Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews for 14, which I did not answer at all LOL. Thanks also for all the kind vacation send-offs! I had a GREAT time, and feel well-rested which won't last long after Thursday, I'm sure HAHA. Gotta love family and holidays. Happy Thanksgiving to all of those that celebrate!

Chapter 15

I don't know how to feel.

Betrayed? A bit.

Mad? Sort of.

Foolish? Most definitely.

Edward grabs my hand across the table. "Bella, truly, I didn't want to keep it from you, but I promised. I promised my uncle who I owe so much to, that I wouldn't say anything."

"But why?" I ask, hoping my voice shows the anger I feel instead of the hurt.

He shrugs. "Honestly, I don't know why. He just asked me to keep it between us. I was surprised when he approached me about writing this story. I mean, what reader of The New York Times cares about a small town guy and his dog?"

"Same thing I thought," I snap, immediately regretting it when I feel Edward recoil. I let his hand go and take a sip of wine. "I don't mean it that way, not now, not that I know you and Joey."

"I get it." He takes a sip of his own.

The waitress comes to take our order, but I ask her for another few minutes, not sure I can eat right now. I go over it in my head, why would Aro send me here? Why this story? Why not tell me their relationship? It makes no sense, and until I speak with him, I won't have a clear answer.

Edward is quiet, staring out over the water. I feel deceived by him, even though he was only doing what his beloved family member asked of him. I sit back, my tongue pressed to the roof of my mouth. I try to see it from Edward's point of view. He didn't know me; he owes his uncle so much. Why wouldn't he do whatever his uncle asked of him? Sighing, I speak quietly. "I don't have any relationships like you do with… your uncle." I try to keep the snark out of my tone on that word. "So, I suppose I understand your loyalty to him first and foremost, over me, someone you didn't know."

"That's all it was, I promise. He asked, I agreed. I didn't know you. Not the way I know you now," he says gently.

I play those words over in my head, wanting them to mean so much that he isn't saying. I want them to mean he now feels a connection to me. "I have to call Aro," I say instead, signaling for the check, lunch over.

"I understand." Edward doesn't argue, just gets up and tells me there is no check before he starts walking Joey out. He says goodbye to some staff and ducks behind the counter of the open kitchen to say goodbye to Peter. I watch them share a quick hug before he's back to pushing Joey.

The warmth between us is gone. He's walking five feet away from me, staring straight ahead. I'm not closing the distance, I suppose, but I have every right not to. I don't know if I'm angry with Edward or sad that I feel played. Deep down I don't truly believe that, but part of me feels like the butt of a shared joke. I don't feel used necessarily, but he should've told me.

All I know is that this coolness between us feels awkward and I don't like it.

We cross the pebbled parking lot and I stand there watching him strap Joey into the Jeep. He's about to get in when I speak.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" I think of his hands on me, his lips. His body pressed against me. "I mean, we have crossed a bit of a line, haven't we? I don't want to say I feel like you led me on, but you had information I wasn't privy to."

"Led you on?" He stops buckling Joey in and stands tall. "If you think for one second that this hasn't been eating me up inside, you'd be dead wrong." He narrows his eyes at me. "At first I didn't feel guilty you didn't know. Why would I? You were here for a job, right?" He shrugs one shoulder. "But things have changed, and that's why I told you now."

"Changed?"

"Yes. For me, anyway. I'm a pretty honest, straight-forward guy. Lying is not something I'm comfortable with. Especially when that person is important to me."

I stare at him, blank-eyed.

"Which you are," he finishes, more softly than he started.

My heart butterflies. I never had to make any sort of declaration to Michael. Never had to show my hand where my feelings are concerned to anyone. I'm not sure what to say or do, that wouldn't be extremely revealing.

Which scares the shit out of me. My emerging feelings for him are something I'm not ready to think about.

"So why do you think he asked you not to tell me?" I say instead.

He lets out a deep breath and rubs his hand across his hair. "He sort of hinted that he thought you needed this type of assignment."

He's not wrong, that's exactly what Aro said, but I hate that Edward knows that. "Son of a bitch," I huff under my breath hoping he feels my anger in New York.

"I think he thought that getting you out of your element would be good for you. To see things other than strife, violence, and depression." He walks towards me and leans on the back of the Jeep. "To experience good people, happy places, a different way of life."

"Is that what you think or that's what he said?"

"He never told me exactly in those words, no. But knowing you when you first came, and knowing you now, I can see why he thought maybe you would benefit from this experience."

"Oh? And how am I now?" I hate the growl in my voice, but my reflex emotion when called out is defensive.

He smiles. That charming, boyish, devil smile. Undeterred by my tone which in itself is endearing and something I don't deserve. "Well right now you're mad, which I get." He jokes, and grabs my hand, pulling on it playfully. "You might not show it, Bella Swan, hard New Yorker, but you can be kind and empathetic. You're funny, honest, and easy to talk to."

"Me?" I half joke, rolling my eyes and pointing at myself, but feeling dizzy and fluttery at his compliments.

"Bella, I'm positive you were always those things underneath, you just finally let them be seen."

I'm ashamed at how I come across when first meeting people. I've done it all my life. Probably to push them away before they can do it to me. It scares me how much I want his approval, for his statement to be true. I want to be those things. "So, you think Aro was right? Sending me here?"

