Chapter 7 - Charades

I was booked solid for massages and was only given enough time to poke my head out of my room and call back my next customer. Each time I peeked out, I saw Edward at the front counter, offering a watered-down version of his welcoming smile. His Grandpa Jerry had really crapped on his day, and it was pissing me off that the old fart had hurt my man.

I finally had a free hour, just before close. I tried to keep it open, so I could do a deep, thorough cleaning of everything, before I closed up for the night. I had already made the decision to stay late. I needed to find my man and fix that smile of his.

When I finally emerged from my room, I didn't see him.

"He went out the back door," Jessica said with a frown.

I'd admit to walking much faster than normal to get to him, and well, I might possibly have run. I was worried he'd decided to go home and would no longer be on the steps, but I was relieved to see him sitting out there. He was slouched, with his head in his hands.

My hands immediately went to work on his shoulders, neck and head, hoping if he felt more relaxed, he'd open up to me. "Hey, handsome," I whispered in his ear and kissed his neck, as I worked on him.

He turned his head to see me and gave me a genuine smile, making me feel a little bit better. I decided he needed a cuddle and climbed into his lap. His arms naturally wrapped around me, keeping me steady.

"So…tough day," I prompted.

He snorted and looked away. I was starting to worry that there was some validity to Jerry's argument about Eddie pushing his dream on Edward. I wanted Edward to be happy, and I knew if he wanted to, he could go on to a university and become anything he wanted to be, with everyone's full support.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" I asked.

He looked at me confused, so I elaborated. "If you could have any job in the world, sky's the limit, or not even, if you want to be an astronaut, if you could be anything, what would you be?"

"What would I be?" he asked frowning.

"Yes, do you want to be an astronaut, or a fireman, rancher, forest ranger, rocket scientist, doctor, research scientist, robotic engineer, inventor of some kind…?"

"Why are you asking me that? Do you not like what I do now? Do you think I'm not good enough?" He didn't sound mad, but more disappointed.

"I just want you to do whatever you want to in life. I don't want you to have any regrets or feel like you're being held back."

"Held back?"

"Edward, do you really want to be a barber and run the shop, or is there something else out there that you want to do instead?"

"Is me being a barber not good enough?" he asked in a quiet voice. He looked so hurt and worried.

I cupped his cheeks and kissed him hard. "You'll always be good enough, no matter what you do."

"Then why do you want me to do something else?"

"I just want you to do what makes you happy, and after hearing Jerry say the shop was Eddie's dream, not yours, I began to worry. You know we'd all support you, if you wanted to go to a university for something else. We could hold down the fort, while you earned your degree in whatever you wanted, honey. We all love you, and we could find a way to make it work, if that's what you'd prefer to do."

He pouted so adorably. "But I don't want to go to a university. I opened the shop, because I loved it when I was a kid, and I love it now. It's always felt like home to me."

I hugged him tightly. "Thank heavens, I would've missed you."

"Missed me?" he asked, looking so cute.

"If you went off to a university, you would've been too busy to see anyone," I lamented, while I played with his hair.

"Well, I don't want to go, so there's no reason to miss me."

"So, you're really, truly happy with what you do?" I asked. It was so important to me that he was.

He nodded yes at me and blushed. "I hope that's okay…"

"That's more than okay. I think we've already established that I like having you around. Even on the busy days that I don't see much of you, it's nice to know that you're just outside the door."

"Yeah, it's nice to know you're there, too," he added, and then a few moments later, his brow furrowed.

His focus was on his back window, and when I tried to see what he was looking at, Grandpa Eddie had his arms bent and flapped them a little like a chicken and did a couple of stretching exercises, which reminded me about his bad shoulder. "Hey, Eddie needs to come in to see me regularly. He doesn't want to take up any of my profitable hours, but I was thinking…if I just happened to have an open session every time he came in, then I could get him on my table without a fight."

"Is he okay?" Edward sounded worried, but still a little distracted by his grandpa's odd behavior.

"His shoulder is tight. It's probably why he was doing those exercises." I glanced back again, only to see him rubbing his belly. As soon as he saw me looking, he started patting his head. He was an odd fellow. "His bad shoulder is most likely what caused his headache today," I said, looking back at Edward, but again, he was staring at the window, looking perplexed.

I glanced back once again and saw Eddie was dancing with an invisible partner. When he realized I was looking, he quickly stopped what he was doing and tried to play it off as more stretching. There was definitely something else going on.

"What's going on with your grandpa?" I asked, hoping he had a clue. I was worried Eddie might have dementia.

"Ah…he…" Edward scratched the back of his neck and then scowled at the window. When I looked at what Eddie was doing again, I giggled. He was faking making out with an invisible girl.

"Is he alright?"

"He's…he's…just…" Poor Edward was a flustered, blushing mess. He finally made a cutting motion across his neck while looking at Eddie, and Eddie's response was a shrug, before he put his hands on his chest and reached out, like he was telling Edward he was just trying to help. He then winked at me and blew me a kiss. He was such a cheeky old rascal.

"So, do you want to tell me what's going on with him?" I pushed again. I was pretty sure Edward knew what was going on, and it wasn't dementia.

