18 Enamored
Alice loved her new bed castle when she wasn't expected to sleep in it. Edward spent much of the following week pretending to be a knight defending her castle, pretending to be a serf who fetched her grapes and string cheese, or pretending to be a dragon attacking the castle defended by the brave princess. Somehow the brave princess always ended up riding the no-longer-attacking dragon, but that seemed to be a minor detail. The important thing was that the castle was a hit in all ways except the intended one. Alice continued to refuse to sleep in it.
The week was a busy one for Edward. On top of his work on the graphic novel and his responsibilities to Alice, he had to connect with several people involved in planning, permitting, and implementing the remodel on the Swans' house. It ate up a lot of his time, and he was a little behind on his drawing when he took Alice out to visit her grandmother on Wednesday evening. He tinkered with his sketches over dinner, but Alice was cranky over being expected to eat when there were dogs to be played with, and Edward couldn't get as much work done as he would have liked.
Linda must have noticed his growing impatience. She gave him a sympathetic look, and said, "Would you like me to look after Alice for a while so you can take a break?"
He blinked in surprise. He had never intended to turn her into a babysitter, but the offer was awfully tempting. Of course, he didn't know her that well. He doubted he'd be able to leave Alice alone with her, even if she was family.
"Oh—I forgot," she said. "Vince Davis asked me to deliver a package." She bustled out of the room and returned again with a smartwatch box.
"Oh, it came!" Edward received it eagerly and opened it up. Vince had fitted it with the child-sized leather band, and he turned to show Alice. "Look! It's your new watch with the wolf on the band."
"Wofe?" Alice said, interested.
"Yeah, see it?" Edward helped her put it on and then programmed his number into it for her. "Watch. This is how you call me." He tapped a couple of buttons, and when his phone rang he answered it. "Hello?"
His voice echoed through Alice's watch, and she gasped. "Iss you!"
"That's right," he said. "Now you can call me whenever you want."
"Which means," Linda said, "that you can take a break if you want to. Go get some coffee and work on your drawings. I'll take care of Alice."
Edward hesitated. Turning over his kid to a near stranger went against his learned overprotectiveness.
"What do you think I'm going to do? Kidnap her and hold her for ransom? She's my granddaughter."
"I mean . . ." Edward shrugged and gave her an awkward smile.
"As though I could manage all of that on these knees," she said dismissively. "You just go have your break. I'll take Alice to the drum circle and you can pick her up at the Akalat Center afterward."
Weirdly, the knee argument actually worked pretty well on him. "Okay. I think I will. Alice, call me if you want me to come back, okay?"
"Tay." She tapped on her watch and his phone rang.
He answered it. "You want me to stay?"
"No." She tapped her watch again and disconnected the call, only to immediately call again.
"Oh, good," Edward said. "This was a brilliant idea."
"Go on," Linda said, shooing him away. "Alice, eat four more bites and then I have some dessert for you. How would you like some blackberry cobbler?"
"Boeys?" Alice asked, her interest piqued.
"Four more bites."
Alice looked comfortable enough, so Edward nodded to Linda and headed out the door. He got four calls from Alice in the few minutes that it took him to drive to a nearby coffee shop. Each time she simply said, "Hi!" and then hung up. Linda must have eventually either given her some dessert or let her play with the dogs, though, because the calls stopped. Edward took the opportunity to get himself a cup of coffee and spend some time on his art, and he was only a little anxious about leaving Alice with her grandma.
He intended to give them an hour before he called to check in. That seemed like long enough that his obsessive hovering wouldn't offend Linda. But his nerves got to him after about twenty minutes, and he ended up calling Alice's watch. She answered right away.
"Hi!" she said brightly. "Hassum doddies!"
Edward could hear the eager snorting and whining of Linda's dogs through his phone.
"Yeah? Are you having fun?"
"Oh, yes!"
"Are you being good for your grandma?"
"Uh-huh."
"Okay, I just thought I'd check. Have fun at the drum circle, okay?"
"A-jwums? Hassum?"
"Your drum is with your diaper bag. Grandma Linda will give it to you when it's time."
"Tay. Bye!" Alice hung up.
Edward grinned and headed to the counter for a scone and a fresh cup of coffee. Alice was doing just fine.
And so was he. The uninterrupted time was excellent for churning out panels. He had to be careful about what kinds of things might be seen by the people around him, but as he was mostly just responsible for the main figure drawing, there wasn't actually that much incriminating information in his work. Once Esme's lettering was added to the panels, they gave away a lot of secrets, but most of his work was pretty unrecognizable without names and context attached. So he completed sketch after sketch on his tablet, getting them ready for the final inking he would do later on Bristol board.
Finally, when the drum circle was scheduled to end, Edward packed up his bag and headed off to pick up Alice. He found Linda waiting for him inside the Akalat center, a sleeping Alice draped over her shoulder. She fussed a little when Edward claimed her, but she settled down again once she had a new shoulder to sleep on. Edward thanked Linda and confirmed plans to see her the following week, and then he got Alice home and into her bed. Where she refused to stay, because Edward had somehow pissed off the cosmos and was being punished.
Still, it was a good day. He'd caught up on his work, he'd given Alice some culture time, and he'd settled some of his anxiety about Linda. He liked the idea of being able to drop Alice off with her grandmother and let the two of them spend unsupervised time together. Alice should have a relationship with her Quileute family.
