I have no idea what took me so long to get to this. The days just keep flying by way too fast. Anyway, we last left off with Bella surprising Edward with coffee. Here's a little bit of the rest of Bella's weekend in Forks.

TMI…

~(~)~

The room is silent, save the sound of the coffee maker on the counter behind them. She listens to its slow sputtering and counts her breaths waiting for a response. It takes her father a bit longer than she thought it would to respond. She'd honestly believed this wouldn't exactly be a surprise to him, but now she's wondering if she was wrong.

Just as she opens her mouth to ask him to say something, he clears his throat and taps his fingers on the well-worn table top. "Are you sure about this, Bella? You think you could be happy with him again? Forgive… everything?"

She nods softly. "I think so. I'm going to try."

"Sue won't like this. She doesn't like it already."

"I figured as much."

"Your mother probably wouldn't have been too thrilled either."

Bella frowns. "You don't know that, Dad."

Charlie sighs and gets up to poor them both a cup of coffee now that it's finished brewing. "Have you been to see her lately?"

"No," she admits. "It's hard to find time to get away. I barely make it down here to see you."

"Well, when you get the time, let me know if you need help with paying for a ticket. Going to talk things over with her always seemed to be important to you in the past, especially when making big decisions."

She nods, sighing. "I stopped visiting her around the time I left Edward. She's just too close to where we were living back then."

Charlie sits back down after setting her coffee down in front of her and putting the creamer and a spoon on the table as well.

"I should have brought her back up here for you. I know she said she didn't want that, but regardless of how much she loved the sun, she had friends here. She had us."

Bella smiles lightly, loving that he still includes himself in that statement even after remarrying. She stirs some creamer into her coffee. "It's hard to believe it's been twelve years."

"Yes, it is."

They're both quiet, each of them sipping their coffee.

Bella's the first to break the silence. "You know… Mom used to say that love wasn't really worth it if there wasn't some risk involved. She told me once that knew she was taking a huge chance when she met and married you out of the blue, but just because it didn't work out for you two, that didn't mean it wasn't worth it to her. She was unhappy in Forks, she hated it here, but she loved you, and you gave her me. She never regretted that."

Charlie shakes his head, his eyes locked firmly on his coffee. "I never regretted that either. I never regretted her."

"I know." She takes a deep breath and kicks his shoe under the table, eliciting a small smile from him. "You still haven't told me your opinion, you know. You dragged Mom and Sue into this, but you never said what you think about everything."

Charlie's lips quirk beneath his mustache again. "Noticed that, did you?"

"Dad…"

He sighs again and shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "Does it matter what I think?"

"It won't change anything, no, but I'd like to know how you feel about it."

"I like Edward, you know that."

"Uh-huh."

"And he's really changed. I'm really proud of him. He's got a good life here now and he's worked hard for it."

"But…"

"But I could say the exact same thing about you and I just don't want either one of you to get hurt again. Especially you."

She sighs. "There's a chance of getting hurt in any relationship, Dad. Even in a friendship, which is all there is between us at the moment."

He frowns at her. "You're never just friends with someone you used to be married to, Bella. Trust me."

"You and Mom were friends."

"Like I said, trust me."

Bella stops and stares at her father with wide eyes. "Are you… Are you saying that…?" At Charlie's raised eyebrow, she waves her hands in the air and stands abruptly from the table. "You know what? I don't want to know."

Charlie's deep chuckle haunts her all the way up the stairs.

~(~)~

So, some of you guessed it, but yes, Renee is deceased in this story. She also never remarried and Charlie spent a lot of time in Phoenix before her passing. (Like Bella, take that for what you will.) He flew back and forth during various stages of her treatment and when she made the decision to stop fighting the cancer and just enjoy the rest of her time, he was there to support both her and Bella. He was with them when Renee passed and then brought Bella back to Forks with him to live. They are both at peace with her passing, and while it's not terribly important to the rest of the story, I just thought some of you might like to know. :-)

Thank you so much for reading!

~Ginnie