A/N: I don't know about you, but last chapter made me giggle a little. I love these two.

No copyright infringement is intended. All recognizable characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer. I own the plot and all the mistakes.

ENJOY!

7/01/2023

Cherry Pies and Backwards Baseball Hats

Chapter FOUR

EPOV

"Dude, you totally left me there. You were supposed to give me a ride home." Eric was bitching in my ear later that night after dropping Bella off at her car. I was already wanting to see her again.

"I know," I confessed. "Did you at least make sure that chick got home?"

"Grrrr..." he growled. "She kicked me in my dick, dude."

I chuckled. "Sorry, bro."

"Oh, no, don't be sorry. After she kicked my dick, she dragged me into her room, called me a damn twerp before she made my dick feel better."

I was definitely curious. "What'd she do? Give you ice?"

"Oh, no, my dear Sachon." He gave me a egotistical snicker like he knew something I didn't. "With her mouth."

I couldn't help the huge belly laugh that roared out of me. "You're such a liar."

"It's as much the truth as me being half Korean." That made me shut up real quick.

"You're fucking serious?"

"As a damn heart attack." He chuckled a little more. "Dude, I don't say this a whole lot, but she definitely knows what she's doing."

"Some chicks are so strange." I shook my head at the situation.

"Tell me about it." We both laughed.

We finished our conversation a few minutes later only for me to call and check in with my mom. She told me about church that morning and that she prayed for me. I was expected for dinner next Sunday to celebrate her birthday. I always made sure her birthday was all about her every year. She deserves it after being a single mother my whole life.

I was trying to be lazy and have a beer, but a very particular girl was stuck strutting through my head, so I pulled her number up into a text. "You really should come back over to my house."

I hoped she replied quickly, but no such luck. It was 9 o'clock before I got a simple, "No," for an answer.

There was no way I was leaving it at that. "So, it's gonna be like that?"

"Yes. I have work tomorrow."

"I do, too." I wasn't sure what else to say.

All I got in return was **Le sigh**.

"You can do that at my house."

Again with the **Le sigh**.

So, I took a selfie, which was definitely not something I did normally, and sent it to her with a kissy face.

I got one in return and I was keeping it. She was so damn cute. You could tell she was laying in bed, already. "You're now the background on my phone."

"Goodnight, Mason." Accompanied by another selfie only this time she gave me a little peek at her cleavage.

"Thank you. I needed that for my spank bank."

"You're gross. Goodnight, Mason."

"Goodnight, Bella."

I laid in bed for the longest time. I couldn't get her out of my head. It didn't matter what I watched on TV because Bella's face kept replacing every single one on the screen.

The next day at work had me wanting to leave as soon as my eight hours was done, but I didn't have a good enough reason to leave. I had never felt like that, and there's only one excuse I could come up with the way I was feeling and it had to be her.

I busted my damn knuckles when one of my wrenches broke and sent my hand straight into a drive shaft joint. There wasn't enough ice to make it feel better and I kept popping ibuprofen for the pain, so I took a picture of my hand and sent it to Bella.

"See what happens when I can't get you out of my head."

My phone rang seconds later. "Mason, you seriously need to get to a doctor for that. You could have a broken knuckle that needs to be set."

I sighed heavily. "I'll be fine. It's happened before."

"I have a free appointment in an hour. Get to my office and I'll fix your hand." She sounded extremely serious.

"Umm...how exactly are you going to fix my hand?" I had no clue what she was talking about.

It was her turn to sigh into the phone. "I'm a Nurse Practitioner. I work at Cullen Care by downtown just north of Jefferson on Washington street and 7th street. We're right next door to the science center."

I grumbled and growled. "As much as I don't want to do this, I want to see you."

"Stop being a baby. Did this happen at work?" She was still in serious mode, but I really wanted her to be in Me mode.

"Unfortunately," I admitted.

"Shit," she said. "You need to find out if they have a specific clinic that you'll need to go to."

"I'll call you back." I ended the call and went to my manager.

As soon as he saw my hand, he perked right up. "Damn, Mason. Who won? You or the truck?"

"A drive shaft." I sat down and laid my hand out for him to see. "Do I need to go to a clinic that the shop uses, or can I go to my girlfriend's office?"

He raised his brows at me. "You have a girlfriend? Since when?"

I gave him a huge smile. "Well, she's not technically my girlfriend. She's a girl, and right now, she's just a friend, but I hope things will head that direction sooner rather than later.

He eased back in his chair. "How many years have you worked for me and not once did you even mention being interested in anyone?"

"I know, Uncle Al. There's a first time for everything."

He chuckled. "Yes, there is." A head nod towards me and he picked up his phone. He pressed a few buttons then waited. "Hey, Vic. Yeah, our nephew needs to see a doc; he busted his hand up on a drive shaft." His eyes averted to mine as he listened to my aunt on the phone.

My uncle Al is my dad's brother and has been like a dad to me since my dad died when I was seven years old. He was being a jackass with his buddies one day out at the Salt River while they were tubing and drinking beers. My dad decided that he wanted to cliff dive and underestimated how deep the water was. He dove headfirst into a huge boulder that was hidden snugly under the water and broke his neck killing him instantly.

My parents were really young when I was born. My mom was only 16 and my dad was 17. They married when my mom turned 18. They were happy, according to everyone that knew them. I've looked up to my uncle Al for so many reasons and becoming a diesel mechanic had everything to do with him. He's the best man I know and from the memories I do have of my dad, they're all good. He was always making me laugh.

