Chapter 8 ~ Closed Off

Edward

Bella drove silently and when she wasn’t looking at me, sideways, I carefully watched her facial expressions as they changed, ever so slightly, from time to time, wondering what was going on in that head of hers.

Meanwhile, I also admonished myself, internally, over and over, for sneaking up on her like I had, once I’d seen her at the hospital. 

Bad call.

Don’t get me wrong, she was fun as hell to mess with.

And it wasn’t like she was easy to miss, of course, with the ring tone that her cell phone had blared through the halls and I had been pretty glad to see her, actually.   Was ready and willing to give her all kinds of well meant hell, teasingly, that is, as I busted her for stalking me again.

Yes, temptation was just too much, in the end.

And it was quite fun.

Until those words were spoken.

Those three, stupid, meaningless words that, said separately, on any other occasion…could have…and probably would have meant nothing.

Today though, they stabbed me in the jugular.

Painfully and happily.

She’d clearly been talking with the MIA fiancé when I’d oh so cleverly bumped into her but instead of walking away and giving her some privacy, I stood there.

Like an idiot.

Wanting to see that uncomfortable smile on her face, again.

I had.

And that smile made the previous hour seem…simplistic.

But when she said those three chest caving words to him, as they ended their call, I basically had wanted to rip them from my memory, stuff them into a furnace and watch them burn.

It was an irrational reaction, of course.

I wasn’t even really sure why I’d felt that much rage against a man who I’d never met, was clear across the country and had done nothing to me, personally.

Except, that is, to have become engaged to the mysterious, pie baking, strange woman who’d somehow snuck up on my life in a very nonchalant, non-assuming and very non-judging sort of way.

And it wasn’t like I didn’t know she was engaged to the guy…that was a given from the get go, it was just that…I mean, when she said the words, even I could see, they didn’t feel right.

I didn’t really believe her.

So I had to wonder if the fiancé had believed her, or not, as well.

When she ended her call, it took her a few seconds to look up at me again and she’d seemed to want to move passed our, for lack of a better word, awkward encounter.

“You wanna ride back to town?” she’d asked me, moving along as though she hadn’t just been busted spying on me.

But I wasn’t about to let it die.

“Was the the fiancé?”

She tripped over her own feet, then, talking back at me, over her shoulder.  “Was that the…” she laughed with a little nervousness in it. “That was just…”

“I mean, because that was some, I love you, back there,” I said, acting blown away, only…not.

She rolled her eyes and moved in a purposeful, forward motion again and I threw in, “Honest, it was the nicest I love you I’ve ever heard.

She didn’t look back, didn’t slow down and I was kinda glad, too, because I wasn’t sure how she would have taken the grin on my face.

“Drop, it, would you, Edward?”

Her pace grew faster and I had to walk a little quicker to catch up with her.

She was a fast little pie baker.  I thought about changing her name to Road Runner…or…Tripple X.

“I mean, personally, I was moved,” I added, unable to control my urges to make this woman blush.

I heard a huff from in front of me as my eyes watched Bella’s hips move in a very intriguing sort of way.

She wore the most seductive shit, this woman.

In the elevator down to the lobby, I egged her on, some more.

It wasn’t so much because I wanted to give her a hard time, or even make her upset, I mean she was giving me a ride home and all…

It was more that…well, I wanted to follow a hunch and see if I’d been correct.

“Tell me something, when you kiss him…do you say, please and thank you?”

“God, will you please, shut. Up,” she begged, putting her fingers to her temple and rubbing.

It.

Rubbing…

Stop it.

I cleared my throat a little.  “Because the two of you seem to have the most cordial relationship of…”

“Edward,” she snapped and glared at me, pleading me silently to stop and I felt a small pang inside that told me it was probably a good idea to do just that.

So the rest of the way to her borrowed truck, I shut it.

And for a while, we drove in silence, too, but then I just wanted to think about something, talk about something, other that the shit that was running through my head.

My dad.

Felix…

The vines….

“Do you wanna talk about it?” I blurted out at her when she looked like she wanted to explode…scream…or, cry maybe, finally.

“No,” she answered, flatly, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.

Okay…

“Wanna tell me why you were at the hospital?”

