Chapter 7- Hard Times Happen

Playlist:Hard Times Happen-Josh Kelley(Acoustic version on iTunes is the my fav), So Unsexy-Alanis Morrissette(again, I love the acoustic version), Beautiful Disaster-Kelly Clarkson, Unbreak My Heart-Toni Braxton, So Close-Hall & Oates(wait for it...the acoustic version, I know I know, I'm crazy that way;))Who Have You Been Lovin-Bobby Long(for my RL BFF, she is so deep for Bobby! I wouldn't kick him out a bed myself)

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The day you walked into my life was like a hurricane inside

I couldn't walk, I couldn't talk

It happened to me.

I took you deep inside my world, I made you want to be my girl

You couldn't walk, You couldn't talk,

You know it happened to you.

Hard times happen

Can you hear fate saying

I told you so, look at you now, do you really want to give in?

This time around there's no way I can let you down

Cause I'm here and I plan to stay

I've seen the other side, your light shines brighter than the best

I want you for the rest of my days.

Josh Kelley-Hard Times Happen

Chapter 7-Hard Times Happen

Bella's POV

I opened the front door of the house and found the boxes for my bookshelves lying in the foyer. I stepped over them and went upstairs. My stomach was rolling, I was so nervous. What would I do if he admitted talking to her, or worse wanting to see her again? I shook my head and tried to clear my thoughts.

"Edward?" I called out to him about halfway up the stairs.

"In here, love," he called from my bedroom. I was surprised, I expected him to be in his room, doing I don't know, whatever he does.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to have this conversation in my room, the room where we realized that more was going on between us and the room where Edward and I spent our first night together. I would have preferred it to be in his room so we didn't tarnish what we had in my room.

I walked into my room. He was sitting on the floor and was surrounded by the pieces of the bookshelves. He looked adorable and slightly pissed off.

"Edward, is everything okay? You look mad," I questioned.

"No, everything is fine. I'm not sure who writes these directions but they are stupid. I have a college degree, Bella, and I can't make heads or tails of this shit. I swear they do this on purpose to confuse us men. I have tried several different things and nothing is working. I'm almost ready to pay someone to come and put these things together." After his bout of verbal vomiting, he smiled at me, "Sorry, how was your breakfast? It was over way sooner than I expected, what gives?"

"Oh well we didn't really talk about that much. Something else came up and we ran out of time. Alice and Rosalie had to get to the shop so we agreed to talk about it later." I sort of shrugged, hoping he wouldn't ask what was so important that we dropped the biggest news any of us had since we lost our virginity in high school.

"Oh well, that's good for you, right?" He shrugged.

"Yes that is great for me. How was your morning? I know see the bookshelves, what else did you do?"

"Nothing, just this." He was again trying to read through the directions. I figured now was the time and I dove right in.

"Did you see your phone on your desk? I tried to call you to tell you about breakfast and I heard it ring in your bedroom. I wrote you a note and left if on the note so you would find both, did you? Find both I mean?" He looked up at me from the floor and nodded. I didn't think he was really listening to me. So I went in deeper.

"Oh, glad you did. I heard your phone ring again after I laid it on the note. Did you see the missed call? Was it important?" I hedged, and I was angry at myself for not just asking what the hell Tanya wanted with him. I swore that I was going to be more assertive and not so sheepish, but that was going right out the window.

"No, I didn't see any missed calls, only yours. Did you see who it was that was calling; maybe I need to call them back?" He asked absently as he stared at the instructions.

"No, no, I didn't see, I was across the room when it rang, I just heard it ring." I lied to him, and I felt terrible. I needed to find out some answers and I couldn't get them by lying to him and then demanding that he tell the truth.

"Oh well. Whoever it was will call again if it was important, don't you think?" I nodded at him. I was afraid to try to use my voice, I wasn't sure if it would betray me to Edward or not.

I sat in the chair watching him. Finally, he gave up and declared the bookshelves the winner.

