Happy Monday, Everyone! I hope your week is off to a good start. Thank you to My-Bella for making sure all my commas go where they should and that I don't go off the rails.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, its characters, or anything else familiar in this story. I just like to send them on new adventures.

You make me wanna
Wake up with you
In the bed of my truck and start
Over again when the sun comes up

~Thomas Rhett

~Bella~

I was so tired. Wiping away the sweat covering my face with the bottom of my t-shirt, all I could think was how glad I'd be when this was all done. Although watching Edward's muscles flex and his shirt stretch and pull across his arms as he worked did help.

These late August days were real scorchers. Hotter than Hades outside as late summer days were known to be in Oklahoma. At least the humidity was slightly less oppressive than it was in Miami. Slightly being the operative word. We had fans running in the house to circulate air and the AC was on to help cool us, but with all the work we were doing, it was still hot.

I'd much rather experience the workout Edward had given me when he'd arrived home late last night, and again this morning. A perk of having a sexy as hell, unable to resist boyfriend even when it left you dragging the next day.

Boyfriend…That word stuck in my head.

We hadn't labeled or defined what this relationship was between us. And that had been fine at first. But things had changed recently, intensified. Though things had always been intense between us. We were like two planets caught in each other's orbit. Held by the gravitational pull of the other. Maybe it was time we had a conversation about what this was between us and where we saw it going. If for no other reason than we knew where each of us stood. I also had something else I needed to talk to him about. A surprise I had for him.

Knowing I needed to get back to work, I sighed, feeling the fatigue of the day so far. Once thing was certain, I'd kill for a nap right about now.

"Are you still planning to live here for a bit?" Edward asked interrupting my internal whining.

"That had been the plan, but to be honest, I don't know if I can. No matter how many changes we make to this place, I still see the home I grew up in and it still stirs too many unpleasant memories." I sat down on an overturned big bucket and blew out a long breath. Looking up at him I added, "But I also don't want to wear out my welcome with your aunt and uncle."

Sympathy filling his expression, he brushed the hair that was falling out of my ponytail back. Swatting down to my level, cupping my face, he gently rubbed his thumb over my cheek before leaning in for a quick kiss. "You could never wear out your welcome with them. They love you just as much as they do Emmett, me, Alice or any of the rest of us. You are family to them, Bella."

I nodded, seeing the sincerely in his eyes, and hearing it in his voice. Resting my head on his shoulder, I thought about what he'd said. Realistically I knew he was right. But there was a small part of me that also wanted a place of my own. I made a mental note to check what options there might be in town.

"Water, Gatorade. Get your cold drinks here," Emmett hollered like a concession stand worker as he barged through the door, carrying a cooler.

"Toss me two," Edward hollered.

Emmett set the cooler down and tossed the bottles to Edward. He kept one for himself and handed the other to me. I took a long swig from the chilled bottle. It felt so good going down I was tempted to take another and douse myself in it. After chugging half the bottle, I grabbed another to take back to Jack who was busy in the bathroom. I was eager to see what progress he'd made and was certain he'd be ready for a cold drink too.

The bathroom was the one space I was being somewhat picky about. In Miami I'd spent four years sharing a small cramped bathroom with Jessica. When I'd initially thought I'd live here, I wanted to have an oasis of a bathroom all to myself. I was beginning to think it was time to let that go.

I was thrilled Edward had offered to get Jack's help and even more thrilled that Jack agreed to lend us his plumbing skills. It felt like I was pouring all the money from Charlie's life insurance into this house. So hopefully I'd get it back when it sold.

Edward, Jack, and Emmett had knocked out a closet in the room next to the bathroom and stole that space to make the bathroom even bigger. Where the closet had been there was now the rough in for a large walk-in shower and an entrance to the bedroom, making it an on suite. They also added a similarly sized closet on the other side of the room. Since the bedroom had been pretty big to begin with, it was still a good-sized space even with the reconfiguration and the option to enter the bathroom from the hall or the bedroom was a bonus.

"Break time. Brought ya some cold water," I called to Jack as I entered the bathroom.

He smiled and took the cool drink from me. "Thanks, doll."

Looking around I studied what had been done so far. The new pipes had been put in with the valves for where the vanity faucet, shower head, and shower controls would go.

