Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Chapter 4 - Electric Feel
Bella’s POV - 1st person
As I was getting up to walk to kitchen to get to the first-aid kit, Florence had more information to give about her godson.
“You know he’s divorced.” She said in a deliberately nonchalant manner, which indicated to me after these few years of knowing her that she was not being nonchalant at all.
“Florence, is he always so...difficult, or do I bring out something special in him?” Bella asked afraid to insult her friend.
She chuckled a little. “He can be brief with people. But, he has a heart of gold. I’ve known him since he was a baby. He’ll be needing something to put on that burn. When he comes to the first-aid kit, hand him the burn spray.”
I blurted out before I even realized what I was saying, “He’s gorgeous!” Then, I slapped my hand over my mouth wondering when I developed Tourette’s Syndrome.
Florence smiled and hugged me. “I know he is, hon. Now get back there and put something on those cuts before they get infected. Hot damn! I think my cookies are burning.”
I never understood how Florence could move so quickly and never get tired at her age, whatever that was. Alice worked here a few summers before her summer internship right before her fourth year in her Marketing major. She and I would work our 8 hour shift and sit down rubbing our feet and complaining about corns and bunions. Florence, who was there when we got there and stayed after we left, would look at us and jokingly say,
“Chumps! Can’t hang, huh?”
We would sniff her coffee and examine her pill bottle to see what she was on. Nothing ever panned out. That phenomenon was nowhere near as mysterious and what had transpired between Edward and me.
When I got around to the front of the booth and took a good look at him, my heart almost stopped. He had golden-brown skin, a full-set of pillow-like lips, hazel-green eyes set off my the longest lashes I have ever seen. He looked ethereal. I felt an energy around him that I had never felt before. When our eyes locked, I gasped and ended up on my ass. I wasn’t prepared for the reaction of my girly parts when he simply touched my scalp to see if I was needed to go to the emergency room. The poor man was just trying to do his due diligence and I was getting aroused. When did I become a hussy?
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m no angel. I have met men that tickle my fancy, but it’s always been a slow burn for me...who the hell says “tickle my fancy” anymore? Note to self: Must get out more.
In Forks, I wasn’t insanely popular, but I had my fair share of dates. My first kiss was with a guy named Tyler Crowley at 17. He had almost killed me on an icy day in the high school parking lot. In order to repay me, he decided he would take me out. Well, the only thing that prevented me from wishing he had finished the job was the kiss at the end of the night. I had never felt anything so sensual before. He didn’t even ask, he just leaned in, unexpectedly, and sucked my bottom lip between his lips and sucked on it. Then he repeated that step slowly with my top lip. My this time I was feeling all tingly in places I had never felt before and reached up to grab his neck and pull him closer. Then, something I never imagined someone would do happened. He licked my bottom lip. Then, he tried to ram his tongue in my mouth. I pulled back like someone had punched me.
“What the hell was that?!”
Tyler smiled and asked, “Haven’t you ever heard of a ‘french kiss’ baby?”
“First of all, baby, if you haven’t noticed, we’re not French and they don’t even like Americans. Secondly, ‘ewww.” Then I started rambling about how the U.S. liberated France and he looked at me like he believed I was the geek everyone said I was and took me home immediately.
When I got in the house, I avoided Charlie completely for fear he would shoot Tyler if he knew that he tried to stick his tongue down my throat and that wouldn’t be good for morale at school, although I’m pretty sure the person that would miss him the most was his obnoxious cousin Lauren Mallory.
I called my best friend, Jacob Black. He was two years younger than I and a member of the Quileute tribe. He went to school on the reservation. He always had an interesting story to tell me because I was pretty boring, but this time I had something to talk to him about.
“Hey, Bells! How was your date with Tyler?”
“It started out bad. He took me to see the worst movie in the history of mankind, ‘Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.’ Apparently, he thought he had something in common with the main character because he proceeded to try to stick his tongue in my mouth.”
“What???” Although Jacob was younger than I, but he was huge and protective. He hit a strange growth spurt when he hit the middle of his 14th year. When he came to vist me in California with my father when he was 14, he was a little guy. When I came to live with my father not even a full year later, he was almost 6ft, had biceps the size of my waist and was growing.
“Have you ever heard of a...french kiss, Jake?”
“Yeah.” I could hear Jacob breathing through the phone.
“Is it as gross as it seems, or is there something good about it?” Jacob hung up the phone and was climbing through my bedroom window within 15 minutes. That night Jacob showed me the pleasures of a french kiss and I wasn’t grossed out at all.
However, as good as that felt, Jacob and I remained friends and I never felt with him what I felt in a few seconds of being near Edward Cullen.
When I went off to college, I was still a virgin. The first person I met was Alice. She was my roommate, so we actually talked well before I left for school. She shocked me because she told me she had been married before. It was a mistake and now she was trying to get on the right track. I had never met a girl my age that had been married. I even put off school for a couple of years because my mother fell ill with breast cancer. So, I went back to Phoenix for a while to take care of her while Phil was on the road and tried to work and save up college money. By the time I started college, I was 20 and my mother was in remission. But, I still hadn’t ever met a married and divorced 20 year old.
Alice had an energy that came through the phone. She was enthusiastic about everything, including clothes and men. She wanted to date. She felt that she missed out on being a young woman on the prowl by marrying her high school sweetheart, James Brandon, right after she graduated and she didn’t want to miss anything else. Alice never talked about it in detail, but I got the impression that James was abusive.
I was pulled out of my recollections after I finished up taking care of my knee, by a strong feeling of energy like 15 people with static cling who dragged their feet touching me at once. I knew he was behind me. When the electrical energy became strongest, I handed him the burn spray without him having to ask.
He stood there for a moment like a deer stuck in headlights. His jaw dropped down for only an instant and in that moment, I wanted to attack him and suck on his bottom lip in a way that would make Tyler Crowley and Jacob blush. He sat down quickly like I scared him and I tried to reign in my exuberance so the poor man could take care of his burn finally.
He apologized to me after I made some smart-ass comment about being rude and he grabbed my hand. I’m glad I was wearing dark clothes and wasn’t sitting down because I became instantly aroused. If he hadn’t dropped my hand, I would’ve had an orgasm in front of the first-aid kit. If he could read my mind and body right now, he would run away screaming. When did I become a pervert?
When we walked out to the dining area. I was so relieved. We had gotten a little busy. I jumped right into helping Florence out with whatever I could. My father would be proud of the way Flo had quartered off the “scene of the incident.” There was no evidence of spilt coffee and everyone was safe from my constant loss of equilibrium. Edward was finally eating his cookies. I smiled to myself, imagining a brown-skinned little boy that had Edward’s hair color and my eyes swinging his legs eating cookies next to him. I imagined him saying, “Mama, you want one?”
Mama you want one? What. the. Fuck?
Now, I’m having babies with this man I barely know. Rose walked in while one of my regular customers was teasing me about falling again.
“Hey cow!” Rose bellowed out in her usual fashion.
“Hurry up and sit down, heffa, and whatever you do, do not look towards the counter where Florence is standing.” I tried to say quietly and quickly. The first thing Rose did was look at the counter where Edward was sitting.
“Oh my! That is a tall drink of chocolate milk.”
“Shut up and turn around, Rose. I’m trying to talk to you about something.”
“What’s got your panties in a twist, B? Is this about that fucker, Paul, that’s sitting out there in his little raggedy car as we speak?” Rose had a way with words.
”No. It‘s not about Paul. Can you take a cue? You see how I‘m talking low...imitate please. It‘s about me having some freaky hormone related meltdown regarding the gorgeous man sitting at the counter over there.”
”Oh. Oooh! Well, I can understand that.” Rose did another visual once-over in the direction of Edward. ”What do you mean ‘meltdown?‘“ She finally asked.
”Well, you know how clumsy I am, right?” Rose looked at me as if she was thinking of course is the sky blue.
“Well, he came in and he hugged Florence. I didn’t see him at first because I was studying and he was too far away. Then, she called for me to come back on and you know how that annoys me since she doesn’t like people to call her and I was a little pissy towards him because he was laughing at me. So, I punched back in and went out to get him his coffee. When, I finally looked I him, I gasped because he...well...he looks like that and I felt all this...I don’t know how to describe it...electricity.” I slightly shifted my head in his direction without turning around. “I dropped the coffee pot, slipped in the coffee and hit my head.”
After Rose finished laughing hysterically she said, “Okay. So, these events are different how?”
“Well, all he did was touch me and...I became...aroused due to this energy that passes between us. That has NEVER happened to me before...ever. Not with Mike, Dante, or anyone, Rose. Have something like that ever happened to somebody you just met?”
Rose looked at Bella blinking rapidly. “You’re saying you’ve never come close to or had the big O’ with men the man you lost your virginity to, or anyone else you’ve had sex with, but you almost had one by simply touching the hand of this man who you almost killed yourself serving coffee to?”
“Exactly! I lost my virginity to Mike Newton and I felt like wearing a t-shirt that said, ‘all I got was this t-shirt.”
Rose snorted with laughter again as we watched my shift relief, Angela Weber walk in the door. I smiled at her because she was really a lovely girl and I was happy to see her. Then, I started feeling like pin needles were running up and down my back.
“He’s walking over here isn’t he?”
“Goddamn, girl! How did you know that?”
“Hello, McFly! Have you been listening to me. I feel this electricity whenever he’s around.”
Just as I finished saying that, I heard a velvet baritone was over my already tingling spine and I blushed. He was saying something to me about walking me to my car because of Paul. I told him in a very feeble manner because I would’ve done anything not to be disconnected from him. He insisted, which would’ve normally turned me off. But, it just enhanced the uncomfortable state I was already in. I almost forgot to introduce him to Rose, but my brain did kick in momentarily.
I tried to grow a spine and act like myself and stand up to him, but he just stared down at me with those eyes that seemed to change colors and hypnotize me, if I looked too long. I gave in and went to change my clothes.
When I came back out, Rose was talking to him like she had known him for ages. I’m not a jealous person and I trust her implicitly, but he’s a man and Rosalie Hale is beautiful. A supermodel would kill to have bone structure like hers. To top it all off, she had beautiful curves that intimidated most women, including me. I might have growled a little as I was walking towards the counter to let Florence know I was leaving.
Mine! What the hell was that?
Flo followed me to the table and they both stood up. His eyes locked into me again and before I knew it, he was holding my messenger bag and holding the door open for me. Rose ragged on my about my truck again. That truck was a going away present from Jacob and my dad. It got me here and there was no way I was giving it up because Rose didn’t think it was fancy enough. I thought I heard Edward laughing at it. For the first time since I had it, I felt a little ashamed of it. He gently took my keys from me after hypnotizing me with his gaze and before I knew it I was sitting in my truck holding his hand.
It was October in Chicago and 32 degrees, but my face was flush with the heat from his hand. The electricity moved through my body and went right to my core. He was rubbing circles in my hand and I was rubbing my legs together trying to find the friction that I needed. Heat bubbled up in my core, he growled at the car Paul was sitting in before it sped away and I exploded into my first orgasm of my adult life sitting in my truck just from Edward holding my hand.
I don’t think he noticed, thank God. I would’ve been mortified. When he looked at me he mistook my shiver for me being cold. I noticed the first time that he was blushing. He asked me to unlock the passenger door so he can get in while I get warm. I finally let go of my hand because I was on my way to my second explosion.
“Hand me your cell, please.” He said in his velvet tone that made me shiver again.
“Call me as soon as you walk in the door, Bella. I want to know that you made it home safely. It doesn’t matter how long it takes or how late it is. How far away from here do you live?”
“About 15 minutes.” I said in a small voice.
“Ok. I’ll just wait for your call then.”
After my truck warmed up and before he got out and closed the passenger door of my truck, his lips curled up in a slow sexy smile that almost brought me to the edge again. I was a little startled because I didn’t even see Rose leave, but I knew that there was no way I would miss the opportunity to hear his voice again. I would call him even if he hadn’t asked me to. I had his number and he had mine.
I was officially a stalker of Edward Cullen.
As I was getting up to walk to kitchen to get to the first-aid kit, Florence had more information to give about her godson.
“You know he’s divorced.” She said in a deliberately nonchalant manner, which indicated to me after these few years of knowing her that she was not being nonchalant at all.
“Florence, is he always so...difficult, or do I bring out something special in him?” Bella asked afraid to insult her friend.
She chuckled a little. “He can be brief with people. But, he has a heart of gold. I’ve known him since he was a baby. He’ll be needing something to put on that burn. When he comes to the first-aid kit, hand him the burn spray.”
I blurted out before I even realized what I was saying, “He’s gorgeous!” Then, I slapped my hand over my mouth wondering when I developed Tourette’s Syndrome.
Florence smiled and hugged me. “I know he is, hon. Now get back there and put something on those cuts before they get infected. Hot damn! I think my cookies are burning.”
I never understood how Florence could move so quickly and never get tired at her age, whatever that was. Alice worked here a few summers before her summer internship right before her fourth year in her Marketing major. She and I would work our 8 hour shift and sit down rubbing our feet and complaining about corns and bunions. Florence, who was there when we got there and stayed after we left, would look at us and jokingly say,
“Chumps! Can’t hang, huh?”
We would sniff her coffee and examine her pill bottle to see what she was on. Nothing ever panned out. That phenomenon was nowhere near as mysterious and what had transpired between Edward and me.
When I got around to the front of the booth and took a good look at him, my heart almost stopped. He had golden-brown skin, a full-set of pillow-like lips, hazel-green eyes set off my the longest lashes I have ever seen. He looked ethereal. I felt an energy around him that I had never felt before. When our eyes locked, I gasped and ended up on my ass. I wasn’t prepared for the reaction of my girly parts when he simply touched my scalp to see if I was needed to go to the emergency room. The poor man was just trying to do his due diligence and I was getting aroused. When did I become a hussy?
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m no angel. I have met men that tickle my fancy, but it’s always been a slow burn for me...who the hell says “tickle my fancy” anymore? Note to self: Must get out more.
