Edward's Preparation
Two hours before Bella went shopping, Edward drove to his mother´s house. They were meeting a very important client that day, so he worked the first few hours from home before he bought an Esmasen coffee to-go and made his way to Esme.
She was already waiting for him outside. Good, he thought. They couldn´t afford to be late.
¨Good morning,¨ Esme said as she hopped into the car.
¨Morning,¨ Edward said. ¨Laptop and contract are in the back. I worked until midnight on our presentation, so it should all be good,¨ he explained. His fingers tapped against the wheel and he blamed the caffeine for that.
¨I wouldn´t expect otherwise,¨ Esme nodded. Her gaze went down to her son´s fingers and she frowned.
¨Are you nervous?¨ she asked against her better judgement.
¨It wouldn´t be okay if I weren´t,¨ Edward answered. He tried to keep his eyes on the road. Damn it, he hated the fact that his mother could read him like a book. He sighed. ¨We could gain a lot from this deal.¨
Esme shrugged. ¨Well, it´s not a deal, we´ll be working together.¨
¨We´ll be partners.¨
¨Exactly.¨
They drove in silence until Esme spoke again. ¨Are you nervous because it´s your first deal?¨
Edward glanced sideways with a look that could kill and Esme held up both her hands in surrender. Edward shifted in his seat with unease.
They stopped in front of a traffic light and he leaned forward to turn on the radio.
¨So, how´s your dating life?¨ Esme mentioned casually.
Edward´s hand hung mid-air and he turned his head so quickly he was sure he had recked a muscle. ¨Mum!¨ he cringed. ¨Can you not bring up my dating life when we´re working?¨
¨What dating life?¨ Esme said sweetly. Edward blinked once. He blinked twice. And he still wasn´t sure if he had heard her correctly and if he could ever recover from this burn.
A car honked behind them, making him come back to his senses. He drove away and leaned back in his seat. He smugly waited a couple of seconds before he spoke.
¨But if you must know…,¨ Edward continued.
¨Yes?¨
¨Alice and I are going on a second date.¨ The corner of his mouth tucked upward and he glanced quickly in Esme´s direction. The excitement that was seen on her face always hurt. Almost.
¨Really?¨
¨Yes.¨
¨Oh, that´s wonderful,¨ she sighed. ¨She´s such a remarkable young woman. And Carlisle did such an impressive job raising her. Did you know that the both of them speak modern Greek because they learned it together for fun?¨
Edward frowned. ¨I did not know that.¨
¨And did you know Carlisle taught Alice to play the piano when she was just five years old? He has a piano in his house for when she visits.¨ Esme giggled. ¨They are such a great family. I´m so glad the two of you are hitting it off.¨
¨I can tell,¨ Edward noted. ¨But since when are you so amoured with dr. Cullen?¨
¨I didn´t mean it like that,¨ Esme reddened. ¨I just meant that dr Cullen has raised a remarkable young woman. Just like I raised a remarkable young man.¨ She leaned forward and pinched his cheek.
¨Jezus, I´m driving,¨ he patted her hand away. Esme didn´t elaborate further on Carlisle, so he let it slide. For now.
¨And she has such gorgeous hair,¨ she continued. ¨Black as a raven, while Carlisle´s hair is blonde. Funny how genetics work, isn´t it?¨
Edward thought about their date and their encounter in the coffee shop. For their date, her hair was curled and in Esmasen, it was in a ponytail. Both times, it was clearly brown though.
¨I thought she had brown hair?¨ he asked.
¨Oh, it must be lighter because of the sun. Or she dyed it recently.¨
Edward mumbled and parked his car. Esme had her hand on the door handle, but he stopped her.
¨Before we go in, I have some news. It´s not about this client, so don´t worry.¨
Esme nodded and he continued. ¨Remember when you told me I should invest? Well, I finally bit the bullet. There´s an apartment I´m interested in buying.¨
¨Oh?¨
¨It´s not far from here. I have an appointment with the real estate agent after this.¨
Edward could not contain his excitement. He looked at Esme and she smiled at him. He nodded and grabbed his laptop bag. He would get to the apartment in a short while, but first, they were going to kill this meeting. He was sure of it.
A couple of hours later, when he had driven back to Esme´s house and she had wished him luck, he drove to the apartment. He was still thinking about the meeting that had happened, and the appointment that he had in a couple of minutes. He didn´t pay enough attention to the road in front of him.
He turned and saw an empty parking spot. He tried to park, completely missing the car that tried to drive away from the other side. The other car honked and Edward escaped his thoughts. He raised his hand to the driver and mouthed ´sorry.´
He couldn´t see how many people were in that car, but he could distinguish the driver´s short black hair.