Excerpt from Chapter 3: He pours himself another beer. "Why not? What was wrong with him?"

"He didn't have a chin." I pick up my own glass, taking a large drink.

"No chin? As in …"

"He obviously had a chin, but if you had given him one of those pointy party hats, you know the one with the—"

"With the string, sure." Edward is nodding and trying to hide a smile.

"Well, if he had worn one, the little strappy thing would have rolled up and slapped him in the face." I give him a pointed look, finishing off my beer before pouring another and grabbing a celery stick.

I can see him mouth the word "wow" before drinking down the rest of his beer and pouring another. "Picky. Okay."

Glossary:

Ex-O: Executive Officer- Second in command to Commanding Officer. (Riker to Picard)

BM- Boatswain Mate (Edward's rank)

It's President's Day weekend, and Edward and I were invited to a barbeque at his Ex-O's house. I was hesitant to go because Edward was. He didn't spend a lot of time in San Diego hanging out or fraternizing with his superiors, and he felt awkward about cracking open a couple of cold ones with them.

But after talking to a few people, he learned that this was a way for the command to get together before deployment. It makes sense to me, especially when Edward told me that a lot of people had transferred into the command either from various schools, new duty stations, or from promotions like he did.

I was nervous because I was about to meet all the spouses for the first time. I've been in Virginia for six weeks, and I haven't met a single person outside of our direct neighbors. All I really know about the Navy is whatever I've learned from my years of friendship with Jake and knowing Edward and Jasper, so, not a lot. Not to mention that military spouses tend to have a bad rap, and I'm a bundle of nerves.

Sitting on the edge of our bed in my bra and underwear, Edward finds me just staring into our closet. I haven't even tried to figure out what I'm wearing. It's still relatively chilly out, even during the day, but that doesn't help me narrow my choices down.

"Bella, babe? Are you okay?" Edward hesitates in the doorway to our bedroom, and I look over at him, feeling helpless.

"What if they don't like me?"

"What if who doesn't like you?" He takes a couple of steps toward me.

"The wives, Edward. The husbands, the other spouses." I roll my eyes, flopping back onto the mattress.

I hear him clear his throat in an obvious attempt to cover a laugh. "Why wouldn't they like you?" I can feel the mattress shift with his weight when he sits down next to me. "Are you really nervous about this?"

I rub at my face with my hands. "I just don't want to embarrass you. I don't know anything about the Navy or deployments or your job, and I don't want to look or sound stupid."

"You sound kinda stupid right now."

I pull my hands away and look over at him in shock. "Excuse me?"

"You're one of the smartest people I know. If you don't know anything it's because you don't live and breathe the Navy." He pokes me in the stomach, and I flinch, trying to hide my giggle. "Because you don't have to. You have a life and other interests. You love me, not my job. Do some spouses, some of them wives … actually, most of them wives, make their entire personality about their partner or their husband's rate and rank? Sure. It's ridiculous. You're better than that."

I pull myself up, resting my head on his shoulder and sighing. "I'm going to ignore the fact that you called me stupid earlier."

"I just said you sounded stupid." He leans down to press a kiss to my lips. "Are you okay? Think you can get dressed?"

"I guess so." We laugh, and I finally pull on some comfortable jeans, a sweater, and worn boots. I don't bother with makeup because I wouldn't with my friends, and we're out the door with our dish and case of beer.

Edward has been filling me in on his Ex-O and his shipmates as much as possible, and it does make me feel slightly more prepared. When we pull up in front of the two-story home in Chesapeake, there are some kids running around in the front yard while some guys toss a football back and forth. As Edward and I climb out of his truck, a couple of the guys yell "Hello Chief" to him, and one of them runs over and offers to take the crockpot from me and carry it inside.

Once we're inside the warm house that's bustling with activity, Edward and I make the rounds with him introducing me to shipmates and partners as we go until we find his Ex-O in the back yard, hovering over a huge grill and chatting to several other people with a baby in a sling on his back.

"Edward! Good to see you." His smile is wide when his eyes land on us, and I watch as he sets down his spatula and clasps my boyfriend's hand into a hard shake. "This must be Bella. I'm Alec Volta; it's nice to finally meet you."

Edward has to gently push me forward, but when I press my hand into Alec's, it's soft and firm. He squeezes mine gently before dropping it and smiling at us both. "Dee Dee is around here somewhere; probably making sure everyone is using a coaster and keeping their feet off the furniture."