In Forks, I wasn’t insanely popular, but I had my fair share of dates. My first kiss was with a guy named Tyler Crowley at 17. He had almost killed me on an icy day in the high school parking lot. In order to repay me, he decided he would take me out. Well, the only thing that prevented me from wishing he had finished the job was the kiss at the end of the night. I had never felt anything so sensual before. He didn’t even ask, he just leaned in, unexpectedly, and sucked my bottom lip between his lips and sucked on it. Then he repeated that step slowly with my top lip. My this time I was feeling all tingly in places I had never felt before and reached up to grab his neck and pull him closer. Then, something I never imagined someone would do happened. He licked my bottom lip. Then, he tried to ram his tongue in my mouth. I pulled back like someone had punched me.
“What the hell was that?!”
Tyler smiled and asked, “Haven’t you ever heard of a ‘french kiss’ baby?”
“First of all, baby, if you haven’t noticed, we’re not French and they don’t even like Americans. Secondly, ‘ewww.” Then I started rambling about how the U.S. liberated France and he looked at me like he believed I was the geek everyone said I was and took me home immediately.
When I got in the house, I avoided Charlie completely for fear he would shoot Tyler if he knew that he tried to stick his tongue down my throat and that wouldn’t be good for morale at school, although I’m pretty sure the person that would miss him the most was his obnoxious cousin Lauren Mallory.
I called my best friend, Jacob Black. He was two years younger than I and a member of the Quileute tribe. He went to school on the reservation. He always had an interesting story to tell me because I was pretty boring, but this time I had something to talk to him about.
“Hey, Bells! How was your date with Tyler?”
“It started out bad. He took me to see the worst movie in the history of mankind, ‘Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.’ Apparently, he thought he had something in common with the main character because he proceeded to try to stick his tongue in my mouth.”
“What???” Although Jacob was younger than I, but he was huge and protective. He hit a strange growth spurt when he hit the middle of his 14th year. When he came to vist me in California with my father when he was 14, he was a little guy. When I came to live with my father not even a full year later, he was almost 6ft, had biceps the size of my waist and was growing.
“Have you ever heard of a...french kiss, Jake?”
“Yeah.” I could hear Jacob breathing through the phone.
“Is it as gross as it seems, or is there something good about it?” Jacob hung up the phone and was climbing through my bedroom window within 15 minutes. That night Jacob showed me the pleasures of a french kiss and I wasn’t grossed out at all.
However, as good as that felt, Jacob and I remained friends and I never felt with him what I felt in a few seconds of being near Edward Cullen.
When I went off to college, I was still a virgin. The first person I met was Alice. She was my roommate, so we actually talked well before I left for school. She shocked me because she told me she had been married before. It was a mistake and now she was trying to get on the right track. I had never met a girl my age that had been married. I even put off school for a couple of years because my mother fell ill with breast cancer. So, I went back to Phoenix for a while to take care of her while Phil was on the road and tried to work and save up college money. By the time I started college, I was 20 and my mother was in remission. But, I still hadn’t ever met a married and divorced 20 year old.
Alice had an energy that came through the phone. She was enthusiastic about everything, including clothes and men. She wanted to date. She felt that she missed out on being a young woman on the prowl by marrying her high school sweetheart, James Brandon, right after she graduated and she didn’t want to miss anything else. Alice never talked about it in detail, but I got the impression that James was abusive.
I was pulled out of my recollections after I finished up taking care of my knee, by a strong feeling of energy like 15 people with static cling who dragged their feet touching me at once. I knew he was behind me. When the electrical energy became strongest, I handed him the burn spray without him having to ask.
He stood there for a moment like a deer stuck in headlights. His jaw dropped down for only an instant and in that moment, I wanted to attack him and suck on his bottom lip in a way that would make Tyler Crowley and Jacob blush. He sat down quickly like I scared him and I tried to reign in my exuberance so the poor man could take care of his burn finally.
He apologized to me after I made some smart-ass comment about being rude and he grabbed my hand. I’m glad I was wearing dark clothes and wasn’t sitting down because I became instantly aroused. If he hadn’t dropped my hand, I would’ve had an orgasm in front of the first-aid kit. If he could read my mind and body right now, he would run away screaming. When did I become a pervert?
When we walked out to the dining area. I was so relieved. We had gotten a little busy. I jumped right into helping Florence out with whatever I could. My father would be proud of the way Flo had quartered off the “scene of the incident.” There was no evidence of spilt coffee and everyone was safe from my constant loss of equilibrium. Edward was finally eating his cookies. I smiled to myself, imagining a brown-skinned little boy that had Edward’s hair color and my eyes swinging his legs eating cookies next to him. I imagined him saying, “Mama, you want one?”
Mama you want one? What. the. Fuck?
Now, I’m having babies with this man I barely know. Rose walked in while one of my regular customers was teasing me about falling again.
“Hey cow!” Rose bellowed out in her usual fashion.
“Hurry up and sit down, heffa, and whatever you do, do not look towards the counter where Florence is standing.” I tried to say quietly and quickly. The first thing Rose did was look at the counter where Edward was sitting.
“Oh my! That is a tall drink of chocolate milk.”
“Shut up and turn around, Rose. I’m trying to talk to you about something.”
“What’s got your panties in a twist, B? Is this about that fucker, Paul, that’s sitting out there in his little raggedy car as we speak?” Rose had a way with words.
”No. It‘s not about Paul. Can you take a cue? You see how I‘m talking low...imitate please. It‘s about me having some freaky hormone related meltdown regarding the gorgeous man sitting at the counter over there.”
”Oh. Oooh! Well, I can understand that.” Rose did another visual once-over in the direction of Edward. ”What do you mean ‘meltdown?‘“ She finally asked.
”Well, you know how clumsy I am, right?” Rose looked at me as if she was thinking of course is the sky blue.
“Well, he came in and he hugged Florence. I didn’t see him at first because I was studying and he was too far away. Then, she called for me to come back on and you know how that annoys me since she doesn’t like people to call her and I was a little pissy towards him because he was laughing at me. So, I punched back in and went out to get him his coffee. When, I finally looked I him, I gasped because he...well...he looks like that and I felt all this...I don’t know how to describe it...electricity.” I slightly shifted my head in his direction without turning around. “I dropped the coffee pot, slipped in the coffee and hit my head.”
After Rose finished laughing hysterically she said, “Okay. So, these events are different how?”
“Well, all he did was touch me and...I became...aroused due to this energy that passes between us. That has NEVER happened to me before...ever. Not with Mike, Dante, or anyone, Rose. Have something like that ever happened to somebody you just met?”
Rose looked at Bella blinking rapidly. “You’re saying you’ve never come close to or had the big O’ with men the man you lost your virginity to, or anyone else you’ve had sex with, but you almost had one by simply touching the hand of this man who you almost killed yourself serving coffee to?”
“Exactly! I lost my virginity to Mike Newton and I felt like wearing a t-shirt that said, ‘all I got was this t-shirt.”
Rose snorted with laughter again as we watched my shift relief, Angela Weber walk in the door. I smiled at her because she was really a lovely girl and I was happy to see her. Then, I started feeling like pin needles were running up and down my back.
“He’s walking over here isn’t he?”
“Goddamn, girl! How did you know that?”
“Hello, McFly! Have you been listening to me. I feel this electricity whenever he’s around.”
Just as I finished saying that, I heard a velvet baritone was over my already tingling spine and I blushed. He was saying something to me about walking me to my car because of Paul. I told him in a very feeble manner because I would’ve done anything not to be disconnected from him. He insisted, which would’ve normally turned me off. But, it just enhanced the uncomfortable state I was already in. I almost forgot to introduce him to Rose, but my brain did kick in momentarily.
I tried to grow a spine and act like myself and stand up to him, but he just stared down at me with those eyes that seemed to change colors and hypnotize me, if I looked too long. I gave in and went to change my clothes.
When I came back out, Rose was talking to him like she had known him for ages. I’m not a jealous person and I trust her implicitly, but he’s a man and Rosalie Hale is beautiful. A supermodel would kill to have bone structure like hers. To top it all off, she had beautiful curves that intimidated most women, including me. I might have growled a little as I was walking towards the counter to let Florence know I was leaving.
Mine! What the hell was that?
Flo followed me to the table and they both stood up. His eyes locked into me again and before I knew it, he was holding my messenger bag and holding the door open for me. Rose ragged on my about my truck again. That truck was a going away present from Jacob and my dad. It got me here and there was no way I was giving it up because Rose didn’t think it was fancy enough. I thought I heard Edward laughing at it. For the first time since I had it, I felt a little ashamed of it. He gently took my keys from me after hypnotizing me with his gaze and before I knew it I was sitting in my truck holding his hand.
It was October in Chicago and 32 degrees, but my face was flush with the heat from his hand. The electricity moved through my body and went right to my core. He was rubbing circles in my hand and I was rubbing my legs together trying to find the friction that I needed. Heat bubbled up in my core, he growled at the car Paul was sitting in before it sped away and I exploded into my first orgasm of my adult life sitting in my truck just from Edward holding my hand.
I don’t think he noticed, thank God. I would’ve been mortified. When he looked at me he mistook my shiver for me being cold. I noticed the first time that he was blushing. He asked me to unlock the passenger door so he can get in while I get warm. I finally let go of my hand because I was on my way to my second explosion.
“Hand me your cell, please.” He said in his velvet tone that made me shiver again.
“Call me as soon as you walk in the door, Bella. I want to know that you made it home safely. It doesn’t matter how long it takes or how late it is. How far away from here do you live?”
“About 15 minutes.” I said in a small voice.
“Ok. I’ll just wait for your call then.”
After my truck warmed up and before he got out and closed the passenger door of my truck, his lips curled up in a slow sexy smile that almost brought me to the edge again. I was a little startled because I didn’t even see Rose leave, but I knew that there was no way I would miss the opportunity to hear his voice again. I would call him even if he hadn’t asked me to. I had his number and he had mine.
I was officially a stalker of Edward Cullen.
Chapter 3 - I Carry Your Heart with Me(I Carry it in My Heart) - E.E. Cummings
Edward’s POV - 1st person
Standing there looking like Bambi’s mother. I mumbled to myself as I pushed into a men’s restroom for the second time in 2 hours.
I first noticed her sitting there after Mama Florence yelled for her and I heard her scowl. It was pretty funny. I couldn’t see her clearly from where I was standing, but she sounded like an angry kitten that thinks it’s a jungle cat.
“What. The. Fuck?” I said aloud as I looked at the prominent bulge behind the zipper of my jeans and felt that familiar heat bubbling up in my stomach. Why was I having this type of a reaction to the sound of a woman’s voice and the feel of her hair? Isabella, “Bella” she said, smelled like strawberries, peanut butter cookies, fresh bread, and coffee. It was intoxicating. I had dated and was even married for 6 years and never felt this strong of a draw before. I touched women in ways that would seem very intimate to most people every damn day in the ER with no reaction at all. What am I, 17 years old? I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.
Bella means “beautiful in Italian and Spanish. The name certainly is fitting. Stop it! Get a grip on yourself! Shit! More unwanted mental imagery that wasn’t helping the problem.
I heard her approaching me earlier. She didn’t surprise me or anything. I was distracted by this electrical hum that started to whir around me. When I looked up, I jumped at her appearance and the sound she made. She looked like a startled angel. She had the most beautifully innocent face I had ever seen with a halo of soft-looking deep brown hair that I just wanted to bury my hands in. I reached out to touch it, after I did my “examination,” without thinking and stopped myself to ask permission to touch her before I did something really stupid. She was a tiny thing. All of 5‘ 4“ and maybe 115 lbs, if that much.
I wasn’t expecting the silkiness of her strands and the electric shock of heat that shot through my fingertips, through my heart and right to the problem I was sporting in my pants right now. I yanked my hand back.
Jesus Christ! I’m surprised I didn’t swear out loud again.
The coffee scald on the skin of my leg still stung a little, but I knew it wasn’t serious. I could simply go back to Mama’s first-aid kit and get some burn spray for it. I just needed to get away from this “Bella” woman before I completely embarrassed myself. I didn’t mean to be so harsh towards her. I was doing a lot of that lately. People must think I’m a monster. I took two strands of my hair from one side of my head and wrapped it around the rest of my locks to tie them together again.
My mind kept flashing to images of Disney princesses when I thought of her eyes. “Beauty and the Beast” came immediately to mind. I had spent way too much time over the last year watching those types of movies with my friend Jasper Whitlock’s 4 year-old daughter, Britney. We were quickly becoming the two of the most pathetic divorces in the city of Chicago. In fact, we would probably have to expand the radius of our pathetic condition to the entire Midwest.
Did she damn near purr when I touched her head? Maybe that was me. I have officially lost my mind.
Room 1918...Seth’s hospital room number and thoughts of my father’s look of anger and disappointment flashed through my mind as I looked in the mirror. This immediately resolved and deflated my obvious state of arousal. Maybe once I got a good night’s sleep I’d be myself again.
Who am I kidding? I’ve always been kind of an asshole. Life had just taught me how to reign in my assholery so that I could get along a little better with people other than the family that loved me no matter what.
I walked back out into the dining area and panicked a little because I didn’t feel the electricity or see my Bella. My Bella? What. The . Hell? Snap out of it! You don’t know this woman. I walked into the kitchen to get the burn spray and saw her standing there putting a band-aid on her knee. My heart rate sped up and I could feel that pull again. What is happening to me? I walked up behind her as quietly as I could. I didn’t want to startle her. Obviously, she had a problem remaining upright. She looked at me, we locked eyes, and she reached in the cabinet and handed me the burn spray.
My mouth fell open, slightly.
“Thanks.” My voice squeaked a little. She must think I’m a girl.
“No problem.” Two little words from her...jeans problem is back. I quickly sat down on the stool next to the cabinet and crossed one leg over the other in classic man-style under the pretense of applying the burn treatment. I knew I had to get out of there as quickly as possible. This little woman was completely unraveling my composure.
“Florence said you might come looking for that.” She said as though she were reading my mind with a slight blush to her cheeks. I did not want her reading my mind any time soon because she would run away screaming. She was looking at me so directly that it made me uncomfortable, but I couldn’t look away.
“Are you alright?” My voice sounded normal again.
She closed her eyes, inhaled like she smelled something pleasant and smiled a little. “I’m fine, doc. You don’t trust your mad skills?”
