Well here we go again ... All things Twilight are not mine, I just dabble with the names and places and add my own quirky twists. Huge thanks the the wonderful AWayWithWords, who does her best to reel me in. Any mistakes you find, I own, because I cannot help but dabble ... I even do more when I am posting, so who knows what will happen. Enjoy, and let me know what you think at the bottom, please.
Chapter 7
I wake up and it's barely six in the morning. I take a shower and lather on my lotion before getting dressed. I want to run a couple errands before I head to the shop, so I pack up all my stuff that I will need today and head out to big red. After I place my stuff in the truck, I grab the pruning shears and gloves from my gardening box. I go to my flowers and cut a few off. I can't help but smile as I think of the day Jerry and I planted all of these flowers. Jerry was a great guy, and he filled a void in Emmett and I that was missing since our father died.
After I have the bunch of flowers, I put away my gardening stuff and get in the truck. I drive to the cemetery and right to the gravesite. I visit often, and find myself at peace having conversations with Jerry.
"Hey, Jerry, I've got so much to tell you," I say. I pull out the dead flower remains, and place the fresh flowers in the vase in front of his headstone. I brush off the dried pedals from the previous flowers, before taking a seat on the bench.
"It's been a busy couple of days for us at the shop. I had a client come in, he is an artist too. He has this amazing drawing with a story that brought tears to my eyes. He just relocated here from Chicago, Illinois and we are giving him a chair at the shop. His work is amazing, and you would think so too. His Japanese skills are excellent, you would think he has been tattooing for twenty years or more," I say and stop to think.
"He did some tattooing before he enlisted, and he was in the Army for seven years. He told me that he got interested in tattooing when he was sixteen at a friend's family shop, and he worked there from the age of eighteen, until he enlisted," I say as I run my hands over the marble of the bench.
"His name is Edward Cullen, and he enlisted when he was twenty-two after graduating college. He got hurt badly on a mission, and lost a portion of his right leg. After he healed and came back, he got back into tattooing and has been doing it for the past two years. Even Rose plans to ask him to finish the piece you had started for her," I say wondering if I should have let Rose tell him about this part.
"You know, she's asked me so many times to do it, but I've never felt like I would be able to do it justice. I know you think my skills are some of the best, but you know how I feel. Your shoes are big ones to fill."
I sit there a while longer and talk to Jerry about all the things going on over the past two weeks. After a while, I say my goodbyes, and head back to the truck.
I make my way to the local grocery chain we always use, to pick up the stuff I know we need to restock at the shop. When I arrive, I get a stock boy to meet me in the drinks aisle with a hand truck. After I give him the list of what I want of water, Dr. Pepper, Gatorade, Pepsi, Diet Coke, Sunkist Orange, Squirt, Barq's RootBeer, GingerAle, and Seven-Up. He tells me that the cart will be waiting up by register one. I thank him, and head off to do the rest of the shopping. I stock up on mayo, sandwich spread, and ranch, and on the way to the deli counter I stop and grab several jars of those crunchy dill pickles from the refrigerator case. At the deli counter I have them slice me two pounds of two different kinds of ham and turkey. I get four pounds of fresh sliced rare roast beef, and two pounds of five different cheeses. I head down the snack aisle and stock up on everyone's favorite chips, and snacks. I grab some chocolate chip granola bars, because Edward said it is one of his favorite go to snacks if he gets hungry. I also grab six of the big tubs of RedVines. We've been out of them for a couple days, and everyone in the shop loves them. I make sure to grab a couple bags of SwedishFish for me to fill my candy jar in my room. I grab several bags of other candies that I know the others like. I hit the bread aisle and grab a dozen packages of the Sweet Hawiian sub rolls. I also grab two packs of the sandwich wrap tortillas. I head for the check out, barely able to push the overstuffed cart. The check out girl's jaw about drops, when I tell her that all the stuff on the hand truck is mine as well. I spent more than normal, but it has been a while since we have done a huge stock up. I know there is still at least seven hundred in the grocery fund untouched, even after I just dropped eleven hundred at the store. One thing is nice though, the stock boys help load everything into the back of the truck. Its nine o'clock when I get to the shop and I am glad to see that Emmett is there already. He is a big goof, but has great work ethic. I call him quick as I back Big Red up to the back door.
