Author Note: Thank you for the great response to this story so far! It's about to pass Inside Out in reviews.

No one could guess exactly why Edward was looking for Bella. Four got close enough to get the teaser: Icequeen13082006, Bevey99, Just Sus and Azlady2003.

Yes, I did win the Halloween Chili Cook-off! Thanks to a meeting over lunch, I didn't even get a chance to taste my competition. I posted a photo of my trophy in the Pay It Forward FB group.

Thanks again to moosals for pre-reading. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.

Chapter 16 – Proposition

I may still be slightly tipsy when I pull into my driveway five minutes later, but I think all of that yummy Mexican food absorbed enough of the alcohol to keep me legal.

I head straight for Edward's house, and he's got the door open before I get a chance to knock. He must've heard my truck; it's not like you could miss it.

"Hey," he breathes. "That was faster than I expected."

"We were finishing up, like I said," I reply as I follow him into the house. "Is Masen in bed already?" I don't think it's quite eight.

"Yeah, I put him down after I texted you. Sorry if I seemed bossy… I could see your house was dark."

"One of the other teachers had a birthday, so we went out after work," I explain, taking off my coat.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" he asks, grabbing a bottle of beer from the fridge.

"Oh, no, I'm good," I chuckle. "Three margaritas since four o'clock."

"I have water."

I smile, nodding. "That'd be great." Taking the ice cold bottle from his hand, I follow Edward into the living room.

"So what's up?" I ask, making myself comfortable on his couch. "Your message sounded kind of urgent."

Edward looks over at me with sad eyes. "I just needed a friend tonight. It's been a rough day. I was used to you being home long before now," he adds. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"Never mind about that." I wave my hand. "Is there any particular reason you've had a bad day?"

"It's stupid." He scrubs his hands over his face.

"I'm sure it's not."

He sighs. "After we found out Bree was pregnant again, she did one of those online due date calculator things."

With a little bit of quick math in my head, I think I understand why he's upset. "And it was today?" I ask carefully.

"Yeah," he nods. "You know, it's not that I'd been dreading this day or anything like that. I honestly hadn't even thought about it until I turned on my phone this morning and saw the date staring back at me — Friday, March 3. It hit me a lot harder than I'd thought it would."

I take a chance and scoot closer, throwing my arm around him. "It's not stupid to be upset. Your child never had a chance to be born."

"But that happens a lot, right?" he asks, turning to look at me. "I know that women have miscarriages. It's not that unusual to lose a child. Maybe not in the same way, but the end result is the same."

"That doesn't mean it's not sad," I reply gently. "Had you told your parents about the baby before Bree's death? I know it must've been very early in the pregnancy."

"We did, yeah," he nods. "The day after she took the test. Only because she got sick at their barbecue and they were worried about her."

"The pregnancy was… a surprise?" I ask hesitantly. I suspect it wasn't planned, given what he told me last month about pregnancy not being their first thought when Bree started feeling ill.

"Yeah. We weren't trying. Not that we didn't want more kids one day, because we did. Bree was an only child and definitely wanted Masen to have siblings. But we'd decided that a two or three-year age difference would be best — like my brothers and I had. It was all happening sooner than we'd planned, but we were happy about it."

"Were you… not trying? Sorry if that's too personal," I add quickly.

"Bree had gone back on birth control, yeah. But… her parents' 40th anniversary was in June, and we'd gone with them to this resort up on a lake in Wisconsin, not far from where they live. She was due to start a new packet of pills on the trip and forgot to pack them. I didn't know anything about it at the time, but she just took the missing ones when we got back. She said she'd doubled up before after forgetting a pill, so she thought this one time when she missed two that we'd still be safe."

"It only takes once," I chuckle, remembering the times back in college when I also "doubled up" after forgetting a pill. Thank God I always insisted on a condom for back-up.

"She told me about it after the positive test. I remember she was so anxious, like she was afraid I'd be upset with her. I wasn't though. I was gonna have another baby with the love of my life. What was there to be upset about?"

"Nothing at all," I agree. I don't want to admit that I felt a bit of a pinch in my chest when he called Bree the love of his life.

"I wonder if it would've been a boy or a girl," he muses.