Edward brushed his teeth and then settled into bed next to Alice. She'd been nearly asleep again, but she crawled over to him and snuggled up against his side.
"Did you have a good time with Grandma Linda tonight?" he asked her.
"Uh-huh," she mumbled. "Hassum doddies."
Edward grinned. "Yeah, those are pretty fun doggies."
"Uh-huh."
Two days later, Edward hauled Alice off to Port Angeles to give her what he was certain would be the thrill of her young life. Alice fussed over going to a toy store, but Edward promised her something better and took her to a pet store instead. While Alice freaked the hell out over the birds, hamsters, fish, and various other little animals on display around the store, Edward filled his cart with the things they would need for the pet she didn't know they'd be taking home. There was a little bit of a struggle when it was time to leave the store, because Alice caught sight of a set of modular crates near the exit that contained cats available for adoption. She couldn't understand why Edward would be so cruel as to deny her access to the beautiful, furry darlings, and no mention of teeth or claws would mollify her.
So she was discontented when the two of them arrived at the breeder's house, but Edward knew that wouldn't last long. He carried her to the porch with promises of a surprise for her and rang the bell.
Gloria answered after a moment and let them in.
"Today's the day, huh?" she asked.
Alice whined and buried her head in Edward's shoulder.
"Uh-oh. Not in a good mood?"
"She'll be fine as soon as she sees her surprise," Edward said.
"We'd better get to it, then. Right this way."
She led them through the house and out the back door, to a sheltered kennel with a play yard beyond. Edward followed her into the kennel, where a mother Yorkshire Terrier lay in a large dog bed with three little puppies. Each of the little furballs was small enough that Edward could easily have let it curl up in the palm of his hand. The presence of people seemed to energize the puppies, and they started wiggling around in the bed, sniffing at the air.
"Alice, look," Edward coaxed.
Alice whined stubbornly.
"Okay, you don't have to, but you're going to miss the puppies."
Alice's head popped up so fast that her head collided with his chin. Edward winced, but Alice hardly noticed because once she caught sight of the puppies, everything else became irrelevant. She started shaking her hands wildly in excitement, and little high-pitched squeals escaped her throat. It was hilarious, and Edward had to tamp down a laugh.
"Aren't they cute?" he asked her.
"So chyoot!" she squealed.
"Would you like to meet them?" Gloria asked.
Alice was so excited that she could only gasp in response.
"You have to be very gentle," Edward warned, trying to use a soothing voice to chill her out a little bit. "The puppies are very little, so you have to be so careful."
"A-tofo! A-tofo!"
Edward didn't believe for a second that she would be careful, so he stayed on alert to keep her from accidentally hurting the puppies. He set her down on the floor, her pastel green skirt spread out around her, as Gloria leaned down and scooped the puppies up from the dog bed.
"The little blonde is the girl," she said. "Both of the boys have some of the darker silver coloring."
She deposited the three little handfuls of squirming fur on the ground near Alice and the girl puppy immediately took off, scampering away to explore the rest of the kennel. One of the little boys sniffed at Alice's shoe and then returned to the dog bed and started trying to climb back in. The third puppy, though, decided that Alice's petticoats were fascinating. He sniffed at her skirts, pawed at the tulle, and then climbed right up inside her dress.
Alice shrieked in delight and looked up at Edward, laughing maniacally.
Edward laughed right along with her. "Is he funny?"
She was laughing too hard to speak, and Edward figured he should probably intervene. So he chased after the puppy, digging him out of Alice's skirt and setting him on her lap.
"You should let him smell your hand," he said. He took Alice's hand and guided close to the puppy. "Be nice and still so he can smell you."
If he thought that would calm her down, he was dead wrong. The puppy sniffed at her hand, but then he pounced on it and began licking and nosing at her fingers. Alice was caught somewhere between delight and hysteria, and her shrieking laughter sent the little girl puppy scampering for cover behind the dog bed.
The dog in Alice's lap seemed unperturbed. He discovered some ribbons dangling at her waist, and he set to work tugging on them.
"Let's pet him," Edward said. "Be so very gentle, okay?" And he took her hand and showed her how softly she should pet the dog.
"That looks like the one," Gloria said, beaming down at Alice and the dog.
"Yeah, I think they've chosen each other."
Edward monitored Alice for a couple of minutes more, but when it seemed like she understood how careful to be, he let Gloria distract him with some final paperwork. She gave him papers on the dog and the recommended immunization schedule, and chatted with him a little more about recommendations for feeding and housebreaking.
Housebreaking. It had damn near been a deal-breaker for Edward when he'd started considering getting Alice a dog, but looking at her now, he figured it was going to be worth it. He'd go to great lengths to make her this happy. He was going to hate cleaning up the accidents, but not as much as he loved Alice's laugh.
Gloria passed him a soft-sided carrier that she'd promised she would include with the purchase, and Edward frowned down at it. The thing was practically a purse with mesh sides. Which would be fine if Alice were big enough to carry it, but it would be Edward who had to haul that thing around. He'd just bought his very own purse dog.
"I put a puppy pad down in it," Gloria told him. "You'll probably want to do that until you figure out his little quirks. Lots of dogs get nervous and pee in the car."
"Great. I really needed more pee in my life."
But it didn't matter, because Alice was just so damn happy. He let her play with her puppy for a minute more, and then he figured he should let Gloria get back to her day.
"All right, Alice, we should get home."
Alice looked up at him in horror. "No!"
