A/N: Hello, my duckies! Let's get it ooooooon.
Edward had liked to tease Bella that if he wasn't so secure in how good-looking he was he'd be jealous of how well she and Carlisle got along. Bella had teased him right back that his brother was a stud in his own right. It was worth the horrified face Edward made.
The thing was, Bella, like Carlisle, was a bookworm. It was the thing they had most in common besides loving Edward. And in reality, Edward loved that she and Carlisle got along. He thought it was funny that they had, in his reckoning, the same horrible taste in books, and that they would dissect them to itty, bitty pieces.
But it had been a long time since Bella had read a book. It had been a long time since she and Carlisle had had a really good conversation. Bella didn't really know how that happened. She lost her words for a while after Edward died. Still, it had been Carlisle who'd reached through the darkness, through his own tremendous pain, to offer her a hand to hold.
That was why she'd understood when Emmett said he wanted to do this thing for his mother. He and Esme had been through a different kind of hell together. He saw them as partners, but a child could never replace a partner for his parent. So, there was this deficit, this need in him, like the one in Bella, to make something go right in his mother's life.
And, yeah. Maybe it was a half-cocked, asinine thing for them to have decided Carlisle and Esme could fill a void in each other's lives. Both of them should know better than to think they had any kind of control over life. And just because Carlisle and Esme were both two genuinely sweet, lonely people didn't mean they belonged together. Still, there was no harm trying, right?
Bella was brought out of her ruminations by a soft hip-bump. She looked up to find Carlisle smiling down at her. "Did you hear what I said?"
"Spaced out for a minute." Bella was irrationally nervous. She told herself she was being ridiculous. It wasn't as though this was some nefarious thing.
"Are you nervous about something?" Carlisle asked, his brow furrowed.
Well, fuck. Maybe she was a piss-poor liar after all. But she maintained that she could still get through a hand of poker. After all, it wasn't like she was messing with anyone's life—even if in a positive, well-meaning way—when she doubled down on a crappy hand of cards.
"Bella?"
"Sorry. What were you saying?"
Carlisle gave her a strange look. "I just asked if you wanted to go somewhere first."
"Uh. Yeah. Let's go look at the pies." That had been Emmett's idea. He'd said his family would get suspicious if he didn't go straight for the pies. She'd called him a cupcake traitor.
He quirked an eyebrow. "You don't even like pie."
That was true, and she hadn't thought about it. "I liked that Cool-Whip, Jell-O pudding pie your mother made that one time."
"The one with the Oreo cookie crust?"
"Yeah."
"Bella, that's not a real pie."
She made a face at him. "Don't be a pie snob."
He laughed. "I'm not. I liked that pie too. What I'm trying to say is that at this kind of fair, all the pies will be homemade. No Oreo crust."
"Bleh. I don't like the regular pastry crust. That's why I don't like pie."
"I know you don't like pie." Now Carlisle looked like he was trying not to laugh at her, his amusement only barely reined in. "That's why I was curious why you were suddenly interested in looking at them."
"Well…" Fucking Emmett "The Bottomless Pit" McCarty. "Because."
There was a beat while Bella's cheeks flamed. "Fair enough," Carlisle said and headed in that direction. Behind him, Bella huffed. As Emmett would say, she had no chill.
Luckily, Emmett and his family weren't quite to the pies yet. That would have looked way too unnatural after Bella's fumbling. So, she and Carlisle got into a friendly debate with the baker about what the hell rhubarb was and whether or not it had any business being in a pie.
"Pecans don't sound like they belong in a pie," the baker countered, her arms crossed. "But we like pecan pie."
"You like pecan pie. And nuts are used in the desserts all the time. I love a good walnut brownie." Bella ticked off on her finger. "Then, there's peanut butter. The peanut butter cupcake book I keep stocked at my supply store always sells." She poked at the edge of a pie tin, making a face. "I still don't know what a rhubarb is. I mean, if I've never bitten into one raw, or even seen it on a shelf, why would anyone stick it in a pie?"
"Whoa. What's going on here?"
Bella turned at the sound of Emmett's voice. Because she'd been so caught up in conversation, her cry of, "Emmett," was actually convincing.
