Disclaimer: The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer. The original characters, content and ideas of this story are mine.

Chapter 21

Moving Forward

BPOV

"Alice, I don't need any more clothes my wardrobe is just fine!"

"No, it is not; do you honestly think you can wear jeans and t-shirts every day?"

I looked over to Edward and Esme who both suddenly became way more interested in their menus than necessary; we were currently sitting in IHOP ordering breakfast.

"Alice I am not trying to impress anyone with my fashion, now can we just drop it?"

"Bella looks beautiful just the way she is and I happen to like the natural look." Edward said winking at me which only caused an embarrassing blush.

"I agree the natural look works for Bella and she looks just lovely in her jeans and t-shirts." Esme said offering me a warm motherly smile.

"Well I totally disagree, a woman should have a wide variety of clothes for all occasions; I mean you'll never know when you'll be invited to an event unexpectedly at the last minute."

"I agree and that's what I have you for, now can we eat in peace please." I said smiling at her and she stuck her tongue out at me and I just chuckled.

"So Bella, how are you adjusting to New York? Is it everything you thought it would be?"

Oh God how do I answer this question? Hey, I'm adjusting just fine and I have spent the better part of the two months I have been here partying, getting drunk and making new friends who have been using me and robbing me blind! Yeah that sums it up!

Edward sensing my uneasiness at answering the question stepped in and saved me.

"Uh, Bella hasn't done much unfortunately, because I have been working so much and I haven't had time to take her out much, but that will all be changing, right lo… Bella?" he said smiling at me.

"R…right, Edward will be taking some time off and we…um we plan to spend some time exploring this great city of ours." I said giving him a smile back and silently thanking him for keeping my most recent activities between just us.

"Well that's great and I can't tell you how much joy it brings me to see you two getting along so well. I have to admit, I was worried about you Bella when you first moved here, but I see you are fitting in just fine."

I offered a small smile hoping the guilt did not show on my face.

"So Edward have you spoken to Tanya lately, how is she?"

"We had lunch last week and yes she is doing fine."

At that moment the lemonade I was drinking went down the wrong way and began to choke. What the hell does he mean he saw her last week?

"Are you okay Bella?" Alice asked clearly concerned.

"Yeah… cough… my drink… cough… just went… cough… down wrong…cough, cough. Please excuse me." I said getting up and going to the bathroom.

I threw cold water on my face, grabbed a paper towel to dry it off and stared into the mirror. He was with Tanya last week and here I was thinking I was special, what a fool. I threw my paper towel away and headed back to our table and when I exited the bathroom Edward was standing there. I tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm and turned me around to face him.

"Hey, are you okay Bella?"

"I'm fine" I said trying to walk away.

"You don't look fine, what's wrong?"

"I said I'm fine Edward."

"This is about Tanya isn't it?"

I chuckled humorlessly and shook my head and walked away

"Are you alright Bella?" Esme asked as I approached the table.

"Yes, I'm fine." I said giving her a small smile.

"Good we can head to the furniture stores now"

"Yay shopping!" Alice said rubbing her hands together.

I rolled my eyes and headed out of the restaurant. Only Alice, Esme and I went furniture shopping for my apartment and Edward informed me he had some errands to run and he would meet up with us a little later. We still had not told anyone that we were dating, so I couldn't exactly ask him about Tanya right now, but I would later. I still can't believe he didn't even mention to me that he had gone out with her.

We spent four hours in Ethan Allen's Furniture store, but with Alice and Esme's help I was able to pick out living room and bedroom furniture as well as a kitchen table with five chairs. After grabbing lunch and hitting a few clothing stores, of course we couldn't avoid that with Alice, we went to meet Edward for my "Surprise"

As we got out of the taxi Esme turned me towards her and Alice place a scarf around my eyes.

"Guys, is this really necessary? Can't I just close my eyes?"

"No, because you may peek and they are just following my instructions." I heard a smooth velvety voice say in my ear and I immediately got goose bumps all over. No matter how mad I tried to be, this man had an effect on me that I don't even think he was aware of it.

"Fine Fine, let's just get on with it Edward, because you know I don't like surprises." I whispered back before he started pulling me in the direction of what I assumed to be my surprise. I heard keys and a door being unlocked and then I heard a door being opened. Once we were inside of wherever they had taken me to, I heard the door close and then there was silence, well except for the muffled sounds of the cars on the street.

"Okay before I remove your blindfold please keep in mind that what you're going to see here is not a finished project, but we can't really finish it without your input. Also I just want to say we are all so proud of you and we wanted to do something that would impact your present as well as your future, because we love you."

"Enough already with the speech Edward." Alice said impatiently

When Edward removed the blindfold I couldn't believe my eyes, there stood Carlisle, Jasper, Emmett and Rose all smiling at me.