For a moment he didn't understand why she was so upset, until it occurred to him that she'd never been allowed to take a dog with her before. He smiled and crouched down.
"The puppy gets to come with us," he said. "He's your dog now. We're going to take him home."
Alice stared at him. "A-home?"
"Yeah. You, me, and your new dog. We're all going home together."
"Oh!" Alice was shaking her hands again. "Awiss doddy?"
"That's right," he said, grinning. "He's your dog, so you'd better take good care of him."
Alice laughed in delight and patted her dog, who reciprocated by licking her fingers again.
Even knowing that they got to take the little furball home wasn't quite consolation enough when Edward plucked the dog off of Alice's lap and tucked him into the carrier. Alice desperately wanted to hold him, and Edward had a terrible time soothing her. He tried to convince her that the carrier was important, but if he hadn't been worried about the little dog ending up beneath the brake pedal, he'd have given in and let Alice hold him all the way home from Port Angeles. He was worried about it, though, and he wasn't willing to die for the sake of Alice's love affair with her new puppy, so he ignored her complaints and belted the dog carrier in next to Alice's car seat. Eventually, she settled down and stopped crying. She got to watch him explore the carrier and paw at the mesh sides, and that was apparently enough to satisfy her once they were on the road.
Edward didn't put a movie on for Alice on the ride home. She never even asked. She had more important things to think about.
And then the housebreaking era began. Edward chose a pee spot outside in the grass, under the eaves of the house to protect from rain. He set alarms to remind him to take the puppy outside at regular intervals, but of course, the first time the animal actually peed, it was on the carpet. When he scolded the puppy for it, Alice burst into tears. Her tender little heart already belonged so completely to her puppy that she couldn't stand for him to be treated so roughly. So before Edward could break out his industrial-strength, enzyme-destroying carpet cleaner, he had to spend several minutes soothing Alice and trying to convince her that he truly loved both her and her little dog.
"We need to name him," he said to Alice that evening while she played with him on the living room floor. Esme sat beside him, nearly as entertained by the two of them as Edward was.
"How do you feel about people names?" Esme asked. "Like Max or Tucker?"
"Boring."
"Aww, I think it's cute. Alice, do you want to call your dog Max?"
"Maps?" Alice asked.
"She can't even say it."
"She'll get there."
"I don't like it. What about Killer or Vicious?"
Esme arched an eyebrow. "You want to name that little puffball Vicious?"
"Sure. It's ironic. I think it's funny."
"Boo."
"Alice, how about Vicious?"
"Bishiss?"
"It sounds like 'bitches' when she says it."
"Right. Not Vicious."
"Plant names?" Esme suggested. "Clover . . . Oakley . . ."
"The poor dog is already getting carried around in a purse. You want to humiliate him further by giving him a pansy-ass plant name?"
Esme laughed.
"We could do like Jacob did and use names from mythology. I like that."
"Me too," Esme said. "And you can still get one of your ironic names. Ares? Zeus? Hercules?"
Alice's head popped up. "Oochooweez?"
"You like that name?" Edward asked.
"Habba Oochooweez!" She ran to the entertainment unit and pulled open the door, her dog scampering after her. She searched through her DVDs until she found what she was after and brought it to Edward. It was the Disney Hercules movie.
"Hey, look at that. You have a movie called Hercules. You want to name your dog Hercules?"
Alice looked at the dog. "Diss Oochooweez?"
"She really can't say that one," Esme said.
"Are you kidding? That's the cutest thing in the world. I love how she says it."
Esme snorted.
"What do you think?" Edward asked Alice. "Is your dog's name Hercules?"
"Um. Yes."
Edward wasn't sure she knew what she was agreeing to, but then she took the DVD back and headed toward the entertainment center to put it away. She looked back and called over her shoulder, "Mon, Oochooweez."
The puppy scrambled after her.
"Well, damn," Esme said. "Looks like the dog has a name."
Alice had fallen in love with her dog the moment he'd gone up her skirt, but Edward was slightly more difficult to win over. As he'd told his friends, he was a cat person. Cats took responsibility for their own bathroom activities and generally preferred not to pee on the carpet. But that evening at bedtime, Hercules won Edward's undying love forever. After bathing Alice and getting her teeth brushed, Edward placed a puppy pad in the bottom of the dog carrier and put Hercules inside it.
"This is where Hercules sleeps," he told Alice, taking the carrier into her bedroom. He leaned inside her bed castle and placed Hercules at the foot. "He has to stay in his carrier, okay? That's where the puppy pad is, and if he needs to pee in the middle of the night, I want it to be on the puppy pad."
"Puppy pad?" Alice asked.
"Yep. They're sort of like diapers for dogs. Only they don't move around with you, so Hercules stays in this bag, okay?"
"Tay."
Edward read Alice her bedtime story and sang her the bedtime song, and then he went through the familiar ritual of trying to convince her to stay in her own bed.
"Okay, now you're going to stay here and sleep in your princess bed like a big girl, right?"
"No. Seepishoo."
"But Hercules sleeps here. Don't you want to sleep with Hercules?"
Alice contemplated the puppy inside the carrier, and then she grabbed the carrier handles and started dragging it off the bed. "Oochooweez seepishoo."
"Oh, no." Edward hadn't considered this possibility, and it filled him with absolute horror. "Not happening, kid. There will be no dogs in my bed."
"Yes. Hattoo."
But on this, Edward absolutely could not stand to bend.
