Chapter Eight: On the Edge

Edward's POV

"Is...is that even allowed?" Jasper asked as we ate Chinese food at Emmett's like we always did on Wednesday. I told them about bringing Jason to the hospital, which led me to telling them about how I was going to Bella's house the next day. "I mean I don't remember teachers showing up on my doorstep when I missed school."

"Okay, momentary lapse of judgement." I sighed as I stuck my chopsticks in a piece of chicken. "But I mean I'm not going there to...do anything to Ava. And Bella's going to be there..."

"Bella, huh?" Emmett asked, smirking at me. "The hot girl with a broken nose?"

"Yes, the one who you met a few weeks ago." I sighed. Bella was beautiful, but it wasn't like anything could happen.

"It all makes sense now." Jasper laughed. "Just be careful, I don't want you losing your job."

"Me either." I agreed. "Which is why I'm not even going to go after Bella."

"Whoa," Emmett stopped. "Whoa, what?"

"She's a parent to a child in my class. It's wrong on so many levels."

"She married?" Emmett asked, making me roll my eyes. "Engaged? Gay?"

"No. No. And...she has a seven year old, you really thing she's gay?" I asked and Jasper snickered. "I mean, use your head."

"She could have used a sperm donor." Emmett defended. "Other than the fact that you're currently teaching her kid how to write, what's the issue?"

"It's just...wrong." I told him. "I mean, you wouldn't date one of your clients and Jasper wouldn't date one of his patients."

"I mean I would if I didn't risk getting my license taken away." Jasper told us. "What, some of the girls who come in are really cute."

"That's actually kind of messed up." Emmett laughed. "Even for me."

"It's not like they're psychopaths or something. They just have some anxiety." He shrugged. "Besides, none of them are Maria so it wouldn't even matter."

"Dude, come on." Emmett whispered. "You need to let her go. You can't be miserable forever."

"When you lose the love of your life, we'll talk." He sighed as he stood up. He walked over and went outside onto the small balcony and just looked out to the faint skyline of the city.

"I wish he'd just go on a date." I told Emmett. "I mean, I feel like that would help push everything along. He's just so damn stubborn he'd never agree to it."

"He at least needs to get laid."

"Do you ever listen?" I laughed. Emmett was deeply upset when Maria died and he understood Jasper's grieving. But, he'd never been in love before so it was hard for him to truly understand how Jasper's mind worked. According to him, if he started dating someone, he was cheating on Maria and he couldn't bring himself to do that.

I was always trying to explain that to Emmett.

"Well, whatever." Emmett said. "He can't go on like this forever. Men need a physical relationship...it's just a fact of life."

"Yep. Totally get that." I agreed, taking a sip of beer and thinking back to the hospital this afternoon. When mine and Bella's hands touched...I felt something that I'd never felt before. Not even with Tanya. It was like there was some sort of magnetic connection and it was actually kind of scary.

The next day didn't seem to drag on like Wednesday had. It was inside recess which meant I didn't have a panic attack every time I saw kids playing together and there was an assembly in the afternoon. When all the kids had left, I walked down to the office and grabbed the directory.

I found Bella's address and grabbed my bag from my classroom. I set my GPS and headed over. Once I was finally in her driveway, I was finding it hard to move and I even considered leaving the assignments in the mailbox and leaving. But, I told her I would be here to help Ava and that's what this was for.

To help Ava.

It just didn't help that I was starting to have a crush on her beautiful mother.

I finally got out of my car and walked up to the front door. I took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell and once I heard someone inside, I knew it was too late. The door swung open and an older woman, who I assumed with Ava's grandma, opened the door.

"Are you Mr. Masen?" She asked sweetly. I nodded and she stepped aside. "Thank you so much for coming. Bella does not want that little girl to fall behind because of this."

"No, I don't either." I agreed as she led me over to a side door.

"The girls live in a small apartment above the garage." She explained as she took me outside. We stopped at a decent sized building next to the house and she nocked loudly. I saw Bella coming down the small, spiral staircase and she smiled when she saw us.

"Hi, Edward." She greeted when she opened the door. "Perfect timing, Ava just got done with her snack."

"Great," I smiled as I followed her inside. Even though there were only two cars inside, the garage seemed much bigger.

"My dad extended the garage so Ava and I would have more space above." She explained when she saw me looking. "One of the spaces is for his cruiser, which is gone, and we use the other stuff for Ava's outside play stuff."

"That makes sense. This place is kind of awesome." I told her when we were at the top of the stairs. It wasn't much, but the fact that he built this for them was pretty cool.

"Thanks," She sighed. "It's not much, but we're happy here. And hopefully by the time she's a teenager I'll be able to afford a real apartment for us to live in."

"You can have mine, I kinda like this one." I laughed as I put my bag down on the counter and slung my jacket over the back of the chair. "So, where's Ava?"

"With her dad in her room." She sighed and I stopped. I didn't know the father would be here. "He flew out to see her after the accident."

"Oh," I nodded. "He wasn't there yesterday."

"No I told him to go back to his hotel to sleep before you got there." She explained as she disappeared. A few seconds later, I heard fast footsteps approaching and Ava ran into the living/dining area.

"Hi, Mr. Masen!" She squealed. "You wanna sign my cast?" She laughed as she handed me a Sharpie. I laughed as I took it from her and signed my name on the purple cast. I looked up and saw Bella followed by Ava's father walking into the room. He stared at me while he got his coat on until he turned to face Ava agin.

They said their goodbyes and I dug the martial out of my bag so we could get started. Ava was a quick learned at school, but since there was no one else here for distractions she picked up on things much quicker than the other kids. We finished almost all the math before Bella said it was time to clean up.

"Thanks again for doing this." Bella smiled after she had sent Ava to the bathroom to wash her hands. "I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, well...I still feel really bad for what happened." I admitted. "Consider this me paying you back. Of course, nothing could really pay you back for..."

"I don't blame you." She interrupted. "I told you yesterday that I didn't, and I still don't."

"Still doesn't really make the guilt go away." I told her, looking down at the floor. "But, that does make me feel a little better."

"You have any dinner plans?" She asked after a few minutes of awkward silence. Tonight was Jasper's late night at work and I had a pretty good feeling Emmett would be with his new coworker tonight since she was "fucking hot". "You wanna for dinner?"

"I..."

"Jake is taking Ava out." She told me and I smiled at her. "I don't trust him for a whole summer, but an hour alone isn't so bad." She told me. "I don't know why I'm telling you that...but there. That's something you didn't know. I don't trust her father."

"I'd love to stay," I smiled.

"Great, I as just going to make some salmon and veggies if that's okay." She told me. "I don't get fish very much because of Ava."

"Sounds great." I told her and she gave me this gorgeous smile. She turned and walked back down the hallway towards Ava's room. I sat back down and took some deep breaths before the two of them appeared again. Bella took her down to Jake's car to say goodbye before coming back up and turning the oven back on.

"You want a glass of wine?" She asked, pulling out a bottle from the cabinet. "This is also a rare treat for me."

"I'd love some wine." I told her and she poured me a glass and handed it to me. "If you don't mind me asking...and maybe this is too forward...but what's with Ava's dad?"

"You mean why is he such an ass?" She laughed as she put the salmon in the over. "Good question." She sighed, turing back to me. "I don't know. We met when I was seventeen when my family went to Jacksonville to visit my grandma for the summer. I fell in love with him very, very fast...and he was just using me for sex.

"He told me at the end of the summer that what we had was just a fling and he told me he loved me because...I was really good in bed. Ava was probably conceived the last time we had sex before he gave me the cold shoulder." She explained and my heart hurt for her. She seemed to sweet to be treated like that.

"Anyway, when I told him I was pregnant he didn't show any interest in the baby." She told me. "And it wasn't until I was in labor that he showed up because Alice texted him to tell him what was going on. He suddenly wanted to be apart of her life and I originally told him he was crazy."

"That obviously didn't last." I sighed.

"No, it didn't." She smiled. "It took a few days, but I eventually called him to say if he wanted...he could be apart of her life but I was going to have main custody over her." She said. "He flies up here usually once every two months or so and Ava and I go down to Jascksonville for vacation each year so she can spend time with his parents."

"He's the one who broke your nose, isn't he?" I asked gently and she whipped her head up and looked at me. "My best friend is a psychologist and he told me what some women look like after they were abused."

"I...I look like I was abused?" She asked, finishing her glass of wine.

"You just looked really scared of him tonight." I shrugged.

"He wanted to take my baby for the summer." She cried, putting her hand over her mouth. I walked around the island and stood next o her, rubbing her arm in support. "I told him that he wasn't a good enough parent to watch her for three months and...he got...violent.

"Ava was begging for him Tuesday which is why he's here." She sobbed and turned and put her head on my chest. I was caught my surprise, but quickly wrapped my arms around her. "Oh, God." She snapped as she pulled away from me. "I am so sorry. This is not what you signed up for."

"No, it's fine. Really." I told her. "You don't have to be sorry...what he did was wrong, Bella. And he's crazy for doing that to you when you first met."

"The only people who know what happened down in Florida are Rosalie and Alice." She smiled. "And my parents of course. You're...you're the only person I've told that story to."