"What is this… what are you guys doing here?" I said covering my mouth with my hand and trying to hold back tears. I turned to Edward who was sporting my favorite crooked grin and he must have read the expression on my face that said I was overwhelmed, so he walked over and put his arm around my waist.

"Bella, this is our graduation gift to you from everyone you see here. We all know that your dream has always been to open a book store that offers tutoring services and well, this is your bookstore. Now I know it's just looks like a bunch of boxes and …"

I turned to Edward and buried my face in his chest and cried and I felt him wrap his arms around me.

"Hey", he said slightly pulling away and lifting my face with his finger under my chin, "this is supposed to be a happy occasion, what's with the water works?" he whispered in my ear.

"I know, I know Edward…. I just…. I can't believe how good you are to me, you… all of you and I don't deserve any of this or any of you."

"Nonsense cousin, you deserve this and so much more, because you've earned it." Emmet said coming over and pulling me into a bear hug.

"Emmett's right Bella, if anyone deserves this it's you." Rose said offering me a warm smile and a loving hug.

I made my way around to hug Jasper and Carlisle still not believing all these guys had come to New York just to see me. I was even more impressed that Alice was able to keep it a secret. I then turned to look at all the boxes stacked up against the walls. There had to be fifty of them, some very large, some large, some medium and some small to very small. There was a huge picture window in the front of the store and the floors were hardwood. The walls were canary yellow and all the trim was white as well as the ceiling. There was a counter off to my right that appeared to have been a checkout station at some point.

As I began to read the words on the boxes more tears formed in my eyes. The very large boxes were portable double-sided bookshelves 10x10 feet that needed to be assembled, the large and medium boxes all read Hewitt Packard on them so I assumed they were full of all the hardware I would need i.e. computers, monitors, keyboards and mice. There was two large copier/ fax/ printers against another wall and two boxes marked cash register machines next to them on the floor. The smaller boxes were supplies i.e. cash register paper, printer paper, pens and pencils, markers, erasers, rulers, etc. There was a small room to my right and another room towards the back of the office space and as I walked back I saw a bathroom off to my left. Edward followed me into the next room while the others stayed behind and when I came to a stop, he wrapped his arms around my waist and placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head.

"This room would be used as your after school tutoring center and after measuring, we figured we should be able to fit about fifteen small desks with computers lined against the walls and a desk for you in the middle."

I was silent, because nothing could have prepared me for this surprise and I did not know how I would ever repay them for this one. I turned in Edward's arms and looked him in the eyes and as soon as I could think straight, because looking in his eyes always dazzled me, I began to ask the few questions that were swimming around in my mind.

"Edward, when did you do all of this and how much did all this cost?"

"Well I found this place a couple of days after you moved here and I set up a meeting with the leasing office immediately. Once I was satisfied with the price offered to lease the place, I contacted the others and we all pitched in to pay for the first year of rent and the equipment. We even saved on two months of rent since we paid up front instead of month to month, so we got a pretty good deal."

"That's great Edward, but you still did not answer my question, how much did all this cost you guys?"

"Bella, that's not important right now, what's important love is that you are happy and now owning your own bookstore and tutoring children is not just a dream anymore."

"So, is this what you were doing all those times you "supposedly" had to run out to your office on your off days?" I said folding my arms across my chest and raising my eyebrow.

Just then they rest of the gang walked in smiling.

"So, Bella what do you think? Carlisle asked walking towards me.

"I still can't believe you guys did this for me and I couldn't have asked for a better family, you guys spoil me; how can I ever thank you enough for this?"

"By opening up a kick ass bookstore and teaching all the dumb kids how to read." Emmett said with a huge grin on his face. Rosalie proceeded to slap him in the back of the head while everyone else just stared with smirks on their faces in disbelief of Emmett's comment.

"Ouch, what the hell was that for?"

"You're an idiot." Rosalie said while the rest of us chuckled.

"Well Bella you will be seeing a lot more of all of us now, at least until you are up and running with your own staff. One of Edward's friend's Marcus is a general contractor and he has agreed to come by and check all the electrical wiring and outlets as well as making sure we have the proper circuits to operate all the computers and office equipment. He will also assemble all of the bookshelves and computer desks. Next, Emmett Jas per and myself will get all the computers set up in your tutoring center and afterwards Edward's coworker from the IT Dept. at the hospital will come in and install the necessary software." Carlisle said smiling excitedly.

"After the guys finish with all the hard and heavy stuff, we'll come in ladies and give the place a woman's touch; Bella, I saw a couple of silk plants that would do wonders in here."Esme said while placing her arm around my shoulder.

"That sounds great to me and guys, thank you so much again; I don't know what I would do without you."

"Yeah, yeah, we love you too, now can we go eat?" Emmett said earning him another slap in the back of the head from Rose and we all laughed as we headed out of my bookstore.

Wow, now that had a nice ring to it, my bookstore. This was definitely my best day in New York by far and once again I owed it to Edward whose friendship and love for me has never wavered.