"Just do it!" I heard Eddie shout from their house.

I had a feeling I wasn't going to get it out of Edward, so I grabbed the bull by the horns. "What, Eddie? What's he supposed to do? And by the way, you're horrible at charades!"

He laughed and grabbed his cane from the doorway and made his way out into the backyard. "My boy is shy. Your beauty leaves him tongue-tied. I told him he needed to make a move," Eddie did a little hip wiggle. I burst out laughing and felt Edward drop his head onto my shoulder.

"So, Edward, are you going to make a move on me?" I gave him a little nudge.

"Esme is going to pick me up around seven o'clock this evening. It's bingo night, and I have a date with lots of blue-haired beauties. That means his house will be quiet and vacant in the next thirty minutes. I'm not going to be home until a little after ten o'clock tonight. Remember what I said about grabbing hold, Bella? Now would be a good time to do it," Eddie instructed.

I tipped Edward's chin up, pulling him out of his hiding place against my shoulder. "Do you have plans tonight?" I asked, a little nervous myself. No wonder he couldn't do it.

He shook his head no.

"Do you want to hang out this evening?"

"Debauchery, Bella, debauchery! Invite him to have a night of debauchery with you!" his grandfather cheered, making me feel better.

"Are you interested in having a night full of debauchery with me? If not, we could have a normal one of takeout and maybe watch a movie," I offered, trying not to scare my innocent boy.

"I vote for debauchery, Edward, and I suggest you do, too. You won't regret it, not with this pretty girl," Eddie egged him on.

"Maybe a normal night…to start," Edward offered, and my smile was huge.

"Wonderful, let me clean up my workroom, and I'll meet you back here at seven thirty," I said, jumping up, excited to start our night together.

"He said 'to start,' Bella, keep that in mind. He didn't fully rule out the debauchery," Eddie pointed out, causing me to laugh.

"Grandpa," Edward whined.

"Hush, boy, I'm helping you out here," he ordered him. They were both too cute.

I felt like the cleaning was taking forever, but every time I glanced at the clock, I saw only a few minutes had passed. I was ready to be done with this and alone with Edward.

"What are you up to, boss lady?" Jasper asked me with a smirk. "Got big plans?" he taunted.

I shrugged. "Edward and I are going back to his place as soon as I'm done here."

Jasper looked around the shop, frowning. "I think he took off already."

I felt a pang of nerves in my chest. "We're meeting on the back steps at seven thirty."

"Cool, me and the girls can wrap up here, if you want to skip out early," he nodded out the open door, as Laurant walked by and pinched Jasper's butt. Jasper just stuck his studded tongue out at him and waggled it, along with his brows. Both of those men were sassy flirts.

I checked my room once more and nodded. "Yeah, that'd be nice. Do you mind?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I did. It's not like we have far to go. We live just upstairs."

"Alright, thanks," I said, grabbing my purse and rushing to the back door. As soon as I opened it, I was met with Edward's firm chest and a face full of flowers.

"Oh, sorry," he steadied me.

"You got me flowers?" I asked, melting at his sweetness.

He smiled and nodded. I took them in my hands and inhaled deeply. They were wonderful. Unfortunately, I inhaled a petal or something, and I sneezed wildly.

"Oh no, you're allergic to pollen. Of course, you're allergic to pollen, everyone is. I should've brought you chocolates. I'm so-"

"Edward, I'm not allergic to pollen...well, not this pollen, anyways. I just sniffed a bit hard, but for future reference, I do like chocolate, too, so if you ever feel so inclined…"

He smiled widely. "I'll keep that in mind." He stuck his arm out for me to take, so I did, and he escorted me across the alley through his back gate. "I set a vase out for you to use, so your flowers don't die. You can keep it. I have plenty."

"You have plenty vases?"

"They were Grandma Elizabeth's. Grandpa brought her flowers every week for years. I seriously have several storage cabinets full of vases of different sizes, shapes and colors."

"Will Eddie be alright with me taking one?"

Edward snorted. "Yeah, he let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I needed to use everyone of those vases when it came to you. Believe me, he doesn't mind at all."

Edward was usually quieter, but he seemed a bit looser at the moment. "What did you want to order for dinner?" I asked.

"Oh, I got your usual," he said nervously, more like my Edward.

"Usual?" I was curious to see if he did know what my usual was.

"Yeah, you always order orange chicken from the Rice Bowl on Friday nights. Did you want something else? I can get you something else." He was on the edge of being frantic, when I grabbed his arm and squeezed.

"Orange chicken is my favorite, and it's sweet of you to notice what I like."

He smiled and blushed. "It's my job, you know, since you're mine," he said, peeking at me from under his lashes.

I couldn't resist anymore. I grabbed hold of his face and kissed him hard. I could taste the remnants of an alcoholic beverage in his mouth. "Were you drinking?"

He looked at his feet nervously. "Grandpa said I needed a shot of liquid courage…to work up to the debauchery," he mumbled the last part.

That was it. I was going to give him a night full of debauchery. I shoved him down on a chair and straddled him, dipping my tongue into his mouth, while my fingers dug into his hair. He was hard beneath me, making me grin like a Cheshire cat.

Debauchery indeed.