"Yello, Bellsy, what's cookin'?" he answers.
"Emmett, I need your muscles. I went to the store this morning and did a huge stock up."
"I got you, are you pulling up to the back?"
"Just turned off the truck, come help," I say.
"Okay, love ya, Bellsy."
"Love you too, Em." I smile, he always tells me he loves me everyday.
Emmett comes out and lets out a whistle. "Holy hells, Bells, did you leave any food at the store?"
"Shut up, you and Alice will have us out of the food portion in a matter of three days, I'm sure."
We carry things in and once all the food part is in, Emmett leaves me to put away food, while he carries in all the drinks. First, I preheat the oven, and start the quiches that Alice bought last night. Then I stock the fridge with all the lunchmeat, pickles and condiments. I put both packages of wraps in the fridge along with four packs of rolls. I put the other eight packs of rolls in the deep freeze. I deliver each person's favorite candies to their rooms, and put a tub of RedVines on the front counter, and one on the work table.
I hear the front door open, and look up to see Edward coming in the door, with Jasper and Alice.
"Morning, guys," I call out.
"Hey, Bells," Jasper says.
"Did you go grocery shopping without me?" Alice asks as she pouts.
"Yes, Alice, after I talked to Jerry this morning, I went shopping crazy, and I know food shopping is your favorite, but it needed to be done. The receipt is on the kitchen counter, just transfer the funds from the food account to my personal account."
"Not fair, you know I like to go with, to do the stock up shopping," Alice whines.
"Get over it, Al, at least Bellsy got you your favorite RedVines," Emmett calls out as he enters the front room.
Alice's eyes move to the front counter and she smiles and skips over to where the tub of RedVines is.
"I put the quiches in the oven, they will be done in about twenty-five more minutes," I say.
"Edward, I wasn't sure if you wanted anything besides water and root beer, but if there is something else, just let us know so we can get it next time."
"I'm good with water and root beer, I may pick up some Gatorade though," he replies.
"Already got that too. Three cases of blue, three cases of red, three cases of orange, and one case of the white," I tell him.
"Holy shit, you did stock up, huh? Wait, how the heck did you do all that without taking someone with you?" he asks.
"I went into the store and immediately grabbed a stock boy and told him what I wanted, left him to load it up while I shopped," I answer.
"Emmett and Jasper," I call out.
"Yeah?" Jasper says and Emmett follows him into the room. "It's time to load up the bins of recyclables and call the haulers to have them taken to the county recycling facility. I noticed when I came in that they are about to overflow, so unless you have immediate appointments today, it needs to be taken care of.
"That is something I did not show you, Edward," Emmett says. "We put all our cans, bottles, cardboard, and plastic in the separate bins out back. Usually once a month we call and have this company come and get stuff, but we have to move the bins out of the covered area we keep them in to be picked up. They are like small dumpsters, but on wheels, and are all marked."
"Where do we dispose of all the bloodborne pathogen products?" Edward asks.
"We all have the sharps containers in our rooms, and we have a contract with MedShred that comes and picks them up once a month. If we need to empty between pick up times, we just switch out the containers, there are new ones back in the storage area under the steps that lead upstairs."
After the quiche is done, we all eat a piece, except Alice and Emmett who eat a half of a quiche each.
"Okay as much fun as it is to watch you two trying to out eat each other, I have to get ready for an appointment," I say as I get up and take my dish and fork to the kitchen. I wash my dishes, and grab a cold water to drink.
I walk out and find Alice and Edward working on paperwork and I make my way into my room to set up for my eleven o'clock appointment. After my room is set, I go back out to the waiting area where Alice and Edward are looking at a photo album Edward is holding.
"What are you guys working on?" I ask, as I sit down on the other side of Edward on the sofa.
"I was showing Alice the photos from the shop I worked at before I went into the Army. This was my first boss Eleazar, and his wife Carmen. This is their son Diego, he was my childhood best friend."
"I wasn't aware that you worked for more than one shop in Chicago. That makes an ass of me, since I assumed you only worked for the shop owned by your friend's family."
"No, Eleazar no longer operated the shop when I came back, and I didn't care to work in the environment of the new operators, even if Diego was one of them," Edward says.
"Oh, there is a story there," Alice says.
