A/N: Back to Edward's POV for a few chapters.

Thanks you to the guest reviewer! The chapters will vary in length, the most recent ones I've written are longer, but they won't be uploaded for a little while yet (I'm quite a few chapters ahead of this one). I can't reply to your review unless you sign in, but thank you anyway! Once I've completed this story, I will increase to uploading one chapter every day and I may reply to reviews with a preview of the next chapter, but I don't know how long it's going to take to finish it all so please don't expect either of those changes just yet.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Here's chapter 26 for you! Carrying on straight from the last chapter, but with a different POV. Just as a reminder, last time we were with Bella & Edward, they'd just left her house...

I'll Always Find Peace In The Meadow

Chapter Twenty-six: 'But that's not why' (Edward POV)

Friday 2 June 2017

The walk to Forks' town center is quiet. Bella's been in the same position - hands tucked into the pockets of her hoodie, her face down, watching her feet as she walks - since we left her house. I've tried striking up a conversation with her, but after firstly commenting on how nice Renee is, which got me the barest of smiles, and then after a few minutes telling her how lucky she is to have someone like Renee as a parent, to which I received an even thinner smile, I just decided to shut up.

Bella must be more of a private person than I initially thought. When we first began organising places to study, we'd both complained about our parents being awkward. Her Mom's excuse was that their house was too much of a mess... either they've done some serious cleaning before my arrival today, or Bella lied. Thinking back to her reaction last Saturday when I suggested using her house, and now to how nervous she's been acting today, maybe she was trying to prevent me from coming over.

I have to say, I am a little envious of Bella after witnessing how relaxed and laid back her mother is. Renee had obviously visited a bar after work before coming home. That didn't bother me at all. It just appears that's how she is. My parents, especially my mother, would never ever let themselves go like that. Definitely not in front of visitors. It was... refreshing. And the way Renee welcomed me? It was so warm and inviting, nothing like the impersonal, stiff and overly polite way my parents greeted Bella with. Having met her Mom, and knowing how great a person Bella is, it makes me sad that I never got the chance to meet her father.

"I was thinking we'd go to the sweet shop?" Bella suggests out of the blue when we're about a minute from Main Street. Having been lost in my own thoughts, I'm shocked to hear Bella's voice. She's been so silent since we left her house, I was expecting it to carry on. I nod, and offer her a smile. When she offers one in return, her shoulders relaxing from their tense place up by her ears, I feel myself relax, too. Aaah, there's the Bella I've come to know.

"Hank!" Bella shouts once we reach Main Street. We are just across the road from Forks' only sweet shop. An old man, who's in the middle of picking up a folded up chalkboard sign from by the door, turns when she shouts the name, a large smile breaking out across his face. This must be Hank.

We cross the road to the elderly man - Hank. "Aah, hello, Bella. Back again for more of your favourites?" he asks. She nods, tucking an errant curl behind her ear.

"Sure am. Are you closing up?"

Hank nods. "I was, but I can make an exception for you. Come on in." He leads us in, and after placing the sign behind the door, walks over to the counter. I look around in awe. How have I lived in Forks for almost two months and not set foot in this place yet? It's like something straight out of a Willy Wonka dream!

I hear a deep chuckle, and look over to Hank, who's watching me. "Who's the young man you've brought with you today, Bella?" he asks. We both look to where she's stood, by the - oh no! - by the freaking Gummi Bears. Bella sends me an evil smirk at my look of disgust, before she turns to face Hank.

"Hank, this is my friend, Edward Cullen. Edward, this is Hank, the owner."

"It's nice to meet you," I say, waving casually.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Edward. I've heard about your family moving here, though you're the first I've met." I silently smile, not really wanting to get onto the topic of my family right now. "I must say, Bella, it's lovely to see you bring someone in here again." Bella's smile is as strained as mine was a moment ago. Again?

"We're taking a break from studying so I thought I'd come and show Edward your shop, Hank," she replies sweetly, walking up to the register with a bag of Gummi Bears. Yuk! I begin looking around.

"Make sure you kids don't overdo it with all the schoolwork they give you. It's ridiculous how much they put on you all nowadays. My granddaughter, Becky, is only eight and she's swamped with it almost every weekend."

"Becky is eight? Wow. Last time I saw her she was barely walking."

"Aah, yes, that was some time ago. We don't get to see her as often as we'd like, with our daughter and her husband being in California now. But they try to visit as often as they can. I think I actually have a photograph of Becky somewhere..."

I continue perusing the shelves while I listen to Bella and Hank talk. They obviously know each other well.

"Aah, here it is. This was her last school photo."

"Oh my! She is so grown up. So pretty."

The smile in Hank's voice is palpable as he replies, "Yes she is. She gets it from her mother... and her grandmother of course." Bella giggles at that.

"Is Cynthia here? I'd love to say hello." There's a pause after Bella's request.

"Uuh, not today. She's sleeping at the moment. Maybe next time." The tension in Hank's voice, such a drastic change from the relaxed and light tone he spoke with moments ago, causes me to look over at him, concerned.

"O-okay," Bella replies, stuttering. "Well, give her my best, then." Hank nods with a smile.

"Will do."

Obviously done with the conversation, now that it's taken a strange, plummeting change of direction, both of their attentions zone in on me. "You found something you want, Edward?" Bella asks.

I grab the packet of Twizzlers off the rack on the far right side of the room and make my way over to the register. "Yep!"

"Thanks, Hank. See you soon," Bella calls out to him several minutes later as we're leaving, purchases in hand.