"No. Hard limit. No dogs in my bed, not now, not ever. I'm not contaminating my thousand-dollar sheets with dog funk."
"Uh-wud." Her voice got all high-pitched and she gave him that betrayed look that had broken him so many times before. But dammit, he couldn't tolerate the thought of little Hercules hairs all over his pillow. The answer was just no, no matter how betrayed Alice felt.
"Nope. You have to choose. You can sleep with me or you can sleep with Hercules. You don't get both."
Alice let out a wail and threw herself into his arms. "Peeeeease!" she begged him, but dog hair on his sheets was worse than Alice's crying.
"No. Hercules stays here." He carried her into his room, where she spent the next several minutes sobbing loudly and begging him to change his mind. Once or twice he was tempted to, but he called to mind the smelliest dogs he'd ever interacted with and the memory of rank canine bolstered his determination.
Eventually Alice cried herself out . . . but Hercules didn't. When Alice quieted, the sound of squeaky puppy whimpers could be heard coming from Alice's room. And that, too, nearly broke him, though for Esme's sake instead of his or Alice's. He felt bad making Esme put up with the puppy whining all night.
But it was Alice who broke. The whimpers from the next room were too much for her to take, and after a few moments of listening to it, she eased herself off of Edward's bed and toddled out of the room. The puppy whining stopped . . . and Alice didn't come back.
Edward didn't want to get his hopes up. Alice had slept in her own bed for a couple of hours here and there, though usually only because he'd put her to bed after she was already asleep. He didn't trust that she'd stay there, so he was going to make the most of his time alone in bed. He starfished himself across that motherfucker and just appreciated the fact that, for the moment, he didn't have to worry about rolling over and suffocating a small child.
With that happy thought, he drifted off to sleep. And when he woke in the morning, he was still alone.
He sat up quickly, looking around his bed to make sure that it really was Aliceless. He didn't see her, and then he heard her giggle from the room across the hall and he gave an enthusiastic fist pump. He crept out of bed and into Alice's room, and peeked in the window of her bed castle. She was on the bed petting Hercules, who was very much not in his carrier, and Edward didn't care. There was a wet spot at the foot of the bed that was definitely dog pee, and he still didn't care. There was a plastic cover protecting the mattress, and he'd wash Alice's linens every damn day if it meant he could have his bed to himself again.
"Good morning," Edward said, and Alice jumped, startled by his presence. "Aw, I'm sorry, kid. I didn't mean to surprise you. How's Hercules?"
"Oochooweez so chyoot!"
"Hercules is so cute," Edward agreed. He'd had a great night's sleep, and he loved the hell out of the dog in that moment. "Let's take him outside to pee."
Alice scooted off the bed. "Mon, Oochooweez. Doh pee."
Edward followed them and went with them outside to the pee spot. Hercules did not go pee, likely because he'd already relieved himself on Alice's bed. It was fine. Edward showed Alice how to fill a scoop with dog food and dump it into his bowl, and then he set a timer to remind him to take Hercules outside again in a little while.
It was a fucking fantastic morning.
"A-dooween?"
"I'm blocking access to the kitchen." Edward toed Hercules out of his way and pressed another thumbtack into the thin plastic tablecloth that he was pinning over the entrance to the kitchen.
"A-chitchen?"
"Yep. So Esme can't see what we're making."
Esme gave a dry laugh from where she sat at the table, tapping away at something on her laptop. "I'm sure it wouldn't be the end of the world if I knew what you were putting in your picnic basket."
Edward gave a dramatic gasp. "Are you saying you want to cheat?"
"I'm saying that you're taking this Historical Society fundraiser a little too seriously."
"She's a cheater," Edward told Alice seriously.
"Cheedoo," she agreed.
But Edward was excited. Today was the day. He had ordered in some ingredients that he typically couldn't find at the local Thriftway, and he was about to create a picnic lunch that Bella wouldn't be able to resist.
"A-hope you," Alice said.
"Yeah, sure, you can help." He held back the plastic so she could go into the kitchen.
"Mon, Oochooweez! A-hope!"
The dog hurried in after them and Edward tucked him into his carrier. Hercules could be in the room with them, but he didn't want any puppy paws getting into the food. He helped Alice wash her hands and then set her on the counter beside the dog carrier. He let her contribute as much as he could, handing her measuring spoons filled with seasonings to dump into bowls and letting her stir mixtures when it wasn't too challenging. Hercules kept her entertained while he chopped, sautéed, and did all the grown-up parts. They both taste-tested the final products together, and while Alice was less impressed with the taste of the stuffed grape leaves than Edward was, she pronounced the yogurt sauce "nummy" and had second bites of the orzo salad and the toasted pine nuts that Edward would be stirring into the hummus.
Edward made a whole thing out of packing the meal. It was appropriate, since his presentation was about La Push, to pack the food in one of the cedar baskets that he'd bought from the art market. He lined it with a red-checkered tablecloth and included a little wildflower centerpiece that he'd had Ben Cheney make up for him. The whole thing was adorable. It came together flawlessly, and he was so goddamn pleased with himself that he could burst.
Bella was going to eat it up.
When it was time to go, he packed it into the back of the car and threw a blanket over it so Esme wouldn't be able to see what his basket looked like. It was definitely silly, but he was having a good time teasing her about trying to get an advantage in the meat market that they were about to participate in.