"I think he was right. You needed it. You needed Joey. You needed me."

"Well, isn't that self-centered."

He pulls me in close to him, my willing feet playing stubborn against the gravel. "And we needed you. We just didn't know it."

I audibly suck in a breath at that one. "We barely know each other."

"Do you really think that?" He doesn't seem offended, it seems like a valid question.

"Don't you?"

There's no hesitation. "No."

I think about all we've shared the last week. Week! Holy hell it's only been a week. "Feeling comfortable with people this quickly isn't normal, it's not how things work."

"Who says?"

"I don't know. People."

He laughs and surprises me with a quick kiss. "Why don't we stop thinking so hard and just let it be natural. I think we've done okay so far."

I want to ask him let what be natural. Our friendship? More? But I don't.

Returning to the house, I tell Edward I need to call Aro. He doesn't seem worried I'm about to expose him, and I guess that speaks volumes about their strong relationship.

Getting my thoughts together, I sit on the bed and look out the window. My first instinct would normally be to curse Aro to hell and high water for a few things. One, for not telling me a crucial piece of information about my assignment, and two, for having the audacity to decide what I need in my life.

Even if he's correct.

After all, he did tell me to my face that I was too hard, that I needed to soften up, and he said he hoped this assignment would do that. And I can't deny it seems to be working. Okay, so I can't be too mad about that. But I can be mad about him leaving out a huge piece of vital info.

He picks up on the first ring, and I wonder if Edward got to him first.

"Hello, Bella."

I don't even bother with niceties. "I know."

"Know what?"

"I know Edward is your nephew."

"I see," he says, not sounding contrite at all.

"That's all you have to say?"

"What would you like me to say?"

My eyes go wide as I stare at the phone. "That you deceived me? On purpose?"

"It's information you could've easily found out if you'd had any interest in this assignment instead of being so angry about it."

"Again, everyone is not wrong about how I fucked this assignment up at the beginning!" I shout, throwing my hand up in the air in frustration.

He says nothing, and I calm myself. "I've never heard you mention him. Never heard you mention a nephew at all."

He sighs. "I suppose that's true," his voice grows softer. "Edward is very special to me. I'm very protective of him."

"Then why send me?" I laugh, derisive towards myself.

"I had a dream."

"You had a dream, Doctor King?"

"Yes. I had a dream one night where you and I were here in my office and decided to get lunch. All of a sudden, we were in a Kentucky Fried Chicken sitting with Edward. Who inconsequentially, as dreams tend to go, had a tattoo on his face. Anyway, when I woke up, I guess I liked the idea."

"Are you serious right now?"

"About the dream, no. But about liking the idea of you two meeting, yes."

I'm surprised by this. Surprised he thought I deserved to meet someone he's so protective of. "I wasn't nice to him. I wasn't nice to anybody. I was so mad you sent me to this job."

"But that changed, didn't it? I could hear it in your voice the last time you called me. Even though you yelled at me much like you did a moment ago. You sounded happy."

"He didn't deserve the me that arrived, why do that to him? You knew how I felt about coming here, you knew how I would behave."

"Well I had hoped you wouldn't be that way, but…"

I talk right over his remark. "Surely he deserved better than me."

"Bella, you don't see yourself clearly. You're tough because you've had to be, but deep down, you are secretly aching for closeness. To connect with someone."

I snap my head back in surprise. I've never once thought of myself that way.

"You put up with what's his name and his nonsense for so long because you thought that's all you deserved. You weren't going to get anything from that guy," he says with disgust in his tone.

"I still don't understand why you'd do this to Edward, though. If I'm so clearly damaged, why sic me on him?"

"You aren't damaged." I can hear the eye roll in his voice.

"Aro, why?"

He sighs loudly into the phone. "Because Edward is damaged. That kid has gone through some horrific stuff in his life, and now he's facing another. He needed someone there with him for this. He plays at being independent and strong, but inside, to me at least, he's still that sad seventeen-year-old boy and I don't want him suffering any more than he should. He's had enough. And he's had enough of doing it by himself. He'd never ask for help, so I sent help to him the only way I knew how."

Tears spring to my eyes hearing the love in Aro's voice for Edward. "But why me?" I ask again, my voice weak, pleading. I feel a tear sliding down my face.

"I can't think of two people that need someone more than you two do. He's lonely and you're miserable. If this assignment gave Edward someone to let in through this ordeal, and gave you a new perspective on life, then that's a good enough reason. I care about his happiness. Yours too. If you become friends, great." He chuckles then. "But again, I thought you two looked good together in my dream."

I sniff, wiping at a tear. "The one you didn't have?"

"Yup, that's the one."

We sit in silence for a few seconds, until I cave and say out loud what I didn't admit to Edward in the parking lot. "I care about him, Aro. He's like no one I've ever met."

"You gonna thank me now or later?" There's not a hint of surprise in his voice.

I look over at the Reny's bag again. "Later."

"Okay, kiddo," he laughs. "I have to go, meeting with the higher-ups."

"Yeah, okay." I'm about to hang up, but instead call out to him. "Aro?"

He lets out a big dramatic sigh. "What now?"

I smile. "Thank you."

You know, CarrieZM and LayAtHomeMom would look good in onesies with lobster trap doors. Beware...Christmas is coming. I luff them.

This is for Squiggy (my boy is turning 16 Friday!)