A/N These characters all belong to SM.
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Chapter 8
Ugh! Giggling.
I opened one eye to see my two favorite people in the entire world standing next to my bed giggling at me. I couldn't help myself, I just smiled at them.
"What's so funny?"
"Mom, you have your bathing suit on. Why are you asleep with your bathing suit on?" Seth and Leah asked in unison.
"Well, I just don't know. I must have gotten up in the middle of the night and put it on without knowing it… Kind of like Seth wakes up and takes his clothes off in the middle of the night, huh?"
The mention of Seth's habit of waking up and taking his clothes off caused that familiar blush that I so loved. It was one of the few characteristics he had gotten from me.
"We're hungry. Are you going to fix breakfast," Leah whined.
"I sure will… when you can ask appropriately."
I don't know when my three-year old learned to roll her eyes, but she was quite good at it. "Mommy, could you pleeeeaaaase cook me something?"
"Sure I will! What would you all like?"
"Pancakes," both kids said simultaneously.
"Ok. Do Jane and Aaron want pancakes as well?"
"I'll go ask." "No, I'll go ask." and with that, the sounds of running feet and stomping could be heard through the house.
I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how and why I had gone to sleep still in my bathing suit. I remembered getting out of the hot tub and wrapping up in a towel. Then I remembered hugging my new tenants goodnight. I came inside and sat down on the bed to change when the phone rang. Seeing who it was on the caller ID, I decided to be a bit silly (a bottle of wine per person will do that to you).
"Well hello there. If it isn't the man I was just talking about."
"Uh oh, I take that to mean my goofy sister and her family are still there."
"They are probably having sex in my guest bed as we speak."
"Ugh, remind me not to ever sleep in that bed."
"You won't be able to. I have invited them to move in with me."
…
…
Absolute silence.
"Edward?"
"I'm here. I'm just trying to decide whether or not I think that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"Doesn't matter. I've already invited them, and they've already accepted."
"Well then, I will just have to figure out how to use the situation to my advantage. Am I allowed to come visit my sister?"
"Of course you are. I would never try to keep you away from your family… But that doesn't mean that you get to bug me to death, either."
"Who me?"
"hmmmm. We can talk about this tomorrow night. I'm sleepy."
"Well you certainly need to get your rest. Make sure you take something for your head before you fall asleep. I don't want you cancelling on me because you're hung over."
"I didn't have that much to drink."
"Uh… yeah, you did. I can tell by the giggles."
"Good night, Edward."
"Good night, beautiful."
I guess I had fallen asleep before I changed clothes. I just hoped that I didn't say anything too stupid or obnoxious while I was talking to him.
I changed into some pajama pants and a tank top and pulled my hair into a loose bun on the top of my head. By the time I got out to the kitchen, all four children were sitting in the bar stools around the kitchen island waiting for me. Someone, I'm assuming it was Seth, had gotten all of the stuff I would need to make pancakes out and put it on the counter.
"I take it everyone wants pancakes?"
A chorus of yes's was heard, so I asked the next obvious question.
"Do you all want chocolate chips?"
Again, all yes's, and I heard Alice coming up the steps saying yes as well. Jasper was grinning behind her. I couldn't wait for them to move in. Then I would have other adults to eat chocolate chip pancakes with, and I wouldn't feel like such a goof.
"When do you think things will happen," I asked without saying too much in case they had changed their minds or didn't want the kids to know.
"Well, since everything is furnished, we don't have to pack much other than clothes and a few essential things," Jasper stated. "I have classes all day Monday, and I have to do a bit of personnel type paperwork on Tuesday morning, so maybe Tuesday afternoon?"
"Sounds great to me," I said. "I will be home after about 5:30, but I can have a key made for you guys today and give it to Edward tonight if that's okay?"
"That would be perfect. Thank you Bella." Jasper excused himself while I was cooking to go help Jane in the bathroom.
The other children had lost interest in watching me mix ingredients and went to watch cartoons. Alice slid herself into one of the recently vacated barstools.
"Speaking of my brother, what did you say to him last night?"
"When?" I knew I must have looked confused, because Alice just giggled.
"I don't know Bella, apparently you spoke to him after we got out of the hot tub last night," Alice giggled again. "He texted me and asked if he needed to come take care of your drunk ass. I had to talk him out of coming over right then and knocking on your window. I think the only reason I was able to keep him at his hotel was that he had a few drinks as well and didn't want to drive. You must have told him about the Whitlock's moving in because he told me that he would be visiting all of his favorite people at once."
The thought of Edward drinking alone made me a bit sad. That's not your problem, Bella. Edward made his choices. He's a grown man. "I hope that's all I said."
"I think you may have said some other stuff," Alice looked at me from under her eyelashes. "Edward said something about finishing what you started."
Telltale blush.
Jasper picked that exact moment to walk in. "Bella's blushing. You must have told her about Edward's text." He was grinning when he said it, but I could detect that he wasn't thrilled about something.
Just knowing that Jasper had seen it or heard about it made my face turn an even brighter shade of red. I could feel the heat creeping up my neck.
****
The Whitlock's left shortly after breakfast to meet with their architect and real estate agent. Charlie had asked me to bring the kids over early so that he could take them fishing. They would be going to La Push, and they were excited to be able to see Billy as well. I dropped the kids home and decided some pampering was in store.
I had never had a Brazilian wax before, so I called Rose to go with me. She took me to her favorite spa and we spent the afternoon being waxed and plucked. We both had manicures and pedicures, and I got a haircut.
After a few glasses of champagne at Rose's insistence, she began drilling me. "So Bella, would you like to tell me why you are primping this afternoon? You don't primp."
I hadn't told Rose about my weekend with Edward. She knew that he had been calling me some and that we had talked about getting together soon, so I just let her think this was our first time seeing each other.
"Rose, you know how rare it is for me to get an afternoon away from the kids. I just thought it would be fun to be girly."
"Uh huh. This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain ex-boyfriend would it? Besides, what did you do all last weekend? Weren't the kids with Billy?"
There goes that burning feeling in my cheeks again, damnit!
"I knew it!" Rose startled the other salon patrons.
"Shhhhh, Rosalie Hale - you stop yelling this instant."
"I'm not one of your children, Bells, you don't have to talk to me like one." she smirked as she said it. "You were with Edward last weekend, weren't you."
It was a statement, not a question. I didn't feel the need to answer her.
"And you're going out with him again tonight."
Another statement that I didn't respond to.
"Do you think it's a good idea to just let him back into your life Bella?" I was there after he left, and I remember all too well how much he hurt you. I don't think you've ever really recovered, and I'm convinced it's why you married that douche."
"Rose!" I warned. She knew how much I hated it when she said mean things about Jacob. I knew it was my fault really, she knew how lonely I had been even while married to him. I think she assumed that he was much meaner to me than he really was, but I never really talked to her about it. "There's really no reason to be mean about him anymore."
"You're right Bella. And I love him for giving me my beautiful babies. Since it looks like I'm never going to have babies of my own, I think I'll just claim yours."
I laughed, "Well I think they sometimes love you more than they love me, so I'm sure they would take you."
"But back to the subject, Bella. Is Edward a good idea?"
"Edward is absolutely a bad idea for me. I know it, which I think is part of the allure, but I'm not going to let him get too close. I promise."
"So you're using him for sex?"
"Essentially."
"That's bullshit Bella, and you know it. You have never been interested in anybody the way you were with Edward. You are setting yourself up to be hurt again."
"Rose, I wish I could explain to you to know how good it feels to know that he does want me after all these years. I want him too, but we are not the same people. I'm not naïve enough to think that we can go back to the relationship we had. I don't trust him, and I don't plan to let him worm his way into my life. My family is too important to me."
"The fact that you just said that you want him to want you is what concerns me. I don't want you to change one damn thing about yourself for this guy. I haven't met him yet, so I'm reserving judgment on whether or not he is a douche, but you are too good for him."
"I'm not going to do anything to make him want me. He is a douche - but he's good in bed," I said with a smirk on my face.
"If you aren't changing anything, why are you here getting your ass waxed, Ms. Bella?"
"Oooh, good point. Do you think I could get them to glue the hair back on?" I was pretty silly by that point. I don't drink often, and for me to get silly drunk twice in one weekend was unheard of. "I'm not sure I can drive."
Rose grabbed my phone and started flipping through it. Before I knew what was happening, she was putting the phone up to her ear. She chuckled as she spoke, "Well hello to you too handsome, but before we both embarrass ourselves, lemme tell you that I commandeered Bella's phone, but I'm not Bella. I'm her best friend Rosalie, and if you fuck with her I will cut your balls off. That's not why I called though," she managed to sound sweet when she said all of this, and then she grinned.