I chuckled at that because, as of the last few hours, I didn’t. However, she seemed much more verbal and confident. “Well, I didn’t get to examine you as thoroughly as I would normally.” I immediately blushed as I realized the innuendo of my statement. What the devil? Maybe she didn’t notice.
Her eyes widened and her cheeks went an adorable shade of pink. She noticed. She closed the first-aid cabinet after I put the spray back.
”Are you okay?” I felt a twinge of emotion because I rarely get asked that question outside of family and friends.
”I‘m fine. It wasn‘t that bad. No blood. No foul.”
“Good.” She flashed me a smile and I noticed for the first time how full her lips were and how beautiful her smile was. “The cookies are ready when you are.”
I had forgotten about the cookies that I came to the diner for. She started to walk away and I reached out to grab her hand. I needed to touch her. I didn’t pull away when I felt the burn.
“Sorry for being an asshole.” I pleaded with her with my eyes, but I tried to maintain some semblance of the mask I had developed over the years for my public persona.
“D-D-Don’t let it happen again.” She was trying to display her kitten-like furry again, but stuttered shattering the effect. I let her hand drop realizing I was probably making her nervous in a stalker kind of way by touching her and staring at her like I was.
I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring and “non-Ted Bundy” way as I followed her back into the dining area.
“Well, well, well. I thought I was gonna have to come back there and get you two.” Florence said with a wink and a smile.
There were about five more customers sitting in the restaurant now. Bella hopped into action helping where she saw it was needed. I watched her interact with the customers as I ate my lukewarm peanut butter cookies. I was surprised to find that only about 20 minutes had passed since the coffee incident. An older man, apparently a regular customer, pointed to her knee and asked her what she did to herself this time. Bella rolled her eyes a little and touched the man lightly on the shoulder. He was obviously flirting with her and stared at her ass as she walked away.
Did I just growl? The noise startled me. I felt a flash of anger, jealousy, and protectiveness all rolled up into one. Again...What. The. Fuck?
I shot up off my stool at the counter where I was sitting because my favorite booth was now sectioned off like a crime scene with a wet floor sign. I walked around the counter so I wouldn’t get smacked in the back of the head for yelling my godmother’s name.
“Mama, I’m out. I apparently need to get some sleep. Thanks so much for the cookies. I needed them.” I leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
“You’re welcome, hon. Anytime. I wouldn’t mine if you came by more often you know.” She leaned into my kiss and hugged me again. “Oh! Bella’s getting off in a few. Her replacement is here. Can you wait and walk her out to her car?” Florence grinned at me in a way that I didn’t quite understand.
“Okay. ” I said slowly, secretly thrilled, and wondered what she was up to. She put the remainder of my cookies in a Styrofoam container and patted me on the cheek. “Why?” I asked, but really didn’t need to know the answer to wait for Bella. She motioned for me to bend down so she could talk directly in my ear.
“There’s a boy that can’t seem to take ‘no’ for an answer that I don’t like the looks of.” She said it lowly, as though she didn’t want to take the chance of Bella hearing her.
“Has he hurt her. If so, has she filed a police report. These types of guys need to be taken seriously.” I shuddered as I thought about the ER patients I treated who didn’t take these men at their word when they threatened violence.
“Relax, tiger. He hasn’t attacked her. But, there’s something about him I don’t like.” I trusted Florence’s intuition. She was usually dead-on about people’s character.
I turned and looked out the window to take note of the cars in the lot besides mine. I saw my car, of course, a red BMW, an old Chevy truck that looked like a reject from “Sanford & Son,” Florence’s Cadillac, and about three other cars that could belong to the patrons in the restaurant now.
I looked across the street and saw smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe of a small car with its lights out. My eyes narrowed to see if I could make out a person in that car. I had a bad feeling that was the “doesn’t take no” guy.
I settled back onto my stool at the counter furious that someone would even think about hurting my Bella...What is the deal with that? I’m not much worse than him. I saw Bella chatting with a young lady that she seemed to know well with blonde hair and striking blue eyes. They both turned to look out the window after Bella leaned in and told her something. The blonde’s eyes narrowed and her mouth turned down into a frown. I walked towards them to hear what they were saying...stalker. Shut up!
“Excuse me, ladies. Bella, Florence asked me to stay and walk you out to your car.” It was supposed to be a statement, but came out in the inflection of a question. The blonde looked at me and grinned as she brought her cup up of coffee up to her mouth to drink and Bella turned about three different shades of red. I didn’t know what that was about.
“She shouldn’t have done that. I mean...I don’t need an escort, Eddi---I mean....” I interrupted her.
“Edward. Just call me Edward. Eddie is the name of the kid on that show ‘The Munsters’.”
“Edward, I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but I’m fine.”
“What about that guy that waits for you?” I asked curious about her reaction.
She stilled and looked at me with wide eyes. “Florence told yo---He’s harmless. His name is Paul and I went out with him once. I told him I wasn’t interested in really dating him and we could be friends. I guess he’s being persistent.” The blonde snorted and rolled her eyes. I looked at her not expecting such a sound to come from a woman and Bella’s cheeks flushed again.
“Persistant? Ha! He doesn’t even talk to you. He just sits there and stares like the momma’s boy he is. If he doesn’t stop this shit, I’ll go to the police myself.” Rose said through clenched teeth.
Bella blanched at her tone and then startled like she had just remembered something.
“I’m so rude! Edward Cullen, this is Rosalie Hale. Rose, this is Edward.” Rosalie extended her hand and I took it with a slight smile. She didn’t seem too friendly, but she seemed as protective of her friend as I felt almost instantly.
“So, you’re Edward? Bella was right....” Bella reached out and smacked her on the arm before she completed her sentence...hard. I looked at her a little shocked that she could muster up that much force from such a little arm.
“Ow! Son of a bitch! What’d you do that for, you little munchkin?” Rosalie was about 4 inches shorter than me and towered over Bella. I noticed after she hopped up out of her seat in reaction to being punched in arm.
“Regardless if you want it or not, I’m walking you to your car.” I said as forcefully as I could muster. I didn’t want that sad look on her face again, or the angry kitten, as I was starting to label it.
Angry kitten it was. She stood toe to stomach with me and raised her chin slightly in a defiant stance. It took every ounce of self-control in my body not to pick her up and hug her, or kiss her until she stopped being angry.
I guess she sensed I was just as determined as she and backed down with a defeated look. “Fine. I’m going to punch out now.”
I watched her walk away and I noticed two men watching her. I scowled at them under my breath and Rosalie interrupted my plan of attack.
“Whoa there, stud. Don’t pounce.” I couldn’t believe I was being so obvious. “Sit down and talk to me. She’ll be a few minutes.” I sat down embarrassed realizing that I was probably about the same shade of red as Bella was earlier. It was an odd thing to be a black man that was light enough to blush noticeably. People had teased me about it mercilessly most of my life. I had pretty much stopped blushing when I hit my late 20s. I guess I had stopped being surprised or embarrassed by much during my residency. But, it had come back with a force this evening.
“Rosalie, I---”
“Rose. My friends call me, Rose. You’re a doctor, huh?” She cut me off mid-sentence and I hesitated for a moment because obviously Bella had been talking about me to her friend. I wondered if she felt anything similar to what I was feeling. I was surprised at how friendly Rose actually was as opposed to my earlier reaction to her.
“Okay, Rose it is. Yes. I’m a doctor. How do you know, Bella?” I asked just making conversation and not being a creepy dude, I convinced myself.
“Oh, Bella and me go way back.” She quipped easily as though we were old friends. “When Bella first came to Chicago, she came to a career fair at McCormick Place. I was there helping my mother set up a booth and Bella came wandering over. My mother’s a judge, Bella wants to be a lawyer. I told her to stick around so she can talk to her and we just started hanging out.” Her blue eyes locked on mine. “When our other friend Alice can’t come, I walk her out to her car. This Paul guy gives me the creeps. Bella is too trusting for her own damn good. I guess it’s that small town mentality.”
Her friendly manner shifted suddenly. “By the way, if you turn out to be a creep like this Paul guy, I’ll stab you in the heart, pull it out, and eat it for dinner.” She smiled at me after making her declaration.
I shivered because I had just watched “Silence of the Lambs" and was having a strange feeling of deja vu. I could clearly imagine her strapped to a gurney, wearing a face-mask, and following through on her word after she killed a couple of guards.
“Well Rose, that was extremely graphic and nauseating. And I work in the ER, so I know what
I’m talking about.” I stated trying to sound unaffected and not as scared as I was. “I’m glad you and this Alice person care so much about her. It’s hard to find good friends in a big city.”
Her demeanor changed from the facetious grin she planted on her face to threaten me into a genuine smile. “You feel it, too, huh? Bella elicits feelings of protectiveness from people.”
“Apparently so.” I felt the electricity again and I turned around to see Bella, sans uniform, and Florence approaching us. She had a black messenger bag slug over her shoulder. She was wearing black skinny jeans with an oversized maroon and white “UofC" hoodie and black Air Force 1s (She knew she was in Michael Jordontown. A woman after my own heart). She looked much tinier and younger in her street clothes than in her uniform. She was carrying her winter coat, which looked like a three-quarter length charcoal pea coat. I wanted to scold her and tell her to put that coat on. I knew I would be met with the angry kitten again if I did. I was already pushing my luck. Rose and I stood up to leave with her. I took her messenger bag from her and she blushed again. I think she had me beat in the blushing department.
“You all be careful out there.” Florence said and kissed me again after waggling her eyebrows at me. I’ll have to remember to ask her about her strange behaviors when I see her again.
Strange behaviors? At least, she’s not attaching herself to people she’s known for less than an hour. Shut up! Answering and arguing with my inner dialogue was a new thing I was becoming concerned about.
We walked out to the parking lot and I wondered which car was hers. When she walked towards the “Sanford and Son” truck I almost laughed out loud but coughed to cover up the reaction. Rose approached the candy red BMW that was sitting right next to it.
“Bella!” Rose huffed, “Why don’t you get rid of that piece of shit. I mean I, more than anyone, can appreciate a classic, but this attachment to this metal monster is ridiculous.” I shared her sentiment. I couldn’t imagine this truck being very reliable, although she would survive almost any accident, with the exeption of a semi. The thought of her having an accident with a semi made me shiver with fear and I grabbed her hand.
Bella looked at my hand like it was a viper, but she didn’t pull away. I gently took her keys out of her hand, unlocked her driver-side door, and opened it for her like the gentlemen my parents raised me to be, then I set her messenger bag between the seats. At the same time, I was looking at the little car with the engine running sitting across the street from us. As soon as I really focused on the car, the occupant turned on the lights and sped away.
“Was that Paul?” I asked Bella. She didn’t answer so I turned back to her and realized her cheeks were red again and she was shivering. “I’ll stay here while you warm up your car.” I mentally kicked myself for not warming up her car for her and then I turned to my car and used the remote to start it and warm it up. Rose answered my question for her.
“Yeah. That’s the creep. He doesn’t peel away when I walk her out. I guess he doesn’t realize
I’ll kick his ass, too.” I really liked Rose, although she frightened me a little.
I realized I was still holding Bella’s hand and her car would never get warm if she couldn’t close her door. So, I asked her to unlock her passenger door before I reluctantly let it go and closed her door. I heard her flick the button and let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I opened up the door and climbed in quickly. The cab smelled like Bella and I had to stop myself from drooling a little.
“Are you going to put that coat on, or is it just arm decoration?” I asked a little more forcefully than I intended. Rose knocked on the window, blew a kiss at Bella, saluted me and did an eye to eye gesture. I recognized the implied threat and she hopped in her BMW.
“What was that all about, Father?” Bella asked with mock irritation, but slid her coat over her shoulders. If she only knew. My feelings were not at all paternal. “It’s too bulky to wear while I’m driving.” She offered as explanation for not wearing her winter coat.
“Oh. Well, Rose was just reminding me of something she told me earlier.” Was my brilliant retort. I needed to stay in touch with her and was worried that this Paul character would try to follow her home.
“Let me see your phone, please.” She immediately handed me her cell, which surprised me a little. I dialed in my cell number and then used her phone to call myself so I would have hers.
“Call me as soon as you walk in the door, Bella. I want to know that you made it home safely. It doesn’t matter how long it takes or how late it is. How far away from here do you live?”
“About 15 minutes.” She said in a small voice.
“Ok. I’ll just wait for your call then.” I was fully intending to call her in exactly 20 minutes from the time she pulled out, if she didn’t call me first.
As soon as I stepped out of her truck a piece of my heart started to rend. I couldn’t believe I could develop these types of feelings for someone so quickly. I must be having a heart attack. I looked at the Bambi eyes one last time and reluctantly closed the door. Yep. Heart attack. I’ll go get checked out tomorrow, or later on today.
“Don’t forget. Call me when you get home.” She nodded. I wish she would’ve spoken to me. I already loved her voice. Loved?...What the hell?
Stalker. Shut up!
Standing there looking like Bambi’s mother. I mumbled to myself as I pushed into a men’s restroom for the second time in 2 hours.
I first noticed her sitting there after Mama Florence yelled for her and I heard her scowl. It was pretty funny. I couldn’t see her clearly from where I was standing, but she sounded like an angry kitten that thinks it’s a jungle cat.
“What. The. Fuck?” I said aloud as I looked at the prominent bulge behind the zipper of my jeans and felt that familiar heat bubbling up in my stomach. Why was I having this type of a reaction to the sound of a woman’s voice and the feel of her hair? Isabella, “Bella” she said, smelled like strawberries, peanut butter cookies, fresh bread, and coffee. It was intoxicating. I had dated and was even married for 6 years and never felt this strong of a draw before. I touched women in ways that would seem very intimate to most people every damn day in the ER with no reaction at all. What am I, 17 years old? I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.
Bella means “beautiful in Italian and Spanish. The name certainly is fitting. Stop it! Get a grip on yourself! Shit! More unwanted mental imagery that wasn’t helping the problem.
I heard her approaching me earlier. She didn’t surprise me or anything. I was distracted by this electrical hum that started to whir around me. When I looked up, I jumped at her appearance and the sound she made. She looked like a startled angel. She had the most beautifully innocent face I had ever seen with a halo of soft-looking deep brown hair that I just wanted to bury my hands in. I reached out to touch it, after I did my “examination,” without thinking and stopped myself to ask permission to touch her before I did something really stupid. She was a tiny thing. All of 5‘ 4“ and maybe 115 lbs, if that much.
