All I'd been able to do for the past week was draw pregnant women and babies. My sketchbook was literally lined with rough outlines of enormous bellies, chubby little hands, and pretty bows.

While I'd promised myself I wouldn't be excited about this until further down the line, I was relieved. I'd finally stopped drawing Edward's face. It was a nice change, considering I knew I wouldn't ever see him again. I'd called Charlie not long after visiting my mother and told him the news.

He wasn't too unhappy about it…but to say he was jumping for joy would be an understatement. I'd imagine he didn't really like knowing his daughter had gotten herself knocked up from a one-night-stand. He encouraged me to move back in with him, but then I reminded him that I had Alice and a job to hold down.

Alice had, once again, starting bothering me nonstop about finishing some of my commissions. I'd completed a few, but like all artists experience, I couldn't find any inspiration. My cure was people-watching.

"I think I'll go out for bit," I told Alice, after staring at an incomplete painting for the last hour.

"Are you planning to get lunch? I'm craving kung pao," she said, looking at me from behind her laptop.

"Is that a joke?"

"Sorta," she laughed. "I really do want Chinese food. But I can always get some on my own later."

"I'm going to a coffee shop. It's raining, so I don't want to sit outside. I'll bring you food on the way back if you want."

"Yes please," she smiled. "And no coffee for you. That's not okay anymore."

I grabbed a pencil and my book, then hurried out to my car. It had been raining steadily for the past couple of days, which was typical for the area. It took me exactly seven minutes to get to my favorite little coffee shop, "Cup of Love". It was owned by a friendly woman named Angela, who made amazing brownies.

Inside the shop, it was warm, and I found an empty table in a quiet corner, the perfect spot for me to just sit and observe. People shuffled in and out, some ordering their drinks and leaving quickly, others stopping to eat a muffin or some other treat. The shop had sold out of brownies that morning. Occasionally, I doodled something on a blank corner of a used page in my sketch book, but nothing had struck me yet.

A half hour later, a little girl wearing a sundress and rain boots wandered through the front door, pulling a tiny pink jacket around herself. She had a brilliant smile, and long blond curls that hung down at her waist. Immediately, I started trying to capture her carefree happiness down on the paper in front of me. She ran forward and pressed her hands against the glass of the pastry case next to the register.

A man came in behind her and scooped her up into his arms, which made her squeal and giggle. I focused on her long curls, trying to keep myself from smiling.

"Daddy, cupcake!" she chanted, pointing at the pastries in front of her.

"Oh, you want a cupcake?" he asked. The man had an unusual southern accent, which made me look up from the paper. The little girl's father was a tall, blonde man, wearing a plaid shirt, blue jeans, and cowboy boots. "Does Janie want a cupcake?" she asked, tickling her.

"Yes!" she shrieked. "Cupcake!"

The man laughed and set her down on the ground, placing his order with the woman behind the front counter. My hand flew across the page, creating a drawing I knew I wouldn't have been able to make before coming here. She was the perfect inspiration.

The man and his daughter sat down together in an armchair next to the fireplace while she smeared vanilla frosting all over herself and devoured the cupcake he'd just bought her. He sipped from a cup and tapped his foot. It looked like he was waiting for someone.

I was putting the finishing touches on the butterflies that were on her rain boots when a bell rang and the door opened. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw the little girl run across the room and clasp her tiny arms around someone's knees.

"Uncle E!" she shouted. The man she was holding on to laughed and lifted her up. The sound sent shivers down my spine, and I stopped drawing, afraid to look up. It was too familiar. I bit my lip and looked at my work, trying to will my hand to go back to doing what it was doing. Instead a nervous knot formed in my stomach.

I told myself I was being stupid, that I hadn't even looked at the man who was talking to his adorable niece. I didn't even know if he was who I thought he was. The little girl giggled again, which was enough to help me focus.

I tried to remember what her eyes looked like, shutting out all of the other sounds around me, ignoring the other people in the shop. I'd planned on leaving as soon as I was finished with her eyelashes, because I'd accomplished what I initially came here to do. I was feeling inspired, I could go back to work and do my job now.

Just as I was about to put my pencil away and shut my book, someone spoke and startled me enough to gasp.

"That's quite good," the man said. My head snapped up and I found myself staring at someone I thought I'd never see again. Someone I didn't want to see again.

"Uh…um…thanks," I said, nervously. I was sure I looked like a complete idiot. Maybe I was drooling. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

He smiled, staring directly at me.

"Can I have a seat?"

