Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

LadySharkey1 rocks my world by being the most amazing, kick-ass beta I could ever imagine.

Chapter 2

The big date-fail of the century.

Two weeks later

"You need a plan."

I jumped, hearing Rose's voice behind me. "What?"

"You've been running around like a spaced-out chicken with its head cut off for most of the week and, as amusing as it was at first, it's kind of getting on my nerves right now," she scolded me, rolling her eyes. She swiped a cookie from the plate where I always dumped the ones that didn't meet the shops' standards. "As much as I hate the asshole for actually believing you when you pushed him away, I know he's kind of important to you, so I'm gonna help you out on this one."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest she took on the 'almighty relationship expert-look' that might have worked when we were still thirteen, but kind of fell flat since I knew she'd never actually been in a true relationship. At least, not one that lasted longer than one night. "If you want to make any sort of impression on him that doesn't fall into the babbling lunatic category, you're going to need to get your act together, mamacita."

I smirked. She's kind of right.

"So, what's the plan of attack going to be?" she asked. Rose paced in front of me like a general instructing her troops. "Jump him the minute he steps out of his car or butter him up with dinner and sweets first, then hop on that disco stick and ride it like Seabiscuit?"

"Uh, none of the above?" I snorted. "We've been apart for almost a decade, Rose! And even when we were together, look where sex got us: sixteen years old and pregnant! There will be no jumping of bones for at least a month into our relationship."

"Your funeral!" My best friend shrugged. "I just thought you might want to find out if he picked up a thing or two while you guys were apart. After all, last time you two did the horizontal tango you guys weren't exactly riding a wave of sexual experience, if you know what I mean."

I narrowed my eyes, not exactly liking where this was going. "He was good, okay? Experienced or not, our sex life wasn't what broke us up. Far from it, in fact." It was our stupidity.

My stupidity.

Sighing, I put down the piping bag, the neat rows of chocolate swirls somehow not looking quite as appealing as they did before she came in. "I don't want to talk about this."

Rose merely shrugged, the dinging of the shops' bell drawing her back to the front and leaving me behind in the bakery with nothing to do but mull over her words as I put the tray in the fridge and set to work cleaning the worktops.

I'd never admit it but the thought of Edward having sex with somebody else made me sick to my stomach. As bad as things had been between us in the end, I'd never stopped loving him and somehow believed that we'd somehow make our way back to each other. Even if I hadn't really done anything to make that happen.

Yet.

It was naïve of me to think that he'd been living like a monk for all these years. He had been busy with medical school, and living on campus with God knew how many delectable pieces of ass. Sure, he may have come home almost every weekend to be with his kid—our kid—but that still left plenty of time during the week to get up to all kinds of…things.

Just because I hadn't had sex since the last time we'd slept together didn't mean that he'd been abstaining. He'd never talked about all the possible girls he'd been boning when he stayed at his parents' house. Not that he would, with his kid running around the place.

He was bound, as Rose harshly put it, to have picked up a couple of tricks along the way, and as much as I wanted to benefit from those tricks, I didn't particularly want to hear about them.

Or even think about it, for that matter.

"Ugh!" I growled, slamming the mixing bowls on the counter as I set to work on my next project. It was a revised recipe of the classic gateau l'opera or 'opera cake' that I wanted to add to our menu but hadn't been able to get quite right yet. All the layers were there, of course, and they all tasted amazing apart from each other. Put together, though, the balance had been off.

And it irked me like nothing else.

I was in my element when I was baking. Gone were my worries about being a good mom, my near-absent love life, and whether or not the shop was doing well. When I was kneading dough or putting the pieces of the perfect cake together, I could just work my way from one layer to the next by the sheer force of skill and imagination and leave my mind pleasantly clouded by the fog of sugar and butter that constantly hung in the bakery. Baking was my safe, happy place, so when it went wrong, it drove my crazy!

I was just about ready to spread the top layer of tempered chocolate glace on top of the finished product when my phone started to ring. Annoyed, I tried to ignore it as I used my palette knife to spread out the thick, gooey liquid but the damn thing just kept on ringing, even after the first call had gone to voicemail. Fucking fuck! Whoever's calling has better be dying!

By the time I was ready to put the cake aside to firm, my head was throbbing and I was beyond being polite as I picked up, not even bothering to look at the name on the display. "This had better be important!"

"Ah, fuck!" A very familiar voice sounded on the other end of the line. "I forgot you were still at work."

Edward. Even though I was still pissed off as hell, the mere sound of his voice made me smile. He did that to people. "If I messed up this cake because of you, there's going to be hell to pay," I warned him. In spite of what happened between us and my lingering feelings, we'd always remained great friends over the years so I was kind of banking on the fact that he would be able to pick up the delicate balance between joking and seriousness in my voice.

Because, all joking aside, there was going to be hell to pay if I messed this cake up for the second time.

"Why don't you bring a piece with you tonight and let me be the judge?" he challenged, chuckling in that way that always made my heart flutter.

Wait….what?

"Tonight?" I asked, doing a mental round up of all my appointments I could remember. "What's happening tonight? Did I miss something?"