I wasn’t expecting the silkiness of her strands and the electric shock of heat that shot through my fingertips, through my heart and right to the problem I was sporting in my pants right now. I yanked my hand back.
Jesus Christ! I’m surprised I didn’t swear out loud again.
The coffee scald on the skin of my leg still stung a little, but I knew it wasn’t serious. I could simply go back to Mama’s first-aid kit and get some burn spray for it. I just needed to get away from this “Bella” woman before I completely embarrassed myself. I didn’t mean to be so harsh towards her. I was doing a lot of that lately. People must think I’m a monster. I took two strands of my hair from one side of my head and wrapped it around the rest of my locks to tie them together again.
My mind kept flashing to images of Disney princesses when I thought of her eyes. “Beauty and the Beast” came immediately to mind. I had spent way too much time over the last year watching those types of movies with my friend Jasper Whitlock’s 4 year-old daughter, Britney. We were quickly becoming the two of the most pathetic divorces in the city of Chicago. In fact, we would probably have to expand the radius of our pathetic condition to the entire Midwest.
Did she damn near purr when I touched her head? Maybe that was me. I have officially lost my mind.
Room 1918...Seth’s hospital room number and thoughts of my father’s look of anger and disappointment flashed through my mind as I looked in the mirror. This immediately resolved and deflated my obvious state of arousal. Maybe once I got a good night’s sleep I’d be myself again.
Who am I kidding? I’ve always been kind of an asshole. Life had just taught me how to reign in my assholery so that I could get along a little better with people other than the family that loved me no matter what.
I walked back out into the dining area and panicked a little because I didn’t feel the electricity or see my Bella. My Bella? What. The . Hell? Snap out of it! You don’t know this woman. I walked into the kitchen to get the burn spray and saw her standing there putting a band-aid on her knee. My heart rate sped up and I could feel that pull again. What is happening to me? I walked up behind her as quietly as I could. I didn’t want to startle her. Obviously, she had a problem remaining upright. She looked at me, we locked eyes, and she reached in the cabinet and handed me the burn spray.
My mouth fell open, slightly.
“Thanks.” My voice squeaked a little. She must think I’m a girl.
“No problem.” Two little words from her...jeans problem is back. I quickly sat down on the stool next to the cabinet and crossed one leg over the other in classic man-style under the pretense of applying the burn treatment. I knew I had to get out of there as quickly as possible. This little woman was completely unraveling my composure.
“Florence said you might come looking for that.” She said as though she were reading my mind with a slight blush to her cheeks. I did not want her reading my mind any time soon because she would run away screaming. She was looking at me so directly that it made me uncomfortable, but I couldn’t look away.
“Are you alright?” My voice sounded normal again.
She closed her eyes, inhaled like she smelled something pleasant and smiled a little. “I’m fine, doc. You don’t trust your mad skills?”
I chuckled at that because, as of the last few hours, I didn’t. However, she seemed much more verbal and confident. “Well, I didn’t get to examine you as thoroughly as I would normally.” I immediately blushed as I realized the innuendo of my statement. What the devil? Maybe she didn’t notice.
Her eyes widened and her cheeks went an adorable shade of pink. She noticed. She closed the first-aid cabinet after I put the spray back.
”Are you okay?” I felt a twinge of emotion because I rarely get asked that question outside of family and friends.
”I‘m fine. It wasn‘t that bad. No blood. No foul.”
“Good.” She flashed me a smile and I noticed for the first time how full her lips were and how beautiful her smile was. “The cookies are ready when you are.”
I had forgotten about the cookies that I came to the diner for. She started to walk away and I reached out to grab her hand. I needed to touch her. I didn’t pull away when I felt the burn.
“Sorry for being an asshole.” I pleaded with her with my eyes, but I tried to maintain some semblance of the mask I had developed over the years for my public persona.
“D-D-Don’t let it happen again.” She was trying to display her kitten-like furry again, but stuttered shattering the effect. I let her hand drop realizing I was probably making her nervous in a stalker kind of way by touching her and staring at her like I was.
I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring and “non-Ted Bundy” way as I followed her back into the dining area.
“Well, well, well. I thought I was gonna have to come back there and get you two.” Florence said with a wink and a smile.
There were about five more customers sitting in the restaurant now. Bella hopped into action helping where she saw it was needed. I watched her interact with the customers as I ate my lukewarm peanut butter cookies. I was surprised to find that only about 20 minutes had passed since the coffee incident. An older man, apparently a regular customer, pointed to her knee and asked her what she did to herself this time. Bella rolled her eyes a little and touched the man lightly on the shoulder. He was obviously flirting with her and stared at her ass as she walked away.
Did I just growl? The noise startled me. I felt a flash of anger, jealousy, and protectiveness all rolled up into one. Again...What. The. Fuck?
I shot up off my stool at the counter where I was sitting because my favorite booth was now sectioned off like a crime scene with a wet floor sign. I walked around the counter so I wouldn’t get smacked in the back of the head for yelling my godmother’s name.
“Mama, I’m out. I apparently need to get some sleep. Thanks so much for the cookies. I needed them.” I leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
“You’re welcome, hon. Anytime. I wouldn’t mine if you came by more often you know.” She leaned into my kiss and hugged me again. “Oh! Bella’s getting off in a few. Her replacement is here. Can you wait and walk her out to her car?” Florence grinned at me in a way that I didn’t quite understand.
“Okay. ” I said slowly, secretly thrilled, and wondered what she was up to. She put the remainder of my cookies in a Styrofoam container and patted me on the cheek. “Why?” I asked, but really didn’t need to know the answer to wait for Bella. She motioned for me to bend down so she could talk directly in my ear.
“There’s a boy that can’t seem to take ‘no’ for an answer that I don’t like the looks of.” She said it lowly, as though she didn’t want to take the chance of Bella hearing her.
“Has he hurt her. If so, has she filed a police report. These types of guys need to be taken seriously.” I shuddered as I thought about the ER patients I treated who didn’t take these men at their word when they threatened violence.
“Relax, tiger. He hasn’t attacked her. But, there’s something about him I don’t like.” I trusted Florence’s intuition. She was usually dead-on about people’s character.
I turned and looked out the window to take note of the cars in the lot besides mine. I saw my car, of course, a red BMW, an old Chevy truck that looked like a reject from “Sanford & Son,” Florence’s Cadillac, and about three other cars that could belong to the patrons in the restaurant now.
I looked across the street and saw smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe of a small car with its lights out. My eyes narrowed to see if I could make out a person in that car. I had a bad feeling that was the “doesn’t take no” guy.
I settled back onto my stool at the counter furious that someone would even think about hurting my Bella...What is the deal with that? I’m not much worse than him. I saw Bella chatting with a young lady that she seemed to know well with blonde hair and striking blue eyes. They both turned to look out the window after Bella leaned in and told her something. The blonde’s eyes narrowed and her mouth turned down into a frown. I walked towards them to hear what they were saying...stalker. Shut up!
“Excuse me, ladies. Bella, Florence asked me to stay and walk you out to your car.” It was supposed to be a statement, but came out in the inflection of a question. The blonde looked at me and grinned as she brought her cup up of coffee up to her mouth to drink and Bella turned about three different shades of red. I didn’t know what that was about.
“She shouldn’t have done that. I mean...I don’t need an escort, Eddi---I mean....” I interrupted her.
“Edward. Just call me Edward. Eddie is the name of the kid on that show ‘The Munsters’.”
“Edward, I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but I’m fine.”
“What about that guy that waits for you?” I asked curious about her reaction.
She stilled and looked at me with wide eyes. “Florence told yo---He’s harmless. His name is Paul and I went out with him once. I told him I wasn’t interested in really dating him and we could be friends. I guess he’s being persistent.” The blonde snorted and rolled her eyes. I looked at her not expecting such a sound to come from a woman and Bella’s cheeks flushed again.
“Persistant? Ha! He doesn’t even talk to you. He just sits there and stares like the momma’s boy he is. If he doesn’t stop this shit, I’ll go to the police myself.” Rose said through clenched teeth.
Bella blanched at her tone and then startled like she had just remembered something.
“I’m so rude! Edward Cullen, this is Rosalie Hale. Rose, this is Edward.” Rosalie extended her hand and I took it with a slight smile. She didn’t seem too friendly, but she seemed as protective of her friend as I felt almost instantly.
“So, you’re Edward? Bella was right....” Bella reached out and smacked her on the arm before she completed her sentence...hard. I looked at her a little shocked that she could muster up that much force from such a little arm.
“Ow! Son of a bitch! What’d you do that for, you little munchkin?” Rosalie was about 4 inches shorter than me and towered over Bella. I noticed after she hopped up out of her seat in reaction to being punched in arm.
“Regardless if you want it or not, I’m walking you to your car.” I said as forcefully as I could muster. I didn’t want that sad look on her face again, or the angry kitten, as I was starting to label it.
Angry kitten it was. She stood toe to stomach with me and raised her chin slightly in a defiant stance. It took every ounce of self-control in my body not to pick her up and hug her, or kiss her until she stopped being angry.
I guess she sensed I was just as determined as she and backed down with a defeated look. “Fine. I’m going to punch out now.”
I watched her walk away and I noticed two men watching her. I scowled at them under my breath and Rosalie interrupted my plan of attack.
“Whoa there, stud. Don’t pounce.” I couldn’t believe I was being so obvious. “Sit down and talk to me. She’ll be a few minutes.” I sat down embarrassed realizing that I was probably about the same shade of red as Bella was earlier. It was an odd thing to be a black man that was light enough to blush noticeably. People had teased me about it mercilessly most of my life. I had pretty much stopped blushing when I hit my late 20s. I guess I had stopped being surprised or embarrassed by much during my residency. But, it had come back with a force this evening.
“Rosalie, I---”
“Rose. My friends call me, Rose. You’re a doctor, huh?” She cut me off mid-sentence and I hesitated for a moment because obviously Bella had been talking about me to her friend. I wondered if she felt anything similar to what I was feeling. I was surprised at how friendly Rose actually was as opposed to my earlier reaction to her.
“Okay, Rose it is. Yes. I’m a doctor. How do you know, Bella?” I asked just making conversation and not being a creepy dude, I convinced myself.
“Oh, Bella and me go way back.” She quipped easily as though we were old friends. “When Bella first came to Chicago, she came to a career fair at McCormick Place. I was there helping my mother set up a booth and Bella came wandering over. My mother’s a judge, Bella wants to be a lawyer. I told her to stick around so she can talk to her and we just started hanging out.” Her blue eyes locked on mine. “When our other friend Alice can’t come, I walk her out to her car. This Paul guy gives me the creeps. Bella is too trusting for her own damn good. I guess it’s that small town mentality.”
Her friendly manner shifted suddenly. “By the way, if you turn out to be a creep like this Paul guy, I’ll stab you in the heart, pull it out, and eat it for dinner.” She smiled at me after making her declaration.
I shivered because I had just watched “Silence of the Lambs" and was having a strange feeling of deja vu. I could clearly imagine her strapped to a gurney, wearing a face-mask, and following through on her word after she killed a couple of guards.
“Well Rose, that was extremely graphic and nauseating. And I work in the ER, so I know what
I’m talking about.” I stated trying to sound unaffected and not as scared as I was. “I’m glad you and this Alice person care so much about her. It’s hard to find good friends in a big city.”
Her demeanor changed from the facetious grin she planted on her face to threaten me into a genuine smile. “You feel it, too, huh? Bella elicits feelings of protectiveness from people.”
“Apparently so.” I felt the electricity again and I turned around to see Bella, sans uniform, and Florence approaching us. She had a black messenger bag slug over her shoulder. She was wearing black skinny jeans with an oversized maroon and white “UofC" hoodie and black Air Force 1s (She knew she was in Michael Jordontown. A woman after my own heart). She looked much tinier and younger in her street clothes than in her uniform. She was carrying her winter coat, which looked like a three-quarter length charcoal pea coat. I wanted to scold her and tell her to put that coat on. I knew I would be met with the angry kitten again if I did. I was already pushing my luck. Rose and I stood up to leave with her. I took her messenger bag from her and she blushed again. I think she had me beat in the blushing department.
“You all be careful out there.” Florence said and kissed me again after waggling her eyebrows at me. I’ll have to remember to ask her about her strange behaviors when I see her again.
Strange behaviors? At least, she’s not attaching herself to people she’s known for less than an hour. Shut up! Answering and arguing with my inner dialogue was a new thing I was becoming concerned about.
We walked out to the parking lot and I wondered which car was hers. When she walked towards the “Sanford and Son” truck I almost laughed out loud but coughed to cover up the reaction. Rose approached the candy red BMW that was sitting right next to it.
“Bella!” Rose huffed, “Why don’t you get rid of that piece of shit. I mean I, more than anyone, can appreciate a classic, but this attachment to this metal monster is ridiculous.” I shared her sentiment. I couldn’t imagine this truck being very reliable, although she would survive almost any accident, with the exeption of a semi. The thought of her having an accident with a semi made me shiver with fear and I grabbed her hand.
Bella looked at my hand like it was a viper, but she didn’t pull away. I gently took her keys out of her hand, unlocked her driver-side door, and opened it for her like the gentlemen my parents raised me to be, then I set her messenger bag between the seats. At the same time, I was looking at the little car with the engine running sitting across the street from us. As soon as I really focused on the car, the occupant turned on the lights and sped away.
“Was that Paul?” I asked Bella. She didn’t answer so I turned back to her and realized her cheeks were red again and she was shivering. “I’ll stay here while you warm up your car.” I mentally kicked myself for not warming up her car for her and then I turned to my car and used the remote to start it and warm it up. Rose answered my question for her.
“Yeah. That’s the creep. He doesn’t peel away when I walk her out. I guess he doesn’t realize
I’ll kick his ass, too.” I really liked Rose, although she frightened me a little.
I realized I was still holding Bella’s hand and her car would never get warm if she couldn’t close her door. So, I asked her to unlock her passenger door before I reluctantly let it go and closed her door. I heard her flick the button and let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I opened up the door and climbed in quickly. The cab smelled like Bella and I had to stop myself from drooling a little.
