Picking up the Pieces Update

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Picking up the Pieces on TWCS

“Bella, come on! Give me more than just ‘it was a perfect first date,’” Alice griped. We were working in my backyard, trying to get it ready for the flowers I wanted to plant. She was wearing a pair of overalls, pigtails and a straw hat, channeling her inner-farmer.

“It was. He was a perfect gentleman and it was a perfect first date,” I answered, turning over the earth in the flower beds left behind from the previous owner. With my kids, the weeds had been pulled and now we were loosening up the soil. I missed having a garden in Phoenix. Everything just died unless you had a garden of cacti and rocks.

Too prickly.

“Ugh, you were much more loose-lipped in high school,” Alice said, plopping down on the garden pillow she brought.

“High school? My only relationship in high school was with Mike Newton and it wasn’t even that. We went to junior prom together because you wanted someone to double with you. Jasper convinced Mike to ask me and we spent the night on the dance floor while my date got hammered in the boy’s bathroom,” I deadpanned. “I’m still scarred because he threw up all over me at the end of the night, thank you very much.”

“Whatever,” Alice said, waving her spade at me. “You can at least tell me what you did. It’s not like you went and robbed a bank down in Seattle, right?”

“You’re incorrigible, Ali-Cat,” I snickered. “You want details?”

“I’ve only been nagging you since your date, THREE DAYS AGO! So, yes,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I know you went since I saw you get into the car with him.”

“Ugh, stalker! I should file a restraining order out on you,” I giggled.

“Bella,” she whined. “Spill!”

“Okay, okay. We went to Seattle and there was never a dull moment or a lull in the conversation on the ride there. While we were on the ferry, he took my hand. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest when his fingers threaded through mine,” I smiled softly. “I hadn’t felt like that in a long, long time; safe, secure and protected.”

“So, is Edward affectionate? He comes off as being kind of standoffish,” Alice said, wrinkling her nose.

“Very affectionate. Once he held my hand in the car, when the opportunity presented itself throughout the day, he held my hand, or had his arm around my waist or touching me in some way. It’s different to what I’m used to,” I blushed.

“Why is that?” Alice asked.

 
“Jake loved me. I knew he did, but he very rarely showed it outwardly. We only held hands and he 
never kissed me in front of the kids,” I explained. “Behind closed doors, it was different. He was passionate and aggressive.”