"Is it okay if I wait for Em and Jasper to help me? Apparently I'm not smart enough to do this by myself." He stalked towards me as he asked. He was pure grace and sex as he moved towards me.

I stood up and nodded at him.

"Edward, I think I'm going to go down to the shop with Alice and Rosalie. They mentioned that they needed help entering some inventory into their new software. I volunteered to help for a few days until it was all done. I'll be back later." I leaned up and kissed his nose and walked out of my room.

I practically sprinted down the stairs, out the door and around to the Audi. I was so thankful that Esme insisted that I take this car; I couldn't ask Edward for anything right now, much less his car. I already felt trapped, and I didn't need to add to the feeling.

I drove to Twilight Originals, the clothing boutique that Alice and Rosalie opened last year. They both were in the back room opening boxes of clothing. They looked up as I entered the back room and ran to me at the same time. I guess my face said all I needed to say.

"He denied the call." I whispered, flopping down onto the floor of the back room.

"He what?" Alice and Rosalie both said at the same time.

"Well technically, he didn't deny the call; he says he only saw my missed call." I responded, while picking at a loose thread on my hoodie.

"What did he say when you told him that it was from Tanya? Did he explain why he was even getting a call from her?" Rosalie pressed me.

"Well, I kind of didn't bring it up. I asked him if he saw his phone and the note I left. He said he did, and I said well I think that you were getting a call as I left your room. And he said 'I didn't see a missed call other than yours', and I said oh. So I chickened out; he had to have seen her call, I saw her name. Her name didn't just get erased by itself. He had to have known she called, and if he knew and didn't say then he lied. I'm not sure I can start this off with a lie. What do I do?" I sobbed.

Alice sat down and held me while Rosalie paced. She did all of her better scheming while pacing.

"I can have Jasper ask him about it, if you want." Alice offered.

"No because someone would have to have told Jasper about the call and he knows I'm the only one who would have known about the possible call, so that won't work. What else?" I sniffed very un-lady like.

Rosalie turned to face me, dropped her hands to her hips, and said "Just ask him Bella. Don't be afraid of him, you fucked him last night and you can't ask him about a phone call?"

I dropped my head; it should be that simple, but it wasn't. I knew the hold that Tanya seemed to have over Edward and I was so afraid that she would push us apart. "What do I say, 'oh Edward by the way I was in your room and saw that Tanya called. What does she want?' That doesn't sound at all like a bitter harpy."

Alice patted my hand, and said "Bella, trust me. You know I have a way of knowing things will be fine, and I know this will be fine. You and Edward deserve to be together. Nothing will come in between that." She smiled and I soaked it up. I wanted her to be right this time. I smiled back.

"Now, on to better topics. Jasper and I have decided that we can't wait for almost two months to move in, so we are packing up now and we will start moving our stuff this weekend. We will keep all the big stuff at our apartment until the downstairs is done and then we can all decide what to bring to the house and the rest I will store. So what do you think?" Alice was excited; she wanted all of us together more than anyone. She was beside herself that all of this worked out.

Rosalie was almost to the front room; she turned on her heels and rushed to Alice's side.

"What? If you're moving in this weekend, then so are we. I don't want to be the only one not at the house, missing the fun. I will call Emmett and let him know. I know he has missed his boy time, with us all living separately. He will be stoked!" She grabbed her cell phone and dialed as she stepped out the front door of the shop.

"I think I will call Edward and see what he is doing. Maybe he has something to tell me," I said sheepishly.

I dialed the number and waited. He picked up sounding out of breath.

"Hello?" I could hear him breathing in the receiver.

"Hey, it's me. What's wrong? You sound out of breath." He was moving around in the background, not looking in my panty drawer I hoped.

"Yeah, I finally made some head way with your bookshelves, but I still really should have an extra pair of hands." I felt guilty for leaving him alone while he was trying to do something for me.

"Do you want me to come back and help?" I asked, really just wanting to be with him, close to him.

