Chapter 3: Edward's POV

I wake up and go down to the kitchen. Peeking out into Bella's yard, I see that the note is still on her umbrella, so I guess she's still asleep.

"Morning, Daddy…What are you looking at?" Nessie asks popping up in front of me, through my legs.

"Nothing, Ness…go, get ready for school. I'm driving today and then I'm going to offer Bella some help to finish moving in." I inform her.

"Bella's nice. I'm glad you're helping her! Can I have Reese's Puffs cereal for breakfast today, Dad?" She asks.

"Yeah, Ness, you can have cereal…How do you know Bella's nice?" I ask startled.

"Nana and I met her in the yard yesterday. I like her. She's pretty and nice…but she never answered my question…" My little girl shrugs and digs into her bowl. "Oh, well, I'll just have to ask her again later…unless you want to ask her for me…"

"That's right; Nana told me you both met her. Sure, I'll ask for you." I know I'm asking for trouble but, I really want to know what question Nessie asked our new neighbor. "What did you ask…?" I ask before taking a sip of coffee.

"If she would date you…" She says matter-of-factly.

My eyes widen as I choke on my coffee, spitting it into the sink and coughing. I glare at my daughter. "You did what…?"

She rolls her eyes and says, "I asked her if she would date you."

"What did she say to that?" I ask as my face heats up.

"She wanted to know what my mom would think about you dating. That kind of confused me at first but then I realized she didn't know you weren't married." She pauses to finish her cereal. "So I told her about mom being in heaven."

"…And then?" I ask, wanting to know what exactly I'm in for.

"Then I asked her again and she said that you hadn't asked her. The boy asks the girl on a date…right, Dad?" Nessie looks up at me. "So, now that you're going to ask her, she'll probably say yes…right?" She asks as she rinses her bowl.

I pinch the bridge of my nose trying to keep my composure.

"Dad, why is your face all red?" She asks.

"No reason, Ness. Go and brush your teeth so we can pick Annie up for school." I sigh heavily, thinking that this is going to be a long day. I start the car with my remote and wait for Nessie at the front door. Once we're both in the car, I tell her that I need to talk to her friend's mom before we go so she and Annie should just wait in the car. Pulling up in front of Maria and Annie's house, I get out and walk to the door, knocking when I get there. The door opens to reveal Maria still in her nightgown. I know she does this to try and lure me in, and while she's single, she's just not my type. "Hi, Maria, I need to ask you a favor." I say as Annie runs past me to join my daughter in the Volvo.

"Sure, Eddie…what can I do for you?" She asks, leaning on the doorframe.

Sighing, I reply. "First of all, I've repeatedly asked that you call me 'Edward'. Secondly, I've got neighbors who'd appreciate it if you'd stop beeping your horn when you come to pick up Nessie for school. It's too early for the noise and I've gotten a request for it to stop. I usually send Ness to your door and I think it would only be courteous if you'd do the same."

"Oh, alright, I can do that." Maria answers.

I thank her and get into the car. I drive the girls to school and think I'm getting off Scot-free. 'Nessie forgot to make sure I was going to ask Bella out.'

Suddenly, Nessie turns around and runs back to the car. "You're going to ask her right, Daddy?"

I sigh. "Maybe, and that's all you're getting from me. Do you have lunch money?"

She says she does and then tells me to have fun with Bella.

It's a good thing I know Bella's not seeing anyone at the moment. If the day goes well and it comes up, maybe I'll invite her over on Saturday. Nessie and I get lunch delivered every Saturday and sometimes we rent a movie too. Maybe it'll be less awkward if Nessie's with us. Getting home, I look out the kitchen window. The note is gone. She's awake and hopefully ready to talk.

Bella's POV

When I wake up the next morning, and wander down to the kitchen, I find a bowl of my favorite cereal (Reese's Puffs) waiting for the milk. There's a note next to it.

Sis, breakfast is on me. Think about the kid's idea.
I'm gonna miss you, so call me whenever you have a sec.
Enjoy your day, Em

I smile and shake my head. "Oh, Em… I'll miss you, too, you big oaf."

It's then that I notice the door to my back yard is just slightly ajar. I frown and walk over to it. I look out over my lovely back yard and see that everything looks normal. There's nothing but the expected furniture and planters, so I turn to close the door. That's when it hits me that Emmett and I didn't set up the yard yesterday! I run out the door and see a note on my umbrella. It's in unfamiliar handwriting on the back of my diagram.