Harry and Sue were coming into Forks for the auction, so they dropped Leah off at his house to look after Alice. The kid wasted no time introducing Leah to her dog, and the three of them were heading into the back yard to play when Edward helped Esme outside to his SUV and boosted her into the passenger seat.
"You're awfully excited about this," Esme said. "I seem to recall you being reluctant to participate when Carlisle asked you to."
"Yeah, well." He grinned. "I'm about to have a really great lunch with Bella. She's going to love it."
Esme raised her eyebrows. "Do you think maybe it's a bad idea to get your heart set on that? What if she doesn't bid on your basket?"
"She'll bid on it. It's not even a question."
"Okay," she said, sounding unconvinced. "Good luck."
"I don't need luck. I've got this."
It was going to be amazing. Bella would be stoked when she heard that the dolmas she loved would be up for auction. She'd win the basket and Edward would tell her stories about how Alice helped him cook, and they'd have an amazing lunch together. And then he'd tell her he wanted to do it again, and she'd be all warm and happy and agreeable, and that would be their beginning. The move into a relationship would be the most natural thing in the world.
Edward might have been picturing a slightly more luxurious setting for their lunch than had been provided. When they got to the community center, he and Esme walked into a somewhat spartan cultural hall filled with rectangular folding tables set up in long rows. The tables were covered in strips of butcher paper, and at one side of the room was another row of tables holding the pizza that was being sold for $5 a slice to anyone who wasn't fortunate enough to win a basket. Cans of soda rested on ice inside big metal buckets, each selling for $2 a piece. Along the far wall, a few small round tables had been placed with a folding chair on each side, each table topped with a pink plastic tablecloth and a pair of taper candles in acrylic candlesticks.
A little disappointing? Maybe. The fundraisers that Edward was used to attending were lavish affairs. But this was Forks, after all, so allowances must be made. This was fine. Bella was comfortable in places like this. He could make it work.
The bachelors who had provided the picnic baskets were bustled onto a dais at the front of the room, where they took chairs against the wall. Their baskets were hidden beneath another long table that had a full tablecloth to obscure the choices until the auction began.
Edward got Esme settled at a table and then loped up to the dais to find a seat next to Carlisle. He nodded to the other bachelors, one or two of whom he was pretty sure he'd met at some point, and then watched as the hall filled with people from Forks and La Push. He smiled when Bella arrived, pushing Billy's wheelchair while Charlie propelled himself behind them. She moved some chairs away from the back table to make room for them and then sat down beside them.
He couldn't wait to see her face when she heard about the dolmas.
Finally, the president of the historical society rose and asked everyone to take their seats. She welcomed them all, thanked them for their generosity in supporting the society, and then announced that the auction was about to begin. A couple of other society members pulled the baskets out from under the table and put them on display.
Edward smiled to himself. Some of them were pretty plain, and a couple of them were elaborately decorated. His wasn't the prettiest basket there, but it made a good showing with the pretty cedar weaving, the cute tablecloth, and the wildflowers adorning one side. It looked like the sort of basket that a person could be proud to win.
"The first basket we have to bid on contains a reuben sandwich on sourdough with Dungeness Valley swiss cheese and homemade sauerkraut."
One of the members of the society went full Vanna White, gesturing dramatically at the basket in question while the president described the side dishes packed in the basket.
"Along with this delicious lunch," she continued, "you'll receive a presentation on Luther and Esther Ford and the founding of the City of Forks. I'll start the bidding at twenty dollars."
There was an immediate taker, and the bidding began. Edward was chagrined to see a smiling Bella offer $35, but she was quickly outbid and didn't offer again. When the basket sold for $55, Edward sighed with relief. He hoped his basket wouldn't be too far down the list. He didn't want Bella buying anything else before she even knew about the dolmas.
Once the sale was complete, Vanna White moved on to another basket and the President began a description.
"This basket contains a vegetarian tortelloni salad with sun-dried tomatoes and diced avocados."
Edward listened idly until a buzzing in his pocket caught his attention. He pulled out his phone and opened the text from Esme.
You absolute darling! You made a vegetarian lunch so I could bid!
Edward had done no such thing. He hadn't even considered Esme, which probably made him a subpar friend. Still, he wasn't about to give away any secrets. He typed back a quick message:
What can I say? I'm really thoughtful.
Esme was bidding on the basket even as he sent the message. There were several people interested, but she finally won it at $85 and grinned at Edward—right up until Carlisle stood to collect the basket and carry it down to her. The startled look on her face was priceless, and Edward laughed to himself. He winked at her as Carlisle guided her to one of the designated tables and helped her into a chair.
Another basket was sold after that, with another bid from Bella that made Edward anxious, and then Edward's basket was up. He watched as her face lit up at the description of the dolmas with tzatziki sauce, the orzo salad, the pita bread with toasted pine nut hummus, and the presentation on Quileute history. When the president started the bidding at $20, Bella's was the first hand up.
But it was hardly the last. Several other people bid on the dish, and though Bella hung in there for a while, she dropped out of the bidding after it got above $60.
Edward was crestfallen to see her stop. The bidding continued, and eventually the basket was sold to a willowy older woman who was bidding by raising her cane in the air.
The disappointment was sharp, but Edward couldn't show it. A perfectly lovely person had spent $110 on his basket, and he had to pretend that he hadn't been wishing it would go to somebody else. It was only fair to her to make the experience worth her money. So he slapped on a grin and took his basket out to meet her, allowing her to select a table and escorting her to it.
