Riding The Rails Chapter 5

Once again Thanks much to my Beta’s and Caz. 

RIDING THE RAILS

SM owns Twilight and characters – I’m only taking them for a ride.

CHAPTER 5

ALMOST VACATION TIME

Thursday 7:00pm

Alice took the time to prepare her cousin’s favorite dish, her signature lasagna, as she formulated a plan to get him to help her move that upcoming weekend. She wanted to get the small things out of her former place but knew that she would need help with them.

She left early so she would arrive at the train station in plenty of time to pick Edward up. Alice was leaning against the hood of the car when the train arrived and the passengers disembarked.

“Hey, Swan,” Alice heard a masculine voice call out in a rude tone, and she turned her head toward the sound. “Swan!” It was a large Native American man. She turned her gaze in the direction that he was glaring and saw the object of his bellowing—another railroad employee. A female employee, at that. The young lady’s shoulders slumped for a moment as she turned to face the large man. Alice’s mind suddenly spun as she put together the pieces.

Swan.

Railroad.

Oh. My. God, that’s my new landlord! 

She continued to watch the interaction between the two and noticed that it did not look comfortable. As she focused on the scene before her, Edward approached.

=/=/=/=/=/=/=

“What are you doing, cuz?” he greeted her.

  

Alice jumped, startled, and slapped him on the chest. “Don’t do that when I’m engrossed!”

“Engrossed in what?” he asked. Alice nodded her head in the direction she had been looking. Edward followed Alice’s gaze to see a female railroad employee engaged in a heated conversation with a large and brutish fellow employee. The woman quickly turned away, but the man grabbed her forearm and spun her back around to face him.

Edward dropped his briefcase and started to make a move toward them, unsure of where the urgent need to protect the woman had come from. Before Edward had a chance to advance, the woman said something to the large man and it made him visibly flinch and drop her arm. They parted ways, boarded their respective cars, and the train left. Edward turned and saw Alice staring at him.

 

“What?” he asked.

“Seriously, Edward? You looked like you were going over there to rip his head off.”

 

“Well, sorry! I don’t like to see women manhandled,” he replied. He picked up his briefcase and headed towards the car with a backward glance to the departing train.  “So to what do I owe this pleasure?” 

“What do you mean, Edward?” Alice responded. “I’ve been picking you up from the station for weeks.”

“Yeah, but never on time,” he countered.

=/=/=/=/=/=/=

When they arrived back at Edward’s house, he became immediately suspicious. There was a bottle of wine sitting on the table, and he could smell the mouthwatering aroma of pasta and garlic bread.

“Alice, what’s up? Did you not take that rental unit after all?”

“What? No, I’m still moving. Jeez, is it that bad having me here?” she answered with a little bit of hurt in her voice.

“No, it’s not bad. It’s just that you’re being so vague in what you want. I can usually read you better than this. I’ve had a shitty week and I really don’t want to play games.”

“Okay, Edward. Let’s have some dinner and I’ll give you the lowdown on everything.”

Half an hour later, after they had finished their dinner, the conversation turned to the topic at hand.

“Really, Alice? You want me to spend all weekend, on no notice whatsoever, helping you pack up and move?” Edward complained, after she’d landed the small bombshell on him not a moment before.

“Edward, it will only take maybe half a day at the most. I just need you to help me pack up some small things.”

“I thought you were hiring a company to move you. I don’t have the time to spend all weekend out of town.”

“I am hiring a crew, Edward. I just need help moving the small things that were left to us by Grandma. I really thought you would be interested in helping with those at least. Maybe I was mistaken,” Alice said sadly.

“Wow, pip-squeak, nothing like making someone feel like shit. Since you put it that way, I’ll do it.” He just managed to avoid another slap to his chest for that comment.

Friday 1:00pm.

Bella took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, rolling her shoulders. Fuck! I thought this fucking week would never end, she thought as she started her car and pulled out of the station’s parking lot. Driving home, she went over some of the plans she had for the next week. According to what Mrs. Cope had told her during their phone call on Monday, her new tenant wanted to put a portable storage unit on the driveway until she could get into the unit. Guess I’ll be making a call to the village when I get home to check on a permit. Plus, I need to contact the appliance store; it’s been well over two weeks, and the appliances should have been installed by now.