"Sure," I stuttered. He obviously recognized me. NO! I shouted mentally. This is not supposed to happen! Go away!

Edward sat down across from me, and I wasn't sure whether I should cry, laugh, or explode. My instincts were telling me to run away as fast as I could.

"It's been a while, and I'm not sure if you remember, but we've met before," he said smoothly, carefully. "My name is Edward."

"I remember," I mumbled, tucking my hair behind my ear. "I, uh, was drawing the little girl because she just, um, seemed really happy. I'll get rid of it if you have a problem with it." I was rushing, babbling. You're twenty-five, not twelve, I yelled at myself. Quit acting like you don't know how to talk to an attractive man you've slept with before.

"I'm not here because you drew a picture of my best friend's daughter, Bella. Although, Jasper might want it because it is really good."

I instantly ripped the page out of my book and handed it to him.

"Here, he can have it."

Edward reached across the table, his slender fingers pinching at the corner of the paper.

"Thank you…" he said. "How have you been?"

"Good," I answered, automatically. I was trying desperately to not be awkward, but I was doing just the opposite. "How about you?"

"I've been….fine," he said, still fixing his green eyes on me, making me feel like I could pass out at any given moment. I needed to get away from him, because I was absolutely positive that nothing good could come from me talking to him now. It was too late. I'd made up my mind, and I was going to do this alone.

"I'm sorry, but I have to get back to work now," I said, trying to sound less weak than I did earlier.

"Oh, okay," he said, his face falling. His brow furrowed, which made me want to reach out and smooth it for him. I clenched my hands into fists.

"Can we meet again then?" he asked suddenly, before I could stand up. "Can I have your number so we can make plans? I think we need to talk about what happened. I need to talk to you about what happened. Please?"

I scribbled my number down on a piece of paper, despite the fact that a small voice in the back of my head was telling me not to. When I went to hand it to him, my hand grazed his. In that small moment, I felt like my hand had been burned and like my soul was alive. I let out of small gasp of surprise and drew back quickly.

"I guess I'll see you later then," I said, feeling like I was out of breath. I stood up quickly, and walked out, afraid to look behind me. I drove back to the office, forgetting Alice's food.

"Why don't I smell kung pao chicken?" she asked when I walked through the front door. She walked out of her office and looked at me expectantly. Her face instantly changed when she saw me standing there with tears in my eyes.

"What happened?" she asked, rushing over to me.

"He was at the coffee shop," I whimpered. "He was there, and he saw me, and he talked to me."

"Who?" Alice asked, pulling me over to the sofa in the foyer.

"Edward," I whispered.

"Are you serious?!" she gasped. "What did you do? And were there those brownies you like? They tend to cheer you up."

"Nothing…he came over to me, sat down, talked a little, then asked for my number because he wants to meet again to talk about what happened. What am I supposed to do?" The tears I'd been holding back spilled over onto my cheeks.

"The first thing you need to do is calm down," she said sternly. "This could be a good thing."

"Alice! I didn't want to see him again! I was getting over it!" I shouted, suddenly angry. "This wasn't supposed to happen! None of this! And they were out of brownies!"

Alice was quiet for a moment.

"But it did, Bella. It did happen, and now you need to deal with it. The least you could do is listen to what he has to say to you."

I stood up, still angry, and threw my hair into a bun. I was ready to paint, I was ready to forget about everything and I wasn't going to let this stop me. I walked away from her towards my office.

"You also need to get those god damn mood swings under control!" she shouted, just as I slammed my door behind me.

I took all of the anger and fear I'd been trying to control and let pour onto my blank canvas. Reds and blacks, all blending together and recreating the whirlwind of emotions I was battling. I was completely immersed in my work and had calmed down when my phone buzzed in my back pocket. I sighed and brushed my hair out of my face, no doubt smearing paint across my cheek and forehead.

An unknown number flashed across the screen on my smartphone. Waves of nerves surged through me, telling me not to answer it. I took a deep breath and answered anyway, holding the phone loosely in my hand to keep paint from getting on it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Bella, this is Edward," he said, his voice sounding like velvet through the speaker. My knees felt like jelly.

"Hi, Edward. "

"So, about meeting to talk?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"How does dinner tonight sound?"

So….how do you guys feel about Bella's stubbornness? Any single moms out there? If I were a bystander, I'd say she was being stupid, but that's just me. It's definitely not easy to do it alone. What do you think's going to happen?

Of course, I already know….muahahaha. But you never know, you guys could convince me to change the plot without even realizing it!