“Are you going to put that coat on, or is it just arm decoration?” I asked a little more forcefully than I intended. Rose knocked on the window, blew a kiss at Bella, saluted me and did an eye to eye gesture. I recognized the implied threat and she hopped in her BMW.
“What was that all about, Father?” Bella asked with mock irritation, but slid her coat over her shoulders. If she only knew. My feelings were not at all paternal. “It’s too bulky to wear while I’m driving.” She offered as explanation for not wearing her winter coat.
“Oh. Well, Rose was just reminding me of something she told me earlier.” Was my brilliant retort. I needed to stay in touch with her and was worried that this Paul character would try to follow her home.
“Let me see your phone, please.” She immediately handed me her cell, which surprised me a little. I dialed in my cell number and then used her phone to call myself so I would have hers.
“Call me as soon as you walk in the door, Bella. I want to know that you made it home safely. It doesn’t matter how long it takes or how late it is. How far away from here do you live?”
“About 15 minutes.” She said in a small voice.
“Ok. I’ll just wait for your call then.” I was fully intending to call her in exactly 20 minutes from the time she pulled out, if she didn’t call me first.
As soon as I stepped out of her truck a piece of my heart started to rend. I couldn’t believe I could develop these types of feelings for someone so quickly. I must be having a heart attack. I looked at the Bambi eyes one last time and reluctantly closed the door. Yep. Heart attack. I’ll go get checked out tomorrow, or later on today.
“Don’t forget. Call me when you get home.” She nodded. I wish she would’ve spoken to me. I already loved her voice. Loved?...What the hell?
Stalker. Shut up!
Chapter 2: Bella Swan
“Ms. Florence!” Bella called out to the owner of the diner where she worked.
“What?!” Florence bellowed back with irritation in her voice. Bella chuckled because she knew that her boss hated when people yelled out her name like she just did. She had personally witnessed her children duck being swatted in the back of the head for wailing out her name like banshees, instead of coming to find her ‘like civilized folks’ she liked to say.
“It’s slow. I’m taking a lunch break!” Bella yelled again to see if she could get a rise out of her friend.
Florence walked into the dining area from the kitchen slowly with her hands on her slender but round hips with her eyes narrowed at Bella, “Isabella Marie Swan, are you trying to stand on my last nerve this evening?”
“Why, Ms. Flo, what would make you think a thing like that?” Bella asked innocently fluttering her eyelashes. Intentionally calling her the name she hated the most.
“You are not too big to be beat. And I told you not to call me Ms. Flo. It’s too close to ‘aunt flow’, or the name of that horrible sitcom woman that used to talk about people ‘kissin’ her grits’. I will put you over my knee and not think twice about it. Go on and take a break and get out of my face, child.”
Florence playfully narrowed her slightly slanted chestnut brown eyes at Bella. Bella could never tell how old Florence really was. This evening she was wearing her long black course hair with a little “salt” in it, as she called the grey, in a low-hanging ponytail that reached the middle of her back. The salt and pepper hair was one of the two things that indicated she was over 30. The other being the wrinkles that had finally settled around her eyes and mouth. Her medium brown skin with a reddish undertone was otherwise flawless. Bella wondered if her bright oddly perfect smile was the result of dentures, good genes, or good dental work. They were pearly white and incredibly even despite all the coffee Bella witnessed her consume. Bella suspected she was closer to 70 than 30. Her slim-trim, yet curvy figure still caught the attention of many young men around the diner. Bella would tease her about all the male customers that seemed to multiply when she was around. She would just roll her eyes and ask Bella if she was blind.
“They’re all staring at you.” She would click her tongue at Bella and shake her head. “You better start looking up. Your husband could walk through that door and you’d have your head down in some book or staring off into space.”
Bella laughed and walked around the counter grabbing her messenger bag.
“You’re so fun to mess with, Florence. I can’t resist.”
Florence flicked her on her the backside with the towel she was carrying and laughed.
“Bella, kiss my grits!” She said in a horrible overdone “southern” accent mimicking the woman on the sitcom “Alice.”
Bella sat in a booth in a corner that gave her a little privacy. She was in her last year as an undergraduate and a Criminal Justice major and was applying to law school at John Marshall and Northwestern. Although her grades and LSAT score would easily get her into either school, she knew neither school was ranked the highest but their rankings were respectable. She had done incredibly well on her LSAT with a score of 162. She figured if she lost the scholarship she had earned to take with her to any graduate program and depleted her savings, she could afford to work to pay for the tuition at either school. Bella was always pragmatic and didn’t take many risks that may affect someone else negatively. She didn’t want to pile on more student loan debt, or burden her father, Charlie Swan, who was the Police Chief in Forks, Washington, her hometown, with graduate school debt. He was highly respected, but not highly paid.
She was told by one of her advisers that she was at a distinct disadvantage for law school because she hadn’t taken a writing intensive major. However, she had a minor in women’s literature that kept her writing skills and love of literature alive and well. She had also been advised to continue on at the University of Chicago for her law degree, since it was ranked 5th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Bella knew she couldn’t afford the University of Chicago’s tuition for law school, even if she worked three jobs. Plus, a great mentor and friend of hers, Judge Irene Hale, had attended John Marshall. She wanted to follow in her footsteps. As she was going through her notes for her Victimology class, she saw a silver car pull up in the parking lot. Bella didn’t know the make and model. Her father tried to teach her these things so he could train her to be a “good eye-witness,” she supposed. But, cars never interested Bella. She
wouldn’t have a clue what the car was even if she could see it well. Her friend Rosalie, Judge Hale’s daugher, knew cars.
“Seven Sisters” was a 24 hour diner in the Kenwood area of Chicago. They served the best “nouveau soul-food” and deli sandwiches with fresh baked bread around town. It was a Chicago staple and had been open for over 50 years. The current owner, Florence Nelson, is one of the seven daughters of the original owner, Amy Toliver. The diner started out on the West Side of town. But, somewhere around the late 70‘s the diner moved into the Kenwood neighborhood. Florence’s father, Calvin or “Da-da”, had worked as an X-ray technician at the University of Chicago Hospital to get health benefits for his 14 kids, a rare thing for a black man of his time. Amy ran the diner and he helped out when he could. He fell in love with the Kenwood area and they eventually moved. By that time, many of the girls and most of the 7 brothers were married with their own families. The “Seven Brothers Auto Supply” chain was started by the oldest brother, Charles Toliver, around the same time as the diner. Its success had paid for the other siblings to go to college or pursue whatever goals they had in mind. In that generation of the family, there were 3 doctors, 2 accountants, 3 lawyers, and 4 teachers. The other two were entrepreneurs.
Bella could see the person in the silver car still sitting there and started to get a little nervous about why somebody would just sit in a near empty parking lot at this time of night until she saw the driver-side door open, finally. A man stepped out of the car but she couldn’t make out his features. She went back to studying and drinking her straight black coffee to keep her awake.
The man walked in the diner and the bell above the door rang. He was obviously looking for someone. You could hear Florence rush out of the kitchen and the smile that spread across her face was blinding. He smiled back, which made Bella smile and returned her attention back to the material she was studying.
“Hey, gorgeous!!” Florence cooed excitedly at the man and ran around the counter with her arms spread to hug him.
“Hey gorgeous, yourself!” He responded while moving into her embrace.
They stood and hugged fiercely and Florence finally pulled away, stood on her toes, grabbed his face in both her hands, and gave him a quick chaste kiss on the lips. Bella felt a rush of emotion pass through her chest. The exchange reminded her of how little her and her father Charlie really emoted. They were very much alike and kept their emotions shielded from most people, even each other. Her mother Renee was overly demonstrative in her affection most times. But because Bella ended up being more of a caretaker towards her mother than a daughter, her affection felt more needy and clingy than anything. She was really glad Renee had someone else to cling to these past 7 years. She had married her boyfriend that wasn’t significantly older than Bella, Phil Dwyer, when Bella was 17. He played professional baseball for a while. But, a torn ACL stopped his career. He had a very magnetic and charismatic personality and the camera had always loved him during post-game interviews. Naturally, when ESPN needed a new announcer for the baseball season, they hired Phil. Phil and Renee had a permanent home in Florida and Phil took good care of her mother.
Florence stepped back and swatted the man on his butt. Bella’s eyes widened a little and she closed her book. She was becoming very interested in who he was.
“Where have you been, boy? Nobody’s seen you since that wench Tanya walked out on you.”
“Mama Florence, Tanya is not a wench. I left her way before she walked out.” Edward held his head down and she touched his cheek softly.
“Sit down here, Eddie. Why does it look like you’ve been crying?”
Bella searched his face to see if she saw the evidence that he’d been crying. She couldn’t see much of anything about his face from where she was sitting. All she could see was a bundle of reddish-brown locs tied up at the back that were hanging almost as long as Florence’s ponytail. She had never personally witnessed her father cry. She knew her feminism card could be revoked, but men crying made her uncomfortable. She thought it was odd and wondered what would make a man as big, strong and masculine-looking as this guy cry. She even wondered if he was gay, but remembered the mentioning of “the wench Tanya.” However, he said “I left her way before she walked out.” She wondered what that meant.
“You know, Mama. You’re the only one I let get away with calling me Eddie.” He grinned warmly at Florence whom he seemed to know very well. “I’ve just had a really tough week and I could use some of your peanut butter cookies.” Bella smiled because she joked that Florence’s peanut butter cookies could cure cancer. They were little miracles.
“You’ll always be little Eddie to me. Let me make you some fresh cookies. Kick back and stay awhile. We’re real slow tonight.”
“We? It looks like you’re here all by yourself. I worry when you do that.”
“No, child. Bella’s here with me. She just took a break. Bella!! Breaks up! You have a customer, hon.” Bella shook her head at the woman who didn’t like her name yelled, but constantly yelled hers. Respect your elders. Respect your elders. She repeated like a mantra in her head.
She turned around and saw “Eddie” looking at her curiously with a slight smirk on his face. She was a little annoyed and wondered why this stranger was smirking at her, so she snatched up her book and backpack, stumbling, as usual, and went to the back to punch back in. She approached Florence while she was dropping the cookie dough on the baking sheets.
“I’m back, Florence. I’ll take care of the guy. I won’t flirt with your boyfriend. I can see he’s taken.” She winked at her.
Florence turned her head slightly and studied Bella’s face. A slow pearly white Cheshire Cat grin spread over her face. But, she quickly dropped it and turned back to her cookie making. Looking at her grin made her wonder if her granddaughter and Bella’s best friend, Alice, would stop by and harass her like she usually did.
“Yeah. Go serve my boyfriend out there. The good doctor looks like he could use some coffee.” Bella narrowed her eyes at Florence, but got a stone face in return. She prepared herself to go out to the dining area to wait on any customers that may have wondered in without her hearing the familiar bell above the door. Sometimes this shift was pretty slow, which is why Bella liked it. She could study more.
“Doctor, huh? You better watch out. I just might have to snatch him from you.” Florence smiled with the corner of her mouth and turned her gaze on Bella as though she were conferring a great honor.
“If you think you can.” Then she chuckled and winked at her.
Bella smiled and really wondered if she was any competition for the feisty beautiful lady. She certainly was a charmer and she was a widow. Bella shook her head to herself and tied her apron around her waist. No competition hands down.
There were no new customers to wait on besides Florence’s friend. Bella walked over to the coffee machines behind the counter and grabbed an empty coffee cup, saucer, and spoon from the shelving above them to take to “Doctor Eddie.” She grabbed the pot with the real stuff with caffeine. It smelled fresh and strong, none of that “mocha chokea ya-ya crap,” as Florence would say. She mused over the fact that Florence had called him “the good doctor.” She wondered what type of doctor he was. There were many university professors that came in to the diner at this hour to have somewhere quiet to grade papers and read. On occasion, the rowdies from a college party would spill in and “the doctors" would exit quickly.
Bella walked towards the back of the booth “Eddie” was sitting in holding the pot in one hand and the cup and saucer in the other. As she rounded the booth and got a good look at him, she gasped. When she gasped, he startled and jumped up, which caused a chain reaction. She jumped and dropped the cup and saucer, broken china splattered everywhere. She stepped and slipped on one of the shards and the hand with the coffee pot flew out of her grip and in the air, splattering steaming hot coffee over the pant leg of “Eddie’s” jeans. He jumped in pain. She slipped in the coffee and hit the floor. Then, the earth-bound coffee pot hit her square on her head fortunately after all of its remnants had spilled on the floor.
“Ow!” Bella mumbled to herself. She tried to get up and hit her head again on the edge of the counter she was in front of.
“MotherFUCKER, that’s hot!” He yelled out.
“Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!” Florence approached the scene before her with a slightly amused small smile on her face, some clean towels hanging from her apron pocket, a broom and dustpan in one hand, and a mop in the other. “You watch your language in my diner, young man.”
“Sorry, ma’am.” Edward replied with a shameful look.
Florence leaned the cleaning tools against the counter, careful not to fall herself, and stooped down to help pick Bella off the floor. She took one of the towels and worked at wiping off the blood on Bella’s knees and the coffee on her legs. She started brushing away the remnants from the coffee cup and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially in Bella’s ear.
“I had a feeling I’d need these.” With a head nod to the towels. Bella looked at her like she was growing two heads. Florence and her granddaughter Alice could “see things" before they happened. Bella wondered why she didn’t “see" this and warn her before she fell and hurt herself. Edward kneeled down to help Florence pick her up all the way up to sit her down somewhere safely. Bella almost fell back down from nausea. She hated the metallic smell and the sight of blood.
“Are you okay?” He halfway snarled at Bella as he wrapped his arms tightly around her tiny waist. He picked her up like she was a weightless rag-doll. His green eyes squinted at her like he was really angry and didn’t want to help. She nodded, gulped and looked up at all 6 ft. 3 inches of him as she was not so gently placed in the booth he had occupied with her legs turned out. He stooped down in front of her, careful not to kneel in the coffee that was spilt over the floor, looked in her eyes, then let them drop to her knees and finally, reached in his jacket pocket. He took a penlight and flashed it in her eyes. He mumbled something about her not being able to take a few steps without falling. Then he reached out to feel around where she hit her head, but hesitated.
