A/N: Many thanks to Ms Kathy for her incomparable beta services. Short chapter here, but an important one as Shalloward and Bella come to a turning point in their relationship.

From the previous chapter, someone asked what is. is an online payment system that allows you send/receive money to/from anyone with an email address.

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April

"Fuck!" screamed Edward, laying on the horn in the middle of traffic. The person in front of him gave him the finger in the rearview mirror. Traffic did not move.

He had been out at a club the night before, and stumbled home in the early hours. After hitting the snooze one too many times and then getting stuck in Sunday morning, rain-clogged traffic, Edward was late for his 10 a.m. shift at Poppy's. With paralyzing slowness, he inched his way along the road toward the restaurant. For this kind of delay, I want to see an accident, he thought. With dead bodies.

He saw nothing of the kind, no reason whatsoever for the slow-down. He did, however, see something else when he finally banged out of the kitchen to start to his shift.

Bella. And Frankie. Laughing and talking to Rose as she served their breakfast platters. Mine, he thought furiously. She's my customer. That's my tip!

Except for the last few weeks, Bella hadn't been his customer at all.

At first, Edward had been glad that Bella seemed only to come in on his day off. And then that she had dropped by for an early morning coffee well before he had arrived for his shift. He still wasn't sure about the lecture on personal information – or the ease with which a virtual stranger had laid his life bare. So he willingly took the space she seemed to be giving him.

After two weeks of this, however, Edward was starting to feel left out, and that did not sit well with him. He missed the tips. He missed his favorite customer. No one else paid attention to him the way she did. No one else even saw him.

"You've got the back section today, Edward," said Poppy. "And let's try to be on time going forward, yes?"

"Yeah, sorry," he sighed, picking up his order pad. But his boss stopped him, and put a strawberry smoothie into his hands. "Who's this for?" he asked.

"Your admirer over there. I think she'd appreciate it if Mr. Edward delivered it to the table personally." With a smile, Poppy was gone. Edward looked up at Bella's table and saw Frankie bouncing in her chair, smiling at him.

Here goes nothing, he thought. Grinning, he walked over and placed the smoothie in front of Frankie with a flourish.

"Hi, Mr. Edward!" she chirped. "I loss a toof – thee?" Frankie opened her mouth to show him a missing bottom tooth.

"That's awesome," he replied. "Did the Tooth Fairy bring you something for that?"

"That's the third tooth in two months," came the wry voice across the table. "The Tooth Fairy is feeling the pinch."

Edward turned to look at Bella, feeling that same shock of awareness hit him as he met her eyes. Her expression was the same as it always was – friendly, polite, remote. But her fingers played with the brown hair curling over her shoulders, and there was something in her expression that told him that she was nervous too.

"It's good to see you," he said. Her face shifted, relaxed a tiny bit, he thought.

"You too," she replied. "Now, off you go, look after your tables." Bella's eyes shot over his shoulder. "I don't want to get you in trouble with Poppy," she said quietly. Edward glanced back and saw Poppy behind the counter. She wasn't looking in their direction, but he had no doubt she was keeping tabs on him.

Edward made it back once more to freshen her coffee and tease Frankie, but the Sunday morning rush soon took over. The next time he got a breather, they were gone. Shortly thereafter, Rose sailed up and stuffed something into his belt.

"Unbelievable," she said, rolling her eyes. He looked down to see what it was.

Tip #9: This is one of those instances where punctuality has an upside.

It was written on a $10. He looked at Rose. "Did she tip you too?"

Rose smiled and waved a $20 under his nose. "I hear that particular upside is running at $10 today."

~ - ~~

The week passed, cold and rainy. Anyone who thought April was a nice month had never spent time in Chicago in early spring.

It was dead silent on a Sunday afternoon, and Edward was reading the paper on the lunch counter. Poppy's was deserted, with few people willing to venture out on such a foul day. The door opened, bringing in a gust of damp wind that set his paper flapping.

"Hello, Edward," said Bella, her hair windblown and sparkling with rain drops.

"Hi," he said. Bella sat down at the counter in front of him, as he poured a cup of coffee for her. She cupped it, warming her hands and saying nothing. The silence stretched out for a long while, as Edward wiped a counter that didn't need wiping, and tidied salt and pepper shakers that stood in perfect order.

"How did you do it?" he finally asked. She didn't ask what he was referring to; she already seemed to know. Bella took a long sip of coffee, then put the cup down, knitting her fingers together. Edward could see a faint line around the third finger of her left hand – the last vestiges of a fading ring mark.

"Well," she said. "I started with your name..."

Edward cut in abruptly. "How did you even know my name? I never told you it." Bella looked up, surprised. She reached for her wallet and extracted a piece of paper.

"My server's name is written on every bill I get from Poppy's. See? Edward C." She held it up to him, pointing to it. He had to resist facepalming at his own stupidity. "But really, it was the story about your father that made it easy. I mean, how many real estate agents named Carlisle are out there inking deals for members of the Chicago Bulls?

"Anyway … once I had your last name, finding you was easy. Way too easy." She looked up from the counter. "You sure have a lot of hits on Google. Plus, your Facebook profile is wide open – anyone can view it. Your wall is covered with personal information. That's where I found your email address and cell phone number. And … um … a bunch of other stuff."

Edward felt the flush creeping up his face as he thought about everything his friends had posted on his wall. Everyone can see that? He shifted uneasily and wondered if his parents ever ventured on Facebook.

"Your little brother Emmett has his profile more buttoned up, but there are still all kinds of ways around it, especially with pictures." Bella waggled her coffee cup, and Edward refilled it unthinkingly. "I can teach you how to protect yourself a bit better, if you want. Maybe tighten up your personal information a bit." Delicate pause. "Delete some of the more incriminating posts." Another pause. "Edward, it wasn't my intention to upset you."

He opened his mouth to say that it was okay, but the words wouldn't come. Instead, he blurted out the question that had been nagging at him since the first day he'd met her.

"What do you expect from me?"

Bella looked up, surprised. "That's an excellent question," she said. "The answer is this: I expect you to keep my coffee cup full. I expect you to bring me my food as I've ordered it. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less." Her tone was sharp, and for a moment, Edward thought perhaps she was offended by his implications. But when he looked at her face, there was no anger there – just a thoughtful kind of quiet. Then she smiled, and her whole face changed. "But I hope, Edward. I have so much hope for you."

"Hope for me," he said stupidly. "Why? What do you hope for me?"

"I hope that you'll be happy," Bella said. The silence spun out between them again. Edward wanted to protest, to say that he was very happy. "Careful," she said. "You're not a very good liar, you know."

"How come you always know what I'm thinking?" he asked. Outside, the rain lashed down against the windows, and Edward felt like they were the only two people in the world. It occurred to him that maybe he should feel uncomfortable with her unerring ability to anticipate his thoughts and words. But he didn't feel that way. He felt … connected.

"Because it shows on your face," Bella replied simply. Her wide, brown eyes held his a bit longer, then she drained her coffee cup and stood up. Edward turned to punch in her order, knowing she would vanish as soon as he turned his back. Sure enough, he heard the door open and close, and felt the blast of wind and rain swirl through the diner before the bill had even finished printing.

He turned back around slowly, tossing the bill into the garbage. Through the rain, he could see a car pulling out of the parking lot, a dark blur in the afternoon gloom.

Bella had thoughtfully weighed the $20 down with a sugar container to prevent it from flying away when she left.

Tip #10: Never give up hope. Especially in yourself.

He was still standing quietly at the counter, lost in thought, when the evening shift arrived.

A/N: We'll hear more about Bella in the next chapter – many of you want to know what her story is, and you'll see a wee bit of it next time. Many thanks for all the lovely reviews! You guys make my day with your thoughtful (and funneh) comments.