Love Comes from Unexpected Places

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Surprise Offer

Bella pursed her lips glaring over at her cousin as she sat beside Edward in the living room, her brown eyes locked on Sophia as she tried to settle a fussy Mia. Edward took her hand in comfort watching as Carlisle and Esme tried to calm a furious Charlie. 

The chief of police had hulled Edward into the house and had called them when he had seen that Sophia's engine had indeed been removed; he couldn't believe that the delinquent thought that doing something like that was okay. 

"I don't know what you are teaching that kid of yours Carlisle," Charlie murmured shaking his head, he had always been quite fond of the Cullen family before Edward had become involved with his daughter. 

Now it seemed that the only time he saw either Carlisle or Esme was when their son had caused his family some sort of trouble.

Carlisle shared a look with his wife knowing that they didn't need Charlie pressing charges because Edward had caused criminal damage to Sophia's car. 

"We are truly sorry and we will be punishing Edward when we get home for his misguided actions," Carlisle said hoping that this might calm Charlie, he didn't want the human getting upset over something that could be easily fixed. 

Edward gave Bella's hand a squeeze knowing that he wouldn't be punished for trying to keep Sophia and Mia safe and away from their natural enemies. 

"You also have our word that we will pay to have Sophia's car fixed," Esme said offering a warm smile to Charlie, she didn't want him keeping Edward away from his mate even if he had been stupid to mess with Sophia's car. 

Sophia wasn't anything to do with their family and Esme hoped that she would warm to them in her own time after hearing from Alice how much Sophia disliked them. 

"Your word doesn't mean quite a lot to me right now, not after what your son did to my daughter," Charlie stated eyeing the couple, he wanted them to know just how much their son had hurt his daughter. 

Bella looked at her father in horror realising what he was about to do, she really didn't want anyone knowing just how bad she had been when Edward had left her. 

"It was night of the living dead around here, she was in a deep depressed and your son was responsible for that," Charlie said knowing that they deserved to know what sort of mess that they had left behind. 

Charlie doubted that he would ever be able to forgive Edward for what he had done to Bella, she wasn't the same person anymore even if she was trying to pretend that she was. 

Edward stiffened as he stared at Charlie allowing the words to sink in about what Bella had been like, he looked at his girlfriend who looked furious that her father had said that. 

"We are so very sorry Charlie," Esme whispered at the best of times the poor man wasn't sure what to do with his daughter since there was such a weak bond between them. 

Carlisle squeezed his wife's hand knowing that she had suffered the same way when she had lost her baby boy; it was the reason that she had tried to kill herself and ended up becoming a vampire. 

"I just had a wonderful thought... why doesn't Sophia come and work for me at my architect firm," Esme offered looking at Charlie, she wanted to smooth things over with him; hoped that by drawing Sophia closer to the Cullen family that Charlie would warm to them again and allow Edward to see more of Bella. 

Esme could see that Charlie wasn't going to be as forgiving as Bella had been, she didn't want Edward to suffer more than he need to when he had come to his senses at last.  

Sophia eyes widened in horror as she stared at Esme wondering what on earth the woman was playing at; she didn't like the leeches and never would. 

"What about me?" Bella demanded angrily looking at Esme, she didn't like that her future family wanted Sophia around like the pack did. 

Charlie raised an eyebrow at his daughter knowing that there was no way in hell that he would allow her to work for the Cullens; he wanted her to get some space away from them. 

"You still have your job at Newton's Olympic Outfitters," Charlie said thinking about what a good opportunity this would be for Sophia. 

Esme wouldn't mind having Mia around since the baby was so small and she was sure to give Sophia a glowing reference when it came to finding a job in the future; the blonde would work hard to provide for her daughter in anyway and this was a perfect opportunity. 

"Thank you Esme... I'm sure Sophia would love to come and work for you," Charlie said glancing over at his niece as she opened her mouth to refuse; he wasn't going to allow her to waste this opportunity and sit around the house all day just because she didn't like Edward. 

Sophia closed her mouth annoyed knowing that there was no way that she would get away with refusing especially since she couldn't tell her uncle that the Cullens were vampires. 

"Of course," Sophia said bitterly shooting a glare at Esme and Carlisle, she didn't believe the act that they were putting on for her uncle. 

Sophia knew that Paul was going to be furious when he heard what had happened and that she wasn't going to be able to travel down to La Push until her car was fixed. 

***

"Don't think that they are going to welcome you like the pack did," Bella snapped storming into her cousin's bedroom and wrinkled her nose looking around the room in disgust. 

Bella didn't want Sophia thinking that she could steal her place in Edward's family when Esme was only offering Sophia the job to make Charlie happy; Edward had reassured her of this fact. 

Sophia rolled her blue eyes as she cuddled Mia, she knew her cousin would end up coming to see her about the job that she had been offered; the blonde laid back on her bed and settled Mia on her stomach. 

"I'm not interested in the Cullens... I will always be a wolf girl," Sophia replied smiling at the inside joke that Bella would never understand. 

Sophia had no intentions of telling her cousin that she was Paul's imprint, she didn't think that Bella deserved to know any of the tribal secrets especially when she was dating one of the enemy. 

Bella pursed her lips watching Sophia fuss over her daughter, she was sort of glad that Sophia wasn't interested in her future family; it still annoyed her that the pack were more interested in Sophia than they had been in her. 

"Good because Rosalie will despise you and Alice is my best friend," Bella said smugly recalling how unwelcome the blonde vampire had made her feel when she had first started dating Edward. 

Sophia rolled her eyes not really caring, she was only taking the job because Charlie had no idea what was really going on and she didn't want him to get suspicious. 

"You really need to get over yourself," Sophia muttered remaining focused on her daughter, she really didn't know what Bella's problem was but it was probably related to her growing up with Renee and being the responsible one in that relationship. 

Bella huffed annoyed before she stormed back out of Sophia's bedroom and slammed the door after her hoping that her cousin wasn't going to ruin things for her. 

Sophia laughed softly as she continued to play with Mia knowing that she was never going to want to be close with the leeches not when she had Paul.