Author's notes:
Hope everyone out ther has had a wonderful weekend! Here's a quick update for you. Enjoy!
“You’re in love.”
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Chapter 75:
“You have some nerve,” Kate snapped. “I’m hanging up now.”
“No! Kate…Kate please,” I begged her. If she hung up I would be totally lost. “Please don’t hang up on me. I need your help…please.”
I heard her sigh into the phone, and her voice came back strained.
“Just spit it out,” she said.
“I need some…advice,” I finally said quietly. It suddenly hit me how freaking stupid it was to be calling an ex-girlfriend for advice on wooing the current one, if she could be called that. What as Bella to me? Ex-slave? Current girlfriend? Wife? Lover?
Life.
I had no idea what to call her.
“You need advice? From me? Really, Edward? You were never interested in my opinion about anything at any time – what could you possibly want from me now?”
How did I even go about telling her what was happening? Spit it out, just like she said. Well, a slightly modified version, anyway.
“I…met someone,” I started.
“Congrats. Hope you treat her better than you did me.”
“That’s just it,” I said. “I want to make this right…I want to make it special, but I don’t know how.”
“What?” Kate yelled into the phone. “You are asking me how to help you with your new fucktoy? Oh my God…”
“She’s not!” I yelled back, and then quickly lowered my voice before I drew anyone out into the hallway. “It’s not like that…not at all. I want it to be right this time. I know I screwed everything up in the past – I don’t want to fuck this up. It’s her birthday, and I want to give her a special night – I just don’t know what to do. I’m sorry I didn’t do anything right with you, okay? Just tell me what I can do to make it special for her!”
I waited to hear the click of the disconnected call, but it didn’t come.
“Edward,” Kate’s voice had suddenly turned soft. “You are completely serious, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“You’re in love.”
I closed my eyes and thought about her words. I didn’t know how to respond.
“I want it to be right,” I finally said.
“You are,” she replied. “Edward Cullen, capable of love. Who would have thought it could be true?”
He tone was dry and a little sardonic, but I chose to ignore it.
“It…it doesn’t matter,” I finally whispered into the phone. “I just want to make it all good…for her. I don’t know what to do Kate. You know I don’t have any friends, please…please help me?”
“What do you want to know?” Kate said with a sigh.
“How do I make a nice, romantic birthday night for her? What can I do to show her I mean it?”
“Honestly, Edward,” Kate said, her voice sounding…sad? I wasn’t sure. “I don’t know if I should feel jealous that you couldn’t feel this way about me or happy that you are able to feel at all. I had my doubts.”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you…really, I didn’t.”
“I think I know that now.”
“I don’t think I’m quite right in the head, you know?” I offered a slight laugh.
“Yes, Edward – I got that idea.” I could hear Kate sighing on the other end f the line.
“She must be pretty special,” she finally said
“She is,” whispered back. “She’s my world…my life.”
There was a pause on the phone that lasted so long, I was afraid the connection had failed. Then I heard Kate’s voice again.
“I would have been that for you,” she said softly.
I didn’t know how to respond to her. I honestly didn’t realize she ever would have felt that way, and I certainly didn’t understand why.
“I’m sorry,” I finally responded.
“You’ve apologized three times in the last three minutes,” she said. “Do you realize you never once apologized for anything ever before? Not the numerous times I sat waiting in a restaurant for you to arrive, only to find out you forgot about our date, not the time you stopped having sex with me to answer the phone and then abruptly left without an explanation, not all the times I asked where you had been all week when you hadn’t picked up the phone. Not once.”
I would have apologized again, but I wasn’t sure if I should. I barely remembered anything she was talking about.
“She’s really done something to you,” Kate surmised.
“She has,” I agreed. The more I said it, the more I knew it was true.
“I’ll help you, Edward,” Kate said with a loud exhale. “At least, I’ll tell you what I would have liked.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
“Humph. You never thanked me for anything, either.”
“I’m…sorry.”
Kate laughed.
“Thank you for apologizing, Edward,” she said. “Not let’s get you a plan together, all right? I think simple is the only way to go.”
Ten minutes later I had three simple things I was supposed to accomplish for Bella’s birthday. It seemed so little when I thought about it, but I had to go with what Kate had told me, because I didn’t have anything else to go on.
“Thank you,” I said softly. “I never would have come up with any of this by myself. And I know it’s way too late, but for what it is worth, I am sorry I hurt you.”
“Good luck, Edward,” Kate said, and the phone went silent.
I got up off the floor and went back to the hotel room door. Bella was still sleeping with her hair and arms and legs all over the place. She was so beautiful, and I didn’t deserve to have her with me, but I was going to do everything I could to make her birthday a good one.
I could make it special, right?
________________________________________________Chapter end notes:
Lucky, lucky Doofusward - the ex didn't shut you down. You might just earn a box of scooby snacks if you can pull this off.
I might have another chapter out later tonight - we'll see. If not, tomorrow.
