#epov

This year is different, though. I make the mistake of showing up early, and when I open my first beer, Rose immediately pulls it out of my hand. "Hey!" I protest, reaching for it. "It's not even nine in the morning," she scolds, taking a quick sip of her mimosa. "It's Thanksgiving. Time doesn't exist today, and neither does my liver." She ignores my entirely legitimate reason, and says, "You can't drink yet because I need you to take Emily to the parade downtown."

"Hey, Bella," I said, trying to appear the picture of calm I most definitely was not. My heart was pounding in my chest as I took in the woman before me. She looked the same – long, brown hair; soft, brown eyes; and the beginnings of what I hoped was a warm smile – but different, too. She was thinner than I remembered and was wearing a pair of dark-framed, rectangle glasses that made my mind race with all sorts of wildly inappropriate thoughts. She also looked older, more mature, in a way that most definitely suited her. In short, she looked professional and definitely not like any professor I had ever had.

And then she did what no woman had ever done before – she raised her eyebrows once, a condescending sneer forming on her lips, before turning and walking away without another word, effectively ignoring me as if I was made of thin air.

wedding august 2014

"Yeah, right. Edward Cullen, romance novelist. I don't think I want my name synonymous with the crap you read anyways." My wife always had her nose in a book, sometimes a classic but usually a Harlequin type. I'd read a few pages of one out of curiosity and women may call it romance, but men call it porn. "I do not read crap. It's actually very romantic with a little smut thrown in for good measure. And most authors use a pen name anyways. You could be, um..." Bella looked thoughtful. "E.A. Masen."

"Long time no see, Edward," she said. "Remember me?" "Um. . . yeah, you're. . ." I said, completely spacing on her name. "Kate." She scowled. "I'm Kate. We had sex the night you were celebrating finishing your residency. Remember me now?" Chick that wanted to play doctor. "Yeah, sorry. What. . . what do you need?" I said, looking at the car seat with a blanket over it. Please, fuck no.

I noticed a girl, struggling to balance an incredibly large number of books in her left arm while attempting to open the door to the building with her right. Even from where I stood, several yards away, I could see she wouldn't be successful. "Hey!" I called to her. "Would you like some help?" I started to walk toward her, expecting her to acknowledge my offer, but instead, she continued to try and pry open the door.