Ugh... delay in posting explained below. I still do not own. ;-)

Goodnight…

~(~)~

She's only just brushed her teeth and put her pajamas on when her cell rings. Looking at the clock, she answers with an admonishment.

"Speed much, Cullen?"

Velvet laughter greets her. "Well, hello to you, too."

"Seriously, Edward, it's supposed to be a three hour drive... not two."

He only laughs harder. "I just got lucky. I drove right onto the ferry… and it's been two and a half hours, not two."

She smiles. "Two hours, twenty minutes... and," she adds, mocking him. "Unless you're still in your car, I'd hazard to guess you've been home at least five of those minutes."

He chuckles. "Astute as always."

They're both quiet a moment.

"Thanks again for today."

"You're welcome. Thanks for inviting me," she smiles.

There's another long pause.

"Would you like to do it again sometime?"

"What? Go shopping?" She cringes, knowing she's being intentionally obtuse.

He either ignores it or doesn't realize.

"No, not shopping. Just... would you like to get together again sometime?"

"I..." She stops, her mind trying and failing to come up with the right thing to say. "Look, Edward..."

"It's okay," he says quickly. "Forget it. I promised no pressure and I'm pushing."

She blows out a breath and wanders into her bedroom, flopping down on her bed.

"You're not pushing. You're asking. There's nothing wrong with asking."

"There is if it makes you uncomfortable, Bella. I'm-"

"I'm not uncomfortable," she interrupts. "I just don't know what we're doing here."

He doesn't answer right away. "Well… I thought we were getting to know each other again. Is that not right?"

"No, that's right, but…"

"But what?"

"What are we doing, Edward? What is this to you?"

Once again he's slow to answer, the silence stretching on like the miles between them.

"Edward?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry… I was just thinking."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No problem. I guess I hadn't stopped to think about it yet. I'm just still taking it one day at a time."

She exhales slowly, measuring her response carefully. "Are you really?"

"Yes. I'm not going to lie and say I never think about the future, but it's not anything I let myself concentrate on right now."

She smiles. "Can you tell me what your secret is? Because I'm having a hard time with that these days."

"You are?"

She hears the hope in his voice, just as much as she hears how he tries to hide it.

"I am after today."

"It was the flowers, wasn't it?" He sighs and then surprises her. "Damn those crocuses!"

She laughs at him, feeling grateful for his joke. It's too late for serious conversations.

"They were tulips, Edward."

"Same thing."

She giggles again and rolls her eyes. "Thank you. I'm going to bed now."

"Yeah, I better head that way myself. I have a very busy day at Ye Ol' Family Bookshop tomorrow."

"Well, then... please don't let me keep you."

He chuckles softly, the sound rich with amusement and something else she's not sure she wants to know about.

"Goodnight, Isabella."

Her heart gives a little lurch and she closes her eyes. "Goodnight, E."

~(~)~

And goodnight to you too, dearest readers! :)

Once again, so sorry for the longer than expected delay. The resurrected laptop I was working on went down again for good. I guess the "new" hard-drive had a fatal error that cannot be resolved, and although I back-up every day, I was working on this when it went out. Fortunately, I have a pretty good memory and a good library with several computers that I can use when I am otherwise computerless. :) In addition, RL is still insane as well. However... I promise I AM still working on this and my other stories.

And speaking of other stories...

"Arms" readers: the chapter needed a little re-write, but it IS mostly finished. I should have it to the beta soon.

"What Drives Her" readers: I have the next chapter started, but am playing with a new idea for it, so I'll let you know soon how that's coming along. Sorry for the long, long, long wait on this one. I have no intention of quitting on it though.

Thanks again for reading!

Hugs,
Ginnie

PS- "Ye 'Ol Family Bookshop" is a reference to the bookstore that Edward mentioned his mother owning. He works there for her on occasion if you couldn't pick up on that. :)