Happy Friday beautiful people! Are you all ready for the weekend? While before you get into it. Enjoy the next step for Coffee Girl and her Eddie.
Thank you to Brie, kitchmill, Jenn, Kelly, and Kim for all their help…but I still tweak until I post, so deal.
Today's celebrity meeting comes from jomik1 and my favorite member of the wolfpack!
"In 2012, my sister, niece, my friend and her daughter and I went to the Twilight convention in Rosemont, IL. The girls, who were 10 and 9 at the time, were able to attend a meet and greet with Booboo Stewart, who was an absolute sweetheart. My niece had made a cutout of Booboo that was mounted and lit up. He was so excited that he asked to keep it. Even his parents loved it, taking pictures of the girls, Booboo, and the cutout. Later that day, we were walking through the hotel after some lunch. Booboo happened to come from a side door and saw the girls. He left his "entourage" and ran up to the girls. He put his arms around them and walked with them all the way back to the venue, just chitchatting away with them. He made those two girls so unbelievably happy and gained lifetime fans from the two moms and aunt! What a wonderful young man!"
Yea for Seth fans!
Chapter Thirty
The next month was crazy. Edward had left it up to me on how I would handle the situation with Alice and while I knew she should have been put in jail for attacking me, I didn't want to deal with that added drama in our lives. He promised to be one hundred percent behind whatever decision I made, but ultimately I just didn't want to deal with her ever again.
I didn't look at it as avoiding, but more than that I didn't want private issues made public like they definitely would have been. I made the choice to handle it that way because Esme and Carlisle had already been through enough and didn't need any more prying eyes looking into their family. They had disowned their daughter and Emmett and Edward had lost a sister.
I felt better moving past it and being the bigger person, but if anything ever happened like that again, I would not handle it the same way. I would run her through the media gauntlet like the cheap whores she hung out with.
Although I was really trying to be an adult, there was just too much on our plate right now to give Malice any more power over our lives. As it was, Edward had to go out of town again for a surprise role he just couldn't turn down. It would be the final time that year, thankfully, but it was just when we began moving into our new home and I was already stressed enough. I was pretty much left with all the decisions...and his black American Express card.
The place was huge and felt like a castle as I began the decorating process. Neither of us had anything to fill the place, so we spent a few hours working with an interior designer before he left so we could move in right away. I was glad that we didn't need to paint or anything. We were sticking to whites and creams throughout the house, with accents of plum and navy in the living room and hints of honey and pewter in the sitting room from the reasonably priced decor items I found at HomeGoods.
Edward took care of stocking the bar with high-end liquors before he left while I picked out the glassware from Ikea. Just because I was now living in a multimillion dollar home didn't mean I was going to spend millions decorating it. Besides, we lived in L.A. and earthquakes happened. Sometimes cheaper was better.
Our entire kitchen was outfitted in Ikea buys and Target finds. I had gotten everything I would need to cook and serve holiday meals we would host and so much more for less than three thousand dollars, but even that had me hyperventilating. I'd never spent so much money at one time before, let alone money I still didn't see as mine.
Edward had commandeered the library as his office and I was fine with that. He'd chosen a soft, honey colored leather couch that I could curl up on with a good book while he read scripts at his desk. It was a win-win, but until he returned I most likely wouldn't spend much time in there.
Our biggest splurge had been in our bedroom, and the only way I had been able to justify the expense to myself was that it was where we would spend most of our time. The bed was heavenly, and when we weren't making love, I was sleeping like the dead in it. One of the things I hadn't noticed before was the little kitchenette that was inside our room. At first I was appalled by the idea of keeping it stocked, but when I woke up needing something to drink and had to stumble downstairs to get it, I saw the value in being able to store some cold water bottles in our room.
I was definitely getting spoiled and some of the luxuries that came with money were pretty cool, but the two story closet we had still sat empty for the most part. Neither Edward nor I had much need for all the space.
We didn't do anything with the additional bedrooms since there was no reason to, but I could see the gleam in Edward's eyes when he thought about filling the rooms with babies. I just shook my head at his desire; I wanted to be married for a couple of years before we added those little joys to our family. I just prayed that my birth control continued to hold up, though I did imagine what our little ones might look like as well. Who wouldn't with a man as handsome as Eddie?
We had allowed the designer to pick out the outdoor furniture. I wasn't picky about out there—I just wanted something comfortable to relax on with our families during the warm California weather. We were also able to hire the same landscapers the previous owners had used, so that was one less thing we had to worry about.
Everything with the home had been smooth sailing while he was away, and I was so glad for that.
Besides moving, we—well, I—was up to my elbows in wedding details. The guest list was getting out of control, not to mention the paparazzi that had followed me when I met up with Esme and my mother to try and find a dress at Vera Wang's Beverly Hills shop. It was all beginning to be too much and I wasn't enjoying the process anymore. I just wanted to be married to Edward, but I wasn't going to let those bastards get the best of me.
I powered on and found a wedding planner who was known for making celebrity weddings happen without the paparazzi ever catching wind of the plans. It was perfect other than the fact that it was going to be bigger than anything I ever pictured. I'd spent the day doing virtual tours with our planner on possible venues. I had so much I needed to talk to Edward about because there was absolutely no way my parents would ever be able to afford the kind of shindig this woman was leading me toward.
When she finally left at just after four in the afternoon and me not having actually decided on anything, I grabbed a pint of Karamel Sutra from the freezer and my phone before I headed out by the pool to call Edward. It was almost one in the morning where he was, but I knew he would most likely be just getting in from his afternoon shoot.
The phone rang a couple of times before he finally answered. "Hey, coffee girl." His voice was gravelly and I wondered if I'd woke him up.