"I was hoping you'd buy my basket," he whispered to her as he pushed her chair in for her.
She laughed gaily. "You were not."
"I was," he lied. "I've been too shy to introduce myself, but I've just been dying to meet you. I'm Edward Masen."
"I'm Trisha Linley. My condolences on your father's death. I thought he was such a wonderful man."
"Thank you, he really was." Edward took a seat across from her and pulled the flowers out of his basket, arranging them between the candlesticks. A teenager with a lighter appeared and lit their candles before disappearing again.
Edward fanned himself. "Excuse me. You'll have to forgive me for being so excited. I just never hoped to find myself having a romantic lunch with you."
She laughed delightedly at his flirting. "You'd better earn it. I expect an excellent presentation from you."
He blew out a breath. "You've got this, Edward," he muttered to himself. "Don't fuck it up."
She laughed again.
He launched into his presentation, taking every opportunity to slip in a teasing compliment or a coy little come-on, and she seemed to be entertained so he kept it up. She even clapped for him when he finished, and he leapt to his feet and bowed.
"That was just wonderful," she told him, and he feigned wiping sweat from his brow.
"Thank goodness you're such a generous audience." He started to sit back down, but when he did, he noticed that Bella had won a basket after all. She'd moved to a seat at one of the round tables with a man wearing a flannel shirt over a ribbed tank top. Edward tried not to scowl and forced his attention back on his own picnic partner. "So, Trisha, why did you choose this basket to bid on? Are you a fan of Greek food?"
"Oh, absolutely. I lived in Greece for a few years."
"Yeah? When was that?"
She chatted with him about her time in Greece, about the best friend she'd lived with for most of her life until the friend's death during the early days of the COVID outbreak, and about her travels throughout her life. She'd gotten around in her younger years, and Edward was impressed with how many places she'd been. He shared stories about his time in South Korea and trips he'd taken with his father, and then they showed each other pictures of Trisha's gardening triumphs and of Alice's unbearable cuteness. And all throughout, Edward flirted and teased and generally tried to show her a good time.
Meanwhile, he tried very hard not to notice that Bella seemed to be having just as nice of a time. She was laughing and chatting happily with Flannel Shirt Guy, though Edward noticed that their lunch was just a couple of sandwiches and some bagged chips. It was disappointing. Bella should be eating one of her favorite foods right now. Edward had tried so hard to give her something nice.
Still, Trisha was a delight and he enjoyed his time with her. When it looked like things were starting to wind down, Edward recorked the wine and packed the food back into the basket.
"Promise me something?" he asked her hopefully. "Promise me that you'll think of me when you drink the rest of this wine?"
"How could I not?" she asked, patting his cheek. "You're such a charmer."
Edward walked her out to her car, carrying the basket for her, and settled it into the passenger seat for her. Then, at the driver's door, he pretended once again to be a nervous suitor.
"So . . . would it be all right if I kissed you?" he asked.
"Oh, go on with you," she said, pushing at his chest.
"Please?" he said, giving her his best hopeful look. "Don't break my heart. Just one little kiss."
She giggled and stretched up on her toes to peck his cheek.
Edward clapped his hand to his cheek and gave her a starry-eyed gaze.
"Thank you for a very fun lunch," she said, and settled herself into her car.
Edward waved and stepped back to let her pull out of her parking space. He turned to go inside, but then there was Bella, standing next to the Volvo she'd borrowed and chatting with Flannel Shirt Guy. They looked altogether too friendly, and Edward didn't like it one bit. He was tempted to go over there and interrupt them, but it was too petty. He couldn't quite bring himself to be that guy. So he headed inside to see if Esme was ready to go instead.
She and Carlisle were still at their table, engrossed in conversation. Edward was headed in their direction when he saw Carlisle reach out and take Esme's wrist, tracing his finger over the tattoo on her pulse point. The expression on her face was serious and sad, and Carlisle raised her wrist to his lips and kissed it.
Edward stopped and smiled to himself. It looked like Carlisle was making his move after all—and hang on, that was irritating. This was Edward's plan, and there was Carlisle, completely pulling it off where Edward had failed. That son of a bitch.
But what could you do? The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, after all . . .
Edward waited for a less intimate moment to approach the table, but neither of them looked all that eager to see him.
"Do you need some more time?" Edward asked Esme with a small smile.
"Um . . ." she glanced at Carlisle.
"Why don't I take you home?" he offered.
She smiled. "If it's not too far out of your way."
They chuckled together and Edward dipped his head. "Okay, I'll see you at home then." He got out of their way and headed out to the parking lot, where—annoyingly—Bella was still chatting with Flannel Shirt Guy.
It was weird for a nice day to be so unsatisfying. Edward tried not to sulk as he drove home—except that wasn't true at all. He sulked. But he did try not to take his sourness into the house with him. He blew out a breath and attempted to physically shake it off so he could be in a good mood for Alice.
When he walked in the house, he found Leah kneeling on the floor facing Alice and Hercules. Alice had a Bingo card in front of her and a bowl next to it with a handful of M&Ms in it. Leah glanced up at him and smiled as she pulled out a Bingo tile.
"B thirteen," she said.
Alice grabbed an M&M from her bowl and placed it on G-49. "Beendo!" she declared, and then snatched the candy up again and popped it into her mouth.
Edward smirked. "Looks like you're nailing it, kid."
"A-win!" she declared with a chocolatey grin.
"O sixty-two," Leah said.