"But it's such a good story for parties." I laughed as she turned on the head on the rice. "So, how did you go to college after Ava was born?"

"I didn't." She told me bluntly. "I started taking online classes when she was four, but I can only take two classes a semester right now with her schedule and my work schedule. Who knows if I'll ever get done."

"You will." I assured her. "Once she grows up a little more, she'll need less attention and you can focus."

"I sure hope you're right." She sighed as she poured us more wine. "Mrs. Hale is really good to me, but I can't work retail my entire life." She finished cooking dinner and it looked amazing. Maybe even better than my mothers salmon. We sat down and there were no awkward silences. I talked to Bella like I used to talk to Tanya. But, at the beginning with Tanya, all we really had was awkward silence.

It was like I'd known Bella for years.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked as we cleared the table. "Your friend Jasper, is he single?"

"Yeah..." I answered unsure where she was going.

"Good, cause my friend Alice keeps telling me to ask you." She laughed. "I think she may want to go out with him...you think he'd be into that."

"Ummm...no." I whispered and she looked disappointed. "But, not because she's not gorgeous or because there's something wrong with her." I assured her. "Bella, Jasper's fiancé died four years ago."

"Oh," She whispered.

"He hasn't been the same since and I really want him to date, but I just don't think he's in that place yet." I shrugged. "He still thinks it would be cheating if he were to go out with someone and he just can't think that if he's going to date anyone."

"No, I understand." She smiled. "How did she die?"

"She was at a party, and she wasn't planning on driving home." I sighed. I really hated talking about it because it hurt me almost as it hurt Jasper. "But, her roommate called in crisis and she thought she'd be okay to drive home."

"She was in a car accident." She whispered, looking horrified. "Wasn't she?"

"She drove herself into a river." I explained. "They found her at three o'clock in the morning...only three hours after she left the party."

"How'd they find her so fast?"

"Someone saw her driving off the road so he called for help." I shrugged. "And, maybe if she hadn't died so...tragically he'd be ready but...not now. I'm sorry, I think your friend is so cute and she's so nice when I see her around the building."

"So, you're just saying...not now?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes, but don't tell her that." I told her. "Then she'll get her hopes up and anything could happen with Jasper. He could be ready next week or he might not be ready until he's thirty seven and she's already married with kids."

"Understood." She nodded as I heard a car in the driveway. "They're home." She noticed as I finished drying the last plate she'd handed me. She died her hands and headed downstairs to get Ava and I collected my things and pulled my jacket on. They came back upstairs as I was leaving, and Ava thanked me again for helping her.

I got in my car and drove home, just thinking about everything that Bella told me tonight. I never expected her to tell me her story about getting pregnant, but I was glad she did. It just gave me a better sense of who she was and...there were definitely feelings there. I wasn't sure if it was just a little crush, or something more.

All I knew was I wasn't ready to let her go. Not yet anyway.

"Have you...ever considered dating a students mother before?" I asked Seth the next day at lunch. "I mean, a single mother."

"No," He sighed. "Just because most of the mothers here are married and I've never really met any of the single parents here. Why? You find a single mom?"

"There's a girl in my class and her mom isn't married." I shrugged. "She's really pretty and a really good mom." I told him. "She just seems like a good person all around."

"Go for it," He told me. "It's not like it's against the rules or anything. As long as it isn't a student in the district, the school doesn't care who you date."

"Really?" I asked. "I thought it would be...frowned upon."

"How come? It isn't like you're committing a crime or being sinful if you ask a mom out if she's not married."

"You make a good point," I laughed as the bell rang. We finished our lunch and threw it out before grabbing our whistles and heading into the hallway.

I drove home after work, wishing I could see Bella again today. But, she told me she would get Ava's school work on her way home for work, so there was no need for me to go there again. I found a parking spot a street away from my building and walked over.

"Hi, Edward." Alice greeted happily as I walked into the small lobby. "How was your night?"

"It was good, Alice." I smiled and she just smirked at me. "Bella told you we had dinner together, didn't she?"

"She may or may not have told me about her evening." She laughed. "I think it's great, personally."

"Really?"

"You seem like a good guy, so I approve." She told me, making me laugh. "And she needs a good guy."

"Oh, I don't know..."

"If it should go there?" She asked. "It should. She's had a really rough eight years, she needs someone by her side to help her. She's too stubborn to ask her parents or Rosalie and I for help. She's working herself to death."

"Alice," I whispered. "She didn't seem like she wanted any kind of relationship."

"Just, promise me you'll keep trying." She said. "Because...I can tell she has a thing for you she's just too scared to do or say anything."

"I'll keep trying." I agreed.