"Did I wake you?" I was beginning to feel bad because I knew I had.
"Yeah, but it's okay. I'd been waiting for your call. I miss you, love."
Cue the waterworks.
"I miss you too…so much." I couldn't do anything to stop the tears.
All of these changes at once had my emotions running rampant, not to mention the unwelcome visit from Aunt Flow.
"Oh, sweetheart, don't cry. I'm so sorry I can't be there to gather you into my arms and make it all better. What's going on there?" He was the sweetest man on the planet and I was so lucky.
"The house is almost done…well, the rooms we're decorating are almost finished. Pictures just need to be hung and little stuff like that." I sighed, not wanting to be a downer about the wedding plans, but after the paparazzi and Alice fiascos, we promised to always be honest with each other and I wasn't about to lose that now, especially on the cusp of forever. "It's the wedding stuff. I don't know if I can do this."
The sharp intake of air on the other side of the phone made me pause and think about what I'd said. The realization hit me like a wrecking ball and I shouted, "No! That's not what I meant. I mean I don't know if I can do the big million dollar wedding. It's just not me."
"Thank God that's all." The relief was evident in his tone. "Don't ever do that to me again. You scared the shit out of me, coffee girl."
I felt awful. I really needed to spend some time choosing my words more carefully. "I'm so totally sure about you; it hasn't been an issue of us since I pulled my head out of my own ass, but, Eddie, my parents can't afford the type of wedding your parents expect. I can't ask them to mortgage their house just so we can say 'I do' to the traditional Hollywood standards."
"I would never expect your parents to pay for our wedding." The frustration in his voice was there, but he was controlling it well.
If anything was ever going to be our downfall it would be my abhorrence for spending the money he has earned working so damn hard. But this time it was about more than money.
"You just don't get it." I was shaking my head in frustration at having to spell everything out. It wasn't his fault, it was just the stress of the day eating away at me. "All my life growing up, Dad has always said once the man who won my heart passed his test, he would happily give me the wedding of my dreams. It was something he truly looked forward to."
I thought back on my fantasy wedding and I'd always imagined sunset on a beach, just our families, maybe a few close friends. Quaint. So I told him about what I wanted.
"I'm as simple as they come. I'm an off the rack kind of girl who wants to walk down the aisle barefoot. I want to get married to you as the sun melts into the sea. But above all else, I want to say vows sooner than later. I don't want to get hitched at the Beverly Hilton or at some mansion that Oprah owns in Montecito. You and me…that's all that matters."
He was quiet, but his breathing seemed steady, like nothing I'd said had really upset him. "So, what you're saying is you want to elope?"
I shook my head again even though he couldn't see it. "No, I just want something intimate, Eddie. Close family only and on a beach. You wouldn't even have to wear a tux—maybe a pair of linen pants and a white button down. Keep in casual and light. Maybe on an island somewhere where paparazzi wouldn't be able to get to or know about until after the fact. What do you think?"
His voice was sweet and desire filled when he replied, "That…that sounds perfect and just like us. When did you want to do it?"
It was almost like we were playing twenty questions again, but this time it was about our wedding and not Edward trying to figure me out.
"When do you get back again?" He gasped again and I wondered if I was rushing him. "Or not if that's too soon."
"I get back in the beginning of October."
"Is October tenth too soon?" I wondered aloud.
"No, October tenth isn't soon enough." He hadn't paused at all when he answered. "But I do think it's a perfect date."
It was my turn to be caught completely off guard even though I shouldn't have been. He'd been ready to marry me from the moment he took a sip of that café au lait I'd made him. I was the one who took a bit more convincing before I could believe this was real, that he was real.
"Do you have any idea where or which beach you want to get married on?"
"Not really. I guess my only requirement would be somewhere here in the States so we don't have to deal with any issues about international legitimacy of our marriage, but I'd do that if it was something you wanted." Marriage was about compromise...or at least that's what I'd been told.
"What about Hawaii?" he suggested.
I'd always wanted to go there, but it too was pretty pricy. "I'd have to check with my dad. Price some things out too."
"What if I told you the only things you would need to worry about would be food, your dress, and flowers?"
"I'd ask you how?"
He sighed heavily and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like what he was going to say.
"I own a couple houses in Kauai…well, my parents and I do. We got it right after I landed my first big part."
I almost spit out the bite of ice cream I'd taken when he said houses, but knowing he made the purchase with Carlisle and Esme made it a bit easier to take. "When were you going to tell me about this property?"
"When I remembered. I'd actually forgotten about it until you mentioned a beach wedding. The houses are right on the beach. It's very private."
Okay, that hadn't been too bad, and the secluded beach was a huge bonus. "When was the last time you were there?"
"Oh God…I think we all took a trip over there three years ago. Just after my twenty-sixth birthday, I believe."
"Wow. So it's been awhile for you?"
"Yeah. I'd take care of the plane fare; maybe rent a private jet so we don't need to deal with the paps."
"That sounds wonderful," I mused. "So you and me and our families on your beach in Kauai this October…we'll become husband and wife one year to the date that we met."
"You bet your sweet ass we will." I cracked up at his words. He had a way of lightening everything up and solving almost all of my problems.
With the weight lifted off of my shoulders, we finished our conversation shortly thereafter so he could get some sleep. I still had a while before I could crash, so I sat down and began writing…I had no idea the words I was penning would lead to another step in my professional career.
Hope you all enjoyed that and you weren't too disappointed with how Bella handled Malice. I think she handled it with dignity and without putting the Cullens through even more shit. Thank you for reading and reviewing. Love you all! xx Dee