"Yeah, he's got a friend in a doc's office where he's wanting to go." He pulled some papers from his desk drawer and started writing on them. "Okie dokie. He's about to head over now."

He handed me the papers. "See you at home. Love you." He took one of his business cards from the holder on his desk and paper-clipped it to the papers he handed to me. "You can see your girl. Just have her fill those out and bring them back so Vic can get them ready for the bill."

"Thanks uncle Al." I stood up, but before I left, I turned back to him. "I don't tell you enough, but I love you."

He gave me a huge smile. "I love you, too, kid. I'll see you back here tomorrow."

I texted Bella to let her know that I was on my way. Thankfully it's my left hand that's busted up otherwise, I couldn't drive.

The shop was only twenty minutes from where Bella works, and it sucked to find parking until someone pulled out on my second go around of the lot.

Cullen Care was a two-story building with pristine landscaping around the entire building. There was a small courtyard before the entrance. It was a little too expensive looking for my taste.

When I entered the lobby, there were three people to my left and a few people to my right with small children. I noticed a sign that said 'Pediatrics' with an arrow pointing to the right and 'General Care' pointing to the left.

I signed in using only Bella's first name because I didn't have a clue what her freaking last name is. There was definitely more to talk about with her later on.

The receptionist asked me to fill out a few papers the best I could. It was a pain in my ass, but I got it done. I included the papers that my uncle sent with me.

Fifteen minutes later, I was called back. My weight was taken, and I was surprised as hell when I saw 223 on the digital reader. "You're definitely all muscle," the older lady said.

Once I was in a room, she took my blood pressure, temperature, and asked me a butt load of questions. "You'll be seeing Bella in a few minutes."

I leaned back on the exam table and held my hand above my heart to keep the throbbing at a minimum. A couple of minutes later, there were two light taps on the door and in came my beauty.

She placed a laptop on the counter. "So," she said just as she opened the computer then turned to look at me and smiled. "You busted your hand?" I nodded. "Can you tell me how?"

I explained as she took my hand and started poking around. She tried to straighten my fingers but got a few choice words instead. Her scent was so intoxicating that all I wanted to do was wrap myself around her, so I reached up with my uninjured hand and wrapped it around the back of her neck to pull her to me. My lips were on hers in a matter of seconds.

I opened my legs to pull her in closer. I forgot all about my hand the moment we came chest to chest. All I wanted to do was kiss her until my lips fell off.

A sharp pain shot through my hand causing me to pull away from our kiss. "Sorry. I just wanted to say hello."

"That's some hello," she said breathlessly and stepped back.

"I can't stop thinking about kissing you. Sorry, but I couldn't help it."

Bella shook her head. "No, no big deal," she stuttered as she reached for some surgical gloves and put them on. "Let's get your hand taken care of then we can see where to go from there."

"Okay," I agreed. "I'm all yours."

Bella cleaned my knuckles with peroxide then pressed around where the most swelling was. "You're gonna have to get some x-rays. I can feel the contusion, but that doesn't tell me if anything is broken. Lucky for you, we have an x-ray machine here so you don't need to go to St. Joe's to get them."

"Will this keep me from working?" I hated missing work if I didn't have to.

She took a deep breath. "Let's see what the x-rays say. It very well could just be the contusion."

"Okay, after that, can we talk about you going out with me?"

Her cheeks pinked up a little as she smiled. "The important stuff comes first."

"Fine," I agreed reluctantly. "You might as well say yes."

She gave me a menacing look. "Watch yourself Mr. Mason."

"I'll watch you all I can Ms. Miss because I don't know your last name."

She laughed. "Swan."

"Okay, Ms. Swan, just say yes."

She shook her head and left the room.

Thirty minutes later, my hand was being wrapped and ready for a cast. The Capitate, Hamate, and the fifth metacarpal were all cracked. Those were the words Bella used as she pointed them out on the x-ray. It was all gibberish to me, and the suckiest part of all was the fact that I had to be out of work for the rest of the week and the next before they would x-ray my hand again to determine my healing rate. After that, I could be released on light duty.

"You can't turn me down now; I'm broken."

She twisted her head around like she was trying to crack her neck. "You're not gonna give up, are you?" She typed a few more words into her laptop as someone else prepped my hand. "Do you think you'll need anything stronger than ibuprofen for the pain?"

"You can prescribe stuff like that?"

"I can. I'm certified." If I didn't catch the look on her face, you would think she was trying to hide the smug look she gave me.

"Why not just become a doctor?"

She shrugged. "I didn't want to go through internship. Plus, if I really wanted to, I could always go back to school. I enjoy my job, though, and I don't particularly care for school."

Then she asked me, "Why be a mechanic?"

I shook my head and pointed at her playfully. "I'll tell you about it over dinner."

"Jackass," she said as she closed her laptop. "I've sent in a script order for ten Percocet's to the pharmacy you listed. If you don't take them, that's entirely up to you."

"Thank you," I said just as the guy finished up on my hand. "Date? Food? Long walk on a sandy beach? A trip to the moon? Or a simple movie?"

"It was nice to see you Mr. Mason. You can make an appointment for two weeks from now." She picked up the laptop and stepped over to the door. "Have a good rest of your day." Then she was gone.

I couldn't believe that she blatantly ignored my proposition like I never asked or even existed. "What the hell is so wrong with me that makes her reject me?"

The guy cleaning up the cast mess shrugged his shoulders then left the room.

Thank you!

RTB