A/N: Surprise? I didn't know when I would be coming back to this story, but the other day, this chapter came to me out of the blue. I hope you enjoy it. I have a general idea of what the next few chapters will be, so the next update shouldn't take over two years.

Happy reading!

4

Edward

"How did it go?" Felix asks Monday morning. We're in my office going over the paperwork that Aro sent over. At least we were before Felix got distracted by his need to know every detail of the dinner with parents.

I looked at him, feeling tired already, contemplating not telling him anything, but he'd just become more persistent, which would result in him being even more of a pain in my ass.

I put the packet down on my desk with a sigh. "It went well. They loved her and I don't think any of them suspected that we aren't actually in a relationship."

The evening had gone better than I expected. My parents, particularly my mom, loved her immediately. The two of them had bonded over their love of cooking, promising to share recipes. Bella was a professional through and through, she never wavered, always remaining calm and confident. Even when Rose tried to give her the third degree.

I shake my head at the memory.

"Bella, what exactly are you studying?" Rose had waited until dessert to start her inquisition. She was looking at Bella with intense interest, a soft smile on her face that I saw right through it.

So did Bella, who'd sat up straighter in her chair. "Marketing. I'm on track to graduate in December."

"Hm, interesting." She looks toward me, "Isn't it, Edward? That your girlfriend is studying marketing, which just so happens to be your expertise."

I give Rose a look, telling her silently to back off. Bella wasn't a criminal on the stand that she needed to interrogate.

Rose ignored me, turning her attention back to Bella, who, to her credit, wasn't letting Rose see her sweat. I couldn't tell if she was uncomfortable or irritated, not that I knew Bella that well, but she was holding her own against my soon to be sister-in-law, who intimated hardened criminals like it was as easy as breathing.

"Tell me, Bella." Rose rests her elbows on the table, leaning in close. "Are you with Edward because of the connections he has and the opportunities he could give you, or do you actually care about him?"

"Rose!" I don't even care that I yelled. She'd crossed the line.

"Babe, chill." Emmett puts his hand on Rose's shoulder, pulling her back.

"It's fine." Bella speaks up, her eyes zeroed in on the woman who was hell bent on digging up all her secrets. "I don't mind answering." Putting her hand on top of mine, her fingers intertwining with mine, as she stared Rose down. "I'm with Edward because he's a good man that loves his family. I had no idea who he was when we met, not that it would've made a difference if I did." She looks at me, the admiration I see in her eyes is staggering and I almost believe her. "I'm with him because he's a good man. Not because of what he could give me career wise." She turns her attention back to Rose. "The fact that you think I would be, is quite frankly insulting. Because you obviously don't see him like I do. He's more than just a name. He's a person who cares about the people in his life. Something I think you could learn a thing or two about."

I disguised my laugh as a cough. She just cut Rose off at the knees, something I'd never seen happen before.

Rose sits there for a moment, ever the ice queen. After a moment, though, a smile slowly makes its way across her face.

"I like you." She tells Bella, then, to me. "Don't fuck this up, she's a keeper."

The table, which had been deathly silent during the whole exchange, erupted into laughter, the tension in the room breaking.

My eyes had been on Bella, though. She grabbed her wine, the glass shaking slightly as she brought it to her lips. It had been the first time that night that I'd seen her carefully crafted exterior crack.

"Aren't you happy you listened to me now?" Felix's voice brings me out of my thoughts and back to the present. "Come on, tell me I was right."

"I'm not telling you shit." I lean back in my chair, rubbing my eyes.

"No, but really," his voice takes on a sincere tone, "I'm happy it's working out for you."

I sigh, "Me, too. I wasn't overly worried about parents liking her, but it's nice to have that confirmation. It eases some of my lingering misgivings. Especially since we have my parents' anniversary party on Saturday."

My parents always threw a big party every year to celebrate. This year, it was going to be in their backyard, very similar to a barbecue, but with upscale catering and champagne. Mom always went all out, inviting their friends from work and various charitable committees, as well as family and friends from their neighborhood. I hadn't been looking forward to it, because it had meant going alone and having to hear all the whispers about what happened between me and Tanya. But with Bella by my side, it was at least going to be tolerable.

"Oh, yeah. I'm definitely looking forward to that. Your mom always has the best food at her functions." Felix rubs his stomach, a giddy look on his face.

"My mom would be so happy to hear that you're more excited about the food, then celebrating their marriage." I razz him. He isn't wrong, though. My mom always picked the best food, especially for their anniversary parties.

He shrugs, not looking guilty at all. "At least I'm honest." I could say a lot about Felix, but dishonest was not one of them.

"At least there's that."

The rest of the week goes by as usual. We roll out an advertisement campaign for Danny's Downtown Dogs, a North Carolina cabin of restaurants that started as a small mom-and-pop place is Garner. We have another meeting with Alistair, who goes over some of the conditions that Denali Consulting had for moving forward.

"What's the dress code for tomorrow?" Bella asked. It's eight o'clock on Friday evening and we're discussing the logistics for the next day.

I lean back in my office chair, tapping my pen against my desk. "Dressy casual. It's nothing too formal, but it's definitely a little more elevated than jeans and a t-shirt."

"Okay, good to know." I hear her moving around in her closet, her voice slightly muffled.

"Do you want to meet at the Dating Agency again?"

"That works for me." I hear her roommate call her name, followed by a muffled conversation. "Sorry, Angela and I are going out, and I think she's getting impatient." She laughs, the sound makes me smile. "Do you have anything planned for tonight? Any hot dates?" I like it when she jokes with me.

"Only with some paperwork. I'm still at the office." I look at the stack of paperwork that still needed my signature. I wouldn't be getting put of here anytime soon. "Besides, all my hot dates are with you." I meant it as a joke, but it lands like a lead ball, Bella not responding. I was so used to her joking with me, treading the fine line between professionalism and flirting, that I didn't think before I'd let the words slip. "I won't keep you any longer. I'll see you tomorrow at five." I rub my forehead, wanting God to strike me dead for my idiocy.

"See you tomorrow." A pause. "And Edward?"

"Yes?"

"I better be the only you're having hot dates with." She follows up her words with a laugh and I feel like I can breathe again.

Maybe I hadn't fucked up as royally as I thought.

-IYA-

The driveway and the street outside my parents' house are packed when Bella and I arrive. I park against the curb across the street, cutting the ignition, looking over at the woman beside me who's taking her seat belt off, the anniversary gift I'd bought for my mom and dad in her lap. She looks very much the part in her khaki shorts and white cotton blouse. Her hair is pulled back today, to save it from the humidity is what she'd said. I kind of missed the soft waves cascading down her back, and I shake off those thoughts before they can go any further.

"You ready?"

She looks toward the house, nodding her head. "Absolutely."

I walk around the car to open the door for her, giving her my hand as she slides out. Her hand in mine makes my palm burn as we make our way across the street.

We walk through the side gate that leads to the backyard. My mom, as usual, went above and beyond the call of duty. There's a bar, a barbecue station, and a buffet table covered with chafing dishes. The space is already crowded with people milling about talking amongst themselves. A group of older women, that I recognize as some of my mom's friends, look in our direction, one of them pointing, as they whisper to each other. Last year, I was here with my fiancé. This time, I'm here with a girlfriend. We just gave them enough gossip fodder for the next year. They'll be whispering about us over games of bridge, especially once this arrangement ends, and I'm publicly single again. They'll toss around theories about what happened, how it ended. I'm sure in most of their scenarios, I'll be the helpless victim that got his heartbroken by another witch. The thought of that makes me sick. Bella was anything but a witch.

"Edward!" A male voice calls my name. Appearing from the crowd is Eleazor, a smile on his face. It' been a while since I've seen him, since before Tanya and I split. He has more gray hair than last I saw, but that's about the only thing that's changed. His blue eyes, that match his daughters, are filled with warmth as he comes over, shaking my hand. "It's good to see you. How have you been?"

"I've been great." I tell him, genuinely. Tanya may have been a bitch at the end, but I always liked her parents.

"And who's this beautiful young lady?" He looks over at Bella, the smile on his face never wavering.

"Eleazor, this is my girlfriend, Bella."

"It's nice to meet you." Bella shakes hands with him, giving him her best smile.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Bella." Eleazor looks back at me. "It does me good to see you happy again." He squeezes my shoulder and I know he means it. Eleazor and Carmen were always two of the most genuine people I'd ever met.

"Thank you."

"I'll keep you two. I promised Carmen a martini." He disappeared back into the crowd, leaving Bella and me alone.

"Who was that?" she leans toward me, whispering in my ear. "I don't remember seeing him on your list."

I sighed. I hadn't thought to put him on the list, because I thought that he would be one of the last people we'd run into. I should've known better. "That was Tanya's father."

"Oh." She clears her throat. "He seemed nice."

"He is. I always liked him."

"I take it that seeing him was a surprise."

"Definitely a surprise. I haven't seen him since before Tanya and I split."

"It always surprises me when people that nice can raise such awful kids."

I snort. "Tell me how you really feel."

"You're the one that said you didn't want me to filter myself." She reminds me, an indignant look on her face.

"That I did." I give her hand a squeeze. "I still don't want you to. I like knowing what's going on in that mind of yours."

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in." Felix comes up behind us, throwing his arm around me. There's a tall woman with light brown hair and blue eyes standing next to him. It's a woman I've seen many times before. "I can't believe I got to this shindig before you." He teased me and I rolled my eyes.

"Fuck off." I shoved his arm off my shoulder, turning toward him. "Of course you got here before me. You had to scope out the desserts before anyone else."

He shrugged, not denying it. "You know it." He becomes serious. "But there is something I need to discuss with you. We got another email from Alistair this morning."

I groan. The work never ended. "What did Aro say now?" Through this whole process, Kate wasn't the problem, it was Aro. The more he came up with to dispute, the more I was starting to think that he didn't want this merger to happen.

"More of the same."

"Shit." I muttered under my breath.

"Yeah." He turned to Bella. "I need to barrow your boy here for a minute."

"Not a problem." It was Felix's date who answered. "It will us girls a chance to check out the bar." She put her arm around one of Bella's, starting to lead her away.

"So, what is he saying?" I asked Felix, not looking forward to this conversation.

He was right, it was more of the same bullshit. I feel a migraine forming behind my eyes by the time we finish talking. I'm starting to make my way over to where Bella is, but an all too familiar voice stops me in my tracks.

"Hello, Edward." My ex is standing on the back deck, looking down at me. She's in her signature yellow sundress that she always wore when we had a function outdoors. Looking at her now, I couldn't understand what I saw in her.

"Tanya," I look at her in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't not help your parents celebrate." She smiles at me in what is supposed to be a charming way, but I just see her as the viper I know her to be underneath the personable façade she put on.

"And you thought just showing up here was a good idea?" I don't try to hide my irritation. She was the last person that my parents would want to see.

"You look good." She moves her eyes down my body, making my skin crawl. "I heard you have a new girlfriend." There's the reason she's here. She wanted to check out her replacement.

"Let me guess, Irina told you." Irina was Tanya's sister, who just so happened to work with Rose. She also had a big mouth.

"Come on now, Edward. She said Rose had nothing but great things to say about her."

"So, you felt the need to come see for yourself."

She's about to say something but stops when Bella appears at my side like a guardian angel.

"There you are! I was wondering where you went off to." Before I had time to react, her lips landed on mine.

-IYA-

Bella

"I was so happy to see you, so many of the people here are so stuffy that it makes me want to barf." Jessica says in my ear as we make our way over to the makeshift bar.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. She isn't wrong, though. After meeting Edward's parents, I thought that this party would be livelier and more relaxed. Instead, it's full of older people talking shop, more focused on making their next deal than the happily married couple.

"Two white wines, please." Jessica requests while I'm scanning the crowd. I see that Edward and Felix are still talking. "Here you go."

I take the glass of wine Jess hands me, taking a sip while we find a quiet corner to talk.

"How long have you been working for Edward?" Jess asked, once we're off by ourselves.

"Not even two weeks. The assignment is going through the end of May." I lean against the side of the house. "How long have you been working with Felix?"

She thinks for a minute, taking a sip of her wine. "A few years at this point, I think. He's one of my regulars. And don't let the bravado fool you, he's all talk and no bite."

"I figured." Jessica wasn't one to work with any man or woman that was an asshole or disrespectful. If they'd been working together this long, he had to be a bigger softy than he let on.

She laughs, "You know me."

"That I do." I laugh with her.

"I've met Edward a few times. He's a nice guy. You lucked out." We'd all had clients that made our skin crawl, that tried to push past the boundaries that were put into place. You never really knew what you were going to get until you were out in the real world. Jessica herself had her fair share of run ins with clients that tried to get more from her than they were allowed. After hearing some of the things that she'd been through, I was surprised she was still doing this. Then again, she could say the same thing about me.

"He is. I thought that he was going to be a good guy when I read how close he was to his family, but you never really know until you spend time with them. So many people hide their darker sides from their families."

"That's something you know a little too well." She doesn't have to say the man's name for him to flit through my mind, a shiver going through me at the memory. I hadn't worked for a while after that.

"I would rather not relive that right now."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay, Jess." I didn't want her to feel guilty for bringing it up. I thought this was far removed from what happened, that I would be able to talk about it more freely, but every time I tried, my throat closed up and panic stared to burrow into my gut. I reminded myself that it wasn't as bad as what some woman experienced. That it hadn't gone as far as it could have.

"Have you talked to someone about it?" She whispered. "I talked to Siobhan for a while, and she was good. made me feel comfortable." Alice had a lot of counselors on staff for us to talk to. Even though she did extensive background checks, there was only so much they could show. If someone hadn't gotten caught, there was no way to know how much of a monster they were until it was too late.

I shook my head. "Not yet."

Jess nodded in understanding. "Well, if you ever decide you are, I highly recommend her."

I smiled sadly at her. "Thank you, Jess."

"Any time." She took a sip of her wine, choking a little when she caught sight of something behind me. "You might want to go save your guy. The viper's here." Viper was the code word we used for an ex when the relationship had ended on poor terms.

I turn to see a strawberry blonde talking to Edward. Tanya.

Handing my glass to Jess, I make my way over to them. I can tell by how tense Edward's shoulders are, that he wants to be anywhere but where he is right now. I immediately felt guilty for being so absorbed in my conversation with Jessica that I hadn't seen this coming.

"There you are! I was wondering where you went off to." I reach up on my tiptoes to place a kiss on his mouth. It was a brief meeting of our lips, barely the length of a breath, but it sent my heart into overdrive.

"Who's this?" I put on my best pageant smile, linking my fingers with his as I snuggled into his side, acting like I had no idea that this was his ex.

He definitely knew how to pick them. She was tall, with pale skin that was the color of cream. Her wavy red hair was impeccably styled, and I envied how it didn't seem to be affected by the humidity. Her sky-blue eyes would've been beautiful if she hadn't been using them to try to eviscerate me.

Edward cleared his throat, getting over the shock of our unexpected kiss. "Bella, this is Tanya. Tanya, this is Bella. My girlfriend."

She doesn't say anything right away, just slowly takes me in. Brow lifting when she took in my curves. Physically, I was the exact opposite of her. Curvy, with large hips. My brown eyes weren't anything special, but I was pretty, beautiful in my own right. If I had been younger, back when I was timid, women like her would've intimidated me.

"Nice to meet you." She smiles, but her jaw is clenched, and it doesn't reach her eyes. "I'm sure Edward's told you about."

The fact that this woman, after what she did, thinks that she is remotely competition for any woman he decides to date, is appalling.

"Yes," I bring out the voice that Angela calls my sweet bitchy tone. "He did. Next time, you might want to pick a more private place." I don't say anymore, but she knows what I'm saying.

Her nostrils flare. She wants to have the last word, but she can't come up with anything.

The petty bitch that lives inside me is ecstatic.

"Your mom wants us for some pictures." I tell Edward, lifting my brow so he gets the unspoken message to go along with it. "I would say it was nice meeting you, but I'm not in the business of lying." The irony.

"How am o supposed to keep up with you?" He asked as we walk away.

I shrugged, "Maybe I'm just supposed to keep you on your toes."

See you next time!