CHAPTER 9

~ EDWARD POV ~

As we prepared to board our ship, I looked at the room designation card in my hand - B719. I had to snicker to myself. That should be easy to remember B for Bella, 7 for the month of July and 19 for Bella's age.

"What's that, Son?"

"Nothing Dad, I was just remembering something funny."

The ship was beautiful but I just wanted to get to my room. The bags had already been taken from us and would be waiting there. I desperately needed to catch up on my sleep; something I had repeatedly told myself I would do and hadn't been able to. Sleeping with Emmett wasn't conducive to rest; it was more like counting the hours until it was time to get up. It just occurred to me that I should have slept on the couch in the living room. I'm sure Uncle Eleazar and Aunt Carmen would have understood the move.

As we reached the main elevators Dad stopped us. "So we'll break off and depart to our respective rooms. We should meet back here in about an hour to attend the departure party and then we have the late seating for dinner so we can explore the ship a little if you would like."

We all agreed and headed off. B719. Fuck me. I opened the door to my room; it was small but more than adequate. I opened the balcony doors to let some air in then took out my phone to send Bella another message while I could. The red line from the low battery greeted me along with the message "Battery too low for radio use". I quickly dug through my laptop bag to find the charging cord and plugged it in. With the battery too low to attain a signal I would have to try this again later.

Frustrated I turned on the small television and lay on the bed, clicking through the channels not really watching anything in particular. I had an hour to kill. Did they have a porn channel on this ship? Hmm, it didn't look like it.

The sound of the phone ringing jarred me awake.

"Hello."

"Edward, we're waiting for you. What are you doing? You are alone, aren't you?" Rosalie's taunting tone greeted me.

"Very amusing Rose. I must have fallen asleep. Tell Mom and Dad I'll be there in a couple of minutes." I went into the bathroom to splash a little water on my face in an effort to revive myself. Looking in the mirror, I could see the dark circles coming up under my eyes. I ran my fingers through my hair, grabbed my phone hoping it had enough of a charge to send a BBM and rushed out the door to meet them.

As the elevator doors opened, my family was there waiting for me.

"Mom, Dad sorry about that. I fell asleep."

"That's ok, Darling, you've been running yourself ragged,." Mom said as she reached up and tried to straighten my hair. She clearly didn't understand the unkempt style I was trying to achieve. Did she not remember that I was not a little boy anymore? It was embarrassing.

The decks were full of people and we found a spot up against the rail to wave to the people below as the ship started pulling out. How ridiculous. Who was I waving to? I took out my BlackBerry and as I scrolled down and found Bella's name a rather large man beside me hauled his kid up on his shoulders. The child's foot connected with my arm and sent my phone flying out of my hands. I watched it fall down about seven decks and splash into the sea.

FUCK!

I made my way to the Emerald Deck to the Internet Café and prayed under my breath that Jacob would get the email I was sending right away.

From: Edward Cullen
Date: Jul 12 at 5:52 PM
Subject: BLACKBERRY EMERGENCY
To: Jacob Black

Jake,

Hope all is well back in the office. I have an emergency that needs handling. I've had an accident with my BlackBerry and I need another one immediately. Would you please purchase another BlackBerry on the company account? My old phone was backed up to my desktop, would you please reload the information and send it to me. We are at sea all day tomorrow I'm hoping you'll be able to deal with this and send it on to me in Ketchikan for the 14th. Below you will find my itinerary in case you can't get it to Ketchikan in time.

July 12th - Vancouver, British Columbia Departure 4:30pm

July 13th - At sea

July 14th - Ketchikan, Alaska - Arrival 6:30am - Departure 2:00pm

July 15th - Juneau, Alaska - Arrival 8:00am - Departure 9:00pm

July 16th - Skagway, Alaska - Arrival 7:00am - Departure 8:30pm

July 17th - College Fjord, Alaska - Arrival 5:30pm - Departure 8:30pm

July 18th - Anchorage (Whittier), Alaska - Arrival 12:30pm

Thanks buddy!

Edward

I opened an online Solitaire game and flipped back and forth between that and my email until he answered. I loved that man for always being reachable.

From: Jacob Black
Date: Jul 12 at 6:01 PM
Subject: AT YOUR SERVICE

To: Edward Cullen

Eddie!

No problem man. Sorry you had an 'accident'. Should I even ask what happened? I'm pretty sure they are closed already but I'll get another phone for you first thing tomorrow and see if I can overnight it to you.

Say hey to the fam for me.

Jake

There was nothing I could do now but wait. Discouraged, I left to meet up with my family on deck.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt like a new man. Sweet sleep had rejuvenated me. I looked at the clock and it was only 6:30am so I decided to go for a run on the treadmill and then I would stop at the desk and purchase some internet time for my laptop. Jake wouldn't have been able to do anything yet so there was no rush to check my email.

I gave Jake until 10:30am before I checked for a message.

From: Jacob Black
Date: Jul 13 at 9:43 AM
Subject: COURIER FAIL
To: Edward Cullen

Buddy,

I don't have very good news for you. I was able to get the phone and I'm loading your information to it as I type this. I can only courier it to Tacoma overnight. From there it won't reach Anchorage until the 19th. I'm sorry man. I've called all the major companies and even a few smaller ones it's the same for all of them. What do you want me to do?

Jake

I felt my stomach sink. It would have to stay until I got back to LA. I had told Bella that I wasn't sure if I could contact her from the ship so she wouldn't be expecting anything. I was reaching. Trying to find a way to comfort myself.

From: Edward Cullen
Date: Jul 13 at 10:39 AM
Subject: FML

To: Jacob Black

It's ok. Just leave it on my desk.

Thanks for trying.

Edward

Well I just had to make the most of this. Spend time with my family and I'm sure I could drum up some business here as well.

I'd been home for a few days and I was getting back up to speed with the market and any transactions that occurred while I was gone. Jacob said things had all gone very well with no problems at all. However, I didn't like that feeling of not being aware of every little thing that went on while I was away. I'd been working non-stop trying to catch up with my clients and put together some proposals for the prospective clients I met on the ship. It turned out to be quite a lucrative vacation for me.

Concentration had never been an issue for me. I had always been very focused but my mind was constantly wandering back to Bella. Maybe the phone accident was the universe's way of telling me to leave her alone. I had forgotten that my old phone was backed up prior to seeing Bella and her PIN info had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Rose had made a side trip with some friends to Hawaii before school started again so that was a lost cause. How was I going to get back that information without raising suspicions?