One Day by RueforRegret

One Day by RueforRegret
Over a quarter of a century separates single-mother Bella Swan from her hormone-riddled adolescence. Watching her teenaged daughter navigate her way through various rites of passage, Bella can't help falling prey to nostalgia. "One Day" brims with steamy reminiscences of first love and traces one woman's mid-life attempt to reclaim it. ExB, AH, mild angst, M-Rated 18 & over.

Remember the last time you stayed up until 3:30 am reading an amazing fic? You don't? Such a shame. I do. It was just the other day when Spanglemaker9 rec'd this WIP on Twitter. I read the summary and was sucked in, and I'm so glad. It's the best thing I've read in ages. It's as good as Starry Eyed Inside and On a Limb and has a similar feel. And Like those stories, this one makes you feel ALL THE THINGS. 

Fortysomething-year-old divorcee Bella's daughter is growing up, and she's feeling old, which means it's time to reminisce. So she does. She pops open a box filled with relics from her first relationship, her first love. And thus we are introduced to fifteen-year-old Bella and seventeen-year-old Edward. We get to see their story play out intertwined with present Bella's life. We also get to see present Bella's commentary in her first love and her actions, which is quite comical. Here's a snippet of their first date-ish encounter. 

Excerpt from Chapter 3

"You're not the talkative type, huh?" he observed.

"I guess not." I tucked my hair over my ear and gave him a quick sideways glance.

"I think I make you nervous. You know, because you don't really know me. Never talk to strangers, right? Your mom told you that?"

"Maybe."

My cocky persona was falling flat on her face. Edward was seeing right through me. What had I gotten myself into?

"Well, maybe you should ask me some questions. Get to know me. Then I won't be a stranger. Good idea?"

This was a great idea, but the questions forming in my mind were all ridiculous.

How come you're so hot? Is it uncomfortable for guys wearing jeans that tight? Can we make out so I can actually kiss a guy before Alice does?

"Um, okay," I said, dismissing these absurd questions from my mind, afraid one of them might actually pop out of my mouth. Getting-to-know-you questions. Surely I could pull something together. "Well, how old are you?"

Perfect. This was perfect.

"Seventeen," he said, the muscle in his jaw jumping as he worked in the piece of gum.

Seventeen? Holy cow!

"How long have you been seventeen? I mean, are you almost eighteen?"

"June. I turned seventeen in June, so, no, I'm not almost eighteen at all. How about you? How old are you?"

I briefly considered lying, but the answer slipped out before my filter could kick in. "Fifteen."

"Fifteen. Huh." Edward pondered. He nodded and squinted at me out of the corner of his eye. "How long have you been fifteen?"

"Eleven months and one week."

"Well, there you go, then. Almost sixteen, right?"

"September thirteenth," I confirmed, a shy smile creeping to the surface. "Three weeks."

"You look really sweet when you smile like that. I like it."

Bella's daughter, Carlie, spots her swooning over memories and an old photo of Edward. She encourages her mother to contact him, even looks him up on LinkedIn. And of course he looks good. 

Excerpt from Chapter 11 

I cross my arms and frown. She's got me there. I watch her type, click the mouse, wait, then type some more. I feel incompetent. I have no idea what she's doing.

"Last name?" Carlie says, her eyes flashing up to mine.

"What do you mean?"

"The Edward guy. What was his last name?"

Reluctantly, I move around the dining room table and perch on a chair beside her. "Cullen. His name was Edward Cullen."

Her fingers fly across the keyboard and then she's staring at the screen, waiting. Within five seconds, the screen fills with images and Carlie clicks on something and then angles the laptop towards me.

My heart comes loose of its moorings and crashes around in my chest cavity because just like that, his face is right in front of me—Edward, a shot of him from the waist up dominating a quarter of the screen space. Twenty-eight years have passed, years which have brought creases to his eyes, lines to his forehead, and a touch of gray to the hair at his temples—but at least he still has hair at his temples.

I wonder how quickly I'd be able to move on from this moment if forty-something-year-old Edward were fat and bald. It's a moot point because he's not. Frankly, he looks incredible—ruggedly handsome, whiskery and tanned, his green eyes as devilish as ever. His arms are crossed. I glance at his left hand. He's not wearing a ring.

I'm doomed.

"Is that him?" Carlie says.

I nod. "Yes." My voice escapes as a breathy whisper. "Yes, that's him."

Carlie's phone pings in the other room and she leaps up to retrieve it. "He's pretty hot for an old guy, Mom," she calls back to me over his shoulder.

"He is, isn't he?" I say, more to myself than to her.

Bella reluctantly and excitedly looks him up, and the pair reconnect. YAY!

I can't say enough about this fic. I'm sure you're as drawn in by the writing as I am. RueforRegret has a handle on language. She also has a handle on finding the appropriate voice for each age. And she is funny. Bella's hilarious at any age here, and even though there's drama in her life, it's done so subtly that it doesn't overshadow the story or spin it in a dark direction. It is written much like life. It just is what it is. This story is fantastic. If you skip it, I feel sad for you because it's that good. Go read it. But start early because you won't be able to stop. And leave her lots of love because this gem is very under appreciated. But not by me!