"Why is the shower head so high? I asked, when I still couldn't reach it standing on my tiptoes. And even if I'd had been able to reach it that way, me or someone else my size, trying to reach something like that on a wet shower floor, likely meant falling on your ass or worse.

"It has to be tall enough for a tall guy to stand under, Darlin'," Jack insisted.

"Hey, Emmett," I yelled. "Emmett," I hollered a second time when I didn't get a response at first.

~Edward~

"Bella?" I said, walking down the hall, thinking I'd heard her calling for Emmett, but not sure due to of all the noise coming from the saw Emmett was using. "Where are you?

"In the bathroom."

I made my way to the back of the house where the new bathroom was underway.

I found Bella standing in the area where the shower was, looking up at the pipe where the shower head would go.

"Emmett's out cutting a piece of wood and can't hear you with the saw going. You need help with something?" I asked her, stopping in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"Well, it might be better to ask you anyways, since Jack is your friend. Maybe he'll listen to you," she replied, shooting Jack a look that told me they were at odds over something. This was going to be fun, given how stubborn they both were.

"Sure. What's up?" I asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at her.

Pointing to the pipe in the upper part of the wall, she said, "That up there is too high."

"It is?" I quickly glanced up to where she was pointing and then over to Jack, questioning what Bella was saying.

When Jack remained silent, but gave me a slight shake of his head in disagreement with what Bella was saying. I turned back to her. "What makes you think it's too high?"

"Two things," she said. Holding up her pointer finger she continued. "One, I can't reach it." Raising another finger, she then added, "And two, that's not where I asked for it to be put. I wanted it lower so I can reach the dang thing."

"Where did you want it?" I had a feeling it would be too low, but sensing her frustration, I didn't want to risk making her mad. Instead, I wanted to show her why where she wanted it likely wouldn't work. Hopefully she'd see reason.

Bella walked closer to the wall and held her hand up and smacked the wall right where she thought the shower head should go. Just above her head. I bit back a laugh at her theatrics. She was adorable when she got all worked up. A kitten with her claws out. Just one of the many reasons why she'd gotten the nickname I'd given her.

"Okay, darlin'," Jack piped in. "Keep your hand right there. Now, Eddie boy, you go over there and stand against the wall next to her hand."

"Don't call me Eddie boy," I shot back at him before doing as he wanted me to.

"Now, do you see why it needs to be higher?" he asked Bella once I was in position.

"Well sure, but what's the point of having a removable shower head if I or any other woman who might live here can't reach it?" she whined.

"You can't put it that low, Bella. There are codes that require it to be at a certain height. Have you ever seen one that low?" he asked

'Well no." she reluctantly admitted.

"There's a reason for that. Codes have to be obeyed." Continuing to explain, Jack added, "It might be able to be lowered a little, but not much."

She huffed in annoyance. "Why not? It's my shower, I'm barely more than five feet tall, why do I need a showerhead that's at least six feet high?"

"Not everyone is a short-stuff like you," Jack teased. Chuckling, he patted her on the head.

Bella stood on her toes, stretching as far as she could, failing to come close to the height she was aiming for, the spot where Jack had the pipe in the wall. "It's too high." Unable to fight off the smile forcing its way onto my face, I considered how to word what I'd say next. Teasing her was one thing, but pissing her off was not something I wanted to do.

"Look I get what you're saying. But how do you expect anyone else to ever shower here? Anyone taller than you?" I raised my eyebrow at her, hoping she'd get what I was saying. Especially after what we'd done in my shower on more than one occasion now. "No one but you will ever be able to use it without bending over to get their head under the water," I replied and then added, "Not the most comfortable way to shower."

A pink tinge washed over her face. I was sure she had caught on to my meaning. As she stood there just staring at the wall, I could see the gears turning in her head. I just wasn't certain what she was thinking about.

"Just think about this," Jack suggested. "What if some dude as tall as Edward or Emmett buys this place? How high is the shower in the bathroom upstairs?"

I could see Bella was mulling over what he'd said.

"Or even if you stay here," he added. "Do you plan to be alone all your life? Be an old spinster and never get married?" He looked back and forth between Bella and I, a shit eating grin on his face. "How ya gonna get freaky in the shower with Edwad, or your man, whoever he may be, if he can't even stand under the shower head."

I was suddenly struck with the thought of Bella being with another man… I didn't like it. I got lost in that thought and didn't see her move.