Dear Bella,
I did this to welcome you to the neighborhood. Enjoy your time here.
Your friend, the Furniture Fairy

I giggle. "Sure, the 'furniture fairy' was here. Oh, Em…You are something else. I love you, little brother!" As I grab the milk from the fridge, I wonder for a moment who'd written the note, before sitting down and pouring it into my cereal. I sigh and resign myself to not knowing.

About ½ an hour later, I just finish getting dressed in some jeans and a t-shirt, when the doorbell rings. I jog to the door and open it to find Edward Cullen on my doorstep.

"Hi, Edward…Uhmmm, what's up…?" I say trying to sound casual.

"Hey, I'm off from work today…so I thought we could continue our conversation from yesterday." He says.

"Well, I've got some work to do today…" I tell him. "So unless you'd like to help me move my dining-room furniture and repaint some window sills…not to mention, hang a few pictures…then it's…"

"Fine, where do we start?" He asks, interrupting me.

"Really…? I'm not putting you out? You don't have something better to do?" I ask.

"If I did, I wouldn't have offered. Bella, please…Let me help." He says softly.

I sigh. "Thanks, I was wondering how I'd get the dining-table and chairs in here without help." I gasp. "Oh, by the way…The guy that was here yesterday…!"

"…Is your business, Bella. You're young and you'll have visitors and parties." Edward says following me to the dining-room. "It's to be expected. You're not accountable to me. I'd like to request that you keep the noise level as low as possible, though."

"Yes, but as my neighbor you must have a concern that I'm going to have strange people just loitering or streaking in front of your daughter." I say blushing. "…and I'm not much of a partier. I've outgrown that phase of my life."

"It's nice that you're concerned about the welfare of Nessie…but having met your brother late last night, I am sure you'll be a great influence on her." He says. "What do you mean you've outgrown partying? You should barely be getting started. You can't be older than…21."

"That's sweet of you to say, but I'll actually be 29 next September." I tell him.

He stares at me. "Well…" He stops to clear his throat. "Let's get to work then…"

I nod. "Here's the dining-room. I think the table fits best long-ways and the buffet and hutch will look best along that wall."

He nods. "Can you hold one side of the table and buffet, or should I get James from across the street to help? He's retired and likes to be of some use to his neighbors. His wife Victoria is a lovely woman. She babysat when my mother and sister couldn't."

I bite my lip. "Well…If you're sure he won't mind…"

He smirks, pulls out his phone and dials in one motion. "Jimmy, hi… Yeah, it's Edward… Listen, I'm helping out our newest neighbor. The Burkes sold and Bella Swan is almost finished moving in. I need a bit of help moving a table and buffet…See ya soon." Turning to me, he says. "He and Vicky are on their way over."

I smile as a lock of my brown hair falls from my ponytail. "Thanks. I have yet to meet anyone other than you and Nessie, so this will be a good thing."

Edward steps toward me and tucks it back behind my ear. "Bella, my daughter said she asked you a question…yesterday…"

"Yes…" I whisper.

The doorbell rings interrupting us.

"We can discuss it later. Let's go bring the furniture in. It's not like there's a 'furniture fairy' to get stuff like that done, right?" He winks and goes to open the door, leaving me staring after him. Edward soon comes back with a nice looking, slightly older then us, couple. "Jimmy, Victoria, this is Bella Swan."

"Welcome to the neighborhood, Bella." Jimmy says.

I shake each of their hands and take the basket that Vicky is holding out to me. "What's this…?" I ask.

"It's just a basket of goodies to help acquaint you with businesses in the area. We have a few bagels from the shop on Main Street and coupons for the cinema as well as the hair salon and bookstore and a few others. Enjoy." Victoria says. "Now let's get to work, boys! You 2 take care of the furniture. Bella, what can you and I do?"

"Well, I need to paint some window sills and hang some picture frames." I tell her.

Vicky sounds excited now. "Perfect, I'll take the painting and you can take the pictures."

By the time we're done, it's time for Edward to meet Nessie at his house. As I'm showing them all out, Edward lingers.

"Bella, my daughter and I have a Saturday ritual. Lunch and a movie rental…would you care to join us this weekend?" He asks.

I blush and nod. "That sounds like fun…I'll come over about 11:30 then?"

Edward smiles, "Yeah…11:30 is perfect. Enjoy your week."

AN: Apparently, we're not allowed to have special stories that are notes to the readers. I was forced to delete that one. So I'll now be forced to do something I hate and put Authors Notes in the chapters of my stories. I think each author should be allowed to have 1 story that is ANs so that their readers know what's happening with them and they don't have to waste chapter space, but the powers that be do not agree, so that's that.

Also: Thanks, once again, to hnwhitlock for being my beta!