It seemed like the universe had given me a lot to think about. Well, maybe not the universe as much as Renee. My mom knew how to make me crazy, but a lot of the time she was right. Not always, but enough. I was being a wimp. And if I really thought about it, I was using Owen as an excuse. He was my shield. If I could put all my love and devotion into my sweet boy, my heart wouldn't get broken. Except that it would. One day, he'd fall in love and his heart wouldn't belong to me anymore. I couldn't put my happiness and well-being on my toddler's shoulders, I couldn't put that kind of pressure on my son. My job was to raise him, teach him right from wrong, and teach him how to be a good man. And, hopefully, a good husband and father one day. So that he could go on and raise his children to be good too. You don't have babies to fill the empty holes in your heart. Besides, they just break your heart over and over again anyway. But they're supposed to grow up, right?
These were the thoughts running through my head as Owen and I walked to Edward's condo. It was my first time visiting his place and we were both spending the night. He'd brought Owen home with him a few times, but wanted to try an overnighter. I thought it'd be easiest if I came the first time or two. It was my first time at his place. Well, first time since college, and this was definitely not his college apartment. That was nice, but this… Though we lived just a few miles apart, it seemed like worlds. I was familiar with his neighborhood, my work was in the same area. I was not, however, familiar with his building. In fact, probably only a handful of people were. It wasn't just exclusive, it was EXCLUSIVE. It had a door to the street, but there were three security guards in the lobby. And a doorman. And a lady behind a desk with a fountain wall behind her. Tastefully lit, of course. And the air smelled like mint and lavender. And there was a massive Chihuly chandelier. Yeah, no wonder he thought I lived in the ghetto. It was practically third world compared to this place! I felt like Elizabeth Bennet when she first sees Pemberley. All this could have been mine. Could be mine? Gah!
I wasn't the only one impressed, Owen was clearly pleased to show me all the awesomeness that he'd already discovered on previous visits.
"Momma, das water!" he said, pointing to the waterfall wall behind the attendant. "Momma, dis ehvater so shiny!" he exclaimed, pointing to the perfectly polished metal elevator doors. "Momma, where da button?" The elevator was missing the most important element. Well, the most important element if you're a toddler who lives for pushing buttons. I was at a loss. Where was the button?
"May I help you?" came the sweet voice of the attendant.
"Um, yes, please," I said, walking my awestruck toddler towards her desk. "We're here to see Edward Cullen in 35A?" It came out as a question. I didn't mean for it to, but everything here was so fancy and perfect, I felt like something must be wrong. Like I didn't fit.
Her face lit up, "Oh of course, I thought I recognized you Owen!" she said, leaning over the desk to talk to him.
He smiled and waved back, "Hiya!"
"Just one moment," she said, typing quickly into the computer expertly hidden in her fancy desk. "I know he's expecting you. Name please?"
"Isabella Swan."
"Such a lovely name. Just hold on a sec…"
I blushed at her compliment and held Owen's hand tight. Not that he was trying to get away, but I could just imagine the damage his fat little hands could do in this shiny, perfect lobby. Smudge marks on every polished surface within seconds.
"May I see your ID please?" That caught me off guard, so I wasn't prepared to dig out my wallet. It was buried in my purse, which was buried in my bag. I'd stuffed it in there to make the trip over easier. Ha ha.
"Owen, stay right next to Mommy, ok?" I said, letting go of the tight grasp I'd had on his hand. He looked up at me sweetly and smiled. He must have been intimidated by the décor too, he was being a little too angelic. I fumbled through my bag, fished out my wallet (which may or may not have been stuffed with 10,000 old receipts. I'd been meaning to shred those…) and pulled my ID out. "Sorry," I said as I handed it over.
"No problem. And I'll need your cell phone number too please," she added politely as she took my ID to a secret scanner in her secret desk. I gave her my number and she deftly maneuvered through the secret gadgets in her desk, then handed me a little plastic thing with a, "Here you go!"
"What's that?" I asked, confused.
"Mr. Cullen asked that I make you a key. You're now official! You can bypass the front desk from here on out."
"Oh. Um, thank you?"
"Of course. May I call the elevator for you?"
"Um, yes. Please. Thank you."
With that she typed swiftly into her keyboard and the elevator responded ever so promptly with a low ding.
"Next time the elevator will be called for you automatically. As long as you're carrying the key, that is."
"I don't have to, like, take it out and wave it over a sensor or anything?" I asked, feeling about as stupid as my question.