“Can I take a look at your head?” Edward was stoic as he waited for permission. She nodded numbly, which is all she seemed to be able to manage in his presence. He took his long spindly fingers and dug around her scalp clinically. She closed her eyes, hummed a little and leaned into his touch. He snatched his hand away like he had been burned again. Bella sat up straight and opened her eyes widely.
“Well, I think you might have a little knot there tomorrow. But, I don’t think you hit your head hard enough to have a concussion. You should put some Neosporin on those cuts and they should heal fine. The cuts are shallow. Have you had a tetanus shot recently, Isabella?” Bella nodded again, internally wincing at her mute condition while other parts of her heated to the sound of his voice saying her name. Her frequent trips to clinics and emergency rooms kept her updated on shots.
“Bella. Just Bella.” She managed to sputter out.
“I need to excuse myself and see if I have any skin left on my leg.” He scowled and stomped off towards the men’s restroom looking highly irritated and she wondered why she wasn’t more angry at his brusque manner. His locs had come loose from the band that was holding them and he looked like an agitated mountain lion. Bella had seen them up close when she lived in Phoenix with her mother. She never thought one would be scowling at her in a diner in Chicago. Her shoulders drooped and she cursed her ever-present and never-changing clumsiness. She also assumed “the good doctor” meant medical doctor.
She called out softly, “I’m sorry, doc---Eddi--I mean Doctor Cullen. I’ll pay for any dry cleaning or...uhhh...medical bills.” She looked down glad she finally found the ability to form complete sentences then slightly raised her eyes because she sensed he had stopped moving. He had turned around to look at her and a look passed over his face she couldn’t quite read. He mumbled something incoherently and pushed through the restroom door.
“I think I pissed your boyfriend off.” Bella said to Florence. Florence looked at her with mock shock.
“He’ll be alright. The coffee pot you grabbed wasn’t even on a hot burner. I don’t think he’s scalded too badly. And you watch your language, too, young lady.” She lightly patted her cheek.
“That’s my godson.” Florence smiled and continued to clean up the mess Bella made.
Bella anxiously watched the restroom door for his return. Then, she realized she was sitting looking at a bathroom door and sprung up out of the booth. She flinched from the pain in her knee and went to the kitchen to get some Neosporin and band-aids from the first-aid kit she was all too familiar with. Internally, she told herself to hurry because no matter how angry he was at her, she couldn’t resist having a chance to get another look at the most arrogant, rude, and beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on.
“What?!” Florence bellowed back with irritation in her voice. Bella chuckled because she knew that her boss hated when people yelled out her name like she just did. She had personally witnessed her children duck being swatted in the back of the head for wailing out her name like banshees, instead of coming to find her ‘like civilized folks’ she liked to say.
“It’s slow. I’m taking a lunch break!” Bella yelled again to see if she could get a rise out of her friend.
Florence walked into the dining area from the kitchen slowly with her hands on her slender but round hips with her eyes narrowed at Bella, “Isabella Marie Swan, are you trying to stand on my last nerve this evening?”
“Why, Ms. Flo, what would make you think a thing like that?” Bella asked innocently fluttering her eyelashes. Intentionally calling her the name she hated the most.
“You are not too big to be beat. And I told you not to call me Ms. Flo. It’s too close to ‘aunt flow’, or the name of that horrible sitcom woman that used to talk about people ‘kissin’ her grits’. I will put you over my knee and not think twice about it. Go on and take a break and get out of my face, child.”
Florence playfully narrowed her slightly slanted chestnut brown eyes at Bella. Bella could never tell how old Florence really was. This evening she was wearing her long black course hair with a little “salt” in it, as she called the grey, in a low-hanging ponytail that reached the middle of her back. The salt and pepper hair was one of the two things that indicated she was over 30. The other being the wrinkles that had finally settled around her eyes and mouth. Her medium brown skin with a reddish undertone was otherwise flawless. Bella wondered if her bright oddly perfect smile was the result of dentures, good genes, or good dental work. They were pearly white and incredibly even despite all the coffee Bella witnessed her consume. Bella suspected she was closer to 70 than 30. Her slim-trim, yet curvy figure still caught the attention of many young men around the diner. Bella would tease her about all the male customers that seemed to multiply when she was around. She would just roll her eyes and ask Bella if she was blind.
“They’re all staring at you.” She would click her tongue at Bella and shake her head. “You better start looking up. Your husband could walk through that door and you’d have your head down in some book or staring off into space.”
Bella laughed and walked around the counter grabbing her messenger bag.
“You’re so fun to mess with, Florence. I can’t resist.”
Florence flicked her on her the backside with the towel she was carrying and laughed.
“Bella, kiss my grits!” She said in a horrible overdone “southern” accent mimicking the woman on the sitcom “Alice.”
Bella sat in a booth in a corner that gave her a little privacy. She was in her last year as an undergraduate and a Criminal Justice major and was applying to law school at John Marshall and Northwestern. Although her grades and LSAT score would easily get her into either school, she knew neither school was ranked the highest but their rankings were respectable. She had done incredibly well on her LSAT with a score of 162. She figured if she lost the scholarship she had earned to take with her to any graduate program and depleted her savings, she could afford to work to pay for the tuition at either school. Bella was always pragmatic and didn’t take many risks that may affect someone else negatively. She didn’t want to pile on more student loan debt, or burden her father, Charlie Swan, who was the Police Chief in Forks, Washington, her hometown, with graduate school debt. He was highly respected, but not highly paid.
She was told by one of her advisers that she was at a distinct disadvantage for law school because she hadn’t taken a writing intensive major. However, she had a minor in women’s literature that kept her writing skills and love of literature alive and well. She had also been advised to continue on at the University of Chicago for her law degree, since it was ranked 5th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Bella knew she couldn’t afford the University of Chicago’s tuition for law school, even if she worked three jobs. Plus, a great mentor and friend of hers, Judge Irene Hale, had attended John Marshall. She wanted to follow in her footsteps. As she was going through her notes for her Victimology class, she saw a silver car pull up in the parking lot. Bella didn’t know the make and model. Her father tried to teach her these things so he could train her to be a “good eye-witness,” she supposed. But, cars never interested Bella. She
wouldn’t have a clue what the car was even if she could see it well. Her friend Rosalie, Judge Hale’s daugher, knew cars.
“Seven Sisters” was a 24 hour diner in the Kenwood area of Chicago. They served the best “nouveau soul-food” and deli sandwiches with fresh baked bread around town. It was a Chicago staple and had been open for over 50 years. The current owner, Florence Nelson, is one of the seven daughters of the original owner, Amy Toliver. The diner started out on the West Side of town. But, somewhere around the late 70‘s the diner moved into the Kenwood neighborhood. Florence’s father, Calvin or “Da-da”, had worked as an X-ray technician at the University of Chicago Hospital to get health benefits for his 14 kids, a rare thing for a black man of his time. Amy ran the diner and he helped out when he could. He fell in love with the Kenwood area and they eventually moved. By that time, many of the girls and most of the 7 brothers were married with their own families. The “Seven Brothers Auto Supply” chain was started by the oldest brother, Charles Toliver, around the same time as the diner. Its success had paid for the other siblings to go to college or pursue whatever goals they had in mind. In that generation of the family, there were 3 doctors, 2 accountants, 3 lawyers, and 4 teachers. The other two were entrepreneurs.
Bella could see the person in the silver car still sitting there and started to get a little nervous about why somebody would just sit in a near empty parking lot at this time of night until she saw the driver-side door open, finally. A man stepped out of the car but she couldn’t make out his features. She went back to studying and drinking her straight black coffee to keep her awake.
The man walked in the diner and the bell above the door rang. He was obviously looking for someone. You could hear Florence rush out of the kitchen and the smile that spread across her face was blinding. He smiled back, which made Bella smile and returned her attention back to the material she was studying.
“Hey, gorgeous!!” Florence cooed excitedly at the man and ran around the counter with her arms spread to hug him.
“Hey gorgeous, yourself!” He responded while moving into her embrace.
They stood and hugged fiercely and Florence finally pulled away, stood on her toes, grabbed his face in both her hands, and gave him a quick chaste kiss on the lips. Bella felt a rush of emotion pass through her chest. The exchange reminded her of how little her and her father Charlie really emoted. They were very much alike and kept their emotions shielded from most people, even each other. Her mother Renee was overly demonstrative in her affection most times. But because Bella ended up being more of a caretaker towards her mother than a daughter, her affection felt more needy and clingy than anything. She was really glad Renee had someone else to cling to these past 7 years. She had married her boyfriend that wasn’t significantly older than Bella, Phil Dwyer, when Bella was 17. He played professional baseball for a while. But, a torn ACL stopped his career. He had a very magnetic and charismatic personality and the camera had always loved him during post-game interviews. Naturally, when ESPN needed a new announcer for the baseball season, they hired Phil. Phil and Renee had a permanent home in Florida and Phil took good care of her mother.
Florence stepped back and swatted the man on his butt. Bella’s eyes widened a little and she closed her book. She was becoming very interested in who he was.
“Where have you been, boy? Nobody’s seen you since that wench Tanya walked out on you.”
“Mama Florence, Tanya is not a wench. I left her way before she walked out.” Edward held his head down and she touched his cheek softly.
“Sit down here, Eddie. Why does it look like you’ve been crying?”
Bella searched his face to see if she saw the evidence that he’d been crying. She couldn’t see much of anything about his face from where she was sitting. All she could see was a bundle of reddish-brown locs tied up at the back that were hanging almost as long as Florence’s ponytail. She had never personally witnessed her father cry. She knew her feminism card could be revoked, but men crying made her uncomfortable. She thought it was odd and wondered what would make a man as big, strong and masculine-looking as this guy cry. She even wondered if he was gay, but remembered the mentioning of “the wench Tanya.” However, he said “I left her way before she walked out.” She wondered what that meant.
“You know, Mama. You’re the only one I let get away with calling me Eddie.” He grinned warmly at Florence whom he seemed to know very well. “I’ve just had a really tough week and I could use some of your peanut butter cookies.” Bella smiled because she joked that Florence’s peanut butter cookies could cure cancer. They were little miracles.
“You’ll always be little Eddie to me. Let me make you some fresh cookies. Kick back and stay awhile. We’re real slow tonight.”
“We? It looks like you’re here all by yourself. I worry when you do that.”
“No, child. Bella’s here with me. She just took a break. Bella!! Breaks up! You have a customer, hon.” Bella shook her head at the woman who didn’t like her name yelled, but constantly yelled hers. Respect your elders. Respect your elders. She repeated like a mantra in her head.
She turned around and saw “Eddie” looking at her curiously with a slight smirk on his face. She was a little annoyed and wondered why this stranger was smirking at her, so she snatched up her book and backpack, stumbling, as usual, and went to the back to punch back in. She approached Florence while she was dropping the cookie dough on the baking sheets.
“I’m back, Florence. I’ll take care of the guy. I won’t flirt with your boyfriend. I can see he’s taken.” She winked at her.
Florence turned her head slightly and studied Bella’s face. A slow pearly white Cheshire Cat grin spread over her face. But, she quickly dropped it and turned back to her cookie making. Looking at her grin made her wonder if her granddaughter and Bella’s best friend, Alice, would stop by and harass her like she usually did.
“Yeah. Go serve my boyfriend out there. The good doctor looks like he could use some coffee.” Bella narrowed her eyes at Florence, but got a stone face in return. She prepared herself to go out to the dining area to wait on any customers that may have wondered in without her hearing the familiar bell above the door. Sometimes this shift was pretty slow, which is why Bella liked it. She could study more.
“Doctor, huh? You better watch out. I just might have to snatch him from you.” Florence smiled with the corner of her mouth and turned her gaze on Bella as though she were conferring a great honor.
“If you think you can.” Then she chuckled and winked at her.
Bella smiled and really wondered if she was any competition for the feisty beautiful lady. She certainly was a charmer and she was a widow. Bella shook her head to herself and tied her apron around her waist. No competition hands down.
There were no new customers to wait on besides Florence’s friend. Bella walked over to the coffee machines behind the counter and grabbed an empty coffee cup, saucer, and spoon from the shelving above them to take to “Doctor Eddie.” She grabbed the pot with the real stuff with caffeine. It smelled fresh and strong, none of that “mocha chokea ya-ya crap,” as Florence would say. She mused over the fact that Florence had called him “the good doctor.” She wondered what type of doctor he was. There were many university professors that came in to the diner at this hour to have somewhere quiet to grade papers and read. On occasion, the rowdies from a college party would spill in and “the doctors" would exit quickly.
Bella walked towards the back of the booth “Eddie” was sitting in holding the pot in one hand and the cup and saucer in the other. As she rounded the booth and got a good look at him, she gasped. When she gasped, he startled and jumped up, which caused a chain reaction. She jumped and dropped the cup and saucer, broken china splattered everywhere. She stepped and slipped on one of the shards and the hand with the coffee pot flew out of her grip and in the air, splattering steaming hot coffee over the pant leg of “Eddie’s” jeans. He jumped in pain. She slipped in the coffee and hit the floor. Then, the earth-bound coffee pot hit her square on her head fortunately after all of its remnants had spilled on the floor.
“Ow!” Bella mumbled to herself. She tried to get up and hit her head again on the edge of the counter she was in front of.
“MotherFUCKER, that’s hot!” He yelled out.
“Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!” Florence approached the scene before her with a slightly amused small smile on her face, some clean towels hanging from her apron pocket, a broom and dustpan in one hand, and a mop in the other. “You watch your language in my diner, young man.”
“Sorry, ma’am.” Edward replied with a shameful look.
Florence leaned the cleaning tools against the counter, careful not to fall herself, and stooped down to help pick Bella off the floor. She took one of the towels and worked at wiping off the blood on Bella’s knees and the coffee on her legs. She started brushing away the remnants from the coffee cup and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially in Bella’s ear.
“I had a feeling I’d need these.” With a head nod to the towels. Bella looked at her like she was growing two heads. Florence and her granddaughter Alice could “see things" before they happened. Bella wondered why she didn’t “see" this and warn her before she fell and hurt herself. Edward kneeled down to help Florence pick her up all the way up to sit her down somewhere safely. Bella almost fell back down from nausea. She hated the metallic smell and the sight of blood.