Alice put a candy on her card. "Beendo!" She grabbed it and ate it.
Hercules, meanwhile, entertained himself by gnawing on a carrot.
"Hercules, let's go out and pee," Edward said.
Alice scrambled to her feet. "Tummishoo! Oochooweez! Doh pee!"
He grabbed a bag of treats and led Alice and her dog outside, where Hercules actually relieved himself where Edward intended.
"Oh, excellent! Alice, give Hercules a treat and tell him he's a good boy."
Alice took the treat from him and gave it to her dog. "Doo-boy! Doo-boy, Oochooweez!"
Edward gave him a scratch behind the ears and took them back inside to their bingo game.
"She only has a few candies left," Leah said. "Do you mind if we finish?"
"Knock yourselves out." Edward headed to his bedroom to shed his sports coat.
Harry and Sue were staying late to clean up after the fundraiser, so after Leah and Alice finished their game, Edward got everyone loaded into the car to take her home. Leah sat in the back seat with Alice and Hercules, and the two girls sang songs all the way home, accompanied by eager barking. Which left Edward free to ruminate on the situation with Bella all the way to La Push and back. It stung that he hadn't been able to spend time with her, but it stung even more that she hadn't gotten her dolmas. He'd wanted so much for her to have them.
And, well . . . he still had some ingredients. There was plenty of tzatziki sauce and orzo salad, plenty of pine nuts that he could toast and stir into hummus. He only had a few grape leaves left, but if he made up a little more filling he could roll enough dolmas for one. So when he got home, he brought Alice and Hercules into the kitchen to play and collected his pans and ingredients again. For the second time that day, he made filling, wrapped it in grape leaves, and fried it all up. He found a basket a little smaller than the first and located some pretty cloth napkins to line it. He packed up all the food, put in a fresh bottle of wine, and frowned at the missing flowers.
But that was easy enough to solve.
"Alice, let's get Hercules in the car. We have to run an errand."
"Tay. Mon, Oochooweez!"
Edward packed them in the car once again and made his way to the florist, phoning Ben on the way.
"Hey," he said when Ben answered. "Can I get you to throw together a quick bouquet? Nothing super fussy. I'm making another picnic basket."
"Sure," he said. "Is it for anyone in particular?"
"Bella Swan."
Edward heard a surprised hesitation. "Oh. Sure. Ranunculus."
"Yeah? She likes those?"
"Loves them. Purple, if I remember right. I'll have it ready for you when you get here."
True to his word, Ben hurried out to the parking lot as soon as Edward pulled up. He opened the passenger door and took the basket, arranging the bouquet of cream and pale purple flowers in the basket and then wrapping a purple ribbon around the handle and tying a bow on one side.
"Good luck," Ben said with a smile, and then he closed the door and raised his hand in a wave.
"Alice, Ben Cheney is awesome," Edward said as he pulled out of the lot.
"Uh-huh. Ossum."
Edward drove to Bella's house and parked out front.
"Wait here for me," he told Alice. "I'll be just a minute."
"Tummishoo."
But Edward didn't want it to be a whole thing. It would spoil the vibe.
"Hercules will get lonely if you come," he said. "You'd better stay so he's not sad."
"Um." Alice eyed her dog. "Tay."
"I'll be right back."
He left the car running and loped across the lawn and up the porch stairs. He knocked on the door, and a moment later Bella opened it.
"Oh. Hey, Edward."
"I made it for you." He pushed the basket into her hands and watched the surprise register on her face. When she looked back up at him, he flashed her his most charming grin. "Bye."
He jogged back to his car, giving her one more look as he pulled on his seatbelt, thrilled to see that she was still standing there, looking stunned.
"Bye, Boa!" Alice called as he pulled away from the curb.
It was perfect. Well, maybe not perfect. Having lunch with her would have been perfect. But she had her dolmas and he'd gotten to surprise her, and he absolutely loved the shock on her face. He was satisfied.
Esme still wasn't home when they got back, and Edward hoped that was a good sign. He had Alice choose some picture books and then gathered her and Hercules onto his lap to read together for a while. They were at it for a good hour before his door camera finally gave him an alert that someone was at the door. But then no one came in, and out of curiosity, Edward scooped Alice up and moved to look at the screen.
He gasped dramatically. "Alice, look!" he said in a loud whisper. "Carlisle and Esme are out there kissing!"
Her little mouth popped open in an O of surprise. "Tisseen?"
"Look!" He pointed to the camera and Alice giggled.
He was going to have to give Esme a hard time about it. He returned to the book, intending to tease her mercilessly when she came in . . . but he waited for several minutes and she still didn't come inside.
"Are they still kissing?" he asked Alice.
She spread her hands. "A-no know."
"Let's go look." They crept back to the camera, and yep. Esme was leaning against the porch railing now, and her crutches had been set aside so that she could be a little more hands-on with Carlisle. The two of them were definitely into it.
"Tisseen!" Alice hissed, and then she let out a quiet cackle.
"They're not doing this half-way," Edward agreed.
Edward's dog alarm went off then, and he carried Alice to the back door. "Let's take Hercules out. Grab those treats, Alice."
They went outside and waited for the dog to pee, and when it became obvious that he wasn't going to, they went back in and checked the camera again. Carlisle and Esme were still kissing.
"They must be really good at that," he told Alice.
"Yup. Wo-wee dood."
The two lovebirds broke apart then, and Edward hurried Alice back to the couch. The door opened a moment later and Edward looked up at Esme, feigning nonchalance.