"Hello, Emmett. Bella's picking a fight over pies." Carlisle's features noticeably softened when he looked to Emmett's right. "Hello, Esme." He reached out and ruffled Alice's hair. "Alice." He looked to the figure at Emmett's left. "And you are…"
"This is Jasper. Jazz, this is Carlisle. His family owns the place where I work. Mom, you remember Carlisle and Bella."
Esme arched an eyebrow, but her glance lingered on Carlisle. "It was just two weeks ago. I'm not senile yet."
Ignoring his mother, Emmett turned back to Bella. "What the heck kind of fight do you pick over pie?"
"She's protesting the existence of rhubarb pies," the baker said, sounding unamused.
Emmett shuddered. "I can't decide what's grosser. Something rhubarb or mince meat. They both sound disgusting."
The woman plastered on a smile and picked up two pies—one of the mince meat. "Sample?" she said sweetly.
Bella snickered. "Go ahead, Emmett. Try the mincemeat." Even saying it made her want to gag a bit.
Emmett looked at the baker. "Isn't mincemeat like...a sweet meat pie?"
"Sweet meat means balls," Alice said, completely straight-faced.
They all stared. The baker snickered. "Technically, she's right. But there's no sweet meat in my mince meat."
"And meat shouldn't be sweet to begin with," Emmett said.
"Oo-kay." Carlisle put one hand on Emmett's shoulder, the other on Bella's, and turned them around. "I've seen this slapstick comedy. Pies end up in faces, and we're not invited back to the fair. Come along, hooligans."
Emmett went, but he twisted around, staring back at the pies. "But...she...had banana cream." He harrumphed when they were a distance away and swung around to look at Bella with mock anger. "You totally deprived me of my pie."
"Uh oh. That's never a good sign." Esme made a wide-eyed face of impending doom.
"And, that's my cue." Jasper shook his head. "I go in search of coffee. Good luck dealing with the beast." He slapped Emmett on the back with a healthy thwack and sauntered off. Bella watched him a beat and flicked her eyes to Emmett, but he didn't appear to be bothered by being ditched.
Emmett rolled his eyes and looked at Bella. "Don't listen to any of them. I got hangry like, once, and it wasn't my fault."
His mother patted his back consolingly. "Yes, because a full-grown adult isn't responsible for his actions."
"You promised me pie that time, and I was hangry. You know. Hangry. Snickers made a whole series of commercials about it." He flashed a huge grin at her and Carlisle. "So. Fancy meeting you here."
Bella laughed. The sound was a little too high-pitched, and Emmett gave her a look. She coughed into her hand. "Happy coincidence," she muttered.
"I didn't mean to take over," Carlisle said. "I shouldn't have imposed on your day."
Esme smiled at him. "Emmett will survive if he doesn't get pie."
"Uh, Emmett is a grown-up with money of his own, and if he wants pie, he'll just go back and get a slice," Emmett said.
Alice made a face at her big brother. "Why are you talking like that?"
"Shut it, shortstuff." He looked at Bella. "So you picked a fight with the pie lady, eh?"
"I still don't understand why you wanted to look at the pies in the first place," Carlisle said. He looked to Emmett. "Bella is vehemently anti-pie."
Emmett turned wide eyes on her. He grasped his heart. "Oh no." He grasped at his heart, taking a few stumbling steps. "Say it ain't so. Ah, crap. I have to quit. My boss is evil."
"Evil, huh?"
"Well, at the very least un-American. You know. As American as baseball and apple pie?"
"I don't like baseball either."
Emmett started to make a face, but then he shrugged. "I don't like baseball either. It's boring."
"I like baseball," Alice offered.
"How about the carnival games?" Carlisle asked, nodding his head a little ways away where one strip was decked out in games. "There's a catching game. There always is."
Alice brightened. "I like the goldfish game."
"Oh, Alice." Esme said with a sigh. "How about a different game this time?"
Emmett bent to whisper in Bella's ear. This breath on her neck sent a delicious tingle down her spine, and she pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, trying to ignore it. "She always gets the fish," he whispered. "And then cries when it dies. And it always dies."
"I'm not going to kill this one," Alice insisted, having heard Emmett despite his attempt to be quiet . "Practice makes perfect, and I've had practice." She made a face. "And even if it dies, I won't cry. I'm not a baby this time."