"Yeah, there is, but maybe for another time?" Edward says, sounding more like a question.
"Okay, and who is this?" I ask, pointing at the lanky kid next to Diego in the picture.
"That was me, back in the day," Edward says with a grin.
"You were such a cute kid," I say with a smile.
"I was such a dork," Edward says with a chuckle.
"Who are these people?" Alice asks, pointing at the a group of people in the next picture.
"That is Diego, and his cousins who moved to Chicago with his family when he was seventeen. Their parents died in a plane crash and they came to live with Eleazar and Carmen. The three girls are Irina, Tanya, and Kate," Edward's voice sounds off.
The door opens and in walks my eleven o'clock appointment. Liam is a regular and was Jerry's client first. He's a big guy almost the same size as Emmett.
"Hey, Liam, how's it going?" I ask.
"It's going great, Bella. How are things shaking around here?"
"Not too bad. Actually things are great. We got a new artist starting here soon. This is Edward Cullen, from Chicago, Illinois," I say. "Edward, this is a frequent flier of mine, Liam, and soon he will have no place for me to tattoo."
"You still have to finish my back before I am done, and Maggie says after my back is finished I cannot start anything else," Liam laughs. "Nice to meet you, Edward. I know of a couple of places in Chicago, where did you work, man?"
"I worked at Tattoo U, in Highland Park," Edward says.
"Oh yeah, I have seen some of the work from the website for that place, I was looking to have some Japanese completed, and according to reviews online, an artist that works there is one of the best in the biz."
"That would be, Edward," Alice says. "His Japanese work is phenomenal."
"No way, dude. That's amazing. Jerry did some work for me on my chest and he passed before it was finished, maybe you could take a look at it sometime?" Liam says.
"What about Maggie?" I interrupt.
"Please, Bella, her only worry is that I will do something stupid like tattoo my neck, hands or face, and we both know that won't ever happen."
"True, not many people would bring their children to see a pediatrician with tattoos on his face or neck," I laugh.
"You're a doctor?" Edward asks.
"Yeah, man, but I can cover all my work easily when I'm at work. I obviously never wear anything like the tank and shorts I'm wearing today."
"That makes sense. Show me what you have on your chest, if you don't mind and I will tell you if it is something I would feel comfortable finishing for you," Edward states.
Liam pulls his shirt over his head and the dragon is lined, but none of the color or shading is done yet, and the background is not complete.
"What was the background supposed to be?" Edward asks.
"Jerry was going to free hand it, and as you can see he didn't get to finish this piece. My wife went into labor while I was in the chair, or it would be complete."
"Yeah and two days later, we lost Jerry," Bella says.
"He was a fantastic man, and I trust his judgment in you, Bella," Liam says with a smile.
I get up and give him a one arm hug and smile at the others. "Well I am going to get to work, don't have too much fun with all the paperwork," I say.
"Yeah, thanks, my hand already hurts from the number of things I filled out last night and this morning."
"Yeah wait until your newspaper spread is circulated, and clients come rushing in the door," Alice says.
"I do want to look at more of your work, if you have any here for me to see," Liam says.
"He has a bunch of great photos of his work, you have to see them," I say.
"Can Edward and I look at them while you work on my shoulder?" Liam asks me.
"Yeah of course," I say and look at Edward.
"That's cool, I'll grab my binder of Japanese, and we can look through it and chat while she works," Edward says standing up.
I smile knowing Liam will be as impressed with Edward's work as we all were. I think Edward may have his first client, well if Rose doesn't make him do her tattoo first that is.
A/N: So Edward may already have at least two pieces to work on. How are you liking the connections the main characters are making so far? I love that Alice likes to grocery shop more than be the clothing diva for once, what do you think?
Edward's story is coming soon, any thoughts about the photos, or the fact that he worked at more than one shop in the Chicago area?
Hope you are all enjoying my twist on these characters, and I would love to know what you are all thinking about the story thus far.
I'm working on Chapter 10 right now, and chapter 9 has been sent to be edited. I am trying to keep a two chapter cushion so that I don't get stuck in a block and leave you all waiting.
Your words of encouragement help, and I really appreciate the pimping of this story, so let me know if you share it or you are reading because it was shared somewhere, so that I can thank those who are responsible. Kasi~