A/N: Once again, thank you to hollenheist for fixing my grammar and taking out all the excess commas and semi-colons. I do love me a comma. Lol

Happy reading!

14

Monday morning Angela is on me as soon as I walk through the back door, excitedly bouncing around like a puppy. She's pestering me for details before I even put my stuff down.

"How was it? Where did you go? Wait… did he kiss you? Tell me everything!" The words rush out of her mouth in a jumble that's almost incomprehensible.

"Good morning to you, too." I tease, putting my bag down on one of the tables that had become a catch all area for my painting supplies and boxes of inventory.

"I'm sorry." She makes a show of taking a deep breath and releasing it. "Good morning. How was the rest of your weekend…including the date I'm dying to hear about?" She perches herself on the corner of the table, looking at me with rapt attention.

"It was good." I start and she waves her hand, encouraging me to go on. "We went to Baron's…."

"Oh, you love Baron's!" she interjects excitedly, a beaming smile on her face. I loved that she was so invested in my life. I was pretty shy and didn't have very many friends; when Angela came on board, we fell into being friends without even thinking about it.

"I do." I smile, too, thinking about how the night had started and how the conversation had flowed so effortlessly. "He's so amazing, Ang. Other than you and my mom, I've never had someone that I can talk to so easily."

Angela squeals, kicking her feet like we're gossiping middle schoolers. The cheek splitting grin that comes to my face is involuntary - I hadn't been able to stop smiling since Saturday night. The giddiness that was bubbling in my chest every time I thought about Edward made me feel so high school. How sure he was of what he wanted was something I hadn't experienced before, and it was sexy as hell.

"Go on, go on!" She encourages, pressing her hands to her mouth so she won't interrupt again.

"Everything was great… until Kate called." I still feel a small amount of guilt over what happened with my mom. She told me I was being too hard on myself, that I was allowed to go out. I knew she was right, but my brain had a hard time agreeing. The small voice in the back of my mind told me that she wouldn't have gotten hurt if I'd been around.

"Oh, shit!" Angela's smile immediately slips from her face because she knows what a call from my neighbor means. "What happened?"

"My mom tripped on the hem of her robe and hit her head on the kitchen counter. It wasn't anything too serious, but she did need stitches." She looked worse for wear this morning. The bruise that had been primarily on her forehead was now trailing downward, causing her to have one ugly looking black eye.

"Damn. She's okay, right?" I loved how much Angela loved my mom. Her own parents were half-way across the country, so she'd adopted my mom as a surrogate parent.

"Yeah, she's fine. Honestly, it fucked me up more than it did her." My mom had been unfazed by the whole thing. Although, part of me was sure she was doing it more for my benefit. She hated it when I looked at her like I felt guilty, about as much as I hated that she felt guilty Saturday and tried my best to get her to stop apologizing. What happened was a freak thing that left both of us a little shaken up, even if my mom didn't want to admit it.

"That's good." She nods, her shoulders sagging in relief. "What happened with Edward when all of this was going on?"

"He waited with me at the hospital." I can't help but smile again. What guy would wait for hours with you at the hospital, let alone in the emergency room, on any day, but especially the night of your first date? "His dad was also my mom's doctor."

"Meeting parents on the first date? Yikes." Angela wrinkles her nose.

"Not ideal, but it was okay. He completely charmed my mom. I'm pretty sure she's in love with him."

"Aw," Angela swoons, her hands over her heart. "He's such a good guy. You really lucked out, B. I'm so happy for you. I think he's exactly what you need."

"Thanks." I can't help but smile again. "He wants to see me again on Wednesday."

She claps her hands, doing a happy dance. "I can sit with your mom while you're out if you want."

I shake my head. "No, I already talked to Kate, and she's going to have my mom over for dinner." My mom had insisted that she would be fine on her own, that she'd been fine many times before, but I was too skittish after what happened Saturday night.

"Well, if you ever want me to, just let me know. Your mom owes me a rematch at Scrabble." Angela and my mom had a long running Scrabble rivalry going and the last time they played, my mom had kicked her ass. Angela had been promising revenge ever since.

"Thanks, Ang. I really appreciate you." I tell her sincerely. It was nice knowing I had someone who had my back. I hadn't had that from someone in a long time.

"Of course. I always got you." She says, hopping off the table. "What are you working on this morning?"

"I was going to start on Edward's commission." I look over at my easel that already had a blank canvas at the ready. "He wants me to paint him anything I want."

"He really knows the way to your heart." She places her hands on her hips. "What do you think you're going to do?"

"I have no idea." I'd thought about it all day yesterday, and even sketched some things, but nothing felt right. "But I'll figure it out."

See you next time!