can't wait to try these burgers," I say, bumping shoulders with him. "They better be good after the stunt you pulled." He looks away sheepishly.

Charlie was right; I've never tasted anything like this before.

There's soft chatter all around me, and I listen to Emmett talk about his garage. Turns out, he's the one that picked up the rental last night.

"Who knew it would be for my big sis?" He shrugs.

He's goofy, cracking jokes with Charlie, and I can tell he has a heart as big as he is.

I can't wait to get to know him.

Charlie brings me back to the cabin. I'm exhausted, from the excitement, from all the things that I've learned recently.

I'm not ready for Charlie to go though, so when we get to the door of the cabin, I sit on the wooden swing I hadn't noticed the night before. He sits next to me; I'm happy that he isn't in a rush for the day to end either..

"Can you tell me about it? About you and Mom?"

He looks my way for a second, and I watch him think about what he'll say. I watch him remember her.

"We met the summer I graduated high school." He starts and laughs, "I'll never forget the way she looked at me the first time I saw her. Those blue eyes burned right through me. The moment she smiled at me—it was over for me."

"She was in town with her father for the summer, and they were staying at the motel. Anyway, we were little shits back then—my brother and our friends—I couldn't leave her alone. I wore her down and she went on a date with me."

"We spent a month together. When it was time for her to leave, she gave me her address and I gave her mine. We promised to keep in touch."

He scratches the back of his neck. "The first letter she sent said that she was pregnant, and that she thought it was right that I know. She said she didn't want or expect anything from me. I was young and smitten, so I wrote back. I didn't even know if she got the letters until she replied that she had a boyfriend, that he proposed and she was getting married. I took the hint, but I still wrote her."

"I tried to follow the news in New York; her father was always in the news. Your birth announcement was enough for me to...I realized that whatever we had only lasted for that summer. I thought about you always, though."

"It wasn't until years later that I received a phone call. Apparently, you were graduating. Phil thought I should know. I flew to New York. I watched you walk across the stage. I wasn't sure how to talk to you, approach you. By that time, Sue and I were married. I figured if you wanted to know me, you'd reach out."

"I had no idea…" I say, hating that he was there and I had no idea.

"I only talked to Phil one time… seems like a good guy. Was he?"

Despite not knowing how to feel about everything he just told me, I smile.

"When I said I wanted to be a doctor like him...one day he took me with him to the hospital. He let me sit in the viewing gallery while he worked on a heart. It made me so happy."

"He took me to get ice cream after. He told me about all the specialties. Mom found out, and she yelled and told him a five year old had no business seeing those kinds of things."

He smiles, while we both look off into the sunset.

"He was always my biggest fan. He never treated me any differently from my sister."

"Good." He says it softly.

"I should go. I know it's been a long day. I'll let you get some rest."

"Yeah, are there any other relatives I have hanging around?" I ask, elbowing him.

"Just a few uncles and cousins. No other siblings...that I know about. There's a brief moment before I met Sue that's still blurry." His mustache twitches and I shake my head.

"My schedule gets a little busy sometimes, but could we do dinner again soon?"

"Of course," I say, following him as he gets off the swing. I don't know if I should hug him, so I decide against it.

I wave bye to him instead.

After Charlie leaves, I still sit on the swing, watching the pond that separates Edward's cabin from mine. It's peaceful. As if on cue, I notice headlights heading down the drive. It isn't Edward, though.

A red sports car pulls in, and I watch as a woman gets out. She goes inside and I wonder why she has a key. I ignore it, watching as she leaves just as fast as she came.

There's a nagging feeling, and I push it down.

Because it feels a lot like jealousy.

The last thing I need right now is to develop a crush.

Liam and I have barely been broken up for a week. Before he proposed, things were strained, sure… but I think I still need to mourn the loss of our relationship. I owe him that much.

I go inside, casting one last look at Edward's dark cabin, putting thoughts of kind, sexy bartenders behind me.

Despite my resolve to rein in my feelings, my heart speeds up as soon as I open the door. Edward is there, holding a box of pizza and car keys, and a sheepish smile is spread across his face.

"This is an apology pizza," he says, as I wave him in. I raise an eyebrow in question over why he's apologizing. "I didn't tell you about Emmett."

The thought didn't even cross my mind to be upset with him. Still, I cross my arms and decide maybe he can sweat it out a little. He looks awfully cute being worried.

"Chief made me promise not to say anything—he even threatened me—telling me I would have to pay rent..." He trails off, shaking his head.

I try not to laugh, but it happens anyway. "It's okay. Gotta admit, it's all pretty complicated."

"Understatement… Anyway, you're gonna share that pizza with me, Doc?" he asks, flashing his crooked smile and dazzling me.

All of my resolve seems to go out of the window at that moment.

When it comes to Edward—the way he looks at me and the way I'm starting to feel about him—I think crush is an understatement, too.


I'm juggling real life- a wonderful but demanding toddler, my little sisters upcoming wedding and a crazy amount of writers block.

Also, I'm working on the next chapters of When We Were Young and Under the Boardwalk... Hang in there, they're coming but I want to do the stories justice.

xo