Josh's POV
I was 18 when Sam was born, I was so proud to have a son and for a while we were the picture perfect family except for the whole young and broke part. But then I was working 14 hour days and when I was home Ali would hand Sam off to me and take off when she wasn't keeping little Bella. It was too much so I ran like a coward and I never looked back. Sam was 4 and Bella had just turned one. Sam loved that girl even as a little boy. So did Ali and everyone else. She was kind of the community baby since her mom ran out on her and Charlie. Charlie, who is a cop. Damn.
Running felt right at first but I missed them after a while. I couldn't just walk back into their lives like nothing had happened. I think Ali eventually remarried and I know she picked someone who would be good to Sam. I did what I could to keep my mind off of them. I worked, drank and slept with any woman who would go home with me. Finally the guilt of that got to me and I knew I needed to actually do something with my life. I grew up doing karate and so when I saw a gym looking for a kid's instructor I applied and got the job. 5 years later I opened my own studio.
Then along comes Bella. The day she walked into my karate class I knew there was something about her, and being with her is so easy. She's funny and smart and beautiful. I'm not saying I love her, I've known her a week… I'm saying I would have if given the chance.
I begged her to stay with me for her vacation but she wasn't going to cancel on her friends for a new guy she said and I couldn't really blame her. She was so excited about seeing all of them. Never mentioned them by name except for Leah, I guess now she didn't want to explain her best friend is a guy quite yet.
She asks me my last name and I feel kind of bad I never told her but I don't know hers either, not a huge deal so I tell her and she repeats it like it's poison or something.
Then she whispers your Sam's father and it clicks that this is little Bella. Bella Swan, the girl my son loved when he was 4. The girl I used to push in the baby swing and give her popsicles she never ate. She just watched them melt all over her in awe and it drove Ali nuts. Ali loved her as much as she loved Sam. I think she kind of hoped even way back then they would get married, and I spent the last week screwing her as much as I could and trying to make her never want to leave me.
Didn't matter in the end, as soon as she figured out who I am she was gone. I did to her best friend the same thing her own mom did to her. It's probably what makes them so close.
She let me kiss her good bye and I put everything I could into that kiss so that maybe, just maybe she would come back to me. I held on to her as long as I could before she pushed me away.
I feel kind of guilty for even wanting her back knowing who she is but I do.