"You're welcome, Bella. See you soon. Bye, Edward."

"Bye."

We step out of the shop and cross over to the other side of the road. I turn left, ready to head back to Bella's, but she has other plans, turning right. "Bella? Your house is this way." She looks over her shoulder at me, but doesn't stop striding.

With a roll of her eyes, she replies, "I know where my house is, Edward, we're just not going back yet."

I jog to catch up with her. "Why? Where are we going?"

"My mom said 'snacks', plural, as in more than one thing. And we have some change left over from the sweets. How do some chips sound?" I grin and soon we're entering the small grocery store that's further down the street. Bella doesn't know the owner of this as well as she does Hank. Hardly at all, it would seem. She speaks the bare minimum to the lady behind the counter, just to say "thank you" once she's paid.

We are far more talkative on the walk back than we were on the way from Bella's house, both of us carrying a pack of sweets and chips.

"Do you think we've done enough for today?" she asks as we turn onto her street.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not really in the mood to do any more learning. Maybe once we've eaten, we could just watch a movie or something."

I think about it. We did do over two hours without a break, and after seeing how well she did with the trig questions, maybe she does deserve a break. We deserve a break.

"Okay. Sure. What movie?"

"I don't know. We'll have a look once we've eaten." As we walk across her lawn, she giggles.

"What's got you so amused?" I ask, grinning.

"I was just thinking, how opposed would you be to a Nicholas Sparks movie?"

"Romance?" I ask. She nods, grinning, and my nose wrinkles. Ugh.

She laughs louder this time.

"Thought so." Her smile is contagious as we walk into her house.

The door is still open when a car horn sounds from behind us. We both turn, to see its the pizza delivery guy. "Oh," Bella squeaks, holding up her hand to the guy before she quickly walks into the kitchen, emerging seconds later without her snacks but with some cash. He walks up the steps with two pizza boxes in his hold.

After a quick exchange of money and food, Bella kicks the door shut behind us. "Let's get this while it's still hot!" she says, walking into the kitchen. "Mom!" she shouts as she places the boxes down on the kitchen counter. I look behind me, toward the hallway. Her mom doesn't answer. Bella sighs as she bends to get two plates out of a cupboard.

I am so glad she's not wearing that denim dress thing she had on earlier. It wasn't short by any means - that's not Bella's style - but when she bent over to look into the fridge, the back of it rid up her thighs slightly... and I suddenly had a problem. I was so outraged at myself. It was the first time I'd had a physical reaction to a girl... well, it was the first time when in their presence. I honestly didn't know what to do, feeling both embarrassed and... confused. I didn't think I saw Bella in that way. Sure, she's beautiful, anyone can see that. But I didn't think I was attracted to her like that. My body obviously disagrees.

Bella sighs again, turning to me. "Would you mind checking the front room for me, Edward? She's probably got the TV turned up." I nod and do as she asks.

When I walk into what Bella called the 'family' room during the quick tour of her house, I come to a sudden stop, frozen at the sight before me. Bella was right about one thing; the TV is turned up ridiculously loud. But that's not why Renee couldn't hear her daughter calling for her. The real reason for that is because she is asleep... actually it's more likely she's passed out. She's on her side, sprawled across the three seater sofa that's in the center of the room, opposite the large TV. There's an empty bottle of white wine on the end table behind her head, and several cans of beer litter the coffee table in front of her. Did she drink all of this in that short half an hour we were gone?

The alcohol containers aren't even the worst part, though. There's a horrible smell in the air, and when I walk further into the room, to see if I can perhaps wake her up for dinner, I see why. Her arm is dangling off the sofa, her hand laying in a pool of vomit. My hand comes up to cover my nose and mouth.

I'm just about to shout for Bella when she appears in the room, obviously coming to see what was taking so long. Her eyes go wide as she rushes toward me. "No," she gasps, tears filling her eyes. She slowly walks forward, passing me as if I'm not even in the room. I see her shoulders rise and fall heavily. With her back to me, in a monotone voice, she says, "I'm so sorry about this, Edward."

I don't say anything - I wouldn't know what to say. Bella's sigh is loud as she picks up the remote that's on the coffee table and turns down the TV. Finally, that thing was so loud I could feel a headache coming on. Then she starts picking up the cans. I try helping, but Bella's sharp "No!" as my hand wraps around one of the cans causes me to stop.

"Let me help, Bella," I say quietly. I watch her crestfallen face as her eyes squeeze shut.

"No, Edward. I don't need any help." I hold my hands up and stand to my full height, stepping back. Bella heaves another sigh, cans in hand as she turns to face me. Well, not face me. She keeps her eyes downcast. "You should leave," she says.

A/N: Yeah... that just happened. Please don't hate me, even though I hate me for leaving it here! It will be continued in less than 48 hours!

This with Renee was planned from the very beginning. There have been many things that have been spontaneous, something I've had the urge to write and add in as I've gone along, but there are also many events in this story that were planned from the beginning. Renee getting stupidly drunk on Edward's first visit was always going to happen.

What do you think of the events in this chapter? There are some new, confusing feelings and then of course the trouble with Renee? Let me know in a review!

Like I said at the very start of this story, I am from England so may get certain terms and names of things wrong, as this is an America based story. Is it called a sweet shop? It's what I'd call a shop that sells sweets. Candy store did come to my mind very briefly, but I wasn't 100% sure so just left it like this.

Anyway, thanks again for reading! I'll be back Friday with the next chapter! See you then.