Thank you to hollenheist for fixing my mistakes and making my chapters more readable.
Happy reading!
17
I text Angela in the morning to let her know I'll meet her at our appointment. I had some deliveries I needed to complete—small things I could handle on my own. She texts back with a smiley face, saying that she will see me later.
Everything was going smoothly, and I was ahead of schedule as I made my way out of the city to drop off the last piece. An elderly man had commissioned a painting of his and his wife's wedding photo. They lived an hour outside the city, and the clouds were starting to roll in when I pulled into their driveway.
They both loved the painting and paid more than what was quoted.
I was feeling pretty good as I pulled back onto the highway, only for large drops of rain to hit my windshield. Living in the Pacific Northwest, it was a hazard we lived with almost daily. As I got closer to the city, the harder the rain started to fall, and when I saw taillights ahead of me, I knew my hopes of getting to our appointment early had gone out the window. Traffic had come to a standstill. Even in the wettest place in the continental U.S., people still forgot how to drive when it rained.
It took twenty minutes for me to inch my way to the exit ramp I needed. I glanced at the clock quickly as I crested the top of the exit, coming to a stop at a red light. I'd gone from being almost an hour ahead of schedule to having ten minutes to make a fifteen-minute drive.
While I wait for the light to change, I shoot Angela a quick text, telling her that I got stuck in traffic and will be there in fifteen. It wasn't exactly the first impression I wanted to make, but there was nothing I could do about it now.
Peak lunchtime, combined with heavy rain, equaled me having to park around the corner from Cullen & Volturi, LLC. I dug around the cab of my truck, trying to find the umbrella I usually keep in here, but growled in frustration when I remembered I let my mom borrow it a few days ago, and I hadn't gotten it back from her. Not only was I arriving late, but I was also going to be adding looking like a drowned rat to the list.
This was just not my day, it seemed. The universe could be a fickle little bitch.
Accepting my fate, I step out of my truck, using my purse to shield me as best it could as I pressed the button for the crosswalk.
"Come on, come on." I beg, pressing the button again in a futile attempt to get it to change more quickly. I was getting soaked to the bone, the wind whipping the cool drops against my skin.
I was thinking about how much later I was getting with every second that goes by when the rain suddenly stops; the sound of the drops hitting an umbrella makes me pause my inner turmoil.
I feel the warmth of him before he speaks, and I just know it's him. The energy he exudes wraps me in a calming veil.
I look up, finding his deep green eyes, and that ever-present smirk on his lips. "You do like getting caught in the rain, don't you?"
Despite my agitation a few seconds ago, I can't help but smile up at him. "Only when you're around, it seems."
His smirk widens into a grin, and even though it's only been a few days since we'd last seen each other, it suddenly feels like an eternity. The hours we'd spent texting didn't hold a candle to being around this magnetic force of a man in person. The butterflies that were a permanent fixture when he was around were making themselves known, flitting around erratically in my stomach.
"What brings you to this side of town?" He asked with his eyes never leaving mine, and I couldn't look away.
"Angela and I are meeting with that real estate agent today." I'd texted him last night after my conversation with my mom. He shared in my excitement, telling me how great of a location it was. While I was still nervous about the massive change, knowing I had Angela, my mom, and Edward in my corner made me feel more confident in my decision to move forward.
"That's right." He nods with a slight shake of his head. "Are you nervous?"
The fact that he asks if I'm nervous and not excited makes me like him that much more. "Unbelievably."
"I remember when Jane and I opened on the first day; I felt like I was going to pass out." His words make me laugh, because that's exactly how I was feeling. I wanted to faint and throw up at the same time.
"Were you scared?" I asked, vulnerability laced through my voice.
"Shitless." He smirks again. "But if it's any consolation, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You're extremely talented, Bella, and you and Angela deserve all the success that's coming your way."
"Thank you." I tell him sincerely.
"Always." That one simple word has my heart doing cartwheels in my chest.
The signal changes, letting us know we can cross.
"Where are you headed? To take care of important business matters?" I tease him, making him laugh, and I decided right then that it's my favorite sound in the entire world.
"Yes, in the form of having lunch with my mother." He teases back, completely serious.
"That's the most dangerous kind."
"Yes, it is." He agrees. "I'm sure she's going to give me a hard time, yet again, that my dad got to meet you and not her." Meeting his dad, while not horrible, happened long before I was ready. "I'll just have to tell her that she's going to have to be patient." He adds, most likely sensing my apprehension.
"It's not that I don't want to meet her…" I start, but he takes my hand and gives it a squeeze.
"Bella, there's no rush. She'll meet you when the time is right."
"Part of me thinks it's silly that I'm not ready to meet her yet, considering I've already met your dad."
"What happened Saturday… I think we can both agree that it was unorthodox, and that we'd both have wanted to meet each other's parents under different circumstances. There's no rule book, Bella. We can take everything at our own pace. Just because you met my dad doesn't mean that you have to meet my mom right now."
"Well, when you think about it logically like that," I mumble as we come to a stop in front of the store where I'm meeting Irina and Angela. And because I was feeling brave, I ask, "Would it be weird to say I'd missed you?"
He smiled softly. "As long as it's not weird to say that I'd missed you, too."