"Aren't those obnoxiously big snakes a thousand times cooler than a fish though?" Carlisle pointed at the prizes in question—stuffed, coiled snakes that were about as big as Alice was. "I always wanted one of those when I was a kid, but my parents hated these kinds of games. They were upset when I took Edward and we brought home a teddy bear that he could sit in."
"Who's Edward?" Esme asked.
All things considered, it was good that she asked. Carlisle didn't get a lot of opportunities to talk about his brother, and Esme, it was clear, was a good listener. Still, though enough time had passed that the pain of Edward's loss didn't threaten to knock her over, it still ached. She found herself hunching inward a bit, going quiet as Esme asked soft questions.
Emmett touched her arm making her jump. "Hey," he said, again near her ear though this time far too softly for anyone to hear. He studied her face a few seconds, his fingertips playing along hers in a touch she found so comforting. He nodded and looked to his mother. "Hey, Mom. I'm going to let you and Carlisle handle the boring catch game."
Esme snorted. "Right. What you mean is you couldn't get the ball in that little hole if your life depended on it." She looked at Carlisle. "He'll tell you he hates baseball because it's boring. Really, he hates it because he sucks at it."
"Okay. First of all, I'm going to have to ask you never to say the words 'ball in that little hole' again. Ever, ever, ever." Emmett shuddered. "Second of all, I didn't suck at baseball. The coach sucked. He was biased against me. Kept pitting me against players who made me look bad."
"When he says biased, he means honest." Esme rubbed her son's back consolingly.
Alice giggled and Carlisle hid a laugh. Bella smirked, straightening up a bit. She hadn't realized her shoulders were so hunched. Emmett shook his head at Bella. "My mother's a chronic liar. It's very sad. I've got to get around to looking into homes for the not-so-elderly."
"I could have left you at the hospital in a basket," Esme countered.
"See? Chronic liar. No one who looked at baby me could have walked away."
Esme's expression turned tender and she patted his cheek. "Even a broken clock is right twice a day."
"Love you too, Ma."
"Go play, little boy."
Emmett stood up to his full height. "Little. Sure." He touched a hand to Bella's elbow, and they left.
"That worked out better than expected," Bella said, glancing over her shoulder as Esme and Carlisle turned toward each other.
"What did?" Emmett asked. He followed her gaze. "Oh. Right. Operation Setup."
Bella raised a brow, realizing belatedly that he hadn't planned that move. He'd done it purely because he knew she was struggling. Warmth spread through her. Emmett was such a genuinely sweet guy.
He yawned and stretched, arching his arms up and doing that thing guys did where they made that booming groan. She jumped at the sound and laughed. Her eyes landed on the thin strip of skin above the line of his pants.
Well, hell. Obviously, he was ripped. She'd known that, but…
Well. Hell.
"So, are you telling me you aren't good at sports?" Bella asked quickly.
"Boss lady, didn't you get in trouble stereotyping me the day we met?" Emmett tilted his head, fixing her with a look.
Bella flushed. "Ah, crap."
Emmett laughed. He grabbed her by the arm before she could continue walking on. "I'm bad at baseball. I'm good at other sports. Football, speaking of stereotypes." He pulled them to a stop in front of a booth. "But I'm really good at basketball."
They were in front of the hoop shoot. Emmett pointed upward at the rack of prizes. "So, what are we shooting for?"
"Go big or go home." Bella pointed at the obnoxiously big monkeys that hung from the ceiling of the booth.
Emmett whistled. "You want to put me in the poor house, Swan?" He put down a ten dollar bill. "These things are rigged, you know."
Bella peeled a ten out of her own wallet and slapped it down over his. Their fingers brushed. "Team effort."
He grinned. "You think you can keep up with me, bookworm?"
"Oh, now who's stereotyping?" She gestured at the attendant. "Bring it on." Bella hated organized sports, that was for sure. But shooting hoops was far from an organized sport. Her father had a basketball hoop over the garage to let off steam when his job got too stressful. Bella had picked up the habit.
She picked up the ball the attendant put down and set it sailing through the air. It gave a satisfying swish as it went through. She turned to Emmett with what she knew was a smug smirk. "Guess that one wasn't rigged."
