Rose opened the door of her home, ready to give Emmett a few, not polite words. She found him, lounging in sweats and his awful Homer Simpson sleepers.
"Hey, I went to the bank today, guess what I found out?"
Emmett had the decency of looking ashamed.
"Sorry. My mother called. Her roof needed repair. You know how with the awful rain it leaked and my sister is broke, as always. I had to help her."
Rose just sighed. Just what they needed. Emmett's mother was a manipulative harpy who hated her guts and Rose knew it from day one. Hell, the damn woman faked to feel 'palpitations' on their wedding day to stop it. The worst part was that Emmett was completely fooled by her. But Rosalie suddenly got a strike of inspiration.
"You know, we should visit her. If she's dealing with someone else repairing her roof, they could take advantage. I mean, a lonely old woman."
Emmett was feeling guilty. With Rose, because he knew money was tight after all he spent on this new project without her receiving that bonus. So, he lending the money to his mother right now wasn't such a good idea. Then to his mother. Usually, he made the time to deal with all those small repairs; but now he was so busy with this new project, that he left her alone to deal with it. His sister wasn't any help. She was a whiny self-centered little thing, that was spoiled by his mother. Maybe he needed to listen to Rose more often.
"Let me dress and we will go to help her."
xxx
When they got into Emmett's mother house, all Rose could notice was that it had new drapes... under a perfect, non-leaking roof. Rose just had to hide her anger 'til they got home. This woman played Emmett, again.
"Don't they look beautiful? I saw them in a magazine and I knew I had to have them. Maybe if my home looked more warm, you would visit more. I feel so lonely since your sister started with her new work." Emmett's mother said, playing with his feelings of guilt, trying to appeal to Emmet's sympathy. The problem was, that Emmett was more fearful of Rose's rage. He just asked her to call if she really needed help and drove home.
Rose was quiet. While she couldn't really blame Emmett because his mother played him, he was blind and refused to admit any wrongdoing on her side. He felt guilty because he couldn't stand to be around her for long periods of time, so his visits were scarce. That was true. But what really bothered her was that after all the drama because he needed the money for his new project, he didn't doubt to spent the last of their savings on his mother. And he never consulted it with her!
"I know, I know," Emmett said when they got back home. "I think I should had asked you."
"You think? Emmett, you left the house one whole night to figure out how to compensate the money from my bonus, yet you didn't think it twice to give it to your mother."
"Well, I'll get the first payment from the new project next week. What do you have to pay so important that can't wait?"
"I was granted the chance to get my certification." He frowned after her words. "Yes, if everything goes fine, I could be a manager in a year."
"So you also were trying to spend the what was left on our account without telling me. I just got there first."
Rose huffed. Typical Emmett, to try to turn it around.
"Not really, I asked you where did we stand, and I just found out."
Emmett just shook his head.
"I think I need to see the boys. don't wait up for me."
xxx
When Bella left work, she called Edward to see if he was busy, which was became the usual lately. Leah answered and told her they were just going to eat because they didn't have the time before. Bella decided to surprise them and bring lunch, well, a late lunch.
She bought pizzas, considering she didn't know everyone's preferences.
"Hello! Food is here!" She exclaimed, entering to Edward's office.
Tanya was the first to come and kissed Bella's cheek. "Did I ever tell you that I love you?" Then she took one pie, opened the box and took the first slice.
"We were starving," Leah said. Edward was fast to help Bella and kissed her.
"Do you want a slice, Jessica?" Bella offered, but Jessica picked up her things and walked to the door.
"Thanks, but I prefer to eat in the kitchenette. I brought a salad. You know, to watch my weight."
Behind Jessica, Leah and Tanya were mimicking her frown, making Edward fight to suppress his laugh.
"You're terrible," He said when Jessica was out.
"Oh, she's worst. 'You know, to watch my weight'" Tanya said, with a high pitched voice.
Bella was giggling. "It was rude of her. But at least, she left."
xxx
"And you should have seen her when she heard Marcus coming, she dropped everything, and ran to hide under my desk." Leah was telling the last of what they now called 'Tanya's telenovela'.
"He's a prick. He's been calling but luckily, Jessica always says we're busy. She still doesn't believe it's Marcus who makes the calls." Tanya said.
"Well, and what do you think? What do his calls make you feel?"
"Mad," Tanya said between bites. "I mean, he didn't man enough to confront his bitch ex-wife, so he dumped me. And now he's trying to reach me in a way bitch ex-wife would never notice."
"I told you, he's a wuss." Edward joked.
"So, how are you doing with the depositions?" Bella was interested in hearing what they say. Edward wasn't too clear trying not to worry her.
"Well, we have our first court date mid-January. You know, with holidays and Christmas spirit make December become short month."
"But he has a meeting with the big heads to show him our plans and how we are capable of dealing with this case," Leah said with some kind of pride.
"Really?"
"I'm going to ask for one more lawyer and one more paralegal. The other option is that they see us too green and they take the case from us. I have to prove we know our way around this."
"Which lawyer could they lend you?"
"Probably the new guy, that Jacob," Tanya said.
"He's been acting different lately. He was used to flirting with every girl in his vicinity, and now, he just waves and walk."
"Oh, maybe he has a girlfriend," Bella suggested.
The four of them were joking and making fun of everyone, when Jessica was back, fuming to see them laughing. She wasted no time in showing Edward a note. He frowned and stopped eating.
"Girls, we have to get back to work."
Bella helped Tanya to pick up the trash and went to hug her husband.
"Is everything fine?"
He sighed. "Yes, don't worry. Just... I'll be late tonight."
Bella told him to not worry and kissed him when Jessica cleared her throat.
"Jesus, could we set her up with this Jacob guy?" Bella asked Edward, who was still frowning.
"Don't worry about her." He lifted her face with his thumbs. "Baby, how are you feeling?"
"Fine. I miss you but I don't want you to stress about me, you have a bigger fish to fry over here," she kissed him again. "I'm sure you'll convince them to give you a lawyer. Please, pick one single male to set him up with Jessica."
Somehow, Bella's answer seemed to ease Edward's mind.
xxx
It was Wednesday, and Alice was a bundle of nerves. It took her various days to gather the courage to bribe her children with a day of pizza and movies while she took Jasper out for a date. She didn't want to have that conversation with the kids around, so their house was out of the question.
She left Cyn in charge, with money for the food and she took a little duffel bag. If everything went the way she wanted, she and Jasper would be spending the night in a quaint little hotel on the outskirts of the city.
She picked up Jasper at work, but not before she waved Leah goodbye. Alice remembered Bella mentioning they were stuck at work with a big case. But it was late enough to not get angry when Leah never came to talk, Leah still had a son to tend. Jasper came walking just behind her.
"I made reservations for tonight. I brought clothes..."
"Peter called. I'm aware we need to talk. Where are we going?"
"Could you please show a bit of interest in solving our problems?"
"Alice, I've been here for a long time. you're the one who ignored us. what do you have in mind?"
Alice swallowed her pride. She just had to look at the big picture.
"I made reservations. I wanted to talk to you without the kids around."
xxx
After three hours of debating, Alice accepted she was wrong. But with a few weeks with her and Jasper working in tandem, they would get their family back on track. But Alice had a problem with getting Cyn into therapy.