EPOV

"Why do you have such a hard time trusting me, Bella?" I asked her on the call that evening, "I know it's because of Charlie... But not everyone is Charlie. Whatever the equation Renee and he had, it was between them. Don't let that control your life."

"I... I know." she said, "I tried to work on that. I tried to change myself. I even tried a few therapy sessions, but I didn't complete them. I just... didn't want to think about it."

"But that's not the solution. Those issues will always stay with you unless you address them." I said.

"I know... But can we have this conversation later? I don't have time for this right now. I have so much going on." she said.

So stubborn!

"Alright, what did you want to talk about?" I said, "You said you needed some help?"

"Ummm yeah... I don't know, I think it's kind of shameless of me to ask for your help where you were fired, but..."

"Just... don't worry about it." I said.

Considering I was giving her advice about 'addressing her issues', I needed to work on mine, too. Alright, I got fucking fired, maybe without any of my fault, but there was nothing I could do about it now! I just had to let it go. That was the only option.

"I was trying to figure out everything there... It looks so messed up right now. There is so much loss, and it's making my head spin!" She said, "What the hell was James doing? I'm a bit lost with all the information. I need your opinion on a few things."

He fucked up everything, didn't he?

I knew this was going to happen!

Both of us stupidly fucked up everything!

We were supposed to stick together and take it in the right direction, instead...

Anyway, there was no point in thinking about all this now.

"Are you sure you want my opinion? I mean, you can get better consultation from someone else from the board. I can tell you who you can really trust there." I said.

"Yes, I need that information from you. I'm getting so many opinions right now, and it's very confusing. I need some honest third party opinion. I need an opinion of someone I can trust." she said, "And... I... I trust you."

Ha!

Did I hear that right?

It felt so good to hear that coming from her!

I was glad she wasn't in front of me or she might have got pissed off looking at the stupid grin I had on my face!