"Well, Emmett says boys run in the Cullen genes."

"Maybe," he snickers. "Dad also has two brothers. Masen looks so much like me… maybe this baby would've resembled Bree. She really was beautiful."

"I saw," I murmur before I can stop myself.

Edward whips his head around to look at me. "You've seen her?"

"Oh, um, I searched online for the articles about… what happened to her, and one had a couple photos of her. I-I hope that's OK."

He shrugs. "I'm not mad that you looked."

"Good," I breathe a sigh of relief. "So do you just want to hang out, or maybe we could watch a movie or something?" I hope that's not a bad idea. What if all of his DVDs remind him of Bree?

"We could watch a movie, yeah," he smiles.

"Do you have popcorn?" As if I need more to eat, but movies require popcorn.

"There should be some microwave popcorn in the pantry," he nods.

"Awesome! I'll go make that while you choose a movie."

Five minutes later, I'm settled on the couch next to Edward, a bowl of freshly popped popcorn between us, and Iron Man in the DVD player — Bree apparently hated superhero movies, so he'd never watched it with her.

By the end of the movie, the empty bowl is on the floor and I'm cuddled up against Edward's side, his arm around me. It almost feels like we're a couple on a date, though I know we're not. We're friends. Just friends.

I sit up, stretching, as the credits roll. Edward looks a bit zoned out, then snaps back, yawning.

"You look like you need some sleep," I giggle.

"Masen was up pretty early this morning."

"See you Sunday for our next cooking lesson then?" I ask, standing.

"You bet," he smiles.

For our next lesson, I decide to move from ground beef or turkey dishes to a chicken dish. While Masen entertains himself on the floor with his laptop, I show Edward how to determine that the chicken breasts are cooked properly, then we chop them to use as a filling for chicken and spinach stuffed shells. My medium-size Pampered Chef scooper is perfect for stuffing the large shells.

"Alright, 40 minutes to bake," I announce, setting the oven timer.

"Come on, Mase, let's go in the other room!"

Of course, his son acts like he doesn't hear us, so Edward picks him up, throwing him over his shoulder as the little boy giggles. Edward has brought an assortment of toys over, so we both get down on the floor to play with Masen.

"Oh, Bella," Edward begins suddenly, "I meant to ask you something but it totally slipped my mind Friday night. Do you get a Spring Break?"

"Yeah, sure," I nod. "It's the first week of April. Why?"

First week of April, he mouths as he seems to think it over. "It's a bit late, but that could work. My book comes out in two weeks, and my publisher wants me to do a book signing tour."

"Oh cool," I smile. "Do you need me to watch Masen while you're off on tour?" I laugh. "It sounds like I'm friends with a rock star or something."

"Well, I've been hesitating to agree because I don't want to leave Masen for three or four days. I'd like him to come with me, but… I don't really know anyone from the Seattle office of my publishers. I met a few people once, not long after I moved here, but since then I've just had meetings via Facetime. I don't really feel comfortable with anyone from there watching him during the signings, but… maybe you could come with me?"

"Go with you to Seattle?" I'm shocked that he'd ask, but… kind of flattered?

"Yeah," he nods. "Plus Tacoma and Olympia. They've also mentioned Portland. What they're discussing would mean three nights away from Masen if I left him here with you or Carolyn."

"Three nights, huh?" I mentally calculate how much that would cost me for the hotel rooms. I'm assuming Edward's publishers will put him up in fairly nice hotels.

"What's wrong?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure I have a spare $500 lying around for the hotels."

Edward's brow furrows. "I can't ask you to spend your own hard-earned money to help me out. They'd be paying for my hotels. I can request rooms with two queen beds; it's no big deal. I'll also need a crib for Masen."

"So I would stay with you?" I ask hesitantly. I certainly don't mind, though I'm a little bit surprised that Edward would be OK with that. I mean, I know he seems to have moved past being upset with me, but sharing a room — even with separate beds — seems like more than he'd be comfortable with.

"I'm fine with it if you are."

"I am," I nod quickly. "And that does make it easier to say yes. Teachers don't make a lot of money, which is why I still work at the bakery during the summer and drive my ancient truck. I really have to budget for what I spend on travel or things like that."

