A/N: Hello everyone! I hope that my US readers enjoyed their holiday this week. Next, we finish out the interactions with Kate. It gets worse before it gets better, my friends. Read on, and more at the bottom.
Chapter 4 – EPOV
The next few days were some of the worst I've ever experienced. Kate rotated between screaming at me or not speaking to me; the latter of which was easier to deal with. I avoided the common areas of my own home as much as possible, opting to basically live in my office. I got a mini-fridge and microwave, setting it up in a corner. That provided me some options for eating at least, but I still had to get a few things from the kitchen now and then.
Katie had her friends over almost all the time. Every last one of them glared at me, or made snide comments. It was much easier to just live in my office and avoid them entirely, though I did understand why they were treating me like that. My own guilt at what I had done was gnawing at me, so I welcomed the abuse. I honestly felt like I deserved it.
After visiting the apartment the week before, I made a decision that I would go ahead and sign a lease. Bella had decided to move in, but didn't want to see it ahead of time. I hoped that she loved it as much as I did. The biggest thing I hoped was she would be surprised when I signed the lease.
"You will have the option to purchase after a year, Mr. Cullen," the property manager said to me Thursday after work. I couldn't remember her name, but I smiled at her. "The lease is rent to own, so a couple months before it's over, we will contact you to discuss purchase at that time. Subject to certain restrictions, of course."
"What restrictions?"
"We have to pull your credit, you have to qualify for the mortgage, and you have to have been good tenants by that time."
I nodded. That seemed reasonable. I signed the paperwork, paying the whole first year at once. Smiling, I realized that I had just given Bella a full year of security, without having to stress about the loss of half of her savings, or however it worked out once Jake signed the bank paperwork.
We discussed the move in date, which was a couple weeks out due to the condo being painted for us, and when I could get the keys and everything. I left the building happy for the first time in a couple weeks. I made my way home, picking up my favorite takeout food to enjoy in my office, and found an empty home. Kate must be out for the night. I took my food to my office, sitting at the desk to eat, just in case she came home. My cell ringing broke into my eating.
Glancing at my cell, I smiled. "Hello Alice."
"What's wrong?"
"Why is something wrong?" I laughed, taking a bite of my food.
"Somethings wrong with your voice. You sound weird. What's wrong?"
I had forgotten about my psychic sister. I wasn't ready to tell her yet, though, considering I knew she would turn around and tell Emmett and then Mom and Dad. I wanted to have conversations with each of them first.
"Everything's fine. Just really tired. The manager job is taking a lot out of me. Right now, all they have me doing is manager training, and HR classes, and stuff. I can't even do real, regular work. And I haven't been sleeping well, so, that's probably all it is." I glanced at the blankets on the floor. I hadn't really slept at all because it was so uncomfortable.
"You know I'll find out eventually, right?"
I sighed. "Alice, I love you, but I just told you what was wrong. Now, what did you call for?"
"I haven't talked to you in a couple weeks. Just wanted to check on you."
"That's nice of you. I'm good, just eating. Probably head to bed soon."
"Ok, I'll let you go. It's ok to call me now and then, Edward!"
"I promise." I hung up the phone and turned back to my food.
The rest of the night was uneventful, and Kate never came home. By morning, I was upset with myself for not relocating into the bedroom for the night, since she hadn't slept there anyway. It would have been nice to have gotten at least one night of sleep.
On Friday, I was on the phone with Bella for almost the whole day. We were finalizing one of the last projects we were working together, so it was necessary. The side effect of spending the whole day talking to her was I was much calmer and happier by the time I left for the day. It was amazing that just her voice could make me feel like that. As soon as I got home, the good mood was ruined. I walked in to Kate and her friends in the kitchen.
"Well, looks like the asshole is home," Tonya said, sneering at me.
"I wonder if he was out fucking his girlfriend today." Irena scowled at me, sliding up to Kate and putting her arm around her.
I nodded at them, and made my way to the bedroom. I grabbed a few sets of clothes when I'd moved out, but they needed to be washed. I grabbed a few more things, and was about to leave when I saw Kate standing in the doorway, her face passive. We stared at each other for a moment before she finally spoke.
"I was hoping you would clear out this weekend."
"What do you mean, clear out? Like, go somewhere for the weekend, or move all my things out?"
She shrugged. "I'd rather you just move out, but if you can just leave for the weekend that's enough for now."
Nodding, I said, "I can stay at a hotel or something for the weekend. I have a condo that I rented, but it won't be ready for a couple weeks. I'll move out as soon as I can."
She nodded once, turning on her heel and walking out of the room. Sighing, I grabbed my duffle bag and started throwing clothes in the bag, before walking to the bathroom to gather my stuff in there. Then I went to my office to get anything else I needed. I didn't even glance at the kitchen, though Tonya and Irena both made snide comments, before grabbing my work laptop and walking out of the house.
My guilt propelled me forward, and I ended up in the same hotel that Bella had stayed in. The same one where I told her I loved her. Somehow it felt appropriate. I hadn't asked why she wanted me out, I didn't really need to. Most likely she was planning a party for her and her friends and didn't want me to be a part of it. That was fine by me; one less thing to have to deal with. And honestly, I was giving her the condo in the divorce anyway. I didn't want any part of it.
Luckily the weekend was quite pleasant. The hotel had a gym, so I made good use of that, and I was able to watch movies on the TV. So far, I only had my laptop to watch anything on while in self-banishment in my office, so the TV was a step up. I spoke to Bella quite often, which helped tremendously. With her at Angela and Ben's house, she was free to call me whenever, and I took advantage of that.
I didn't go back to the condo until after work on Monday. Kate was back to ignoring me, so I went back to living in my office. Through the next week, we lived around each other, not actually speaking. The weekend was quiet, mostly spent alone in my office as always. I was living like a hermit in my own house, yet I didn't say anything. I knew how hard this was for her.
Bella was visiting lawyers, and handling bank documents. I was living in my office. Though, I had made an appointment with my attorney. Without proper thought about consequences, I had made the call while I was at work. It was scheduled a week and a half later, being the soonest that he could fit me in. When I hung up the phone, I looked up to see my boss standing in the doorway. That had been a really awkward conversation, since I didn't really know him that well yet. I told him about the divorce, and how I was trying to keep it quiet. He was an understanding man, thank god, and didn't bring it up again.
Thursday, four weeks to the day that I'd last seen Bella, I came home to Kate's quiet attitude. Once again, I made my way to the office and settled in for another boring night. Before I had a chance to start a movie, or open a book, my mother called.
"Edward, how are you dear? I haven't talked to you in so long."
"I'm good, Mom. Just tired. How are you doing?"
"Oh, fine. Your father wants to make plans to go back to British Columbia this summer, so we are starting to look at dates. Are you and Kate interested in coming with us again?"
"Maybe, I'm not sure. I'll get back to you. Kate may be too busy." I really needed to tell them what was going on. What the hell was I waiting for. "Actually, are you guys busy this weekend? Any chance my amazing mother wants to make me dinner?"
She laughed into the phone. "You don't have to butter me up for a home cooked meal, silly. I'd love to have you two over. Saturday?"
"Sure, that sounds good. See you then, Mom."
As soon as we hung up, I heard a knock on the door. I stood up, and walked over, opening the door to see Kate. She looked angry.
"Have you not told your parents what's going on yet?"
"I was planning to tell them this weekend. Why?"
"Because your Dad just texted me saying he's looking forward to dinner this weekend? Are you shitting me? I'm not expected to be there, am I? Because I refuse to help you break it to your parents that you are a fucking cheater." Her eyes were flashing, and her arms were crossed again.
"No, no Katie. I'm going to tell them. Everything. And on my own; I don't expect you to come."
"Did you tell them I was coming?"
"No, Mom just assumed."
"Then call her back and tell her. I don't want to have to text either one of them. This is your mistake, but they have to pay for it also. I refused to have anything to do with anyone in your entire family." She threw her hair over her shoulder. "I don't want to talk to you, I certainly don't want to talk to them."
And just like that, every ounce of guilt was gone from my body, and I saw her for what she truly was. Every manipulative action, every derogatory comment, spending all my money, barely holding a part time job for a few weeks at a time, always begging me for more things...she was the toxin in my life. She was what had been bringing me down, causing me to forget love existed. As all these thoughts entered my head, I turned on her.
"Because you are so perfect?" I seethed, stepping forward. She backed up, not expecting my anger. "Maybe I want to talk. We could sit down and talk about how much of my money you have spent over the last few years, Katie. Or about how horribly you've treated my family since we got married. What about how you'd rather spend time with your friends than me? Pick the topic, Katie. Let's talk."
Her face got redder the longer I spoke. "Fuck you, Edward. You are the one who cheated."
I stepped closer to her and she reached the wall, pushing her back against it. I leaned down so I was looking at her directly in the eyes. "And why do you think I cheated, Katie?"
It was a cruel thing to say, and I knew it. But I had finally found my clarity in the entire situation. There were reasons I had cheated, why I had gone outside of my marriage to find what I needed. Bella and I may have been soul mates, but that was really not the reason I started to look at her differently. It was because I was so unhappy that unconsciously I latched on to Bella. Now, the fact that we were perfect for each other did make a huge difference.