“Are you okay?” He halfway snarled at Bella as he wrapped his arms tightly around her tiny waist. He picked her up like she was a weightless rag-doll. His green eyes squinted at her like he was really angry and didn’t want to help. She nodded, gulped and looked up at all 6 ft. 3 inches of him as she was not so gently placed in the booth he had occupied with her legs turned out. He stooped down in front of her, careful not to kneel in the coffee that was spilt over the floor, looked in her eyes, then let them drop to her knees and finally, reached in his jacket pocket. He took a penlight and flashed it in her eyes. He mumbled something about her not being able to take a few steps without falling. Then he reached out to feel around where she hit her head, but hesitated.
“Can I take a look at your head?” Edward was stoic as he waited for permission. She nodded numbly, which is all she seemed to be able to manage in his presence. He took his long spindly fingers and dug around her scalp clinically. She closed her eyes, hummed a little and leaned into his touch. He snatched his hand away like he had been burned again. Bella sat up straight and opened her eyes widely.
“Well, I think you might have a little knot there tomorrow. But, I don’t think you hit your head hard enough to have a concussion. You should put some Neosporin on those cuts and they should heal fine. The cuts are shallow. Have you had a tetanus shot recently, Isabella?” Bella nodded again, internally wincing at her mute condition while other parts of her heated to the sound of his voice saying her name. Her frequent trips to clinics and emergency rooms kept her updated on shots.
“Bella. Just Bella.” She managed to sputter out.
“I need to excuse myself and see if I have any skin left on my leg.” He scowled and stomped off towards the men’s restroom looking highly irritated and she wondered why she wasn’t more angry at his brusque manner. His locs had come loose from the band that was holding them and he looked like an agitated mountain lion. Bella had seen them up close when she lived in Phoenix with her mother. She never thought one would be scowling at her in a diner in Chicago. Her shoulders drooped and she cursed her ever-present and never-changing clumsiness. She also assumed “the good doctor” meant medical doctor.
She called out softly, “I’m sorry, doc---Eddi--I mean Doctor Cullen. I’ll pay for any dry cleaning or...uhhh...medical bills.” She looked down glad she finally found the ability to form complete sentences then slightly raised her eyes because she sensed he had stopped moving. He had turned around to look at her and a look passed over his face she couldn’t quite read. He mumbled something incoherently and pushed through the restroom door.
“I think I pissed your boyfriend off.” Bella said to Florence. Florence looked at her with mock shock.
“He’ll be alright. The coffee pot you grabbed wasn’t even on a hot burner. I don’t think he’s scalded too badly. And you watch your language, too, young lady.” She lightly patted her cheek.
“That’s my godson.” Florence smiled and continued to clean up the mess Bella made.
Bella anxiously watched the restroom door for his return. Then, she realized she was sitting looking at a bathroom door and sprung up out of the booth. She flinched from the pain in her knee and went to the kitchen to get some Neosporin and band-aids from the first-aid kit she was all too familiar with. Internally, she told herself to hurry because no matter how angry he was at her, she couldn’t resist having a chance to get another look at the most arrogant, rude, and beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on.
Chapter 1: Word Causing Pain Makes Anger Come Up...
This had not been a good week for Edward Cullen. A complaint had been made against him and now he had to go and talk to his father, the Chief of Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center, to discuss the situation. His father had made a special effort to be there at this late hour. on a Thursday night, to speak to his son.
“Carlisle.” Edward tapped on his father’s office door and peeked his head in. Edward always loved coming to his father’s office at work and home ever since he was a child. It smelled like Carlisle, which constricted his chest with loving sense memories. The office smelled like “Old Spice” aftershave that Carlisle never seemed to tire of although he could definitely afford to upgrade to a more modern scent. Potpourri that his wife and Edward’s mother, Esme, made for him that smelled like roses and oranges. The potpourri was designed to mask the scent of his cigars, but never really did. Edward’s tension eased when he inhaled, but returned when he remembered why he was there. “You needed to see me?”
“Yes, son. Sit down.” Carlisle didn’t look up at him when he spoke. Edward couldn’t see how or, if he had an angry look; a look he tried desperately since his teenage years to keep off Carlisle’s face.
Edward sat down in one of the dark brown leather chairs in front of Carlisle’s mahogany desk and started bouncing his leg up down unconsciously and running his right hand through his wayward locs and twisting them. He glanced up at his father and noticed him running his hand through his hair and pinching the bridge of his nose. Once he saw the habit reflected back at him, he stopped.
“Edward, I received a complaint from the parents of a girl in the ER, Bree Summers. Do you recall the girl I’m speaking of?”
Edward’s mouth went dry and he swallowed loudly.
“Yes. She had taken an overdose of vitamins to...attempt suicide...and nobody knew if there was iron in the tablets. They pumped her stomach to be on the safe side.”
“Edward, do you recall overhearing anyone say, ‘Let’s stick her outside in the rain to see if she rusts?’” Carlisle asked clearly agitated. Edward winced.
“No, sir. I did not hear that statement.” Edward heard a few of the nurses laughing when he walked up to the nurse’s station, but he didn’t know what they were laughing about. He couldn’t believe someone would say that. But, he had said something much worse.
“Son, did you say in front of a suicidal patient, ‘Give the case to someone else. I only want to work with people who want to live today?’”
Edward shifted in his seat under the intense scrutiny of his usually even-tempered father. Those words did come out of his mouth, but he had just lost a transplant patient who was the same age as Bree who would’ve done anything to live a few more years. He was completely distraught and not thinking clearly.
“Yes, Carlisle. I did say that. I didn’t even realize I was speaking that loudly...I”
Carlisle cut him off.
“I don’t think I want or need to hear an explanation. I know you lost a patient you cared about yesterday, Edward. I don’t think I need to tell you that you are not God. You don’t get to decide who you will and will not work on. You are on a three-week suspension with no pay starting now.”
“Dad, I’m really sorry. Is there any way I can talk to the parents or Bree, at least.”
“Edward, they don’t want to be in the same vicinity as you and have vowed never to come back to this hospital, even in case of emergency. You will not go near their daughter.” Carlisle was more angry than Edward had ever seen him. Edward didn’t want to upset him any further, so he remained quiet. Carlisle let out a breath and slowed down his breathing clearly attempting to calm himself.
“Look son, you need a break. You’ve been working double-shifts for the last three weeks. You’ve been working here for 4 years, not including your residency, without a real vacation. You need to get away from here. Consider this suspension a vacation and take the time to get your head together.” Carlisle walked over to Edward while he was saying this and put his hand on his shoulder.
“Is Bree alright?” Edward asked realizing the psychological damage he may have caused to someone who was already troubled, obviously.
“No. But, she will be. I referred her to your friend, Dr. Whitlock. She is going to be held for a mandatory 2-week psych evaluation. The least I can do is send her to the best and guess what? The bill is on you.”
Edward looked up at his father and nodded. That was only fair.
“I’m sorry, Dad.” Edward could feel the sting from the tears that were threatening to fall.
“Don’t apologize to me. You didn’t hurt me. Just go home and start your vacation. I’ll talk to the board. You haven’t had any other complaints and the suspension should be a sufficient reprimand. I’ll let you know if they disagree.” Carlisle was pretty sure the board hadn’t even heard about his incident. Fortunately for Edward, the complaint went straight to him. He wanted to impress upon his son the seriousness of what he had done and hoped this would convince his tenacious son that he needed a break.
Edward got up out of his chair to leave. He was able to move his legs but they felt like dead weight. He stumbled a little and grabbed the desk to prevent a fall to the floor.
“Son, I know you really liked Seth and were pulling for him to get better. Sometimes, things just aren’t fair. There are things we don’t have control over.” Carlisle knew Edward had met Seth in emergency and stuck with him through the process of needing a heart transplant. Seth Clearwater was a 15 year-old Native American kid, from the Quileute tribe of Forks, Washington in Chicago visiting his sister, Leah, when he fell ill. He ended up having to stay in Chicago because of how ill he was. He had soulful brown eyes and clear reddish-brown skin which had become puffy and splotchy due to his illness and the steroids he needed to take. He was a happy kid with a positive outlook, a beautiful white even smile, and a promising future in baseball. The acute pericarditus left him with only one option..transplant. Apparently, he had kidney nephritis which had gone for a while undetected, untreated and resulted in his heart problem.
“I know life’s not fair better than anybody, Dad.” Carlisle nodded and lowered his head for fear he would start to cry if he looked in his son’s haunted eyes.
“I love you, son.”
“Love you, too.”
Edward walked out of his father’s office in a daze with the words..."they don’t want to be in the same vicinity as you” echoing in his mind. It almost mirrored the words his ex-wife shouted at him the day she left the year before:
“You are just not available to me anymore, Edward. Even when you’re physically here you’re not here.”
“What do you want me to do, Tanya? You knew you were marrying a doctor. My job is important. I don’t get to sit at home and think of reasons to be pissed off all the damn time. I don’t have that luxury.”
“Edward, you are such an asshole! “When did that happen? You asked me not to work. Do you have amnesia now?” Tanya said between tears of anger and sorrow for what they had lost. You used to be fun, sweet, attentive, and loving. Where is my best friend? At one time I couldn’t stand to be away from you. Now, I don’t even want to be in the same room as you. I’m done.”
He walked into the men’s restroom to splash some cold water on his face. He looked up at the mirror and gasped. The locs he had been growing since his senior year of high school looked dry and damaged. The red that was usually subdued by the loc butter he rubbed through his hair was very prominent as opposed to the sandy brown. His hazel green eyes were bloodshot surrounded by dark circles. His normally clear mocha coffee skin was splotchy with dry patches. His cheekbones were more prominent like he had lost weight. He looked down at his hands and they were shaking. They could’ve been shaking from lack of sleep, too much Red Bull, coffee, and Mountain Dew, or a combination thereof. Nobody had even mentioned how bad he looked, which probably meant he had looked like this for a while.
He did not look like the 34 year-old man he was. He realized that Carlisle was right. It was time to take a break. He might even take longer than the three weeks.
He walked past the nurses station and saw Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory gossiping, as usual. They were two of the nurses there that day. He wanted to talk to them.
“Jessica. Lauren.”
“Hi, Edward.” They said in unison while giggling for some reason unknown by Edward.
“Ladies, if you have a minute, can I ask you a question?” He said somewhat sarcastically.
“Sure.” Jessica replied with a huge grin. They didn’t seem to catch onto his tone.
“Do you remember the young girl that came in yesterday afternoon...the suicide attempt...Bree?”
“Yes.” Lauren replied and they both looked away.
“Did you hear anybody say, 'Let’s put her outside and see if she rusts’ when someone questioned if there was iron in the tablets she took?” He didn’t expect an answer. He just wanted to see the reaction.
“Uuuuhhh....No. I didn’t hear anybody say that. Who would say something like that.” Lauren said almost too quickly while Jessica looked down at her shoes.
“Hmmmpf...I don’t know. It’s probably just an ugly rumor. Well, you ladies have a nice evening.” He walked away pretty sure that it was Lauren that said it or her idiot cousin Tyler Crowley who was also a nurse on duty that afternoon.
Edward walked to the locker room, changed his clothes, cleared his locker and headed home. He couldn’t be mad at whomever said it. He had done much worse.
He hopped into his silver Volvo C70 coupe and sat there for a minute while the car warmed up. He laid his head on the steering wheel wondering if he wanted to go to his Hyde Park home when he knew nobody was there. He decided he didn’t want to be alone right now and headed to the one place he knew where he could get some comfort.
“Carlisle.” Edward tapped on his father’s office door and peeked his head in. Edward always loved coming to his father’s office at work and home ever since he was a child. It smelled like Carlisle, which constricted his chest with loving sense memories. The office smelled like “Old Spice” aftershave that Carlisle never seemed to tire of although he could definitely afford to upgrade to a more modern scent. Potpourri that his wife and Edward’s mother, Esme, made for him that smelled like roses and oranges. The potpourri was designed to mask the scent of his cigars, but never really did. Edward’s tension eased when he inhaled, but returned when he remembered why he was there. “You needed to see me?”
“Yes, son. Sit down.” Carlisle didn’t look up at him when he spoke. Edward couldn’t see how or, if he had an angry look; a look he tried desperately since his teenage years to keep off Carlisle’s face.
Edward sat down in one of the dark brown leather chairs in front of Carlisle’s mahogany desk and started bouncing his leg up down unconsciously and running his right hand through his wayward locs and twisting them. He glanced up at his father and noticed him running his hand through his hair and pinching the bridge of his nose. Once he saw the habit reflected back at him, he stopped.
“Edward, I received a complaint from the parents of a girl in the ER, Bree Summers. Do you recall the girl I’m speaking of?”
Edward’s mouth went dry and he swallowed loudly.
“Yes. She had taken an overdose of vitamins to...attempt suicide...and nobody knew if there was iron in the tablets. They pumped her stomach to be on the safe side.”
“Edward, do you recall overhearing anyone say, ‘Let’s stick her outside in the rain to see if she rusts?’” Carlisle asked clearly agitated. Edward winced.
“No, sir. I did not hear that statement.” Edward heard a few of the nurses laughing when he walked up to the nurse’s station, but he didn’t know what they were laughing about. He couldn’t believe someone would say that. But, he had said something much worse.
“Son, did you say in front of a suicidal patient, ‘Give the case to someone else. I only want to work with people who want to live today?’”
Edward shifted in his seat under the intense scrutiny of his usually even-tempered father. Those words did come out of his mouth, but he had just lost a transplant patient who was the same age as Bree who would’ve done anything to live a few more years. He was completely distraught and not thinking clearly.
“Yes, Carlisle. I did say that. I didn’t even realize I was speaking that loudly...I”
Carlisle cut him off.
“I don’t think I want or need to hear an explanation. I know you lost a patient you cared about yesterday, Edward. I don’t think I need to tell you that you are not God. You don’t get to decide who you will and will not work on. You are on a three-week suspension with no pay starting now.”
“Dad, I’m really sorry. Is there any way I can talk to the parents or Bree, at least.”
“Edward, they don’t want to be in the same vicinity as you and have vowed never to come back to this hospital, even in case of emergency. You will not go near their daughter.” Carlisle was more angry than Edward had ever seen him. Edward didn’t want to upset him any further, so he remained quiet. Carlisle let out a breath and slowed down his breathing clearly attempting to calm himself.
