A Modern Day Fairy Tale Teaser

Sitting in the newly completed office of the bakery, I was looking over several resumes for new employees. The bakery renovations were nearly finished. All we needed was people to work in the bakery. With my dad’s questionable health and my newfound celebrity, we needed to hire people to run Swan Family Bakery. Both Dad and I were adamant that we needed to hire from within our community.

“Oh, this girl, I like her,” Angela chirped. “She worked at the bookstore and was awesome.”

“Worked. Past tense?” I asked, arching a brow. “Was she fired?”

“She wasn’t fired. She went away to college but didn’t really care for the university she’d chosen. It was too big and she wanted something smaller,” Angela shrugged. “She came back home, taking a gap year and asking for her job back. We’d already hired someone to replace her.” Angela handed me the resume and application. “This girl, Bree, has retail experience and is great with people, friendly and outgoing.”

I read over her application, smiling as I saw how thorough she was in her answers. “I’ll bring her in. She could be helpful at the counter and working as a server for the café. I need people who are willing to work in the kitchen, though. I don’t want to be the one, getting up at four in the morning, to start baking our family’s recipes. I can oversee the bakery, but I don’t have the heart to run it like I did before,” I frowned. “And to be honest, I don’t know if I’m staying the states, Ang.”

“Are you planning on moving in with Masen?” Angela asked, leaning forward and grinning.

“He hasn’t asked, but everything we’ve ever done has alluded to us being together for the foreseeable future … possibly for the rest of our lives,” I smiled, blinking up at her. “I love him, regardless of who he is. He’s been so supportive and perfect throughout all of this …” I gestured to the renovated bakery. “He hasn’t walked away with the bullshit of my crazy family. He’s …”

“Prince Charming,” Angela quipped.  “And he is.” She looked at me, but her smile faded. Reaching across the desk, she squeezed my fingers. “How are you doing with the tabloids?”

“They suck, Ang,” I growled. “Did you see the article about how I supposedly aborted a baby? I went to the women’s clinic to get my birth control shot. Not that it’s anyone’s business. It’s my body.” I got up and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge in the kitchen. “That’s the only thing that’s making me freak out about my relationship with Masen. I love him. He’s an amazing, wonderful and generous man. I just hate having my personal life splashed over the newspapers. It’s bullshit.”

“Does it bother Masen?” Angela asked.

“He’s more accustomed to it,” I retorted, idly pealing the wrapper off the bottled water. “He’s upset that the American tabloids are quick to judge and print lies without any sort of research. We also have some resistance in Gevalia. There’s this woman, Lady Kathryn … who was under the impression that she was going to marry Masen, but didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell … who conspired with my bitch sister. Alice was arrested and is in a holding cell in Gevalia.”

“And Lady Kathryn?”

“She fled the country, flying to a location that didn’t have an extradition policy with Gevalia. She may be the one who is behind these scathing comments online and in the media,” I sighed.

Picking up the Pieces Teaser

Jessica Stanley was terminated from her position at Forks Elementary. After a thorough investigation, she’d been having an affair with several male parents. When those relationships ended, she’d take it out of the students. When the parents threatened to go to Alice or me, she’d threaten to show wives proof of their husband’s infidelity. It was the kids’ word against hers, but when one of John’s friends, a little boy named Silas, his father came forward with proof of what Jessica was doing, her job was effectively gone.

He lost his wife and access to his son when he came forward, but he was also dealing with the aftermath of his tryst with Jessica – gonorrhea. I felt for the guy, but he’d made his bed. I was grateful for his corroboration and I hated that his life was in shambles, but Jessica needed to pay for her transgressions.

On top of being terminated from her job, she was in trouble with the law. She was being investigated for blackmail and extortion. She could serve jail time if the evidence was substantiated. Because of Edward’s relationship with me, the Port Angeles police were heading up the investigation.

“Bella, are you going to city hall with Edward?” Alice asked as we waded through resumes for Jessica’s position. “It’s election day. Your fiancé could become the next chief of police of Forks.”

“I am. The kids are staying with Rose and Emmett tonight, so we could celebrate, if he gets elected,” I said.

“He’s running uncontested. He’s going to be elected,” Alice giggled. I rolled my eyes as I scanned a resume. “I hope whoever we hire is going to be an improvement from Jessica.”

“A sea slug would be an improvement from Jessica,” I deadpanned. “I do know that John is much happier in Mr. Molina’s class. He’s enjoying school again.”

“That’s good,” Alice nodded. “Now, what about Victoria Caine?” She handed me a short resume, but filled with positive, glowing reviews. “She’s a new teacher but wasn’t hired because of some snafu with her license.”

“Is the snafu fixed?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Alice replied. “They lost her transcripts and check, delaying her getting her license. However, she fought them, and they found her paperwork. She’s good to go.”

I read her resume and letters of recommendation. “Set up an interview, Ali-cat,” I said, sliding back the resume to her. “I also like this girl, too. Sierra Jones … she reads well from her resume.” I handed her another set of papers.

“I’ll schedule both of them,” Alice nodded. “Now, how is the wedding planning going?”

“We’ve got the location figured out. We’re renting out Tuscany,” I said. “We’re having the ceremony at the local church and the reception is at Tuscany. At some point, I do need to go shopping for a dress, but after dealing with the corset for Halloween, I know that my wedding gown will not be corseted. That was hell.” I blinked to her and smiled slowly. “Grace is going to be my maid of honor, but she can’t really sign the marriage license. Would you be my matron of honor?”

“I’d thought you’d never ask,” Alice smiled, hugging me.

“But, Alice, as much as I love you, you cannot control my wedding,” I said, arching a brow at her. “Between Esme, my mom and me, we’ve got it covered. It’s not going to be a huge, over-the-top event. We will have fun, celebrating our nuptials. No crazy bridal showers, bachelorette parties or anything else. We went with the engagement party for Esme and it was amazing. We’ve finally finished sending our thank you cards. Oh, speaking of which …” I reached into my bag, handing her a cream envelope. “Thank you for the beautiful frame, Ali. It’s on our dresser, with a picture from our engagement shoot.”

“I saw the pictures in the paper. Despite my trepidation about your attire, the photos were gorgeous. I’ve never seen you so happy,” Alice said, her voice wistful. “Okay, the few photos I saw with you and Jake, you were happy, but the happiness you have with Edward is different.”

“I will always love Jake, but the love I share for Edward is different. Jake was my first everything, but Edward is my last,” I murmured, looking at photo on my desk that had been taken from the past Mother’s Day, with Edward and I, cuddling our children. “Enough reminiscing. We’ve got lunches to supervise.”