"You son of a bitch," she spit at me.
"Don't bring my mother into this," I said, smirking at her, not leaning away. "Maybe if you had been a nicer person to be around, I wouldn't have wanted to find anything, or anyone, else."
Apparently, that was her breaking point. She pushed me away from her, walking to the kitchen. I followed, knowing that the conversation wasn't over yet. She pulled out a bottle of vodka, making herself a screwdriver. After she took a long sip of the drink, she turned to face me, eyes flashing again.
"You never had a problem with anything I did before this tramp came into your life." She pointed at me with a shaky finger. "You ruined us, Edward, not me."
"First of all," I said, stepping closer to her again. "If you ever call her a tramp or a whore again, you will live to regret it. Secondly, I know what I did, but you cannot tell me that your attitude and the general fact that you never cared to be around me for too long helped our marriage."
"I never fucked anyone else!"
"But you fucked me as much as you could, didn't you? Why were you with me all these years, Katie? You find life easier when you don't have to work and get everything handed to you?" I was going for broke at this point. I was angry and tired of dealing with all the shit going on around me.
Her face reddened, and if anything looked angrier. "I don't know what you are talking about. I loved you! That's why I'm with you."
"How much of my inheritance did you spend over the years?"
"I-I don't know! You didn't have to give me anything, you know that!"
"Didn't I? What happened when I refused to buy you that sports car you wanted?" She bit her lip, but didn't respond. "You started picking up my baseball trophies and throwing them against the wall, didn't you? You screamed at me until I offered to buy you the car, didn't you?" I moved a little closer to her. "Don't tell me that's not manipulative."
"At least I didn't fuck anyone else!" I knew I was getting to her.
"And that's the only argument you have. Because I slept with someone else, every single thing you've done over the years means nothing?" I glared down at her, willing my calm exterior to remain. "Fuck you, Katie, and how you treated me over the years."
The fight continued from there; no matter what I said to her, pointing out things she had said or done over the years, she always brought it back to my cheating. It was the longest fight that we'd ever had, but I never lost my cool. I was angrier than I'd been in years, but I never raised my voice. She needed to know that she couldn't get to me anymore.
Finally, around 1am she got fed up. "I'm leaving. I can't stay here with you one more second!"
I shrugged, no longer caring. "I'm moving out in a week. If you don't want to stay here until I leave, that's up to you."
She walked into the bedroom, starting to pack her bags. I stood in the doorway, leaning against the door jam, waiting for her to say something. I watched as she stuffed most of her wardrobe into three separate bags. I almost laughed, considering it would only be a week. She left not long after that, not saying anything else.
The next day I was exhausted, but had slept better in the bed than on the floor at least. Bella saw it right away, as soon as we video chatted. I noticed that she looked tired as well, but relaxed at least. Having her ex served the papers probably was a large relief to her.
I hadn't wanted Bella to worry, but I knew telling my parents would be a difficult conversation. Without a doubt, they would both be upset at the marriage ending. I was hopeful, though, that Mom would see just how happy Bella made me and that would be enough for her. Sitting at the dining table, drinking wine and eating, they both stared at me with strange looks.
"I don't understand. Why didn't Kate come with you?" Dad asked, taking a sip of wine.
I took a deep breath. It was now or never. "We are getting a divorce."
"What? Why? What happened?" Mom asked, setting her fork down.
"We've been growing apart for a long time." I leaned forward, ready to face the consequences of the decision I'd made. "I met someone else. I fell in love and I couldn't, in good conscious, stay with her any longer."
This time, Dad set his fork down. They were both staring at me as if I'd just grown a second head. "Did you cheat on Kate, son?"
I averted my eyes. "Yes. I know it was wrong, Dad. I understand what I've done. I told Kate; I was honest with her. I am moving out of the condo next weekend and giving it to her. I'm just taking my name off the mortgage paperwork." I took a sip of wine, my mouth completely dry. "I promised her that she could just keep it."
"And you think giving her the condo makes up for cheating on her?" Dad's eyes were unreadable, and his face passive. But I could hear the disappointment in his voice.
"No, I don't. But it's all I can offer."
"For the mistake you made?" He finished for me.
"No, it's not a mistake. It was the best decision of my life."
"Explain that, please." Mom leaned forward slightly. Her eyes were filled with tears, and it almost broke me.
"This person I met, Mom. She's the most amazing person I've ever met in my life. She compliments me in every way; we fit together so perfectly. I love her, Mom. So much more than I ever thought possible."
"Love?" Dad scoffed. "You cheated on your wife with this woman, and you think it's true love?"