"I understand," he smiles. "Bree made really good money as a pharmacist. An author with one mildly successful book, not so much. Of course, the cost of living is a lot lower here than in Chicago."

"Well, maybe this book will turn you into the next John Grisham or Dan Brown."

"Maybe," he laughs. "So you'll come with me?"

"Yes, I'd be happy to come along and watch Masen for you while you sign your name until your hand cramps," I joke.

"Get this," I begin as I have dinner with the girls on Thursday evening, "Edward wants me to come along on the book tour that his publishers are planning so I can watch Masen. And he says we can share a hotel room — with two beds, of course," I quickly add before Alice can get any ideas.

"Are you gonna go?" Angela asks, her eyes wide. "What about school? Or would it be over a weekend?"

"He's trying to have the tour scheduled during our Spring Break since they're looking at three nights."

"Three nights in a hotel room alone with Edward," Alice grins.

"And Masen," I remind her.

"You need to pack your sexiest lingerie," she suggests. "I mean, he may be grieving, but he's still a man. If he sees you in something lacy and sexy, he'll look."

"I don't have any sexy lingerie," I point out. I mean, why would I when I haven't dated anyone seriously in years?

"We can go shopping in Port Angeles so you can buy some!" she says excitedly. "Oh, but not this weekend, since I'll be in Chicago visiting Jasper. I've already made a trip to Victoria's Secret."

"I live on a teacher's salary, in case you've forgotten! And anyway, don't you think that would be way too obvious?"

"I agree with Bella," Angela says. "Showing up in sexy lingerie is way too forward for where your relationship stands right now. You don't want to be too obvious."

"Fine," Alice sighs. "But don't you dare pack sweats and a baggy t-shirt."

"Something cute," Angela agrees. "Not baggy, but not skin tight or see-through either."

"Aaaargh, you guys!" I whine. I hadn't even considered what I'd pack for this trip since it's not 100% confirmed yet, and they've already got me paranoid! Apparently I need to walk the very fine line between frumpy and trying too hard to impress.

"So how long will you be in Chicago, Alice?" Angela asks, blessedly changing the subject.

"Four nights," she replies. "That was the longest stretch where both he and I were able to get time off work."

"I thought you were planning to make it more of a Spring Break trip?" I ask.

"Well, it's not like either of us gets a weeklong break like you two," she laughs. "Anyway, Jasper thinks he'll probably be coming to Forks in mid-April for Easter, so we wanted to do this sooner rather than later. His mom is still on the kick where she doesn't want Edward to spend family-oriented holidays alone."

"The whole family again?" Angela asks.

"Probably not Emmett and Rosalie. She'll be over six months along by that point, and though she'll still be allowed to fly, Jasper said she doesn't really want to travel that late. I'll see them next week though. I'll say hi for you guys."

"So how serious is this getting with Jasper?" I ask.

"Well, even though we've met in person before, it feels almost like an online relationship," she explains. "We talk on the phone weekly and text back and forth all the time, but I'm definitely nervous about spending so much time alone with him. What if that spark we felt in December is gone? What if we find out that we really have nothing in common?"

"I don't know how you could have nothing in common. If nothing else, you're both in the medical field," I point out. "And you both have fathers who are doctors."

"That's… true, I guess. But I'm small town and he's a big city guy. I don't know, I'm just nervous, I think. I've had more than my share of relationships that fizzled out after a week or two. I really want this one to work out. This trip feels like a big test for us — a make-or-break."

"Like Bella's," Angela says with a gleam in her eye.

I roll my eyes. "I'm just helping out a friend for a few days. I'm basically like a hired nanny."

"Who shares a bedroom with her sexy boss," Alice laughs.

A/N: Sorry for any fake-out with the chapter title. It goes with the second half of the chapter, though I realize it could've made you expect that he wanted a little more than he did on Friday night! Edward was having a bit of a rough time dealing with the loss of his child on that symbolic day, and just needed a friend.

Once again, Bella is the more realistic one with what to expect on the book signing tour with Edward (i.e. nothing), while her friends are making her all paranoid.

Next update on Monday. One of my more literal chapter titles. I have no idea what album the song even comes from.