Chapter 28

"Hey Rose, I was just checking what the plan is for the shoot on Saturday. Is Esme still okay for us to use her beach house?" Bella knew logically that it shouldn't be a problem. They'd scheduled it right back at the start of the calendar shoot. But with Esme being Edward's aunt, an irrational part of her was worried that her fall out with him would put the location in jeopardy. As she'd given up trying to call Edward, she thought she'd phone Rosalie to check instead.

"Yep, we're good to go," confirmed Rosalie. "And here's the best part – Esme's told us to make a break of it. She says we can stay over at the house on Saturday night after the shoot. It has, like, a million bedrooms. I've shown her some of the shots you've taken so far and she thinks they're amazing, so she's getting the beach house stocked with champagne for us to celebrate. Emmett and I are so excited!"

"That's really great for you guys," said Bella, trying to disguise the disappointment she felt. Why was Rosalie getting all the credit for the hard work she, Edward and Alice had been putting in?

"Oh Bella, it's not just for Emmett and me! You're invited too. So are Edward and Alice, and we can bring some friends as well. Make a little party of it. The house is enormous; there'll be plenty of room."

"Wow, cool," said Bella, both thrilled and apprehensive at the prospect of a beach house party with Edward. She wasn't even sure if he'd be there. But she had to hope.

"It's going to be so much fun. It feels like forever since we've hung out properly, Bells. I really miss you, you know?"

"Really, Rosalie? I thought you would have been too busy trying out Eclipse magazine's back catalogue of 'Position of the Month' with Emmett to miss me." Bella couldn't resist teasing her old friend, but at the same time she was touched that Rose had been thinking of her. She'd been so mad at her for a while, but she was ready to move on and be friends again.

"Well, you know Bella, there's just something about the 'Reverse Cowgirl' that always reminds me of you," Rose joked.

"Uh, thanks, I think," said Bella, sarcastically. "It'll be cool, though. Hanging out. I've kind of missed you too, bi-atch. It seems really generous of Esme to let us stay at her beach house."

"Yeah, she's in a ridiculously good mood at the moment. She's started dating some new guy and she's all loved up. She's being pretty secretive about the whole thing, but rumour has it he's a lot younger than her. I always had her pegged for a cougar." Rosalie laughed and Bella detected more than a hint of admiration in her friend's voice. She just knew Rose would be dating twenty-year-olds when she hit fifty.

"Good for her," Bella said, smiling. She'd never met Esme Cullen, but Edward always spoke very fondly of his favourite aunt. He'd painted a completely different picture than Rose had of her 'terrifying' boss. Bella was pleased she'd found love in her life. "Listen Rose, can I ask you to do something for me? I think Edward mentioned he wasn't sure if he'd be able to make the shoot this weekend. Would you mind giving him a ring to see if he's coming?" Bella felt bad lying to her friend but she didn't want to drag Rosalie into this. She needed to fix things with Edward on her own, and she knew Rose would just bombard her with well-intentioned but bad advice. She'd probably suggest that Bella handcuff Edward naked to a bed until he forgave her, or something crazy like that. Not that the idea wasn't appealing… Bella snapped her brain back into focus.

"I can do better than that, Bella – I can give you his number and you can call him yourself."

"Um, I'd rather not. You know how annoying he is – if he gets me on the phone, I won't be able to get rid of him. He has so many questions all the time." Rosalie laughed, swallowing Bella's lie immediately. She had no idea her and Edward had become friends, let alone something more. As far as she knew, he was still nothing but Cock-blocker Cullen.

"Sure, no problem," Rose giggled. "I'll call him later and let you know."

"Thanks Rose, I owe you one." The line went silent for a moment and Bella thought she could hear a woman screaming in the background. "Rose, what the hell's going on over there?"

"Oh, I'm just watching a DVD," she replied innocently. Bella frowned – nothing Rosalie did was ever innocent.

"What is it, Texas Chainsaw Massacre or something? It sounds horrific!"

Rose let out a dirty chuckle. "Actually, it's a home movie that Emmett and I made the other day."

"Oh my god, Rosalie! You're watching your own sex tape while you speak to me on the phone? That is so gross!"

"Okay, okay!" laughed Rosalie. "Chill out! I've paused it. Oh, Emmett looks really hot right there…" she said appreciatively.

"Rose, I don't even want to know. I'm going to leave you to it. Just let me know whether Edward's coming or not, okay?"

"Will do, Bells. See you at the beach house."

"See you then."

Bella let out a puff of breath and flopped her head back against the sofa as she hung up the phone. An overnight beach house stay with Edward Cullen. Now there was a lovely thought. She daren't even let her mind wander to what could have been. The loss would be too painful. But she felt a glimmer of hope.

