SM OWNS IT ALL.
"Hey, I didn't know Alice had a daughter." He points over at the far end of the pool where everyone is entertaining my daughter.
"I…um—"
"Hey, Cullen are you gonna get in or what?" Mike shouts.
Fuck.
Now is not the time anyway. I want us to be alone when I finally tell him.
"After you." Edward holds his hand out for me to enter the pool first.
The butterflies in my stomach make the ache go away for a little while.
Later in the afternoon, Sophie is asleep in my arms and we're all gathered around the table inside the house. It got cold pretty fast and we moved the gathering indoors.
"So what the fuck have you been up to, Cullen?" Emmett asks.
I try not to look too eager for his answer. When he left…he said he wanted to get away from everything. From everyone—from me.
"Nah man, just working my ass off."
"Yeah we could tell." Ben chimes in. "You've got that sweet ride."
Edward laughs. "That's my baby. It took me two years to fix her up." He looks so happy and carefree talking about his car.
I suddenly feel like I got the bad end of the deal. Or at least I've made it that way. I've wasted too much time being angry and hurt because of him. I didn't even give myself a chance to really be happy.
"So you're gonna be working out here now?" Alice asks him.
"Um yeah." He looks over at me and gives me a small smile. He doesn't take his eyes off me when he says, "The body shop I work for opened up a place out here and I asked to get transferred. I missed home." His eyes burn into mine.
I feel my whole body ignite with that look. I'm thankful that I can mostly hide behind the little girl in my arms.