"Carlisle," Mom admonished, placing her hand on Dad's arm. "Look at him. He believes what he's saying is true. If this woman is who he is meant to be with? Who are we to say anything about it? He's an adult."
"He's our son, Esme. And we didn't raise him to be a cheater!" Dad's voice rose a little at that statement. He turned to face me. "Edward, if you had feelings for another woman, you should have ended things with Kate first. Then, once the divorce was final, see if things would work out with this other woman. You did things backwards son!"
"I know, Dad. She and I both were not expecting this to happen. She's unhappy with her husband, and I've been unhappy with Kate for a long time. It just sort of happened."
They both stared at me, and I realized that I hadn't told them Bella was married before that. After that, Dad's face became full-on angry. We fought back and forth for the next couple hours; I couldn't make him understand. By the time I was leaving, he was calmer at least, but still unhappy about the situation. He bid me goodbye, and left to go to his office, saying he wanted to catch up on paperwork.
Mom walked me to the door. "He'll come around, honey. I know he will." She kissed my cheek, hugging me close. "I just want you to be happy."
"I know, Mom. Thanks."
As I was driving home, I decided to bring Alice into the mix. She answered on the first ring, almost like she was expecting my call.
"Are you ready to tell me yet?" She said, her way of answering her phone.
"I'm leaving Kate. We are getting a divorce."
"Awesome! It's about time! Mom and Dad know yet?"
"I just left their house. They know."
"They freak out?"
"Yeah, a little. Mostly over the cheating."
"The girl you were falling in love with at work?"
"Yeah."
"I can't wait to meet her!" Alice squealed into the phone. I laughed, and talked with her for a while longer. I tried to convince her not to bug Bella too much once she got here, but I already knew I wouldn't be able to restrain Alice.
By the time I got home, I knew that I had at least Mom and Alice on my side. I would call Emmett tomorrow and let him know, if Alice didn't get to him first that is.
The rest of the week was quite peaceful. I made arrangements with Emmett and a couple of his friends to help me load up the truck I was getting over the weekend, with the property manager to pick up the keys to the condo, and then got all of my things together for the meeting with the attorney. I'd sent him a few things already, so he would be prepared to start drafting the documents for me.
I had the best week alone in the condo. After confirming my vacation time the following week, I was able to finish packing up my office and all the clothes I had in the bedroom. As I wandered around the condo, I realized that most of the decorations were picked out by Kate. And none of them were really my style. For the first time in a long time, I sat down at my piano in the living room and played a little, thinking about how wonderful my life was going to be soon enough.
The closer I got to the weekend, though, the more worried I became about Bella driving all the way up here on her own. I spoke to Alice about it mid-week, just trying to get some clarity on my feelings.
"Duh. Just fly down there and drive with her. You know you want to."
"She hasn't asked me to do that, Alice. Otherwise, I'd be there already."
"Of course, she's not going to ask you. This is something you have to do for her, even though she hasn't asked." Alice huffed a laugh. "It's a simple gesture, Edward. It means that you love her and don't want her to drive alone."
"I know, that's what I've wanted to do for some time now."
"Then just do it!"
Making up my mind, I got the airline ticket purchased for first thing Sunday morning, before asking Emmett to make sure his friends were available on Saturday instead of Sunday. Everything was working out, so the rest of the week was just a waiting game. And, of course, making sure Bella didn't know I was coming down to help.
The meeting with Aro, my attorney, was long and tedious but it was a tremendous relief. I had put it off for too long, and I honestly didn't know why I had. He and I both expected her to counter, assuming the condo and her car weren't going to be enough to sustain the lifestyle she was used to. There were some laws surrounding ensuring your non-working spouse was taken care of, and I was expecting her to get a lawyer that pinpointed those in response. Nothing I could do about it, so I moved through the weekend without giving it further thought.
After getting the keys to the condo, I drove to get my truck, stopping by the furniture store first. Alice helped me pick out a bedroom set a few days before, so I wanted to make sure it was in the truck before heading over to the condo. The homeowner's association required all moving to go through the freight elevator, and it made it much harder to get everything downstairs. Mostly the piano. The rest of the stuff I was taking were all in boxes, so those were piled onto a hand truck I had rented with the truck.
Finally, it was the end of the night, and I was totally moved out of my old life, and ready to begin my new one. The only thing I needed now was Bella. After sleeping on the couch – because I didn't want to sleep in the new bed without Bella – I made my way to the airport, tapping my foot as I waited, so that I could bring my love back home with me.
A/N: I know, her bitchiness just rolled off my fingers fairly easy. What are your thoughts on Kate and her fight with Edward? Interested to hear what you guys think so far.
Reminder to read my Twist of Fate vamp fic. 18 chapters posted so far!
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