I imagined that Billy’s longstanding friendship with Charlie would be the point of contention. Billy would fight very hard to be allowed to warn Charlie in a more detailed fashion. A cold one had chosen his only daughter as… a victim, a target, a meal; I could guess how Billy would choose to describe our relationship.
Surely the others, more impartial than Billy, would insist on his silence.
Regardless, Billy’s earlier attempt to alert Charlie to the danger of Carlisle working at the hospital hadn’t gone well. Adding in a heavy helping of the fantastical would certainly not help. Billy had already recognized that himself.
I was nearly home. I would give Carlisle the update and my analysis of the situation. There really wasn’t much else to do. I was positive his reaction would be the same. Much like the Quileutes, we had no option besides following the treaty to the letter.
I darted across the freeway again when there were no cars passing. As soon as I was on the drive, I heard the sound of a familiar engine coming from the garage. I stopped dead in the middle of the single lane and waited.
Rosalie’s red BMW rounded the curve and screeched to a stop.
I waved halfheartedly.
You know I’d hit you if it wouldn’t mess my car up.
I nodded.
Rosalie revved her engine once, then sighed.
“You heard about the game, I guess.”
Just let me go, Edward. I could see in her mind that she had no destination in mind. She only wanted to be away from here. Emmett will stay. That’s enough, isn’t it?
“Please?”
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. I don’t understand why this is so important to you.
“You are important to me, Rose,” I said simply.
Everyone will have more fun without me.
I shrugged. She might be right.
I won’t be nice.
I smiled. “I don’t require nice. I only asked for toleration.”
She hesitated.
“It won’t be that bad,” I promised. “Maybe you’ll win the game soundly, make me look bad.”
One corner of her mouth quirked up as she fought a smile. I get Emmett and Jasper.
She always picked the obvious muscle.
She took another deep breath, instantly regretting our agreement. She tried to imagine being in the same place as Bella and… struggled.
“Nothing is going to happen tonight, Rose. She’s not making any decisions. She’s just going to watch us play a game, that’s all. Think of it as an experiment.”
In that… it might blow up?
I gave her a tired look. She rolled her eyes.
“If it doesn’t work, we’ll regroup and come up with another solution.”
Rosalie had a plethora of other solutions, most of them profane, but she was ready to surrender. She would try… but I could see that she would not work very hard at being civil. It was a start.
I suppose I should change, then. With that, she threw her car into reverse and gunned it back toward the house, climbing from zero to sixty before she was fully out of view. I took the shorter route straight through the forest.
Inside, Emmett was watching four different baseball games at the same time on the big screen. His head was turned away, though, listening to the sound of Rosalie’s car squealing into the garage.
I gestured to the TV. “Nothing you’ll find there will help you win tonight.”
You talked Rose into playing?
I nodded once, and a huge grin split his face.
I owe you one.
I pursed my lips. “Really?”
He was intrigued that I clearly wanted something. Sure, what do you want?
“Your best behavior around Bella?”
Rose flitted through the room and up the stairs, pointedly ignoring us both.
Emmett thought about my request. What exactly does that entail?
“Not terrifying her on purpose.”
He shrugged. “Seems fair.”
“Excellent.”
I’m just glad you’re back. The last months had dragged unusually for Emmett, first with my moods and then with my absence.
I almost apologized, but I knew he wasn’t upset with me now. Emmett lived for the present.
“Where are Alice and Jasper?”
Emmett was watching the games again. Hunting. Jasper wants to be ready. Funny thing—seemed like he was excited for tonight, more than I would have expected.
“Funny,” I agreed, though I had a little more insight into why.
Edward, dear, I can hear you dripping on my floors. Please change into something dry and mop that up.
“Sorry, Esme!”
I dressed for Charlie this time, pulling out one of the more impressive rain jackets that I rarely wore. I wanted to look like a person who was taking the weather seriously, concerned about avoiding the cold and the wet. It was the little details that set humans at ease.
Automatically, I tucked my bottlecap into the pocket of my new jeans.
While I was mopping, I thought about the short journey to the baseball clearing tonight, and realized that—after yesterday—Bella might not be too keen on running with me to our destination. I knew there would have to be some running, but the shorter the distance the better, I assumed.
“Can I borrow your Jeep?” I asked Emmett.
Nice jacket. He chuckled. Do try to stay dry and cozy.
I waited with an overdone expression of patience.
“Sure,” he agreed. “But now you owe me one.”
“I’m delighted to be in your debt.”
I darted back upstairs to the sound of his laughter.
It was a quick conference with Carlisle—like me, he could see no course of action besides continuing on as we were. And then I was hurrying back to Bella.
Emmett’s Jeep was in many ways the most conspicuous of our cars just by sheer size. But there weren’t many people out in the downpour, and the rain would make it hard for anyone to see who was driving. People would assume the massive vehicle was from out of town.
I wasn’t sure how much time Bella would need, so I turned up the street a block from hers to make sure she was ready for me.
Before I was even to the end of the street, I could tell Charlie’s thoughts were in a dither. She must have begun. I caught a glimpse of Emmett’s face in his head. What was that about?
I pulled over by a patch of forest between homes and let the engine idle.
I was close enough now to make out their spoken voices. The nearby houses were not silent, but those other voices, both mental and physical, were easily ignored. I was so attuned to the sound of Bella’s voice by now that I could have picked it out over a stadium full of shouting.
“It’s Edward, Dad,” she was saying.
“Is he?” her father demanded. I tried to make sense of what they were saying about me.
“Sort of, I guess,” she admitted.
“You said last night that you weren’t interested in any of the boys in town,” he remonstrated.
“Well, Edward doesn’t live in town, Dad.… And anyways, it’s kind of at an early stage, you know? Don’t embarrass me with all the boyfriend talk, okay?”
I was able to put together the thread of the conversation then. I tried to understand from Charlie’s emotions how perturbed he was by her revelation, but he seemed extra stoic tonight.
“When is he coming over?”
“He’ll be here in a few minutes.” Bella sounded more agitated about this than her father.
“Where is he taking you?”
Bella groaned theatrically. “I hope you’re getting the Spanish Inquisition out of your system now. We’re going to play baseball with his family.”
There was a second of silence, and then Charlie started laughing. “You’re playing baseball?”
From Charlie’s tone, it was evident that—despite her stepfather’s occupation—Bella wasn’t a huge fan of the sport.
“Well, I’ll probably watch most of the time.”
“You must really like this guy.” He sounded more suspicious now. From the flashbacks running through his head, I thought he must be trying to piece together how long this relationship had been going on. He felt newly justified in his suspicions of the night before.
I revved the engine and made a quick U-turn. She’d finished her prep work, and I was anxious to be with her again.
I parked behind her truck and darted up to the doorway. Charlie was saying, “You baby me too much.”
I pressed the doorbell, and then flipped my hood up. I was good at passing for human, but it felt a lot more important right now than it usually did.
I heard Charlie’s footsteps coming toward the door, closely followed by Bella’s. