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EPOV

“Edward.” A soft whisper permeated my consciousness. I must be still dreaming, because that sounded like Bella.

“Eeedward. Wake up, baby,” she whispered again. I felt a cool hand on my cheek and opened one eye a tiny crack – it wasn't a dream. All of last night had been real, and Bella was right there, waking me up with the sweetest smile.

“Hey,” I croaked and rubbed my eyes. Bella sat on the bed on her knees, hanging over me. She was dressed and her hair was damp.

“Hey sleepyhead. I ordered breakfast.” She moved to get off of the bed, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to me, on top of me. She giggled and looked down.

“It started to get late, and I didn't know if you had any plans today. So I decided to wake you up, even though you were sleeping so sweetly,” she said softly, her finger trailing my stubby jaw. I pulled her closer so I could kiss her sweet lips, where the taste of toothpaste lingered. She peppered my mouth, cheeks, and nose with tiny little kisses.

“Bella,” I said when she was kissing down my throat. She hummed a response, nibbling my Adam's apple. “I think we should talk.” She sighed and her face came back up. She looked at me with insecurity shining through her expressive brown eyes, and nodded.

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BPOV

"I know only part of what happened between you and Edward, and in my mind, you were this ugly, cruel monster who broke my son's heart." I swallowed and looked away. "Now that I've met you, I can see that you're anything but that. I like you, Bella, and I know that Edward is still completely crazy about you. I was hoping you still felt something, too. I thought if I could get you both in the same room..." She trailed off, shyly looking at her hands on the table.

"He's crazy about me? Did he say that?" It might have been the only thing I'd heard.

"No. He refuses to speak about it. Can't fool his mother, though," she said with a hint of a smile.

"You're playing match maker... for your son?" I stammered in a half whisper. Esme chuckled.

"I guess you could call it that. I've seen him suffer, Bella. He has suffered a lot over the last year. I can't judge you; I don't know what your motives were, but you reacted to me in such a way that I couldn't let go of the idea that there's still...something."

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The next morning, I arrived at the office at seven o'clock sharp. I dressed for the occasion, wearing a pant suit, a silk blouse and heels. Even though I looked the part, I didn’t feel it at all. I was glad that there weren’t many more people at work yet, given the insane hour.

The skin on the back of my neck started prickling when a car drove up into the parking lot, slowly gliding toward the side entrance. Goose bumps formed on my arms. The car was different, but I knew it was him. No one could make me respond like this with just their presence – it had to be Edward driving Sam. I felt self conscious, standing there by my car in his direct line of sight. It was too dark to really see anything, but when Sam opened the door to get out, the light inside the car was flicked on shortly.

Edward had one hand on the wheel and watched Sam leave in the rear view mirror. He looked pale and tired, but who doesn’t at this hour. Then his face turned down until the light faded slowly. In the dark, I saw his head moving in my direction while I walked to the entrance to meet Sam. The prickling of my skin told me he was watching me.

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“Your girlfriend, huh?” Margaret seemed to be scoffing. I stared at her, not understanding. “Not exactly a girl anymore, is she?” She challenged me, one hand on her hip. I swallowed thickly, not sure what I was feeling—anger? No, it was a sort of disappointment in this smart young woman that I'd just had so much fun with.

“She's a woman all right, Margaret. My woman.” She waved her hand dismissively.

“Seems a little old for you. Just sayin'.”

“Not exactly any of your business, is it?” I threw my bag over my shoulder and walked away without saying goodbye. She followed me hastily.

“Edward, I'm sorry.” I turned around and suddenly, Margaret was close. Really close. “I could just imagine that you'd have more fun with someone younger.” She smiled suggestively, and I took a step back in disgust.

“Believe me, I'm giving him more fun than you could manage.” I whipped my head around at the sound of Bella's voice. She stood right beside me, her hands on her hips. She didn't look angry. The look on her face was more...seductive. Margaret blanched and wisely left without saying another word. I looked at Bella nervously, tugging at my hair.

“I'm sorry, she just-” She cut me off with a kiss.

“Let's go. I believe we have plans for tonight.” Her eyes twinkled with excitement. It took me a moment to catch on.

“Plans? You mean...what we talked about, on the phone?” I whispered. She laced her arm through mine and pulled me out of the room.

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BPOV

After my teary confession, we sat and held each other silently for a while. I wasn't really

grasping what I was getting myself into, but I couldn't deny that it was good. For the first time in

a long, long time, something felt right and I wasn't going to let it slip from my hands again.

Edward kissed the top of my head and slowly untangled his arms from around me.

“I think I should go,” he said softly, his eyes searching mine. “I don't want to, but I have some

work to do before I come back here for the dinner service,” he explained with a small, apologetic

smile. I nodded and got up off his lap.

“Esme...your mom texted me earlier, saying that the work at the apartment is coming along

nicely, so I'm going to check it out.” I bit my lip and wrung my hands, not sure how to handle

this new situation. “I guess, um, I'll see you tonight?” Edward stood with a smile, taking my

hands in his.

“I would like that very much. Maybe not here, though, with all my colleagues around...” His

voice trailed off and he raked a hand through his hair – he was nervous, too, and it made me feel

a bit better.

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Here's a little (unbeta'd) teaser of chapter 20!

BPOV

The sound of my heels on the floor echoed around me. I halted in the middle of the living room and looked over the room. A long sigh left me. All I saw was an awful lot of work that had to be done, and I was extremely tired. I pulled the thin white sheet off the couch and flopped down, leaning my head back. I was back at my apartment, and now I was going to stay here for real.

It had been nearly a year since Jake's horrible accident. A year in which I had been working six days a week at the office, helped with Jake's recovery at the hospital and after he came home, sold our house, helped Sam prepare for his retirement and helped Jake get an apartment. I was exhausted and felt I needed to sleep for a week straight.

When Jake awoke from his coma, my life had become a roller coaster of sorts. He recovered fairly quickly, but slowly at the same time. While he was physically healed, he was mentally damaged. We spent hours and hours talking, even asked a counselor from the hospital to help us.