Like I didn’t know, but…

She hesitated, trying not to smile that time and I felt a small pang of victory, for some reason.

“Not really,” she said and I left it alone for the time being, even though I was consistently fighting the urge to just…annoy the shit out of her.

I peered out of the window on my side of the truck and we continued in more deafening silence until…

“Do…you wanna talk about…anything?” she asked me.

“Not really,” I answered, mimicking her own words and she took her bottom lip in between her teeth then, watching the road, thinking.

And once again I wanted to know what was going on inside her brain.

I started to ask her just that, when, she beat me to it.

Sort of.

“Edward?” she questioned me, with this cute little, high pitched sound in her voice. Like a child, when they’re about to ask you why the sky is blue, or something.

I chuckled a little as I answered her, trying to imitate the sound she’d made.  “Bella…?”

She pulled out her welcome center’s information pamphlet and hit me with it.

“I want to visit some of the wineries, today,” she said.  “Do you think you could you tell me the good ones to go to before I drop you off?  Or…I dunno, maybe make a list for me?”

I thought it over.

The big wig wineries were a waste of money, in my opinion. 

I mean yeah, you get the info, you take a tour, they tell you a bunch of tid bits about their heritage and all that jazz…but the real history…the Napa Valley area history….that was in the hidden treasure troves of the mom and pop places.

They were more intimate.

There was more opportunity to get to know the owners and how they grew their crops, meet the people who processed the juices…things like that.

The whole of it was much more interesting to hear, for some reason.

Kinda like Carlisle’s.

Speaking of which…

I had a lot of shit to do at the vineyard.

There were some plumbing issues I needed to get to.

A boat load of weeds to pull.

Another bottle of wine waiting for me in Carlisle’s basement.

“I have a better idea,” I finally said, before I could stop myself, snatching the pamphlet from her hand.

“Hey…” she grabbed to get it back but I held it out of her reach.

And then proceeded to rip it to shreds.

“Edward, geeze, now I have to go get another one…and I really wanted to…”

“How about you let me take you to the places that aren’t listed on those pamphlets,” I said, stopping her from getting any funny ideas about not spending the afternoon with me.

“Don’t you have the…”

“Vineyard?  Yeah, well, see, I’m kind of at a point where I need to get some supplies, and…” I sucked in a deep breath of air. “By the time I get started, it’s gonna be late anyway, so I figured, I’d take the day off.”

I smiled and she eyed me, suspiciously.

“You know, rejuvenate…” I said, completely seriously and not at all sarcastic.

The wheels were turning, I could tell…they always were with Bella…and I suspected that she might be wondering about my motives, or something, so I added the honest truth.

“And I really don’t feel like facing the vines this afternoon.”

The look on Bella’s face, sometimes.

It broke my heart.

And I wondered if it was me she was feeling that heartbreak for…or herself.

“I’d be grateful, Edward,” she finally said and then asked me, “But what are you saying?  That the places on the list I had are no good?”

I laughed and kicked my feet up onto her dashboard.

“I’m saying those places are fine…you know…for the tourists,” I said, giving her a sneaky, Gomez Addams look and then added a Transylvanian accent to boot, “But if you really wanna know what Napa’s all about…you go to the places the tourists don’t even know exist.”

And the smile that brightened her face was all the reply I needed, to wash away the fucked up morning I’d had.

And possibly hers.

“I only have one condition, though,” I told her, in a very informative kind of way and she looked like she’d gotten a tad nervous but I grinned.

“I drive.”

Bella didn’t hesitate that time.  She pulled over and handed me the keys gladly as we switched sides and I drove us toward the outskirts of the main highway in Napa, showing her all the places I loved to check out when I was younger.

Okay, spy on, same diff.

I couldn’t even seem to help spewing some tid bits about the memories that were creeping into my subconscious as I nodded at the crops when we passed them.

“Emmett and I used to steal grapes off of the vines here, I wonder if old Mr. Hadley remembers,” I thought out loud, knowing fully well, he probably did, and would probably kick me off of his property but I walked Bella up to the entry way, anyway, hoping maybe he wasn’t there that day.

“So, you and Emmett haven’t always hated each other, then?” she asked, sneaky little devil that she was and I had to smile at her.

Once again.

“Nah…Em and I used to…” I took a breath.