Emmett's face was lit up like a kid on Christmas. "Nice." He picked up his own ball and shot. It bounced off. Emmett groaned. "Okay. I found the rigged one."
"Suuure."
They shot, razzing each other. When Bella got three in a row to Emmett's two, he tickled her sides right before she took the fourth shot. The attendant had to duck when her rogue ball came at him.
Bella whirled and smacked at Emmett's chest. "You're a cheating cheater who cheats, Emmett McCarty."
"I don't know what you're talking about." His hands were at her waist, stilling her. "You can't win them all, boss. It's okay. No one is good at this game."
"You're not good at this game." Her hands rested on his arms. "You're getting beaten by a girl, do you know that?"
"Pfft." He lingered. Or maybe Bella imagined it. Then, he stepped back. "No shame in that. Go ahead, All Star."
They kept going. There was no way the monkey, as big as it was, was worth as much money as they put down. But when they handed over their smaller prizes to trade up and the attendant pulled a huge ass monkey down, Bella jumped up and down like she'd won the lottery.
"Hanging monkey. Yeah." Bella jumped up, locking her arms around Emmett's neck, hanging off him like the monkey was meant to do. She could feel the vibration of his laughter and feel the warmth of his skin as his hands came up over hers.
Giggling, she turned her head and almost, almost kissed his neck. Then she froze, realizing what she was doing.
This was so inappropriate.
She slid down off his back, taking a step away from him.
"Good job, kids," the attendant said, proffering the giant monkey again. He looked bemused. "You guys are cute, you know that?"
Bella blushed, if anything, harder. Emmett chuckled—a nervous kind of sound. "Thanks," he said simply.
The weather today was chilly, but the air around them had grown hot; heavy in that awkward way. Bella felt embarrassment crawl over her skin, and she rubbed the back of her neck. She was desperate for Emmett to make some comment. Something Emmett-esque, laughing it off like he always did. He was quiet as they walked a few paces away.
"So…" he began, and Bella's heart picked up speed.
Before he could say another word, though, a flash of dark hair came at them and threw itself around his waist. "Emmy, Emmy, Emmy. Guess what!" Alice, practically vibrating in place, stared up at her big brother. "Mom said it was sad that Carlisle's parents had never let him play these games. He tried." She shook her head sadly. "But he sucks."
"Alice," Esme admonished, catching up.
"I resemble that remark," Carlisle said. Even though she was still distracted by her embarrassment, Bella still noticed how close Carlisle and Esme were standing together.
"Sorry. It's just...you're not good at it. You missed every time."
"Alice!"
"What? I'm not being mean. That's just the truth." Alice shook her head and looked back to her brother. "So, Mom said she would try and guess what? She's so good. Look what she won Carlisle." She pointed. Carlisle obligingly showed off the adequately large unicorn that had been tucked under one arm.
"Apparently, it's so fluffy I'm going to die?" he said, sounding confused but amused.
"Don't worry, man." Emmett clapped his shoulder consolingly. "I didn't miss that much but I came in second place in my game too." He unhooked the huge monkey from around his neck and dropped it on his little sister who squealed. "There ya go."
Warmth went through Bella again. An unmistakable warmth. She was charmed. She rubbed the back of her neck again. "Hey, uh… I'm going to meet up with you guys in a minute, okay?"
They all turned toward her. "Where are you going?" Emmett asked.
"Uh…I'll just...be right back." She turned and hurried away, feeling foolish and out of sorts.
She didn't really know where she was going or what she was thinking. Too much. There was too much zinging around her head. Some of it confusing. All of it kind of infuriating, and—
Bella stopped short. She stared, sure she had to be seeing things.
No. That was Jasper. Emmett's Jasper who had been MIA all damn day. Emmett's Jasper sitting at a table outside the coffee shop, an adoring grin on his face as a sandy-haired man reached out to cup his cheek. Emmett's Jasper who cupped his hand around the back of the other man's neck and pulled him in.
Bella saw red. Oh, no. Oh, hell no. Emmett was way too good for something like this to happen to him. He was a good, sweet man, and if this jackass didn't see that.
Oh. Hell. No.
She stormed across the grass and tapped on Jasper's shoulder. Hard.
"Ow. What the hell?" Jasper broke his lip-lock to glare up at her.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
A/N: A tee hee hee.