"Thanks for having us. Is there anything I can do to help?" I offer because if I'm busy, I won't feel so uncomfortable.

Alec smiles again. "If my wife needs anything and you're offering, she'll put you to work. I've got ribs and chicken in the smoker, and burgers and dogs just went on the grill. I've also got plant-based stuff if that's what you're into."

Just then, a woman walks out and takes the baby from Alec. "I'm gonna put him down for a nap before we eat." She catches my eye and I smile. "Hi, I'm Dee Dee, Alec's wife."

"This is my new BM Chief, Edward Cullen and his girlfriend, Bella." Alec introduces us and Dee Dee smiles warmly.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you. Bella? Why don't you come inside with me? You can meet some of the other wives, and you won't be stuck out here while these guys start talking shop."

I hesitate for more than a moment, and she smiles again. "Is this your first command party?" I look around, but when I realize no one is paying us any attention, I nod. "I'll take care of you. I gotta put him down first. Come with me, and I'll give you the lowdown on some of the others."

I follow her silently inside and up the stairs as she makes her way into an adorably decorated nursery. "How old is he?"

"Oh, Liam is just over a year, almost 15 months." She changes his diaper, and I hang back by the door to stay out of the way. "He goes down easy, but he's a social butterfly, just like his father."

Once the baby is situated in his crib and Dee Dee has the baby monitor, she leads me back downstairs but not back to the party, but into what's clearly an office, and by the looks of it, her husband's.

"Am I in trouble?" I ask with a laugh. She smiles and gestures to a low sofa along a wall adorned with awards and photos from Alec's time in the service.

"Of course not. I, myself, am not much of a social creature. The earliest of our guests today showed up three hours ago." She rolls her eyes a little when I gape.

"The invite said two o'clock. We got here twenty minutes after that—" She holds up a hand to cut me off.

"First lesson: someone is always going to show up early; too early. They think they're helping, or they think they can get a leg up by coming early." She eyes me hard. "They don't help, and they can't get a leg up."

"A leg up how?"

"I'm the Ex-O's wife. I obviously have some influence over their spouses' careers." The way she says it is clearly meant as sarcasm, but there's enough deadpan in her voice for me to be confused. "I'm joking. You'll find out sooner or later, but for your sake, I hope it's sooner, that some women only care about their husband's rate and rank."

"I care about Edward's job because it's his job." I shrug, "But I'm not campaigning for him in any kind of way. I wouldn't even know how. I don't know enough about the Navy to be of much use to him in that regard."

"Lesson two: some of these women will view you as weak in that regard." She gives me a sharp look, and I can feel my hackles rising.

"Dee Dee, I can see that you think you're trying to help me, but I only want Edward to be happy and healthy in his career and with me in our relationship. We've worked really hard to get where we are, and I'm not going to let you or anyone else disparage me or that." I move to stand up, but she waves her hand to stop me.

"Bella, stop, please. I'm not trying to upset you." She's been leaning against the desk this entire time and finally moves to sit next to me. "When I married Alec, I knew nothing about the military as a whole, and I've been heartbroken over people I thought were friends only to find out they used information I told them to stab me in the back or go to their husbands and talk about Alec. I don't want to see that happen to anyone else."

I exhale long and hard. I can understand where this woman is coming from, but after everything I feel like I've been through, I'm wary of blindly trusting her. "At the risk of giving you or anyone else any ammunition, I'm not super interested in being best friends with a bunch of Navy wives. I just really want to find a job, support Edward as best I can, and meet some people and be friendly along the way. I don't want to be an outcast or come across as rude, but—"

"But you've already had your fair share of Navy friends, and it didn't work out well, did it?" She nods as if she understands my story already.

"My former best friend is in the Navy, and … I was married very young to a sailor, and no part of that ended well." I stand up to pace but stop and look down to her. "I don't want to be a doormat. I'm a nice person by nature; I like to see the best in people, and maybe that makes me naïve sometimes. But I also think I'm smart enough to figure it out on my own. I appreciate what you're trying to do, and maybe I'll come back to you begging for help in navigating this life, but for right now, I'd really like a beer and some ribs."

She sits back against the couch cushions, a blank expression on her face before she breaks out in giggles. "You may not realize it now, but I think you and I are going to be great friends. I'll help you through the rounds, and then we'll talk about your job prospects."

When she stands, she links her arm through mine and begins to lead me out of the room. "Oh, and call me Dee. Most of the girls in the command call me Dee Dee, the ones I like call me Dee."

And just like that, I'm in the inner circle.