For no real reason, other than to give myself a minute.

“Raise a lot of Hell together.”

For lack of a better term.

I wasn’t looking at her, I was still eyeing the house we were getting ready to visit, looking for familiar faces.

Angry, familiar faces.

But I didn’t see any.

Yet.

“What changed, then?  I mean, what could you possibly have done to…”

I stopped her.

I didn’t really wanna go there just yet.

“Let’s just say, Emmett stopped liking to raise Hell and I….”  I was searching for the words.

“Didn’t,” she finished for me, simply.

And correctly.

“Somethin’ like that.”

As we entered the small, mom and pop vineyard, there were groups of three or four people, talking to individual tour guides and when I caught a glimpse of Mrs. Hadley, I steered Bella into another direction.

I knew the house just as well as any of them did, anyway.

“You don’t seem like such a Hell raiser, to me,” Bella teased, trying to raise a dead subject and I grinned.

“I’ve also been molded by the United States Army for the last four years, Bella, you don’t raise Hell in the Army, you put it down.”

She held my eyes for a moment and I realized that might have been a tad bit of a harsh statement to make, so I added, “Not if you don’t wanna end up in the brig for any length of time, that is.”

I winked and then directed her attention elsewhere, pointing out the reds, my favorites and poured her a small taste into the glasses that had been left out for people to use.

She wasn’t a big red wine fan.

“Edward Cullen!” I heard from across the small tasting room and I nearly spit my wine out onto Bella’s…

Giggling chest.

Oy.

I’d have known Mrs. Hadley’s voice anywhere and before she’d had the chance to chase me out with her twelve gage shot gun, I hurried Bella back to the truck, making some very poor attempts at politely excusing ourselves through the crowd of wine tasters as the old hag…I mean, woman…chased us out of her home.

We laughed the entire way back down the road.

“Why do I get the distinct impression that you did more than just raise a little hell around here, in your day?”

“I tried to warn ya, Bella,” I teased but really, it wasn’t exactly funny.

I mean who knew how many wineries she’d actually get to try out with me around.

“Maybe I should just make that list for you, after all,” I started but she wasn’t having it. 

“Edward, really, quite frankly, if I can’t visit Napa’s most prestigiously unknown wineries with a good friend at my side, they I don’t want to visit them, anyway.”

She was so matter of fact and once again, I found myself confused by her utter lack of caution, when it came to me.

Luckily, that was the one and only awkward moment of the day for us.

I mean, other than that whole, conversation that shall not be mentioned, back at the hospital.

It was an amusing after noon, after that.

For me, anyway.

I taught her how to burp.

And she taught me how to work a Canon EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR Camera.

Kind of.

I nearly broke the damn thing, actually.

I got the impression she wasn’t going to be letting me play with it again.

We even managed to get more than just a few minutes of time spent in about two and a half mom and pops, three major wineries and one, special bistro that had been my favorite, growing up.

Bella ordered and we took the food to go.

I had to admit, she had a great attitude about the whole thing.

Had I never visited Napa before, and someone promised me a day of great wine tastings, and I’d then gotten kicked out of most of those wineries because said person was with me…

I’d be pissed.

Not that I was complaining, or anything.

I asked her what she needed such an expensive looking camera for and she proceeded to tell me some things about herself and how she was a computer nerd at heart but her real passion was building websites.

By the time she was done telling me her life plan that she’d had since the ripe old age of ten and three quarters, I was in awe, really.

I mean I hadn’t met many woman computer geeks in my time.

None, actually.

And the more she talked, the more I wanted to listen.

“So, you’re starting up your own business?  That’s cool.”

She did that lip biting thing again, and I asked her, “What?”

“What what?” she asked back.

“What are you holding back?”

“What makes you think I’m…?”

I pointed at her mouth and swirled my finger around, pin pointing what I was…you know, pointing out.  “Your lip…you’re gonna draw blood if you bite down any further.”

She let it go and ran her tongue over it, before continuing and I had to adjust certain…aspects of my anatomy so as to not offend her with my male horniness.

It really sucked being a guy, sometimes.

“It’s nothing, really, just…I have this savings and my plan had always been to do this startup company thing after college, but…”

“But what, it sounds like you’ve got it made, and clearly, you’ve got all your ducks in a row…”

Unlike some of us.