"I got it." She exclaimed. Jumping up and down. God, she was fucking beautiful with her face lit in excitement, and her eyes were practically glowing, making them shine like a glass of dark amber whiskey. Her face was flushed with color from the heat and maybe a touch of it was from the extracurricular activities Jack had hinted at. Whatever it was, all I knew was, some women spent hours to make their skin glow, Bella's glowed naturally. She'd always been a natural beauty and was even more so when she was a mess like she was now.

"What are you thinking?" I could see Jack was curious too. I also saw him watching Bella. She was gorgeous, I got it, but I didn't have to like it.

"Well…" she said, dragging the word out and turning to Jack flashing him a sweet and innocent smile. Oh fuck, was all I could think. Jack was about to get a dose of sweet talking, charming your socks off, Bella. "I know you just put all this in, but…"

"But what, Darlin?" Jack egged her on.

"Well, showers can have more than one shower head, right? I mean, I've watched some of those home improvement shows. Sometimes they put multiple shower heads, jets and all sorts of gadgets into a shower."

"Sure," he replied a little hesitantly. "Just spit it out. Tell me what you're wanting."

"Okay, so I concede on the shower height. You vertically challenged people need to shower too. But—,"

"Wait. What did she say?" Jacked looked at me for an answer. "Did she just say vertically challenged?

"Uh, yeah. I think she did." I scratched the back of my head. I wasn't sure what Bella had meant either.

Before either of us could comment further, Bella chimed in with, "Yes, you are so tall you need showers and such so high up no one else can reach them. You are vertically challenged. The rest of us are normal." She smiled at Jack and then stuck her tongue out at him.

He laughed. "Is she always this feisty?"

"You have no idea," I responded, joining in on the laughter.

"Anyways, as I was saying," Bella cut in. "Could we make that a spot for a regular shower head, maybe one of those rain showerhead things or something, and then add a removable one lower on the wall? Would that be a shit ton of work to do? I'm willing to pay ya, if it is."

"Two things," Jack told her.

"Okay, shoot." Bella looked at him, hope in her eyes that he'd give her the answer she wanted. I was fairly certain it could be done, just didn't know if Jack was willing since he'd already put the pipes in.

"One, yes it can be done, and its not easy, but not too difficult since the pipes are still exposed," he explained to her. I had feeling he was going to do it for her. Jack was a good guy and did like to help his friends out. And I was sure Bella had become one of them. "And I can do it. But you ain't paying me. Your money is no good with me."

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a pain," Bella said sincerely.

"I'm sure. But you aren't completely off the hook. It is gonna require you to do something."

"Name it."

"Don't give me a blank opening like that, doll. You might not like my reply," he teased, flashing her a megawatt smile.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes at him and laughed. "What is it?"

"If you want this all done today, I need you to run out and get the new head for the main wall mounted shower head, and then the handheld one you want for the lower access point."

"Done. I can do that. Do I have time to finish painting first?" she wanted to know.

"How bout this?" I offered. "Why don't you stay and finish what you're working on? I'm finished with what I was doing, so I'll run and get the parts and grab lunch for us all while I'm out before I move on to something else. Pizza good?"

"I don't know about pizza? What about that sub shop we passed on the way? Subs and chips? Maybe some slaw?" Bella suggested.

"I can do that."

.

.

.

Entering the house, with Emmett following behind me to help carry everything in, we both watched in amusement seeing my sister and Bella ogling a now shirtless Jack as he welded the pipes for the lower access point in the shower.

"What happened to his shirt?" I asked Emmett, when both women remained fixated on Jack, not even knowing we were there.

He shrugged. "No clue, I was in the kitchen."

"Dude, you should totally go shirtless at The Bar. Chicks would be lining up all day long," Emmett suggested.

A blush instantly colored Bella's cheeks.

"Enjoying the show?" I whispered next to her ear, earning a playful shove from her.

"Alice wanted to see the bathroom. She brought some tile samples to show me."

"Is that so?" I wasn't convinced.

Alice turned around. "Bella was just showing me how far the bathroom has come."

"She was huh? You come to help?" I asked Alice.

"Not really. I just dropped by to see how it was going, and to give these to Bella."

That was when I noticed she actually had a few pieces of tile in her hand. I was about to ask which one they picked, but Alice had more to say.

"And to let everyone know Carl is grilling some ribs and Mae said everyone, including Jack, is expected at dinner tonight."

