Chapter 1

Another day, another issue, I thought as I kicked the tire on my old red truck. Why does she always seem to die on me when I need her the most? I had barely gotten halfway to work when she sputtered and died. I pulled out my cell phone to call my brother to pick me up. Of course, it took him forever to answer the phone.

"Hey, it's me, Bessie died and I need you to pick me up." I said.

"I'm over at Angela's working. Fuck, Bella. I told you to get a new truck!" Ben, my non-working mooch of a brother who lived with me, yelled.

"Can you come get me, please?" I hung up and dialed my place of work. Cullen's was an upscale eatery downtown.

"Cullen's."

"Hey, Alice, it's Bella. Can you please tell Carlisle that I'll be in as soon as I can? The truck broke down."

"Do you need a lift? I'm sure I can send one of the boys to come and get you," she offered.

I cringed, knowing she meant Jacob, and that wasn't going to work for me. He was the bartender at the restaurant. He had a crush on me, and even though he was a good-looking guy, I wasn't interested in him. "No, thanks, I'm hoping that Ben's on his way. He's at Angela's."

"Again? Don't sweat it, I'll let Dad know and cover you. It's a slow afternoon anyway."

"Thanks." I hung up, kicked the tire again and called Ben back, just to make sure he was on the way.

"I'm almost there," he said and hung up on me.

I called Sam, my mechanic, to come and tow my truck. Once he told me he'd be here soon,I opened the tailgate, so I could sit and watch for Ben. I rubbed my hands down my face and sighed. How did everything get so bad? My 22 year old lazy ass brother had no job and no prospects on the horizon. When I was 18,our parents died and he moved in with me. He blew through his small inheritance in about two weeks, but I was able to use most of mine as a down payment on a house. I used my salary from the restaurant to get us through the day to day stuff. Neither of us attended college, but I was trying to fix that by taking online courses through the local community college. I knew 25 was on the older side to start college, but I wanted to at least have a degree some day. Ben, on the other hand, was trying to be a writer for a blog no one read. Before I could contemplate my life any longer, my brother pulled up. Of course he had Angela, his 'boss' and girlfriend, with him.

I slammed into the backseat and basically sulked until he dropped me off at work. "Don't worry about picking me up, I'll have someone take me home." I stormed out of the car and headed into the restaurant. There weren't any customers, so I was able to clock in and look for Carlisle to tell him I was here. I knocked on his half open door.

"Come in." He said. I entered to see not only Carlisle, but Alice sitting in his office.

"Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to let you know I was here." I went to leave when Alice grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"Have a seat, B. We need to talk." I met Alice in High School when she was a freshman and I was a senior. Despite our age difference, we quickly became best friends. She was taking business classes at the local community college as well as working for her dad. She would eventually take over the restaurant.

"That's never good." I swallowed heavily and sat on the couch.

"Nonsense, you're family, Bella," Carlisle said. "Alice and I were talking about me stepping back a bit around here. My nephew Edward is ready to move back here. He has a degree in Restaurant and Food Service Management. I've decided to bring him to take over for me, "he explained. "This leaves you and Alice to start running the other day to day around here."

"But that's Esme's job." Esme was Carlisle's wife.

"For now." Alice explained. "The 'rents want to retire. This means that Edward, you and I will run this joint." She winked.

"Me?"

"Well, Bella, you are taking accounting courses. This would leave you to take over Esme's job," Carlisle said.

"Really..?" I squeaked out.

"Why are you surprised, B?" Alice slapped my arm. "Edward would run the kitchen, I'd run the floor and you'd take over everything else."

"Wow, I'm speechless."

"Get used to it, Bella. As soon as Edward gets here next week, you're all going to be thrown to the wolves. Now get back to work, ladies." Carlisle dismissed us.

I took a minute to call Sam's for an update on my truck. It didn't look good. He promised to keep me updated on her status.

I ran to check the specials board for dinner and then met Alice back on the floor. She handed me the napkins and she verified all the sugars were full. The rest of the servers would be in for the before dinner meeting within thirty minutes. They'd do the rest of the prep work.

"Hey Alice, are you a little nervous about all of this?"

"Maybe a little, but I always knew I'd be taking over eventually. Why, are you?"

"More like gobsmacked." I shrugged.

"It'll be great, you'll see. "

Dinner went off almost without a hitch. Except for Jacob asking me out, for what felt like the90th time.

"C'mon, Bella, we'll have fun. I guarantee it," he said, smiling wide.

"No, thanks, Jacob. I don't date people I work with," I explained, yet again.

"Then I'll quit. Just one date; I promise you won't regret it." He handed me the beers for table five.

"I'm sure it would be nice, but no, thanks." I picked up my tray and delivered my drinks. As soon as it was done, I cornered Alice. "Hey, can you take me home tonight? Jacob asked me out."

"You're too sexy for your own good." Alice yanked my ponytail. "Let's pick up a bottle of wine on the way, and you've got a deal."

We shook on it and finished our clean up before heading out. We hit the grocery store, and Alice picked out a bottle of wine while I grabbed some chips. Once we got back to my house, I was happy to see Ben was yet again not there. Unfortunately, his mess was.

"You've got to do something about him." Alice said, pushing his stuff off the couch and onto the floor.

"I know, but whenever I bring it up, he makes me feel guilty." I handed her a glass of wine and settled next to her.

"Why do you feel guilty? It's his fault your parents booted him, not yours. He's an adult now and you aren't responsible for him. I can't believe you allow him to be such a pig. He does have a room."

"I don't allow it, Alice. Between school and work, I'm busy. I don't want to hover over him. "

"You can't keep living like this, Bella."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow." I sighed. "Tell me about Edward? I don't think I've met him."

Alice snuggled in for a story. "Well, he's five years older than me, so three older than you. His dad, my Uncle Emmett, was Dad's partner in the restaurant. He and my aunt Rosalie died in a car accident when he was about twelve. He lived with his Gram after that, and he pretty much disappeared. He moved to Farmingdale for college and stayed outside of New York City for a few years, utilizing his degree."

"Farmingdale isn't that far away. Neither is New York. He couldn't take a five hour road trip to visit?"

"I think there were too many memories." Alice shrugged it off. "He swore he'd never return, though, so I wonder what happened."

"I guess we'll learn more when he gets here," I said.

Alice and I chatted for a few more hours, before she left with a promise to pick me up in the morning. I decided to read a few chapters for class while I waited around for Ben to get home, but he didn't so I sent him a 'we need to talk' text, locked up and went to bed.