"Nah," he replied, sounding almost nervous. What the hell was going on? "I'm in town for a meeting at the hospital and I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me."

I gasped. "Dinner? With you? Tonight?" Oh. My. God. Could I sound like more of an idiot?

"I've already asked my mom to watch Charlie for the night and she was more than happy to take her." I bet. "So…" His voice trailed off, the silence bordering on awkward as I did a little happy dance around the bakery.

He was asking me out on a date!

A real dinner date!

And maybe some slight groping under the table if I was lucky.

I was going on a date with Edward Cullen; baby daddy extraordinaire and star of all my naughty fantasies.

Squee!

"Bella?" Much to my joy, his voice had doubled on the nervousness; the feeling that he was as flustered about all this as I was had been surprisingly comforting. "Are you still there?"

"I am," I was quick to reply. "And I'd love to go!"

"Okay." Nerves had made place for relief, another adorable and comforting feeling to pick up on. "I've made reservations at this place in Port Angeles at eight. Pick you up at seven?"

Port Angeles? Wow, the dude was really meant business if he wanted to drive all the way to a fancy restaurant in the Port. "T-that will be fine by me," I stammered, the nerves already setting in as I said a shaky goodbye and ran out of the bakery like my ass was on fire.

"Rose?" I squeaked, for the moment I didn't care whether or not there were customers in the shop. "I need your help."

Rose's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as she almost dropped the platter of petits fours she'd been rearranging before putting them back in the display case. "I never thought I'd hear those words!" There really shouldn't have been so much happiness in her voice. "What can I do for you, bestie?"

"Edward's talking me to dinner tonight and I want to look amazing," I explained, wiping my chocolate stained hands on my apron.

Rose nodded pensively, looking me up and down as she muttered, "I can see why that calls for my help."

"I can look good on my own," I pouted, childishly crossing my arms like I'd seen my daughter do a million times. It wasn't like I didn't know I lacked the finesse Rose showed in her supermodel looks, but on the other hand I also knew I didn't exactly look like I'd been dragged backwards through a bush.

"You might," Rose answered mercilessly, "at least…if you had an outfit that screamed hot, sexy mama instead of serious business woman with some makeup to match. Your outfits are great if you wanted to throw a sales pitch his way—I know because I put them together for you—but if you're looking to make him see what he's been missing all these years, you're going to need to show a whole lot more skin."

I smirked, knowing she was kind of right. Over the past couple of years, I'd been pretty much absent from the dating scene or even the 'casual dining' scene, which meant that all my dress clothes were meant to look good on business dinners or cake presentations.

Not me presentations.

"Just don't make me look like I belong on a street corner," I warned her.

An hour later I had been plucked, buffed and forced into clothes that felt so awkwardly tight that I sat, blinking like a mute as she made her grand reveal.

"Wow."

"I know, right?" she grinned proudly. "He won't know what hit him. When is he arriving again?"

I glanced at the clock, my nerves pounding in my throat. "In ten minutes. He picked Charlie up from school this afternoon and went to spend some time with her and get her settled in at his parents' before coming over here."

"Then you'd better head on down to put on your shoes," she urged me, the prospect of wearing the heels she'd brought for me not at all appealing. It was moments like that when I really hated having the same shoe-size as she did.

"Oh, and Bella?" I looked back as she packed up her things again, her face worryingly serious as she looked back at me. "Be careful before you jump into this, okay? I don't want to see you heartbroken all over again."

I nodded, knowing what she meant. "I'll try."

The door hadn't shut behind Rose for a minute before the doorbell rang; the vision of Edward, standing on my doorstep wearing a suit and his trademark smirk made me realize how I didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell at being careful. Even standing there, I had to resist the urge to climb him like an apple tree and kiss the hell out of him. Among other things…

I wanted him.

I wanted him right then and there, damn it. Heartbreak or not.

"Are you ready?" he asked, his eyes traveling over my body as he smiled nervously, running a hand through his previously somewhat tamed hair. Esme will be disappointed. That looked like her handiwork.

Grinning at how some things never changed, I took his arm and locked the door behind me as I followed him to his car. Really, some things never changed. "Another Volvo?"

He shrugged. "They're the safest cars out there and since Charlie's probably going to spend some more time with me in it, I thought I'd rather go for safety than a sports car."

"Smart thinking." I forced my lips into a smile, the thought of my little tomboy spending more time with her dad when he moved both excited me and made me feel a slight pang of jealousy. In spite of the weekends and holidays she spent with Edward when he was home, over the past couple of years it had always been me and Charlie against the rest of the world.

What if she decided she liked her dad better?

I pushed those thoughts aside almost as soon as they entered my mind. It was foolish, really. Over the years, Edward and I had remained really close. Both for the sake of our kid and because it had always been the two of us, really: best friends, lovers, parents. Apart from Rose, he was the only person I could talk to when everything became too much for me, and over the years I'd found that the same went for him.

As we drove he told me about his meeting earlier that day and his excitement to start out as a resident at the hospital he'd volunteered at since he was fourteen. It turned out it had been his idea all along to try and complete his residency here, but he'd been too afraid of failure to share his dreams with anyone else before he knew for certain they were going to come true.