"No, you are fine. I called Jasper, he said he needed my help with some stuff this afternoon and then he will come over tonight and help me with the bookshelves. So we are good, your room is just a bit of a mess until we can finish it up tonight. Maybe you can stay in my room tonight, and we can clean your room tomorrow?"

"Sure, Edward, that's fine. Thanks for even attempting to put together those bookshelves, I really appreciate it. Do you want me to pick up something for dinner? How long will you be with Jasper?" I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I'm sure that I sounded ridiculous as I vomited out whatever came to mind.

"I think we should be okay for dinner. I will ask Jasper and call you back later to let you know." I heard him still talking, but all I could think was Tanya's call. Why did she call? What did she want? Was I strong enough to fight the hold she had on Edward?

"BELLA, hey are you still with me?" Edward was shouted into the phone.

"What? Sorry I guess I kind of drifted off, what were you saying?"

"Bella, are you sure that everything is okay? You have been a little strange this morning. Is this about last night? Do you feel differently in the light of day?" I could hear the hurt in his voice.

"No, Edward, that has nothing to do with me being off. I just have something to work through. It is no big deal. I just need to face something head on and be done with it, I promise." I thought that I tactfully danced around my issue without telling him.

"Just promise me that you will come to me if you need help with any of this, you promise?"

"Of course, Edward, I promise." I was basically lying to him; this was never something I could go to him with.

"Okay, I'll call you later to let you know about dinner. Have fun with the girls." He switched gears and went right back into fun Edward again.

"I will thanks. Talk to you soon?" I wanted to keep the connection between us, but part of me was furious with him. How could he think that not telling me was the right thing to do?

I was still fuming when Alice and Rosalie stepped back into the back room with me.

"Okay, worker Bella, come with me and I will show you all the shit we need to get logged into that computer and maybe you can help me figure out the new accounting software Jasper's tech guy sent to us." Rosalie motioned with her finger towards the office and I followed her in.

After several hours of entering the shipments and making sure all the prices were entered correctly, I stood to stretch my legs. I walked out to see what Alice and Rosalie were up to. They had finally unpacked and hung all of the clothes, so I now had a few more pages to enter.

Alice stood off to one corner and she was murmuring into her cell phone. I tossed my head in her direction and mouthed to Rosalie 'who'.

"Jasper," she whispered.

"Why are we whispering?" I asked in a whisper myself.

"Jasper is not happy about the move this weekend so they are trying to come to an agreement, which basically means Alice is threatening him and Jasper is too scared to give up sex so he will give in. This is her calm after the storm; you should have been in here a few minutes ago. She scared off two teenagers." She turned to look at us and gave a dirty look to Rosalie.

"Did you call Emmett? What did he say about the move?" I was hoping he took the news a little better, I was eager to have some other people in the house besides me and Edward.

"You know Emmett. He could only think of the Grand Theft Auto marathons and all the other video games he would finally have someone to play with him, so he is cool. Besides, I started off the conversation by saying that if he wanted to see me naked again anytime in the next five years he had better just say 'yes honey' and not argue. So he said 'yes honey' and we were done." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and moved over to the jewelry counter to clean it off.

"I'm glad you guys will be there this weekend, and it will be so cool to finally be all together again, you know?" I asked her.

"Bella, cut the shit. You are scared to be with Edward, and I don't know why, just ask him." She tossed at me over her shoulder as she walked towards the front door.

I took a couple of quick steps to catch up to her and she turned to Alice and yelled.

"We're going to run and grab some food, watch the store and I'll bring you back something."

Alice just nodded.

My phone rang as I got into Rosalie's BMW. It was Edward so I answered the call.

"Hey" I voiced timidly.

"Hey, beautiful, I talked to Jasper and we'll grab a bite in between his stuff and ours. Did Alice tell you that they are moving in this weekend?" I could hear Jasper grumbling in the background, they must still be working out their solution. I chuckled.

"Yeah, a few minutes ago, actually she is still on the phone with Jasper working out the details, but Rosalie told me. She said she and Em will also be moving in this weekend, and you know how Emmett is he can't miss anything." I tried to keep the call light and steer away from the topic I wanted to discuss. I needed to prepare myself for his answer before I approached the subject; otherwise, I would just start crying and we would not be able to discuss anything.

"I won't be late, we will finish up some stuff for Jasper and then come and put together the bookshelves. Then we can head off to bed, sound good?" He offered, his voice sounding so hopeful and excited.

"Can we just skip all the other stuff and head off to bed now?" I pouted.

"Bella, as good as that sounds, Jasper needs my help so I can't cut out on him, but we will get there soon enough, I promise." He chuckled. "I better go. Jasper is yelling and weaving off of the road, I need to help him. Bye love."

It scared me that he had begun to call me love. I wasn't ready to use words and names like that yet, especially if he was already starting things with Tanya. I was smart enough to know that Edward could bring me to my knees faster and harder than any man I had known so far, and for that matter would ever know. I was suddenly scared of what I had started with him, could I survive him walking away? I decided that tonight we would talk about his phone call from Tanya, at least if he was talking with her again I needed to know so I could start pulling my heart back in and start making some distance between us, to protect myself and my heart.

"Rose, I'm going to talk to him tonight about the call." I said with a small amount of finality in my voice.

"Good. Trust him, Bella. I know we tease him about being a playboy but you two are different, I promise." She patted my leg and smiled at me trying to reassure me.

The afternoon passed in a blur of logging inventory, laughing and Alice screaming at Jasper. He wanted to wait and not move in when Em and Rosalie were moving in as well. He thought it would be too confusing with both of them moving on the same weekend. They agreed to disagree for now; she didn't like being angry for too long at Jasper, because it hurts her heart she says. I could hear the edge in Jasper's voice over the phone, he was about to crack and give in to her wishes. He didn't like the disagreements any more than she did. I was inspired by their relationship, each of them always had the others wishes in mind above their own and gave away more than they took.

I wanted our relationship to equal Jasper and Alice's; I wanted us to have a perfect relationship. I know perfect is a pipe dream, but I wanted a real soul mate that was my best friend who could give me hot sex whenever I wanted it. Is that too much to ask for? I don't think so, that is what scared me, I was sure that Edward had the potential to show me all of those things and more, but would we last long enough to see it?

Rosalie was vacuuming and Alice was cleaning down the display cases while I backed up all the data and then we were heading off to dinner without our boys. Emmett gave in and went to help Edward and Jasper, so we were girls only.

My mind kept playing over and over what I wanted to say to Edward, and I was mentally drained by the time dinner was done. It was a solemn affair; Alice was still hurt from her disagreement with Jasper and I was still in a fog about Edward, so Rosalie dropped us off and went to find Emmett for some "real company" she says.

Alice ran into Jasper's arms as soon as she saw him standing in our living room, and wrapped her body around him to pull him as close as humanly possible. They leaned in close and whispered to each other; they were making their peace and it was a beautiful sight to see.

I felt Edward's hand on my arm and I turned to see him standing beside me. I folded myself into his arms and clung to him. After being away from him all day and worrying about our talk, I was drained and I needed his strength to help me. He, without question pulled me close and held me. I felt him kiss me on my head and whisper to me several times. I'm not sure what he said, but I'm sure of the emotion he was trying to convey to me. I was so thankful that he always knew what I needed at the exact time I needed it. Even in high school when we were kept at arm's length by Tanya, Edward knew when to call and check on me or send me a note to tell me everything would be fine. I smiled at the memories of his caring and pulled away so I could see his face. I smiled up at him and he leaned down to whisper into my ear, "Are you okay?" Then he nuzzled his nose along the outside of my ear.

"I'm fine now. I just missed you that's all. I think I'm finally at peace with what I have been struggling with all day and now I'm ready to talk about it, tonight in bed. Does that sound good?" I knew he was anxious about this talk.