Thinking of everything she needed to do to finalize the rental unit, she remembered more of her conversation with the realtor.

“Oh, Bella, she is such a nice young lady! She really loved the place and seemed so excited about moving in. I know that it will be perfect. I feel that the two of you will even become good friends.”

When Bella arrived home, she found that she had a hard time concentrating on the few tasks she had planned. Her mind wandered to thoughts of a man with bronze hair, and the fact that she hadn’t seen him on the train all week. In truth, she hadn’t seen him since the night of Emmett’s birthday party at The Depot.   ..

Somehow she ended up  successful in completing some of the tasks, and she learned that no permit would be required for the storage unit. She also received reassurances that the appliances would be delivered and installed on Wednesday. Finally some good news. Miss Cullen can move in the following weekend. She made one final call to Mrs. Cope to give her the news.

Hmm…now that my tenant will be moving in, I think I’ll have a barbeque to break the ice, she decided. I need a few more friends, especially women. Rosalie was really the only female friend Bella had, and most of the time she was preoccupied with Emmett.

Deciding that she wouldn’t get much more done in her current state of mind, she headed to the park. Maybe with a bit of luck I’ll see Mr. Volvo there.

=/=/=/=/=/=/=

As she walked the last lap of the four-mile trek she’d committed herself to, her mind replayed the previous day’s run-in with Seth.

“Hey, Swan!” she heard Seth yell out. She’d been fortunate enough to avoid direct contact with him all week. Why did today have to be different? She turned toward the “summons”, as that was how it had felt, and saw the 6’2” man stalking toward her with a determined look on his face.

“Oh, fuck,” she moaned to herself. He’s in defense mode.

“Seth,” she greeted him with a blank look on her face.

“Bitch,” he responded.

“What do you want, Seth? I‘d hoped you’d be gone this week, off with Jacob chasing after Rachel’s tail. Guess I wasn’t so lucky after all.”

He took a step toward her, a low growl emitting from his chest. “Why the fuck are you still around here after what you did to Jake?”

“Whoa, back the fuck up!” she stopped him, looking around for any passengers that may have overheard him. Can’t afford this shit getting out, she thought. “What do you mean what I did to Jake?” 

“Well, Swan, you tossed his ass out of his house with no reason. He had to sleep on my couch for a week until he could find a place to live.”

“Seriously? Are you fucking kidding me? No reason!? I’m sorry. I thought that when I came home early and found him mounting Lauren like a fucking dog while she had her face buried in Jessica’s pussy that THAT would be a valid reason!”

“You’re just jealous,” he snapped back. “He always said he wanted that with you, but you wouldn’t double up. So he calls them when he wants it.”

“Wait one fucking minute!” she all but yelled at him. “He ‘calls’ them when he wants that?” Shit, how long has this been going on? And our friends knew! How could I have been so blind? A sudden wave of nausea overcame her, and Bella turned to walk away but Seth grabbed her arm.  Her head whipped around, and she glared at his hand on her forearm. “Be careful, Seth. I once spent thirty days in jail when my ex-husband grabbed my arm.” Bella snarled the warning, and Seth’s eyes widened. He dropped his hand and stepped back.

“Hey, Bella.” She was brought out of her reverie by the sound of her name being called. She looked around and found the source of the greeting on the basketball court. 

“Hi, Sam. Hi, Paul. How’s it going?” she asked.

“Pretty good,” Sam replied. “Are you going to The Depot tonight?” 

“No, not tonight. I’ve had a real shitty week, and I’m in the mood for some karaoke. I’m thinking of heading to The Falcon instead.”

The Falcon was a fairly new club in St. Charles that was known for its play on the Maltese Falcon era. On Friday nights they sponsored karaoke.

“Oh, okay. Maybe we’ll see you there,” Sam answered, giving Paul a conspiratorial look before they turned to walked away.

Bella rose from the bench and pulled out her phone, pressing speed dial. “Hey, Jazz, I need a DD,” was the last comment that Sam and Paul heard as they walked away.

Sam winked at Paul and quickly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Hey, Edward. It’s Sam. You fancy coming out to The Falcon tonight?”