"This is a smart building. It will sense your key as soon as you walk in the door and call the elevator for you. If you ever need assistance and there's no one at the desk to help you, just press the 'help' button on your key," she said, pointing to a little "!" icon on the side of the smooth grey plastic.
"Um, ok. Thanks. But what if I accidently push the button?"
"The help button only works within 100 feet of the building. If you're in the building's vicinity and accidently call for help, we'll respond with a call to your cell phone. The key is designed to go on a key ring, we understand the button may be accidently pushed. We won't get mad if that happens. Promise," she said, with a wink to Owen. He beamed in response. He had no idea what was going on.
The elevator was waiting patiently with the doors open.
"Thank you for your help," I said, grabbing Owen's little hand again. Inside the elevator it was all white marble and soft lighting and a whole panel of shiny elevator buttons. But I guess the elevator wasn't that smart, cause we still had to press the "35". Owen was more than happy to oblige.
We whooshed up to the 35th floor. The doors opened directly into Edward's entry way, which was about as ridiculously amazing as you'd expect. It was a round room with a long hallway ahead of us. There was recessed lighting and a huge circle skylight over a massive table with a gigantic vase filled with huge white branches. Four rounded back white loveseats sat against the rounded walls. Why do you need to sit in the foyer? I don't know, but you could here, and do it in style. There was low music playing in another room, but no sounds of actual human life.
"Edward?" I called out quietly. I was afraid to raise my voice too much. It might disturb the decorating.
"Coming! Sorry!" he said, the sound echoing down the corridor to us. Owen was looking around beaming, ready to show me everything.
"Momma, see da big branches? Dey so big."
"Yes, they are. Do you want to show me more?"
He pulled me forward down the hallway, past the tasteful original artwork recessed into the wall, over the shiny grey wood floors and into the living room. Living room? Would you even call it that? It had floor to ceiling windows with a south facing view of downtown and the Puget Sound.
"Whoa…" I said.
"Momma, dey is big windows. We is rilly high up," Owen cautioned me.
"I know, baby," I replied. Even from where I stood, the height made my stomach flip-flop a little. I tore my eyes from the view and took in more of the room. There was a low square fireplace in the middle of it, with a huge square vent floating above it. I didn't even know rooms like this existed outside of Bond movies or magazines.
"Owen, be so careful, the fireplace will be hot hot hot!" I said.
"It's ok," Edward answered, coming up behind us, "It has a sensor on it. If he gets too close, it'll shut off."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes, it's a smart building," he replied.
"So I've been told," I said with a smirk. "Thanks for the key, by the way. That was really thoughtful."
He beamed. (That's where Owen gets it.) "Oh good, I was worried you'd think it was presumptuous. But I just wanted you to know that you're always welcome. Especially if Owen's here. You can get in any time."
That softened my heart even more than his beaming. "Thank you. Really." I said with a smile. He smiled back at me. His hand came up, then he caught it and cleared his throat. "Let me show you your room."
"Oh, thank you."
"Daddy, I can do it!" Owen said excitedly pulling me towards a side hallway.
"Buddy, do you know where you're going?" Edward asked.
Owen stopped and thought. "Nope." We both laughed. Owen watched us amused for a second, then joined in with us. He had no idea what we were laughing at.
"Here," Edward said, gently tugging on my oversize bag. "Let me take that."
"It's embarrassingly heavy," I said, "You'd think we were staying for two weeks. But I thought maybe I could leave a few essentials for Owen here, so I won't be taking it all home."
"That's great," he said, smiling happily at me.
"Yep. Now you get some of the crap," I said, joking back at him.
"Gladly," he said, "Really." He pulled the bag over his shoulder and put his hand on my lower back, guiding me down the hallway. The soft weight of it burned through my thin sweater. I swallowed. I was brave.
The room he led me to was amazing. Not super huge, a nice comfortable size. The bed looked delicious. A four poster bed with a fluffy gold duvet with fluffy pillows that looked like you could sink into and stay for months. In front of the window was a chaise lounge, with a reading table and lamp. If I wasn't afraid of falling to my death every time I looked out the window, I'm sure I could sit there and read for hours and hours.
"Edward, this is perfect. Thank you."
"This bathroom is yours," he said, opening an arched door to a bathroom almost as big as the bedroom. Massive windows, giant soaking tub with jets, makeup stand, the works. "I got some of that shampoo you used to like," he added, then blushed profusely.
"Thanks," I said, answering with my own huge blush. I cleared my throat and said a little too brightly, "Owen, should we ask where you're sleeping?"
"Daddy, where my bed?" he asked excitedly. Since it was Owen's first sleepover, this part of the condo was all new. Edward had told me not to worry, that he'd gotten everything set up. I'd trusted him to take care of it, and I was anxious to see what he'd come up with.
"Come here, I'll show you!" He scooped Owen up and carried him over his shoulder. His t-shirt clung to muscles, pulling up slightly to show the "V". You know the "V" I'm talking about? The one that makes a girl's stomach flip flop? Yeah. I swallowed and followed as Owen shrieked and giggled down the hall.
Owen's room was right next to mine. "Oh perfect!" I said as I saw them go in the door. But then as soon as I walked inside it turned into, "Oh my GOSH Edward! What did you do?"
He turned to me with puppy dog eyes, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Alice."
Of course. Of course Alice had gone crazy. This room was much longer than mine, probably three times the size, and every foot of it was amazing. There was a pirate ship fort in the corner. Literally hanging off the wall. A PIRATE SHIP. A crooked plank with netting on the sides made a path to the ship. I walked inside the room and peered through small portholes with real glass and saw books and books and books inside, and a brass telescope, and a treasure map on the wall, and cubbies for holding treasures, and everything a little boy could want in a pirate ship.
"There's hammocks and a rope ladder too, but we decided to wait until he was older. Safety first," he said.
"Your restraint is amazing," I answered sarcastically. But I smiled while saying it. Cause really, this was pretty cool. In the opposite corner there was a full size teepee, with string lights inside. The wall had a cube style bookshelf full of toys and stuffed animals and legos, it looked like a toy store.
"Where is the bed?" I asked, looking around.
"Here," he said, pointing under the pirate ship. His bed was built into the wall, recessed into the actual wall. I peeked inside. It looked like a cozy little cave.
"Owen, what do you think?" I asked. He'd been surprisingly quiet since we walked in.
"Can I touch it?" he asked.
"Yes, sweetie. This is your room! Daddy and Auntie Alice made this for you!" I answered.
"Really?" he asked, dumbstruck. "Is mine?"
Edward laughed. "Owen, this is yours! You can play with anything here. But you need to be safe, ok? No jumping off the pirate ship or climbing on the bookshelves, ok?"
"Or mommy won't let me come back?" he asked.
"No sweetie," I said. "You can always come back, we just don't want you to get hurt."
"I'm a big boy. I make good choices," he replied, parroting back the phrase I constantly asked of him. Make good choices! Make good choices!
With free reign to explore, Owen took off. Jumping like a frog from one thing to another.
"But honey, anything you get out we need to clean up afterwards, ok?" I cautioned as he ran to the bookshelf and pulled out a massive tub of blocks.
"Ok mommy!" was his glib reply as he dumped them out all over the carpet.
"Let me show you something really cool," Edward said, super pleased with himself. He motioned towards the windows. "I know Owen is a little scared by the height, so we put cabinets up in front of them."
"That was thoughtful, thank you," I said, noticing for the first time that the floor to ceiling windows were only cabinet to ceiling in this room. It did feel a little less intimidating in this room.
"Watch this," he said, going to a panel on the wall. At his touch, blackout curtains came down from the ceiling and tucked back into the cabinets, completely blocking out the bright daylight.
"Whoa, that's awesome!" I said.
"Wait, it gets even better," he added. Slowly tiny little pin-sized magical lights came on all over the room. The ceiling, the walls, even in the pirate ship, and especially in the hidden little bed. They blinked slowly on and off, some even changed colors from blue to purple to yellow.
"Whhhoooooooooa!" was Owen's pleased response.
"Can I sleep in here?" I asked.
"Yah," was his reply, "You can sleep inna ship."
"Oh thank you," I responded. "That would be….comfortable.
Edward laughed. "And my room is right next door," he said.
"Owen, do you know where Daddy's room is?" I asked.
"Nope," he replied, clearly not caring at all where Daddy's room was. Cause clearly Daddy's room couldn't compare to this one.
"Owen has his own bathroom too, but it's not finished yet," Edward said, apologetically motioning to the bathroom door. "I'm just going to keep it locked until it's done. I don't want him to get hurt."
"Perfect," I said. I was so impressed. He and Alice had really out done themselves. "Edward, this is really amazing."
He smiled at me. "Thank you. I'm just glad you like it.
"Like it? I love it! Edward, this is…just…amazing. I already said that. I know. But really…"
"Well, good."
FANTASTIC SLEEPOVER ADVENTURE TO BE CONTINUED…..