Alice is at my house by nine in the morning, which she hadn't specified, so I'm nowhere near ready, and she takes the opportunity to come in and pick out my clothes for me. Unfortunately for her, I mostly own hoodies, but she manages to find the one nice sweater and makes me put on jeans instead of leggings.

Honestly, she can be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes.

"Jasper thinks Rosalie might be the one for Emmett," she says as I pull on a pair of brown boots. "Apparently, she's all he talks about. Is he the same with you?"

I shrug. "Sometimes, but I think he mostly spends his time with me telling me what I'm eating is unhealthy or doing is going to get me sick. I don't think relationship talk is something you do with your sister, to be honest."

She nods. "Maybe. Well, I can't wait to spend more time with her—especially if she's going to be one of us."

I laugh as I grab my bag and follow her out. "We're not in a cult."

"Eh, one could call it that." She laughs as we get into her SUV and start driving to Rosalie's house in Port Angeles.

She lives in a cute little house outside of the town and comes out when Alice texts her, looking like some kind of model. Shit, my brother is lucky he had me in his corner for this one.

I get out of the front seat and let her take it, climbing in the back instead.

"I'm so glad you could come with us, Rosalie," Alice says. "Dear God, am I in need of a good girls' day. You have a boy. I have three—four if you count Jasper. Sometimes you just need a break."

"One has me on my toes, so I have no idea how you handle four," Rosalie says with a laugh. "How are you, Bella?"

I shrug. "Still alive with a shitty heart, so not terrible."

"Well, that's something. I can't thank you both enough for inviting me. It'll be nice to get away for the day. And thank you for having Jasper come get Ben, Alice. I wouldn't be able to leave him for this long if I didn't know he was in good hands."

"Jasper will take good care of him; I promise," Alice says. "So, why did you pick Port Angeles to move to?"

I can tell Rosalie is uneasy about the question, but she answers anyway. "It's the farthest I could get from New York, to be honest. I chose Washington and started looking at job postings. Olympic Medical Center needed a trained ICU nurse, so I went for it. I think moving has done wonders for Ben. He's starting to act like a kid again and excelling in school now."

"That's great," I say. "Do he and Emmett get along well?"

She almost grins, nodding. "He's so great with him. When he came to pick me up yesterday, Ben was struggling with some math homework, and Emmett jumped right in, helping him figure it out. Your brother is a special man, Bella. I didn't know men like him even existed anymore."

"Well, I can tell that you make him happy. Plus, you get him out of my hair a little bit." I laugh.

"He does seem fairly overprotective."

"He's always been like that with Bella," Alice says. "He had such a hard time when she decided to go to college in New York. Everybody kind of had to convince him that she needed to spread her wings."

"Well, I spread them and crashed."

She rolls her eyes. "That's hardly your fault. Edward is going to get you a heart, and then you can go wherever you want again."

I hadn't even thought about leaving again if I get a heart, to be honest. Being home has just felt right, and it's not like I'd want to leave Edward.

"I think I might stay. It's not like Ms. Sue can run the bakery forever, and I've found so much happiness working there. I might go and get some actual training, but ... this is my home. It's not as if I can join the FBI even if I get a heart, so there's no use in finishing my masters."

"Emmett mentioned that was your dream," Rosalie says. "I'm sorry it won't come true."

I shrug, but it does still sting that I have to give it up. "It's okay. Like I said, I'm loving working at the bakery."

"Well, you're very talented," she says. "He brings your treats over every time I see him, and I think I've gained five pounds. But they're so delicious."

I laugh softly. "I've been working on vegan cupcakes lately. I haven't perfected them yet, but hopefully, I can get them to taste fairly similar to regular ones. That should help."

"That just sounds wrong," Alice says with a chuckle. "Cupcakes are meant to be bad for you."

She's not wrong, but I need to start focusing on healthier options. I'd rather Emmett not have a heart attack anytime soon. "I'll change your mind when I've perfected my recipes."

We talk the entire drive, and I learn so much about Rosalie. She doesn't go into a lot of detail about her ex-husband, Royce, but from what she does tell us, I'm glad she and Ben are away from him. I may be biased because he's my brother, but Emmett's a good man, and she deserves that.

At least, he'll have someone if something does happen to me.


Thanks to May, Nole, Fran, Brier, and Meg for prereading and Sally for Beta'ing.