As she looked around the room absent-mindedly, her eye was caught by something small, white and square poking out from under the sofa. She bent down to pick it up. A lost Scrabble tile. She closed her fist around it, letting the hard edges dig into the skin of her palm. She couldn't help but cast her mind back to the Dirty Scrabble night, to Edward sitting right next to her on this very couch, so near yet so far from her at the time. She remembered the laughter, the playfulness, the fun they'd had. Her mind drifted further to the frisson of tension between them, the 'moment' that had been more real than she ever knew. What would have happened if she'd just leaned forward and kissed Edward right there and then? She wouldn't be in the mess she was in now, that was for sure.

As much as she fought against it, Bella couldn't stop the movie from playing in her mind. The expression of surprise on Edward's face as she kissed him, morphing swiftly into a look of hunger and adoration. Soft lips, cool hands, a brush of light stubble against her face. Long limbs entwined on the couch. A tug of clothing, tentative at first, then ripping, pulling, a desperate need to feel skin on skin. She shook her head to dispel the vision. Time to focus on the present, not the past. Right about now Carlisle should be giving Edward her book of photos. She could barely contain the butterflies in her stomach at the thought of him opening it.

She'd dropped it off with Carlisle at the tennis club earlier that morning. It had been a little weird seeing him in the flesh again, so to speak – and even weirder seeing him with his clothes on. It wasn't until he appeared dressed in his tennis whites that Bella realised she'd always pictured him naked whenever she thought about him. Something she would need to fix pretty quickly if she ever wanted to hook up with his friend Edward. Still, it had been great to see Carlisle again, his warm and easygoing personality banished any trace of awkwardness there might have been. He'd been so understanding when Bella told him the full story about her and Edward, the compassion in his eyes causing her to spill more details than she'd intended. He had genuinely wished her all the best and promised to make sure Edward received and opened her gift. So now she was just waiting with baited breath for Edward to call. If her message had worked, he should be phoning her right… about… now.

Ring ring.

Bella leapt up from the couch as her cell phone rang, scaring the life out of her. She thought she was going to puke, she was so nervous. With a shaking hand she dropped the Scrabble tile and reached out to pick up the phone. She looked at the screen, praying to see his name flashing up.

It wasn't Edward.

"Hey Rose," she said, glumly.

"Bells, I just spoke to Cock-blocker. He says he'll be at the beach house. I got the impression Esme wants him there to keep an eye on the place, you know, make sure we don't all get drunk on champagne and trash it."

Bella's heart flipped a loop-the-loop. "Okay, cool. Did he say anything else?"

"What, like what he plans to do to sabotage your next attempt at fucking a model?" Rose cackled. "Funnily enough, no."

"Oh. Right." Damn. She didn't expect Edward to open his heart to Rosalie, of all people, but he must have known Rose would be passing a message back to her. He could have said something, anything, to let her know he was willing to forgive her – or at least hear her out. She sighed, sadly. "Okay, well, I'd better go. Thanks Rose." Bella was keen to get off the phone as quickly as possible, to free up the line in case Edward was trying to call.

Her phone rang again almost as soon as she hung up. But once again, it wasn't Edward.

"Hi Carlisle," she said, her heart sinking to the pit of her stomach. She knew this could only be bad news.

"Hey Bella. It's not good news, I'm afraid," said Carlisle, his voice full of compassion. Bella couldn't think of a better person to tell her something bad. Carlisle had an excellent bedside manner – his future patients would be lucky. He'd probably tell them they had six months to live and they'd just want to give him a hug.

"What happened?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Edward texted me to say he couldn't make it. Said he's not feeling well and could we reschedule for next week. I'm sorry, Bella." She let out a sigh of relief. This wasn't so bad. At least he hadn't thrown the photo book back in Carlisle's face.

"It's fine, Carlisle. Thanks anyway. I'm hoping to see Edward in a few days for the next photo shoot. I guess I'll just have to wait and talk to him face to face then." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and slumped back in the couch.

"Okay. I'll hang on to the photos in case I see him in the meantime. If you see him first, I'll drop them back to you. I think you should give the book to him in any case. It's so beautiful, Bella. I know it will mean a lot to Edward."

"Thanks Carlisle."

"Hey, any time, Bella. And good luck."

Bella ended the call and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. She was really disappointed. But at least she knew she'd see Edward at the beach house. Maybe it was better this way. It would force her to woman up and apologise to him face to face. In the meantime, there was no harm in trying to pave the way a little.

EDWARD, I'M REALLY PLEASED TO HEAR YOU'LL BE AT THE SHOOT ON SATURDAY. I'LL TALK TO YOU THEN. BELLA X

She signed the text message with a kiss and pressed 'send'. Now all she had to do was wait out the five long days between here and Edward.

A/N: *waves 'hi' to all new readers* Thanks for your follows & reviews!

It's taking a while but I think we are finally getting somewhere. Do you think Edward will be ready to patch things up with Bella at the beach house? And who do you think will be Mr. August?

Just a little reminder - if you're enjoying the story, you might like to vote for Calendar Guys as Fic of the Week over at www. tehlemonadestand. blogspot. com. It's just outside the top five at the moment, so your votes will really help! :)

Thanks for reading!

Poppy x

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight