Edward's P.O.V
"Right over there?" I ask Henry, pointing to the open parking spot beside the truck.
"Yes, right there will do for now. Seth, how about you move and be a little more helpful. Poor Edward can't carry that booth down all by himself!"
"Yes, sir!" Seth runs to the other side of the booth and bends down. "Alright... So what do we do?"
I chuckle. "Just lift it and go to your right, I'll go down first that way you don't trip on your way down." Seth nods and grabs hold of the bottom of the booth, completely disappearing out of my line of sight. I pick up my end, grunting at how heavy this shit is and start unloading the booth from the truck. "Where the hell is the truck driver?" I ask through clenched teeth as we carefully unload the booth.
"Poor bastard busted his hip when he tried to get this thing down. I had to call his lady to come and take him home." Henry shakes his head. "Good thing you came by, boy, or else Bella would have insisted on her doing it on her own."
"Yeah, I figured." I lower the booth to the ground and look at Seth, who has slumped against the cushions. "You alright there, Seth?"
"Oh, I'm great," he mutters under his breath. "How many are there left?"
I look inside the truck and shrug. "About four more."
I came by the diner this morning to see Bella, seeing she has been avoiding me like a disease. Given, I didn't expect her to jump in my arms and kiss me in the rain when I came back. I wasn't expecting her to forgive me so easily. I would actually be disappointed if she did. But I do want to have the chance to talk to her, at least have a start because I've missed her so much. She just isn't giving in.
So, when I came by this morning after dropping Emma off at school, I saw Henry having trouble finding how to unload the truck filled with new booths for the diner with Seth and decided to help.
"Alright, Seth. Deep breaths, buddy, we have four more to unload." I pat him on the back and climb back up on the truck.
"What's all this?" I smile when I hear the surprise in her voice. She's on the other side of the truck, which gives me the impression she hasn't seen me yet. She walks to Henry. "They're finally here?"
"Oh yes, this morning but we've been having a hell of a field day trying to get this damn things out of the truck," Henry tells her.
She looks at Seth is still slumped over the booth. "Oh you poor thing. Don't worry, Seth. I'll help you out." She drops her backpack on the ground and starts taking off her sweater when Henry stops her.
"Actually, we've been having some help," he tells her and nods in my direction inside the truck.
She turns to me and her eyes widen. "What are you doing here?"
"Unloading a truck full of booths."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
Bella narrows her eyes at me and says, "well thank you for your help, but I'm here so you can go ahead and get going."
I chuckle. "Oh really? You're going to carry this all on your own?"
"Yup. No need for your help here," she says. "Come on, Seth." She gets on the truck and when she sees I'm not stepping aside, she puts her hands on her hips and arcs a brow. "Care to move?"
"Are you really sure you're up for the challenge, Swan?"
"Step aside, Masen," she snaps.
I raise my hands in the air and step down from the truck. Henry chuckles to himself and drinks a sip of his coffee. I roll my eyes and stand beside him and watch as Bella and Seth not only try to lift the booth, but coordinate enough to even hold it. I really want to step in because Bella is not that good with her coordination and is prone to fall at any given second. Leah joins the party a little later and hands me a cup of coffee.
"Thank you." I take it from her and take a sip.
"She isn't letting you help her," she points out as we continue to witness their struggle with the booth.
"Not even a bit."
We continue to watch for about five more minutes, in which Bella and Seth have managed to turn the booth toward the ramp and are now trying to decide who should go down first. It's been about ten minutes and Bella is already sweating and has pulled her hair up in a bun. Seth... Well, Seth is on the edge of passing out.
Leah shakes her head and says, "You know, I hate to be a ball buster but you should really let Edward do it."
Bella leans over the booth and glares at Leah. Her eyes divert from Leah to me and back to Leah, then her head drops between her shoulders. She waves at me over. I hold back a chuckle and stride up the ramp. I shove my cup of coffee against Seth's chest and pat him on the shoulder on his way down the ramp.
"Alright, first thing is first," I say, clapping my hands together. "Bella, get your ass on the other side of this booth. You are not walking down this ramp with your back turned to it. We do not need to visit the emergency room today."
"Damn right we don't," Leah called out.
Bella rolls her eyes and strides to the other side of the booth. She bends down and lifts her side, waiting for me to do the same. I chuckle to myself and get myself to work. Half an hour later, we unload the truck with no injuries in the process. The heavy lifting and the sudden heat wave that has been hitting Forks lately is enough to sit us all inside the diner together with full glasses of water and ice. Bella has taken her sweater off and wrapped it around her waist and tied her hair up in a bun. After we were finished unloading the truck, Henry and Leah went to return the truck and Seth back home to finish some school project he had due tomorrow. That left us... by ourselves... probably a first since I came back.
"So, where are these booths going?" I ask, taking in the new scenery in the diner. It has definitely changed from the last time I was here. I remember how surprised and awed I was when I first walked in with Ma and Emma. They torn down walls, they added artwork, windows and... life.
"We're replacing the last of the booths that were left before we started remodeling. The very last of the old Waters Motel that was left."
I look at her and when I see her I don't see the girl trying to make something of herself. I see a woman who has made something of herself. A woman who built something from the bottom to the top, growing it, expanding it and turning it into something extraordinary.
"I've tried so hard to be mad at you," she whispered, looking down at her hands over the counter. "Ever since you came back, it's all I can focus my attention on. Be mad at him, hate him, it's been two years, why are you still in love with him? And it's fucking pathetic. It's pathetic because any other smart person in the world would have moved on by now, another smart girl in my position would have actually opened herself to all those other dates she's been on and given them a shot. A smart girl would have done the... smart thing..." she tears her eyes away from her hands and looks at me. "And you know what I've learnt about myself these last few weeks since you came back? That I'm not that smart girl. I'm... a stupid, stupid lamb that has fallen in love with her predator."
A small smile creeps on my lips. "And I'm the sick masochistic lion that isn't willing to let you go..."
Bella chuckles to herself and shoves away her half empty glass of water. She turns her body to me, looking at me in all her glory. Her skin glistening with her sweat, her hair messy, her eyes bright... everything about her was just... beautiful... enchanting... it pulled me in deeper than before.
"You once said that you didn't believe in fate, but if you had to, you'd lay all your faith on him as long as-"
"It brought me back to you," I finish her sentence. "Though I'm pretty sure it was the plane ticket and the moving truck brought me here physically-"
"Shut up, Edward." She throws herself on me and kisses the living crap out of me. Literally takes my breath away. She pulls away enough for her to cup my face between her hands and looks at me in the eyes. "Because I do believe it was fate that brought you back to me and I have prayed every night for that day to come."
I pull back a little. "Then why avoid me so much?"
A smile creeps on her lips. "I had to make you work for it a little bit." She leans back in and kisses me again. And again. And again. "Oh god," she moans. "I never want to stop doing that."
"Then don't." I hop off the chair and pull her up on the counter, parting her legs and wrapping them around my waist. I'm kissing her on every square inch I can reach. Her eyelids, her mouth, her cheeks, her nose, her neck, the sides of her face, her shoulders, her chest. She breathes heavily against me, kissing everything she can get her lips on and tugging at my hair. "You learned sign language," I say between kisses.
"I needed to," she says against my lips as she tries to rip my shirt off me. "How else am I going to know how Emma likes her pancakes in the morning?"
I pull away from her slightly and smile. "So... on top of building a successful business, you were learning sign language for Emma?"
Bella smiles. "Youtube is very helpful."
I laugh and start kissing her all over again. My chest feels full... happy and goddamit, it might explode. I reach for the bottom of her shirt when she finally stops me.
"What?"
"I don't know how I feel about having sex on the counter my dad eats at," she says, eyeing the empty diner around us.
"Well, we can always go to a room."
Her face brightens up. "That sounds like a great idea."
She yelps when I carry her off the counter quickly. With her arms and legs wrapped around me, I carry us across the diner to the register where all the room keys are at. And it just so happens that the key to room 23 was available. The same room I was given when I first arrived. I take it and juggle the keys to Bella. "I see my room is still available."
She smiles. "That room is only reserved for you."
Author's Note:
Next chapter will be the last chapter! OMG!!!
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~Joan0324