“Yeah…well…Jakes doesn’t exactly think that once we get married, I should…”

She stopped talking and started grabbing at the closest ‘oh shit’ handle as I pulled the truck over.

Abruptly.

‘Cause this next bit was gonna require direct eye contact.

Bella was taken aback a little as I turned my whole body toward her and leaned in some.

It was a little too close, if you know what I mean.  She was…

Damn, she smelled good.

I shook my head.

“Let me get this straight,” I said and she furrowed that cute little brow of hers, intensely.

“The guy who supposedly loves you…wants to marry you…expects you to…” I had to choke the next part out, for some reason.  “Bear his children someday…doesn’t want you to spend the time and money you’ve saved up…doing what you love?”

I’d heard that line of thinking all my life.

From Carlise.

Don’t waste your time on baseball, Edward, it’s the vineyard that’s gonna make you money, not ball games.

“I…” she stumbled a bit and then re-ignited her she devil attitude.

“It’s not that he doesn’t want me to, he…”

“Only cares about himself,” I said.  ‘Cause I knew guys like that.  They were all over Napa.

“Edward,” she spat and I stood my ground.

“Jake happens to be most loyal, selfless…”

“Nice,” I added.

Because I was a little sick and tired of hearing how great this asshole was, to be honest.

Bella huffed and turned away some…which is when I decided to just shut my trap again.

After all, it was her life.  Why did I care so much, anyway?

It wasn’t like I had a life time of giving a crap to hand this woman.  I had a job to get back to in a few short weeks.

Hopefully.

If I could just…stay focused.

Which I most definitely, was not doing…

“Can we just drop it?” she asked and I returned the snarkiness. “Works for me.”

And…so much for the non-existence of awkwardness.

I drove to my dad’s place and put the truck into Park and we sat there for a few minutes.  I found myself imagining Bella with some other guy.

A guy who was nice…loyal, and “selfless”…her words, not mine…and then this guy telling her that once they were married, she wasn’t going to do the things she dreamt of doing, but rather…

What?

Have his babies?  Do his laundry?

I looked over at her.  She didn’t seem like the type to lay down and obey…at least, not since I’d met her but who knew what she’d left behind in Chicago.

“Why’d you come here?” I asked and she only eyed me, sideways.  Her chest heaving like her blood pressure had just increased ten fold and I knew she was keeping something hidden away in that heart of hers.

But then, she didn’t seem to hate the guy, so…

“Bella?”

“I needed…time.”

“From?”

She looked over at me then and I wanted to bash my skull in for making her eyes water like that.

“Can we not talk about this?” she asked and honestly, how was I supposed to say no to that?

“Sure,” I told her and then I started to get out of the truck, feeling half schmuck, half lucky bastard, for all of the goings on of the day and then stopped, feeling like I needed to make the last half of the afternoon up to her, somehow.

I leaned a hand on the door before closing it, as she slid into the driver’s spot.

“You know, I could, maybe show you some of that wine tasting stuff you wanna learn…”

She gave me a look.

It was a Bella Swan original, this one, and I didn’t know what it meant.  She looked, quite thoughtful.

“Tonight?” she asked.

I couldn’t tell if she wanted to blow me off or take me up on that offer, so I granted her an out.   If she wanted it, that was. 

“Sure? Why not?  I mean, unless you’ve got something else you need to do,” I said, letting it hang out there for a minute while she looked at her watch.

And more thoughtfulness ensued.

And I…was an ass.

“I get it…you do have something else you need to do.”

“No no,” she assured me, watery eyes gone, then, replaced by…something.

“Not till way later, anyway, and actually, I’d really…really appreciate it.”

“Okay, then,” I smiled, tapping the truck door and closing it for her.

I suggested she meet me back at Carlisle’s place after she got a chance to change and stuff…and let the Hales know she wouldn’t be home for smothering…and then I headed inside to set up shop.

And wondered, to myself, as I walked past the newly budding vines I’d been working on, just exactly what in the absolute mother of fuck did I think I was doing?

A/N:  When a wine is closed it means there are qualities in it that have yet to present themselves. Often, complex wines open up once poured or decanted.