"Hey, Esme. How's it going?"
"Pretty well," she said happily.
"Yeah? You breathing okay? Getting enough air?"
Her expression turned puzzled.
"It's just, Carlisle was out there giving you mouth-to-mouth for a really long time, and I was starting to worry that you weren't going to make it."
She snorted and moved to sit on the couch beside him. "You're hilarious."
Edward gathered up Alice's books and then scooted her off of his lap. "Here, kid, go put those away."
"Tay. Mon, Ooochooweez." She led the dog down the hall to her room.
Esme drew in a deep breath and let it out. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Roughly how stupid would I have to be to move to a particular town for a man?"
Edward's eyebrows rose practically to his hairline. "One date and you're talking about moving here?"
She dropped her head back on the sofa. "It's really dumb, isn't it?"
"Well. I don't know. Carlisle's pretty damn great."
"He is," she said, and it was nearly a moan. "Do you even know? Did he ever tell you about the thing with his family?"
"Um. I think I know he's estranged from them? But I don't know why."
"They're all in pharmaceuticals," she said. He and a cousin are the only ones who decided to go into practical medicine, but they were still closely connected with the family business. They helped with drug trials and the like. But then, several years ago, the family developed a new drug that they had Carlisle help them test."
"What was it?"
"Weight loss. And it was effective. People were dropping pounds. But then Carlisle started seeing signs of severe toxicity—stuff that could leave people permanently disabled. He stopped the trials and told his family to pull their application for FDA approval."
Edward sighed. "They didn't, did they?"
"No. They suppressed his results. So he mailed a report of his findings behind their backs. and when their FDA application was denied, they disowned him."
"Damn." Edward shook his head. "That's rough."
"He's a good man, Edward. He's a principled man. And I think I might be in love with him."
He shifted on the sofa so he was facing her. "That's a good thing, right?"
She nodded. "But I don't trust it. And, hell, what kind of a feminist makes decisions about jobs because she met an attractive man who says nice things to her?"
"Wait, jobs? Did you get an offer?'
"Two. One in Los Angeles that pays a ridiculous amount of money and one in Reno that pays less. But the one in Reno will let me work remotely, so I can live anywhere I want."
"How much less does it pay?" Edward asked. "Because I'd have to look it up, but I suspect that living in Los Angeles is a hell of a lot more expensive than living in Reno. Or Forks. Or a lot of places."
She nodded. "It's still less if you control for the cost of living. But it's reasonable pay, and if I accepted it . . ." She trailed off and looked in the direction of Carlisle's house. "But it's too early to make decisions like that!"
"It is too early," Edward agreed. "But the benefit of taking the Reno job is that you have flexibility. If you stay here for a while and it doesn't work out with Carlisle, you can pick up and move to Reno later. Or you can go back to Boston, if you start to miss it."
"Or I can center my own career and interests and move to California now."
"Is he as serious as you are? Would he go with you?"
She turned pleading eyes on him. "I'm afraid to ask him."
"Why?"
"Because it might break my heart if the answer is no."
Edward ran a hand through his hair. "Any chance of requesting remote work from the L.A. job?"
"I tried," she said. "It's a no-go. I'm going to have to make a decision."
Edward dropped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. "Turn them both down. Stay here with me and help me raise Alice and just forget all of that. I'll miss you too much when you go."
"Tempting," she said, turning her face into his chest. "It's been a nice time-out, living here."
They were silent for a moment, but then Esme moved back abruptly. "Hang on. Stay here? Are you staying in Forks?"
"What?" Edward was startled by what he had said. "Absolutely not. I meant, come back to Olympia with me."
Esme arched an eyebrow.
"Okay, look, I've thought about it. Harry was telling me I ought to stay here so Alice can be close to her culture, and there's something to that."
She nodded thoughtfully.
"But the kid will get a way better education elsewhere."
"Will she?"
"I mean, come on. There aren't any private schools around here."
Esme whipped out her phone and started tapping.
"What are you doing?"
"She would qualify to go to the school in La Push, right?"
"I mean, yeah, but that's not anything special."
She tapped a little more and then let her eyes scan the screen. "Are you sure?" She turned her phone to face him. "Look at this. One teacher for every six students."
"What?" Edward took the phone from her and examined it. She was looking at the National Center for Education Statistics, and sure enough, the student/teacher ratio was 5.96. "Holy shit."
"I know, right? Maybe they don't have the most well-funded curriculum, but there's a lot of supplementary education available online. With class sizes that small, I bet the teachers would be willing to work with you to incorporate some supplemental materials."
"Huh." Edward found himself nodding slowly as he handed back her phone. "Maybe."
"It's worth considering," she said. "Since you obviously are thinking of staying in Forks." She smirked at him and he scowled back at her.
Because he definitely was not thinking of staying in this black hole of a town that had not one single good restaurant. But, then, he didn't really see himself moving back to Olympia either, and when had that started? When he'd had his falling-out with Tori? Maybe. He had to admit that when he looked down the road, he saw Alice and himself in this house, hanging out with their Forks friends.
But that was just because he didn't have anything else he could visualize. He knew he couldn't go back to his apartment in Olympia and that he was going to have to get a house with a yard for Alice and the dog. He didn't know what that house would look like or who his new neighbors would be, so his mind was just using the Forks house as a stand-in. He wasn't planning on staying here.
That would be ridiculous.