"Did someone say ribs?" Jack piped in.

"Yeah, Uncle Carl's are the best," I added. "You up for dinner at the ranch?"

"Sure. I'll never turn down a chance for some good food," Jack declared.

I'd brought back so much food that Alice stayed and had lunch with us. I knew how much Emmett liked to eat and I suspected we were all pretty hungry so I'd gotten extra. We entertained Jack with stories about what we'd all gotten up to as kids here in the summers before we'd moved here permanently.

"So y'all have known each other a long ass time," he said between bites of food.

"Yeah, years. We were still pretty little the first summer we came down from Chicago," my sister explained. "Maybe 7 or 8 I think."

"Wow, y'all practically grew up together. And you and Bella were high school sweethearts?" he asked pointing his fork at Bella and me.

"Uh, yeah," Bella said softly, looking up at me with remorse in her eyes.

I knew what she was thinking about, and until now I hadn't even realized it was real near the anniversary of the day she'd left me. Sweat beaded on my forehead as what had happened that day came back to me. The urge to hurl hit me like a punch to the gut.

Emmett must have caught the look that passed between Bella and I, or have sensed the mood shift in the room. He was a goofball most of the time, but he was also very good at reading the room. I was grateful for his deflection and the opportunity to do anything other than entertain the feelings threatening to overwhelm me. Losing my lunch wasn't high on my priorities either.

"Well that was tasty, but I reckon I'm gonna save me some room for Carl's ribs." He got up and started gathering the trash from our food. "Faster we finish up here, faster we can sink our teeth into them. I'm betting Mae will have some of her potato salad to go with it. Corn on the cob too."

The rest of us followed his lead, then said our goodbyes to Alice, saying we'd see her and Jasper in a bit at dinner.

A few hours later, we'd accomplished a lot. The house was practically ready to go. A little more painting, some tile work, and Bella deciding if she wanted to have one of those staging companies come in with furniture, or leave it a blank space, before she put it on the market to sell. Because I was fairly certain selling it would be what she'd do.

"I'll see y'all in a bit after I shower and change," Jack said as he loaded his tools into his truck.

"Thanks for your help today."

"Yeah, I greatly appreciate it," Bella told him, leaning in to give him a quick hug.

"Happy to help," he offered as he returned the hug. He then climbed behind the wheel and started up his truck. "See ya soon." He waved and then was off.

After loading up what we needed to take back to the ranch, Emmett, Bella, and I got into my truck and made our way home.

Once we reached the ranch Emmett hopped out telling us not to dally too long or he wouldn't be responsible for there not being any ribs left.

"You wanna shower here, or down at my place?" I asked Bella, leaning in for a kiss. It was the first time we'd had anything resembling alone time since this morning.

"What I want and what I should do are two very different things."

"Can I convince you to come down to my place?" I nibbled on her ear, before kissing down the side of her neck.

"Oh you could, but I suspect we might miss dinner," she giggled. "There's two of us and one shower at your place."

"Fine. I don't want to miss those ribs. I've no doubt your brother can eat them all."

"Raincheck for tonight?" she asked.

"Deal."

After another lingering kiss she climbed out and told me to hurry. Once she was inside, I pulled away and headed down the short way to the barn. Dottie must have heard the truck because she came running across the field and met me there.

"Hey, girl." I knelt and gave her some love. "You hungry?" I asked. She replied with a loud bark and excitedly wagged her tail. "Okay. Let's go."

She followed me up the stairs and into the kitchen. After filling her food bowl and giving her fresh water, I made my way to the bathroom.

I made quick work of showering and getting dressed. Dottie and I walked up the short gravel way to the main house. Knowing she wasn't allowed in Aunt Mae's kitchen during dinner time, as soon as I opened the door, she trotted off into the living room.

Just stepping through the back door, I heard Aunt Mae. "Oh, Bella, I put the plane tickets for Miami on the dresser in your room."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was this happening to me again?

I felt gob-smacked. Like a tornado had just dropped a fucking house on me.

What the fuck was going on?

"You're leaving?"

'Cause trying not to love you, only goes so far
Trying not to need you, is tearing me apart
Can't see the silver lining, from down here on the floor
And I just keep on trying, but I don't know what for
'Cause trying not to love you
Only makes me love you more

~Nickelback

Eeek! I promise there's a reason for this.

Until next time, let me know what ya thought.

~EA