oOo
The following weeks galloped by for Bella. She had to write an essay on Evolutionary Linguistics and worked for Jasper several times. But Edward called every night, and they met for a walk in the park, and for another dinner-and-movie date. Also, there was this one time when he came to her flat after nine, just because she had sounded sad on the phone. He brought her flowers and a relaxing bath.
Edward was always, always on her mind, but she reminded herself that they'd agreed to go slow. And that was hard.
Because Bella found herself wanting more.
She wanted Edward.
Everything about him. She wanted him to tell her about his past. She wanted to comfort him.
The Christmas season had arrived, and everyone was busy shopping for presents, going to Christmas parties, and preparing for the holidays.
Bella was out one Thursday afternoon, browsing through the aisles at Foyles, when her phone rang, and the display lit up with Edward's face. She had taken his picture a few days ago. He had just gotten his new glasses, and had been complaining endlessly, until Bella shut him up with a kiss.
"Hi there," she said softly, retreating to a quiet corner of the shop. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," he replied. "Perfect, actually. I just had a meeting with my agent and agreed to have an exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in February."
"Wow, that's great! What convinced you to do it?"
She knew that Edward had had reservations about the new art show. He didn't feel happy with any of his recent works, saying that they were lacking, but he didn't know in what.
"I've been on a roll these last weeks," he said. "I think it's going somewhere."
"That's wonderful!"
"But that's not why I was calling you," he said. "My sister Rosalie has tickets for the Royal Ballet on Saturday, but she forgot that Emmett's publisher invited them to his Christmas party that night, so they have to go. She mentioned it on the phone last night, and I asked whether she wanted to get rid of them."
"Oh… Okay…"
"Do you want to go, Bella? They're showing The Nutcracker."
Bella gasped. It had been a couple of years since she'd last seen a ballet. Despite her difficult history as far as the matter was concerned, she still loved the ballet.
"If I want to go? Are you crazy? Of course!" She squealed softly.
"That's great," Edward said, sounding relieved, which in itself was cute.
But something crossed Bella's mind.
"Oh, shit!" she exclaimed, a little too loudly. A young woman with a pram looked up with a scornful face.
"What is it?"
"I forgot. I promised Jasper and Alice to help them at a cocktail reception at the Freud Museum."
"Oh." He sounded so disappointed.
Bella bit her lip, already thinking of ways to deal with everything. She had been working a lot for Whitlock's Brand over the past few months. She was always on time, and she always gave one hundred per cent on the job.
Surely she could cancel one single time?
"Don't worry," she told Edward. "I'll call Alice. I'm sure they'll be okay without me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Her voice was firm. "I'll call Alice, and then I'll call you back, okay?"
"Okay," he said softly.
Bella felt a bit nervous as she dialled Alice's private number. Alice was much less likely to throw a tantrum than Jasper was.
It rang a few times, before her call was accepted.
"Hi, Bella," Jasper said, and Bella was groaning inside.
oOo
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