"Mom only found out on the same day she called you, when I'd finally signed the contract," he explained, looking a little guilty. "I would have told you directly, but…"

"Esme beat you to it?" I guessed.

"I went out celebrating with some of my friends and when I came home to call you, I already had a message from Mom telling me how excited you and Charlie were," he chuckled, deftly steering the shiny silver Volvo along the familiar road to Port Angeles.

"She is super-excited, by the way," I answered, smiling at the memory of Charlie's jubilant face when she heard the news. "We all are." I was still congratulating myself on the subtleness of my remark when I noticed the awkward silence that had settled in, my nerves spiking as I tried to think of something to get us back on track. "Where are you going to live, by the way? Are you moving back in with your parents?"

He shook his head, the gravel crunched beneath the tires as he steered the car onto the parking lot of one of Port Angeles more swanky restaurants. "I've already got an option on a two-bedroom apartment near the hospital." He chuckled, shutting the engine. "I think I'd go mad if I moved back in with my mom and dad. It's already bad enough as it is when I'm down there for a few weeks during the summer."

"I know what you're saying." I chuckled, thankful to have our former, relaxed atmosphere back again. "I couldn't imagine moving back in with my parents!"

Helping me safely out of the car and to the front door (which was no small achievement considering the shoes Rose had put me in), our conversation was put on pause until we were settled at our cozy corner table with our menus in front of us.

"So," he started, flipping his menu shut after making his choice. "How about you? Business is doing great from what I've heard."

I nodded, my pride sounding through in my voice as I spoke about my shop. "We're at that point right now, where I'm debating whether or not to hire extra help to keep me from going insane. I just haven't decided whether or not to go for someone in the bakery, someone in the shop exclusively, or someone who can do both." It was probably going to be the latter, though, since for starters I was still too much of a control freak to have some minion trailing around my bakery all day and secondly, Rose needed some help as well.

"You're still doing everything alone?" His head was cocked, his eyes inquisitive as he listened to me; the fact that I had his full attention made me feel more bold as I leaned slightly forward, offering him what I hoped was a spectacular view of my boobs.

"I have Rose, of course," I explained as I made another attempt at nipping sexily from my wineglass just like I'd seen Rose do when she was on the prowl, "and when I'm really swamped I usually call Marcus to see if he has a decent student lined up to help me…but yes, other than that, it's just me."

"I can imagine that must be lonely sometimes," he mused, swirling his wine around in his glass.

I had to wait until the waiter had gone again after taking our orders to answer his question, which gave me some time to think about my reply. "Sometimes," I thought aloud, thinking about how making all the decisions did, eventually, come down on me no matter how much Rose had been my rock. "I miss having someone at home I can just unload onto when I get back after a frustrating day in the bakery, but I guess I've gotten used to it over the years." I shrugged, not wanting to sound like a charity case. "I have to admit I also kind of like help with the decision making stuff."

"I can imagine," he smiled deviously. "You're the queen of your own empire; nobody to give you orders or to boss you around. I can't even imagine what that must feel like."

"You're forgetting Rose works at my shop." I chuckled, remembering some of the times where it had seemed more like I was working for her than the other way around. "I do sometimes wish I had more time to spend with Charlie, though. It's not like she's neglected or anything but sometimes…" I sighed wistfully. "My mom was always there when I got home from school, waiting for me with milk and cookies to hear about my day." I shrugged, taking another sip from my wine. "I'm there as well but nine times out of ten, I'm so busy doing my job that I can't really give her my full attention."

"You're setting a great example for her, though." Edward's hand reached out for mine over the table. "If she wants to know how to grow into a strong, independent woman that we want her to be, all she has to do is look at her mom."

I blushed, my blood pulsing a little stronger through my veins at his praise. "I'd prefer it if she didn't follow in my footsteps every step of the way, though," I joked. "Fortunately, she's still too much of a tomboy to even think about boys as anything else. She's great at accomplishing whatever scheme she's concocting at the time."

"Thank God!" Edward chuckled along with me.

We spent most of our dinner trading stories about our daughter; meaning that I talked while he listened, only to chip in a few times with stories from his summers and the things father and daughter got in to when they were together.

There was something lingering, though…

As we laughed and ate together, there was always an underlying tension in him; something that let me know there was more to this dinner party than just a chat among friends who also happened to be parents of the most kickass, unique human being on the planet. At first, I hoped it might have been that he was as eager to move forward again with me as I was with him, but as the evening advanced and all my clever hints were met with silence, I was starting to have doubt.

"Bella," he finally spoke, waiting until I'd scooped up the final bite of a tarte tatin that I knew I would have pulled off better. "I have something I want to discuss with you…something you should know before I move out here."

The silence hung heavily over the table as I swallowed. This is going to be bad. I can just feel it. "Okay." Let's have it, before I lose my nerve and throw up my expensive dinner before he's even paid the bill.

Clearing his throat, his eyes never met mine as he spoke the words that would shatter my all over again. "I met someone….someone important."

Thoughts?