(Thursday's) Prompt: plain

Discretion is challenging. Especially so when Edward and I sit across from each other in the conference room during our monthly staff meeting and he doesn't stop nudging my foot with his underneath the table.

I mouth for him to stop and he silently laughs, leans back in his chair, twisting it back and forth as he pulls at the knot in his tie.

We're not hiding, but we're not flaunting it either. The only people aware are still just Rose, Angie, and maybe Intern Eric.

Edward looks back at Carmen as she goes on about client service, numbers, and broadening advertising, and I watch the bright expression on his face quickly fade to boredom.

He covers a yawn; I send him a text.

"It's late June," Carmen says, "which means if potential and past clients haven't already started planning Christmas and New Year's parties they're going to start now. Make sure we're able to offer them everything they want, and Bree? Start calling folks from last year and the year before."

It's always the same old thing: if not holiday parties than it's the wedding season. Edward glances at me, and I tap my phone. I look back toward Carmen.

"Rose, how are you coming along on the Black-Malloy wedding? Do you need any—"

"Ha!"

"Edward?" Carmen asks.

"Sorry," he says, half smiling and shaking his head.

Rose is sitting next to me. She clears her throat as Edward narrows his eyes at me. I slip my phone under the table, waiting for his reply.

"Everything's on schedule," Rose says.

I would VERY much like to see your fabulous breasts. ~E

I cough, covering a laugh, and Edward stares directly at Carmen.

"Oh my god," Rose whispers, and I tilt my phone away from her.

Carmen's eyes dart between Edward, Rose, and me. "Assistance? Do you need any?" she asks.

I text him back:

OK but only if I get to see your ass.

"I think Bella would be a great asset to my team," Rose says, smirking.

My head shoots up. "What? No. No, I don't do weddings."

"She doesn't like brides," Edward says, and I nod, agreeing. He nudges my foot again.

I would take a thousand Mrs. Whitlocks over working with a single bride any day. They're too high strung, too emotional, too zilla-esque and then when their mothers get into the mix, which they always do…I'll stick with my benefits and corporate parties, thank you very much.

"It's true," I clarify.

Mike from accounting sits on the other side of me. He's tapping his pen against the table, like he's hammering down a loose nail. He looks pissed. "Big surprise," he murmurs, but loud enough that Edward hears him too.

Edward and I look at each other, confused, and Mike turns his chair so his back faces me.

Carmen leans forward, elbows on the table. "Rose? Do you or do you not need assistance? And please don't accentuate the word ass if at all possible. We're not a bunch of high-schoolers."

Mike huffs, and Edward glares at him.

"I'll get back to you," Rose says. She shrugs at me, neither of us knowing what's got Mike all bent out of shape.

Carmen shuffles and taps papers, then stands to leave. "Okay, then. Let me know if anyone needs anything." She crooks a finger at Bree, beckoning her to follow.

Mike shoots out of his chair and stomps out of the conference room, and gradually the others leave as well.

"Um?" Rose looks back and forth between Edward and me.

"I should say something," I say, walking toward the door.

Edward runs his hand down my back. "Let it go. He's probably having a bad morning."

Rose shuffles past us. "Thanks, by the way, for putting me on the spot."

She winks. "Stop dirty texting during meetings."

"Stop reading my dirty texts during meetings," I counter, and she walks away.

I turn toward Edward. "But that remark was to me. It's just so weird for him to behave like that."

"Yeah, it kind of pissed me off. Want me to take him out?" he teases, and I shake my head. Edward tugs a strand of my hair. "Lunch?"

"Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Wherever you're going to show me your fabulous breasts."

Lunch was breastless, thanks to Angie and Rose inviting themselves at the last minute. Alas.

Edward has been holed up in his office for the afternoon—the annual D.C. Brewfest is coming up and that's Edward's baby. I worked the event with him last year. He scoffed at my lack of hops knowledge and introduced me to Jack's Abby Hoponius Union. He bought a case for me, making me promise to never have the dregs of the beer world grace my refrigerator ever again. I haven't.

I go to our mini-kitchen to get a couple bottles of water for Edward and me, thinking he could use a five-minute break, and as I open the refrigerator, Mike walks up.

He regards me coolly, placing a cup in the Keurig. We've never had an issue with one another before. He's always been nice to me; I thought we were friends. I contemplate walking away, but then he throws a nasty look at me.

"Did I do something?"

Mike shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels. "It's none of my business," he says. He stares up at the ceiling.

"Okay, well that might be true, but can you at least tell me what was going on in the meeting this morning? If you're angry with me, I'd like to know why."

He turns toward me and lowers his voice. "I saw what the two of you were texting…Edward's married, Bella."

My cheeks flush. Rose seeing the texts? Okay, fine. But Mike seeing them is plain humiliating. He's that guy. The one whose opinion you care about because he never has anything bad to say about anyone. He's just…kind.

But he's right: it isn't any of his business.

"He's separated." Mike pauses then shrugs dismissively. "Well, I'm sorry you had to see that."

I turn to walk away, but Mike stops me. "You could be with anyone, Bella. Why did you have to pick him?" he says.

Well.

We're awkwardly quiet for a while, him staring down at the floor and me staring at anything but him.

"I had no idea," I say because what do you say to someone who's admitted they're attracted to you and you feel no attraction to them whatsoever?

"Yes, well, you're not the only one." Mike grabs his coffee and brushes past me.

"He said what?" Edward's face turns red.

"He wanted to know out of all the men in all of the world, why did I have to choose you." I embellish, sitting back against Edward's desk.