"Good to hear. I am calling to tell you that I have managed to get Bella drunk again, and that you're going to have to come pick her up. I will take her home. Can you pick her up from there?"
They spoke for a few more minutes and then got off the phone. Rosalie was chuckling again as she hung up.
"I can't believe you just called him. What did he say?"
"Well, he thanked me for getting you drunk. And told me that he would provide me with a knife if he hurt you again."
"How come I don't get to cut anybody's balls off?" I complained.
"Get real, Bella you are way to sweet for your own good. Now we need to go home and get you dressed. If you're really going to mess with his mind, let's do it right."
A few minutes later, my phone rang. It was still sitting in front of Rosalie, so I grabbed for it in case it was Edward and she was planning on threatening him again. It was Charlie.
"Hey Bells," he said it that quiet Charlie voice. I could hear the giggling and laughing behind him, so I knew that nothing was wrong. "We're still here at Billy's and thought we might stay the night so we can go fishing again if it's okay with you?"
I was a little surprised that Leah had not annoyed them to death while fishing, and I said as much to Charlie.
"No, she loved it," he said. "She caught the most fish and told me that she wanted to move in with Billy so we can go every day."
"It's fine with me Dad, if you don't think it's too much."
Charlie cleared his throat before he spoke again. "Bella, there isn't a ton of room at Billy's, so we were going to stay at Sue's tonight if that's okay with you."
I was grinning from ear to ear. I really wanted my dad to be happy after my mother had treated him so badly. "Of course it is. What time should I come get them tomorrow?"
"We won't be done fishing until after 4 or so. Can I bring them to you? I'll call you when we're on the way."
I told him to make sure they got home in time for their baths and bedtime since it was a school night and we hung up. I got off the phone and told Rosalie of the plans.
"Oh, that just means we are going to have to really make you up tonight. You get another day and a half of great sex!"
"Rose," I said blushing, "what makes you think we are going to have sex?"
"Come on Bella, I'm not a fucking idiot!"
With that, we got in her jeep and drove home.
It was really warm evening, so Rosalie found a cute little (little being the operative word) white skirt that I had never worn. It was short and tight, and it actually made me look like I had a butt. She paired the skirt with a very tight blue wrap shirt. I've always worn this shirt with another shirt under it so that it wasn't too revealing. Rose nixed the other shirt and stuffed me into a push up bra, so all my cleavage showed. The lady that cut my hair had dried it straight. I could never get it to look that shiny. I almost didn't recognize the person in the mirror. I looked good.
Rose left a few minutes before Edward got to my house. I bet they passed each other on the road. I was putting my sandals on when the doorbell rang. I answered to more flowers and another bottle of wine.
Edward looked me up and down, "Damn B- I can't take you out looking like that. I will have to kill all of the men within a ten mile radius."
I just smiled and pointed to the flowers and wine. "Doesn't look like you planned on going out anyway."
"Oh, I'm taking you out. I just like to see you smile when you see flowers, and I'm hoping to keep you drunk so I can take advantage of you."
Blushed again…
I took the flowers and wine and headed into the kitchen with them. Before I got there, he had his arms around my waist and was kissing my neck. "You really do look beautiful," he whispered into my ear.
He knew I had a thing for ears.
I stood still for a minute letting him kiss up and down my neck, he began to bit gently, and I felt tingles in my belly. I pulled away and said that I didn't want to drop anything.
After putting the flowers and wine away, I turned around to hug him and say thank you. I wrapped my arms around his waist and let him envelop me. I stepped up on my tiptoes to kiss him, and he picked me up and put me on the counter. He kissed me slowly at first, planting gentle kisses on each corner of my mouth. Edward took my bottom lip in his mouth, and opened my mouth gently. His tongue started grazing my lips and teeth. We kissed like that for a while, with his hand grazing my thighs and working their way slowly up my skirt. I wanted his hands to go higher, but they never did. Edward pulled away slowly and asked if I was ready to go. I kissed him one more time, grabbing his shirt and pulling him into me as far as I could. Then I pushed him away and hopped off the counter.
"Let me grab my purse."
Two can play at that game.