I stepped out of his embrace when I heard my phone ring. I grabbed it out of my purse and answered Esme's call.

"Hey Esme what's going on?" I asked.

"Bella, are you busy? I got a few things to tell you about the kitchen." I moved to sit on the couch and Edward followed me, leaving Alice and Jasper in their own bubble to work things out.

"No, I just got home. So what's up with the kitchen?"

"Well I came over and talked with John. We moved the pantry and refrigerator over six inches to meet code for the electrical. I also wanted you to know that the appliances will be delivered tomorrow, and possibly the cabinets as well. Is there anything on your schedule? Could you possibly wait for the delivery? I have a meeting with a client, otherwise I would wait for them myself. I hate asking you to do this but I have no choice." I could hear the regret in her voice.

"Esme, don't be silly. You are spending a fortune to give me my dream kitchen and you are worried about asking me to wait for a few deliveries. I don't have anything else going on tomorrow anyway." My whole day was open so I could hang out and wait.

"Bella, you are a doll. I can't say thank you enough. The delivery men should set them in the laundry room. John and his crew won't be there tomorrow, so make sure they do it for you and not just drop them off. They are terrible about that."

"When were you here today? I didn't see you and I left a little after 11. Was there something wrong that caused you to come out here?" I was worried that she had to work extra for our kitchen.

"No, we just realized that our plans were different than the ones we submitted for the permits and we needed to move the other stuff for the electric, so to make sure we were on the same page I came down to see John and we worked it out. No big deal, I promise."

"Well, sorry about the extra work. It will be done soon and we can all eat a big meal together, I can't wait. Thanks again for making the kitchen perfect." I was so blessed by this whole family.

"I 'm so happy that you'll enjoy it. You are my only hope for those poor kids of mine to eat well, so I'm happy to do it. Speaking of kids of mine, a little birdie told me that you and Edward are sort of trying things out. When did this come about? Not that I'm complaining, I think you are the one girl that could truly make him happy." I swallowed the lump in my throat only to have it followed by another, what the hell? I wasn't going to have a conversation with a woman who was my mother, for all intents and purposes, about falling in love with her son while he was in the room.

"Well, something like that. What are you doing for lunch tomorrow, maybe we could meet and talk then?" I asked hoping she would be free, and I could get out of the fifth circle of hell right now.

"Sure Bella, meet me at noon at my office and we will go to lunch. Tell Edward to stay put and wait for the deliveries for you. And tell him I said goodnight. See you tomorrow, Bella, love you both." She finished softly and I could see her eyes getting all soft just thinking about Edward and I together. She tried to talk Edward into asking me out in high school but Tanya moved to town and I didn't stand a chance after he saw her.

I felt Edward move beside me and I looked up to see his eyes deep in thought.

"You alright?" I asked him, it felt good to be the one to ask instead of having to answer the question myself.

"Yeah just wondering how scared I should be that you and Esme are going to lunch to talk about me tomorrow." He laughed and pushed me up off of the couch.

As some point in our conversation, Alice and Jasper snuck out the door and went home. I was glad to know they were finally at peace with each other.

Edward closed and locked the door; we closed all of the blinds and headed upstairs. He pulled me past my room and into his.

I took a deep breath when I entered. His room always smelled like Edward and I love his smell.

He pulled me close and kissed me gently on the lips. I felt the heat of his mouth and knew he wanted to deepen the kiss and take things right to bed, but he knew I wanted to talk, so he pulled away after one kiss.

"Bella, run and change, and we can talk." His simple command immediately put my heart rate into triple digits; I could feel it beating out of my chest.

I walked into my room and grabbed something to sleep in, nothing sexy since I wanted Edward to concentrate on what I was saying and not on getting me undressed. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, washed my face and changed. I put my clothes in the hamper and brushed my hair. I knew I was stalling, so I turned out the light and went back to Edward's room.