Edward grins and nods, rolling his chair closer. He plants his knees on either side of me, lifts my blouse just above the hem of my skirt then presses his mouth to my stomach. "So, you're saying Mike has a crush on you," he says, half mumbling against my skin.

"Seems that way," I say, scratching his scalp.

He peeks up. "I don't think so."

"Why not? He said as much."

Edward returns his focus to my stomach, and I shiver a little. I can feel him smiling against my stomach. "Mike's gay."

"What?"

Edward lowers my blouse, stands and presses himself flush against me. "Sorry, sunshine." He kisses me. "I think it's me he wants."

Edward and I told Carmen about us before we left for the day, figuring it best before any other false assumptions were made. She didn't appear to be surprised, or maybe she just didn't care. Or maybe everyone already does know, except for Garrett of course.

I wring my hands, wearing a path in the carpet of my bedroom as I try to muster my thoughts. I've gone over my approach a million times in my head, but nothing feels right. It all seems so contrived, forced. The last thing I want to do is blindside Garrett.

I walk down the steps, and the noise from the television grows louder. It's close to 8p.m., and Garrett has yet to get his shower. He's burrowed into the corner of the couch surrounded by pillows and cushions, playing his NintendoDS. Garrett's brow furrows, his little thumbs pressing buttons quick and determined, and I stand there, watching him for a few seconds.

His skin is tanned from being outside at soccer camp and his hair has tiny streaks of blond throughout. He looks like my dad, except that my dad's hair is streaked with gray.

I sit on the corner of the couch and flip off the television. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"'K," he says not looking up from the Nintendo.

"Almost done?"

"Uh huh." Another minute passes, and I ask him to put down the game. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to talk to you about something." He stares at me, expectantly. "Okay. Hmm…Okay."

"Mom."

"Sorry. You know you're the most important person in the world to me, right? You do. Good. Because you are, and I don't ever want you to doubt that. I love you so much that sometimes I think my heart might explode."

"That would hurt. Can hearts really do that? I know that sometimes people's arteries can get blocked and the blood can't get to the heart. Like Grandpa? Remember when we thought that happened to him and he had to go to the hospital, but he turned out okay?"

I nod and sigh. "Yep. I remember, but that's not what I mean. I don't mean my heart will literally explode, though, G, it's more of a feeling."

"I understand."

"Okay. So…speaking of feelings, you know how you feel about Kate? You were friends at first, but then it changed?" Garrett's cheeks pink up, and he nods. "That's a good feeling, right? You like to be around her because she makes you happy and she likes to be around you because you make her happy, too."

"She's my girlfriend," he says, and I smile.

"Right. Well, that's kind of the way that I feel about somebody." Garrett shifts uncomfortably, but I continue. "Do you remember Edward? You do. Okay. That's how I feel about him and how he feels about me."

"But what about Dad?"

"What about your dad, sweetie?"

"Don't you like him anymore?" Garrett asks. His voice is nothing less than disbelief, and this is one of the things I was afraid of. He stopped asking a long time ago when Sam and I were going to get back together, and I thought he understood.

I regurgitate the speech I told him when Sam first left, reiterate that his dad and I love him, but we don't love each other. I tell him that yes, I do like his dad, but not in that way.

Garrett ponders a while, and I wait.

"Is Edward going to live here?" I shake my head. "Seth's mom has a boyfriend. He stays over sometimes."

"I see."

"Doesn't Edward already have a girlfriend?"

Thank you. "No."

"I'd like to go think," he says, hops off the couch, and walks upstairs.

So again I wait, give him some time before the real questions start. There's no way he's not going to dissect every part of this. I pick up Garrett's Nintendo, switch it to Mario mini-games, and wait some more.

"Mom! Mom!"

"What!" I run up the steps, meeting Garrett in the hall where he shoves a box toward me. "What's wrong?"

"Where's my time machine stuff?"

"Garrett…"

"Where is it?" he screeches, his eyes watery.

"Sweetie, you said you were done with that. There were things in there that could have been dangerous. Why do you need it?"

He starts to cry, and I drop in front of him, grab hold of his hands. "I thought since Dad likes me again that I didn't have to go back to before he left but now you like someone else and what if you stop liking me?"

"Oh, sweetie, no," I promise, pulling him into a tight hug. He's crying against my neck, arms wrapped around me and I squeeze him, crying, rub his back, hold his head. "That's never going to happen. I swear to you, I will never stop liking you. Not in a million years would that ever be a possibility. You're the thing that matters most, Garrett."

He hiccups, so I hold him tighter until he tells me he can't breathe.

"You're wrong about your dad. He never stopped liking you, not once. He made a mistake, and I know for a fact that he's so, so sorry he did."

It takes some time and more consoling Garrett that his fears will never come true. We sit on the edge of his bed and after convincing him I won't think it's stupid, he admits that he thought maybe he might've have wanted to build the time machine again. I make him promise me that he'll never change.

After Garrett calms down and finishes his nightly routine, we play Monopoly, staying up later than he normally would. He finally falls asleep on my lap in front of the television.

Edward calls a little while later.

"Hey. How'd it go?" he asks.

I don't have the heart to tell him it didn't go well at first and that Garrett has some major doubts, but I'm not going to lie to him either. "He's nervous," I say, and trace Garrett's hairline.

There's a long pause before Edward speaks. "I guess that's to be expected, right?"

"Yeah. One day at a time, you know?"

"Yep. You okay?"

"Mmhm."

"That wasn't a very convincing 'Mmhm'," he says.

"I promise."

"All right. So, what's next?"

Garrett stirs a little. "You meet him, officially."

A/N: Just two prompts left, but the next one will be an extra in EPOV to move things to where they need to be! So, three more chapters.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the weekend!