“Look son, you need a break. You’ve been working double-shifts for the last three weeks. You’ve been working here for 4 years, not including your residency, without a real vacation. You need to get away from here. Consider this suspension a vacation and take the time to get your head together.” Carlisle walked over to Edward while he was saying this and put his hand on his shoulder.
“Is Bree alright?” Edward asked realizing the psychological damage he may have caused to someone who was already troubled, obviously.
“No. But, she will be. I referred her to your friend, Dr. Whitlock. She is going to be held for a mandatory 2-week psych evaluation. The least I can do is send her to the best and guess what? The bill is on you.”
Edward looked up at his father and nodded. That was only fair.
“I’m sorry, Dad.” Edward could feel the sting from the tears that were threatening to fall.
“Don’t apologize to me. You didn’t hurt me. Just go home and start your vacation. I’ll talk to the board. You haven’t had any other complaints and the suspension should be a sufficient reprimand. I’ll let you know if they disagree.” Carlisle was pretty sure the board hadn’t even heard about his incident. Fortunately for Edward, the complaint went straight to him. He wanted to impress upon his son the seriousness of what he had done and hoped this would convince his tenacious son that he needed a break.
Edward got up out of his chair to leave. He was able to move his legs but they felt like dead weight. He stumbled a little and grabbed the desk to prevent a fall to the floor.
“Son, I know you really liked Seth and were pulling for him to get better. Sometimes, things just aren’t fair. There are things we don’t have control over.” Carlisle knew Edward had met Seth in emergency and stuck with him through the process of needing a heart transplant. Seth Clearwater was a 15 year-old Native American kid, from the Quileute tribe of Forks, Washington in Chicago visiting his sister, Leah, when he fell ill. He ended up having to stay in Chicago because of how ill he was. He had soulful brown eyes and clear reddish-brown skin which had become puffy and splotchy due to his illness and the steroids he needed to take. He was a happy kid with a positive outlook, a beautiful white even smile, and a promising future in baseball. The acute pericarditus left him with only one option..transplant. Apparently, he had kidney nephritis which had gone for a while undetected, untreated and resulted in his heart problem.
“I know life’s not fair better than anybody, Dad.” Carlisle nodded and lowered his head for fear he would start to cry if he looked in his son’s haunted eyes.
“I love you, son.”
“Love you, too.”
Edward walked out of his father’s office in a daze with the words..."they don’t want to be in the same vicinity as you” echoing in his mind. It almost mirrored the words his ex-wife shouted at him the day she left the year before:
“You are just not available to me anymore, Edward. Even when you’re physically here you’re not here.”
“What do you want me to do, Tanya? You knew you were marrying a doctor. My job is important. I don’t get to sit at home and think of reasons to be pissed off all the damn time. I don’t have that luxury.”
“Edward, you are such an asshole! “When did that happen? You asked me not to work. Do you have amnesia now?” Tanya said between tears of anger and sorrow for what they had lost. You used to be fun, sweet, attentive, and loving. Where is my best friend? At one time I couldn’t stand to be away from you. Now, I don’t even want to be in the same room as you. I’m done.”
He walked into the men’s restroom to splash some cold water on his face. He looked up at the mirror and gasped. The locs he had been growing since his senior year of high school looked dry and damaged. The red that was usually subdued by the loc butter he rubbed through his hair was very prominent as opposed to the sandy brown. His hazel green eyes were bloodshot surrounded by dark circles. His normally clear mocha coffee skin was splotchy with dry patches. His cheekbones were more prominent like he had lost weight. He looked down at his hands and they were shaking. They could’ve been shaking from lack of sleep, too much Red Bull, coffee, and Mountain Dew, or a combination thereof. Nobody had even mentioned how bad he looked, which probably meant he had looked like this for a while.
He did not look like the 34 year-old man he was. He realized that Carlisle was right. It was time to take a break. He might even take longer than the three weeks.
He walked past the nurses station and saw Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory gossiping, as usual. They were two of the nurses there that day. He wanted to talk to them.
“Jessica. Lauren.”
“Hi, Edward.” They said in unison while giggling for some reason unknown by Edward.
“Ladies, if you have a minute, can I ask you a question?” He said somewhat sarcastically.
“Sure.” Jessica replied with a huge grin. They didn’t seem to catch onto his tone.
“Do you remember the young girl that came in yesterday afternoon...the suicide attempt...Bree?”
“Yes.” Lauren replied and they both looked away.
“Did you hear anybody say, 'Let’s put her outside and see if she rusts’ when someone questioned if there was iron in the tablets she took?” He didn’t expect an answer. He just wanted to see the reaction.
“Uuuuhhh....No. I didn’t hear anybody say that. Who would say something like that.” Lauren said almost too quickly while Jessica looked down at her shoes.
“Hmmmpf...I don’t know. It’s probably just an ugly rumor. Well, you ladies have a nice evening.” He walked away pretty sure that it was Lauren that said it or her idiot cousin Tyler Crowley who was also a nurse on duty that afternoon.
Edward walked to the locker room, changed his clothes, cleared his locker and headed home. He couldn’t be mad at whomever said it. He had done much worse.
He hopped into his silver Volvo C70 coupe and sat there for a minute while the car warmed up. He laid his head on the steering wheel wondering if he wanted to go to his Hyde Park home when he knew nobody was there. He decided he didn’t want to be alone right now and headed to the one place he knew where he could get some comfort.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Read "The Alchemist." Didn't Change My Life.
Let me preface this by explaining where and when I became very interested in the book, "The Alchemist," by Paulo Coelho. Will Smith, a.k.a. The Fresh Prince, Grammy award winning rapper and Oscar nominated actor, spoke to Tavis Smiley, journalist, activist, radio/television personality, on his eponymous PBS show about his life, how he has gotten to where he is, and how he determines where to go next. Here is an excerpt:
Now, who better to take advice from than a multi-millionaire father of three, married for twelve years, and internationally known superstar? So, I bought the book being that I'm on a journey of my own in life. I was hoping maybe I could gain some new insights. I didn't really feel I learned anything new.
Now, it was a VERY GOOD BOOK! But, I think I've been spoiled by the fact that I've already read the most life and heart altering book that, I think, any human being can read, The Bible. In fact, many of the stories or lessons in the book are reiterations and allusions to Bible stories and characters. The same thing happened when I read "The Secret." My question was, "Is 'you reap what you sow' really a secret?"
Now, the question I have to ask myself is, "Why am I still searching for what I already have?" Is knowledge still knowledge if you don't use it? These are questions that I have to answer for myself.
The main differences that I see in the lessons I've learned from the Bible and from these books is that the Bible speaks of relying on Him for everything. God asks us to throw our burdens on Him. He asks us to roll our problems onto his back, if we can't throw them, which I find to be a very touching and loving Psalm. Also, he gives us a commission to preach about the good news of his Kingdom coming. So, the Bible basically tells us what our life goal or mission should be.
However, these books ask you to look into yourself for the answers to your problems, or to listen to your heart, etc. The implication being that we are directly connected to God, or have the same powers and knowledge as God. Additionally, these books imply that we should follow our own agenda, or "Personal Legend." Some may have a different interpretation. However, this is how I have interpreted what I have read. This is an area where I am really challenged morally and ideologically.
There is an appeal for me in the idea that I don't have to wait to hear God's voice because we are connected to God and God is in us. Or, that God is all around us and we sense Him in nature. Those ideas make God seem more personal to me.
So, like I said, the book didn't change my life. It's not my favorite. But, it did make me think a little more deeply about my relationship to God and how that shapes my life's goals. So, it's worth the read, in other words. But, don't expect miracles.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200712/20071213_smith.html
Make a choice. Like you just decide what it's going to be, who you're going to be, how you're going to do it. Just decide, and then from that point, the universe is going to get out your way. It's water; it wants to move and go around stuff. So for me, I want to represent possibilities. I want to represent the idea that you really can make what you want.
One of my favorite books is "The Alchemist," Paulo Coelho, and I just believe that. I believe that I can create whatever I want to create. If I can put my head on it right, study it, learn the patterns, and - it's hard to put into words, it's real metaphysical, esoteric nonsense, but I feel very strongly that we are who we choose to be.
Now, who better to take advice from than a multi-millionaire father of three, married for twelve years, and internationally known superstar? So, I bought the book being that I'm on a journey of my own in life. I was hoping maybe I could gain some new insights. I didn't really feel I learned anything new.
Now, it was a VERY GOOD BOOK! But, I think I've been spoiled by the fact that I've already read the most life and heart altering book that, I think, any human being can read, The Bible. In fact, many of the stories or lessons in the book are reiterations and allusions to Bible stories and characters. The same thing happened when I read "The Secret." My question was, "Is 'you reap what you sow' really a secret?"
Now, the question I have to ask myself is, "Why am I still searching for what I already have?" Is knowledge still knowledge if you don't use it? These are questions that I have to answer for myself.
The main differences that I see in the lessons I've learned from the Bible and from these books is that the Bible speaks of relying on Him for everything. God asks us to throw our burdens on Him. He asks us to roll our problems onto his back, if we can't throw them, which I find to be a very touching and loving Psalm. Also, he gives us a commission to preach about the good news of his Kingdom coming. So, the Bible basically tells us what our life goal or mission should be.
However, these books ask you to look into yourself for the answers to your problems, or to listen to your heart, etc. The implication being that we are directly connected to God, or have the same powers and knowledge as God. Additionally, these books imply that we should follow our own agenda, or "Personal Legend." Some may have a different interpretation. However, this is how I have interpreted what I have read. This is an area where I am really challenged morally and ideologically.
There is an appeal for me in the idea that I don't have to wait to hear God's voice because we are connected to God and God is in us. Or, that God is all around us and we sense Him in nature. Those ideas make God seem more personal to me.
So, like I said, the book didn't change my life. It's not my favorite. But, it did make me think a little more deeply about my relationship to God and how that shapes my life's goals. So, it's worth the read, in other words. But, don't expect miracles.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200712/20071213_smith.html
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Touching the Sky: Laura Ling and Euna Lee
Every day is filled with the mundane. It starts the night before. You brush your teeth, shower/bathe, put on clean pajamas, iron your clothes, you do the same for your kids, and in some cases your spouse. You wake up the next day and do your daily grind, whatever that may be. Then, you do it all over again the next day until your work week ends, if you're fortunate enough to have an end to your work week. For most people, work is a means to an end and passion is found in other areas of life. For some, they are blessed to do what they love for a living, so they can't wait to go to work.
We run from one appointment to another and we forget that there are splendid and amazing things happening all around us. For example, I saw a family of geese one day walking across the street. There was a male and a female with about six goslings. I live in a pretty busy area, but these little geese stopped traffic on a four lane highway, although there was a green light in the middle of rush hour. It was like they had an angelic crossing guard making sure they made it across the street safely. The Bible says God's eye is on the sparrow so we should know He will look out for us. It just made me wonder what things occurred around me and my family that allowed me to get up and get out the house this morning, or to the store, or anywhere safely?
For some reason, maybe I wasn't paying attention in high school earth science, I just recently found out that a fog was actually a cloud on earth. That atmospheric nuisance that limits our vision when we drive, causes us to slow down (hopefully), and turn on our window wipers is something that we normally have to look up to the sky to see. Clouds are evaporated crystallized droplets of water suspended hanging together in the air. So, when we walk through a fog, we are literally walking through water.
Yet, some of us don't make it through our day. Some people are killed in war, or in some other senselessly violent way. Or, they die of some horribly devastating disease. I was raised to believe this is a temporary condition that God will correct one day. But, others believe differently and even blame God. However, today, August 4, 2009, two women and American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were pardoned by the North Korean government and allowed to come home to their respective families. They were convicted back in March of this year of spying on North Korea while doing a story on Chinese women and sex trafficking for Al Gore's media outlet, Current TV. They were sentenced to twelve years hard labor.
We have to live our lives. Bills have to be paid. Kids have to go to college. We have to feed and clothe ourselves. I just think it would be a good idea to roll down our car windows and touch the sky the next time we are driving through fog to remind ourselves that Someone is looking out for us and miraculous things do happen every day.
http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_causes_fog.htm
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=08&year=2009&base_name=on_the_freeing_of_euna_lee_and
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/04/statement-from-families-of-laura-ling-and-euna-lee/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/08/laura-ling-euna-lee-us-jo_n_212389.html
We run from one appointment to another and we forget that there are splendid and amazing things happening all around us. For example, I saw a family of geese one day walking across the street. There was a male and a female with about six goslings. I live in a pretty busy area, but these little geese stopped traffic on a four lane highway, although there was a green light in the middle of rush hour. It was like they had an angelic crossing guard making sure they made it across the street safely. The Bible says God's eye is on the sparrow so we should know He will look out for us. It just made me wonder what things occurred around me and my family that allowed me to get up and get out the house this morning, or to the store, or anywhere safely?
For some reason, maybe I wasn't paying attention in high school earth science, I just recently found out that a fog was actually a cloud on earth. That atmospheric nuisance that limits our vision when we drive, causes us to slow down (hopefully), and turn on our window wipers is something that we normally have to look up to the sky to see. Clouds are evaporated crystallized droplets of water suspended hanging together in the air. So, when we walk through a fog, we are literally walking through water.
Yet, some of us don't make it through our day. Some people are killed in war, or in some other senselessly violent way. Or, they die of some horribly devastating disease. I was raised to believe this is a temporary condition that God will correct one day. But, others believe differently and even blame God. However, today, August 4, 2009, two women and American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were pardoned by the North Korean government and allowed to come home to their respective families. They were convicted back in March of this year of spying on North Korea while doing a story on Chinese women and sex trafficking for Al Gore's media outlet, Current TV. They were sentenced to twelve years hard labor.
We have to live our lives. Bills have to be paid. Kids have to go to college. We have to feed and clothe ourselves. I just think it would be a good idea to roll down our car windows and touch the sky the next time we are driving through fog to remind ourselves that Someone is looking out for us and miraculous things do happen every day.
http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_causes_fog.htm
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=08&year=2009&base_name=on_the_freeing_of_euna_lee_and
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/04/statement-from-families-of-laura-ling-and-euna-lee/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/08/laura-ling-euna-lee-us-jo_n_212389.html
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