CHAPTER 3
The day after the party, Alice and Rose showed up on my doorstep bright and early.
"Girls, if you keep on coming here and neglecting your duties at home, your husbands might leave you," I warned them as I weeded my modest garden.
"As if that will ever happen." Rose snorted.
"But we just wanted to see our cousin! Is that such a crime?" Alice pouted.
Alice always had the power to make me feel guilty even when I knew I shouldn't be. "Sorry," I muttered.
"Don't worry about it." Alice waved her hand. "So how did it go?"
"How did what go?" I asked as I entered the kitchen. The two of them trailed behind me.
"The walk home!" Alice cried impatiently. "What happened?"
"Nothing," I answered, lifting the lid off one of the pots on the stove. While Alice and Rose unsuccessfully tried to make me talk about Edward, I quickly prepared a simple vegetable soup, ladled some into bowls, and set them on the wooden table. My friends were watching me the whole time, gauging my reaction to their teasing.
"Nothing happened? No way," Alice told me disbelievingly. "What did you and Edward talk about?" She and Rose dug into their food but kept their eyes on me.
"Um, I don't really remember." Most of the conversation was about me, anyway. He always had questions about me. Besides, I was too busy admiring him to pay attention to what we were saying. "Cut it out, you two. He'll be going home today and we won't see him ever again," I admonished.
"Bella, you're wrong. We will see him again," Rose declared, looking out the window.
I followed her gaze and gasped. Edward stood outside the door, looking around him in interest.
"Good morning, Bella," he said politely when I opened the door. He handed me a bouquet of flowers. Freesias. Good Lord, he really was paying attention last night!
"Oh, Bella! Your favourite!" Alice squealed, ducking under my arm.
"Hi, Edward." Rose appeared over my shoulder.
"Hello, Alice, Rose." He nodded to them, then turned to me. "Bella, I hope I haven't come at a bad time."
Until that moment, I was tongue-tied. I cleared my throat. "Um, no. I've just finished my chores."
"Oh, good!" His smile was as bright as the sun. "I was wondering whether you could come join me for a walk?"
"Oh," I started. My head was spinning. Why was he here, at my doorstep, asking for my company? "I-I thought you had gone home," I stammered.
He shook his head and gave me one of his intense stares. "I want to see more of—Ford. Will you be my guide?"
I didn't think anybody could say no to those eyes. I nodded, waving goodbye to my friends as I stepped beside him.
I tried to think of a time when a boy gave me this much attention and came up blank. Boys were usually mean to me, saying I was too homely for their tastes. When I thought about it, I realized that no one had ever given me the time of day except for my family and friends. With my poor background and unremarkable looks, I was a nobody in a place where physical beauty was the norm and material wealth was a necessity.
It was in this state of jumbled thoughts that I walked around town beside him. I dutifully pointed out places to him and he listened quietly as I explained as much fact and history as I could remember. Then he asked me more questions about the place or about myself. He seemed oblivious to the stares we were getting. Of course people would stare! Even I thought it bizarre for this handsome single man to spend the day with the town reject.
He persuaded me to have dinner with him in a fancy restaurant I had never been into. I was momentarily fazed by the ornate furnishings and the well-dressed patrons, but he calmed me with his dazzling smile.
"Why did you bring me here?" I wondered aloud. He knew I was not used to this kind of luxury.
"I just want to give you a new experience," he explained. "What do you want to eat, Bella?"
I scanned the menu and realised the entrees were in a foreign language I couldn't understand. Italian, maybe? I pointed to the first thing that caught my eye, hoping it tasted good. He smiled, ordering the same for himself, so I reckoned it must be.
As we waited for the food, he sat back and his expression transformed into one I knew all too well. It was the same expression he had yesterday, when he questioned me relentlessly. He had asked me so much about myself already that I didn't think he would have any questions left. Why did he seem to find me so interesting?
"So, Bella, what do you see yourself doing, say, a few years from now?"
So it was going to be one of those questions. "The same I've always been doing, I guess." I shrugged.
"You mean, stay at your father's home? Take care of him and the house?" he clarified.
I nodded. "What else is there to do?"
"Don't you want to have your own family someday?"
"I'd given up on marriage a long time ago," I said, eliciting a frown from him. "If I were destined to become a wife, it should have happened years ago. I guess I'm just not wife material."
He didn't seem happy with my answer. "You speak too lowly about yourself."
"That's the general consensus."
"You shouldn't put too much stock into what others think. Most of them are so blinded to the truth," he scolded me. "Anyway, there must be something you want to do."
I thought about how I loved to read anything I could get my hands on: an old newspaper that served as a covering for meat that Father had bought at the market; the back of a milk bottle; or a discarded magazine. I was often brought to places I'd never been to whenever I read them. It was an ideal escape from the dismal reality of my life.
"Travel," I decided. "I want to travel. But I don't have any money so I don't know how that's going to happen."
"You never know what could happen in the future." He winked, then straightened up as our orders arrived.
Huh. The food with the fancy name was in fact some sort of mushroom dish. It looked simple enough, but as I took the first bite, I couldn't help closing my eyes in pleasure.
We ate in silence, enjoying the meal and each other's company. I admitted to myself that I was happy spending the day with him. As he asked more questions and I revealed more of myself to him, I secretly wished he would not be turned off by what he learned about me. I really wanted to be his friend.
When we were finished, I smiled up at him timidly. "Thank you. That was the best dinner I've ever had," I told him sincerely. Not just because of the food, but also because of the person I shared it with, I thought, but I was too shy to say it to him.
He grinned back at me, shaking his head. "Honestly, I think your cooking is so much better."
I blushed furiously. What was it with this man and his compliments? It was a bit difficult to get used to him saying so many nice things about me.
We walked some more around town before returning home. Before he left, he paused at the doorway. "Can I come back again tomorrow?"
We'd covered the whole island in just one day. There was nothing more to see in Ford. I told him as much, but he still insisted on coming. "B-but I have chores to do! I'm seriously behind on my sewing," I stuttered, desperately looking for a way out as I retreated back into my shell.
"That's all right. We'll just stay at your house, then. You do whatever you want to do, I'll just stay and talk, or help you if you want," he assured me.
I was confused. "Edward, why are you doing this?"
He frowned. "Bella, I like you. I want to spend time with you. Is that too hard to believe?"
It was actually. But I didn't say that. I knew it would make him frown, which would mar his perfect face again. Instead, I said, "People will talk."
"I don't care what other people think," he interrupted fervently. "All I care about is what you think. Do you or do you not want me there tomorrow?"
Was he joking? Of course I wanted to see him again, and I told him as much.
He looked strangely relieved.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you Edwardsfavoritebrunette, TDS88, and PTB mod Remylebeauishot for the awesome beta work. :))
Chapter End Notes:
Unimaginative, that I am. I couldn't think of any other first "date" food for Eddie and Bellie aside from that damn mushroom ravioli. It was where it all started, after all. Besides, it does look scrumptious, don't ya think? ;P
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