He was in his bed and reading when I came back in. He laid his book on the nightstand and turned to face me.

"Is talking in bed cool, or would you like to move to the chairs?" He asked taking this talk very seriously.

"No, here is fine." I climbed in beside him and leaned against the headboard.

"Edward," I began my voice shaking. "I was in your room trying to leave you a note about meeting Rose and Ali today. When I was leaving I heard the phone ringing. I came back and picked it up expecting it to be Emmett or Jasper, except it wasn't." I paused for a moment. "It was Tanya." I could see the shock on his face at her name. I pressed on quickly before I lost him." I didn't answer it. I was shocked to see her calling you. I just laid it down and left to meet Rosalie and Alice. When I got back home, I asked you about a missed call and you said you didn't have missed calls. I was wondering why you didn't tell me about her calling and if there was something going on I needed to know about before we take this too far." I was waving my hand between him and I to indicate what 'this' I meant.

He sat quiet for a few seconds and ran his hands through his hair. He dropped his head and then turned to look at me. He was searching my face; I could feel his eyes on me.

"Bella, I didn't get a call from Tanya. I checked my phone after you mentioned a missed call earlier and I didn't see any call. Are you sure you saw Tanya's name, I'm not even sure that her info is in my phone anymore." He looked into my eyes and waited for my answer.

I was furious, how dare he question me about her.

"Edward, of course I'm sure. I saw her name. I can read. It was Tanya and she was calling you. Now I wish that I had answered it so I would have a message to deliver and then you would believe me. I can't even believe that you doubt me, why would I make this up?" I was climbing out of the bed as he was leaning across reaching for me.

"Bella, wait. I don't know, just wait." He stammered.

I stomped over to his phone and flipped it open. I searched his contacts for her name, no Tanya. I changed menus to the missed calls and didn't find her name there either. I turned to look at him. He was frozen in place, half standing half sitting in bed. His face registered shock and worry.

"Did you see it and erase her name, Edward?" I yelled at him, hate rising up with each word. He was always saying to everyone that honesty was best and now he was lying to me. I knew he lied to his family, well a lie of omission but a lie none the less. I wasn't sure the Edward I knew was even in there anymore, he was definitely different.

"Bella, I don't know what you are talking about, I didn't do anything to my phone. I never saw her name there, I swear. Please calm down and let's talk about this. I'm sure there is some explanation. Come back to bed, Bella, please." He was pleading, but for the first time ever his soft green eyes and beautiful face wasn't going to get him what he wanted. I wasn't going to be his next in line.

I turned on my heels, tossing the phone to him as I left the room. I marched to my room, slammed the door, locked it and began to get dressed.

I grabbed my keys and purse. I had them in my hand when I opened the door. Edward was standing there as I expected. He grabbed my arm as I tried to push past him.

"Bella, love, please listen to me. I promise I didn't erase anything. It wasn't there, I don't know what happened or what you saw, but it doesn't matter. I promise it doesn't matter to me. Please stay."

"Have you lost your mind? I don't care if it matters to you. It matters to me. She was calling you, Edward. I'm not going to stand around and wait for her to come here and lay her hooks into you again. I don't want her following you everywhere you go. If you aren't willing to cut her loose, I'm not willing to start anything between us. I don't want my heart broken, Edward, don't you understand that?" I shook all over, I needed to get out now, I was going to cry and I didn't want to do that in front of Edward.

"Bella, please calm down. You are in no shape to be driving, please just stay. I do understand and I promise I'm not lying about her calling and her number," he pleaded.

I cut him off, "And how am I supposed to believe that? You lied to your family. You admitted that you lied to protect yourself. What makes this so different? How do I know that this is different and you are telling the truth? I can't. I can tell by the look on your face you don't have an answer for me, which is answer enough." I rose and walked towards the door. He stood rooted in place, his eyes wide with shock and fear.

"I'm going to Alice's. I'll be back tomorrow," I said as I closed the front door.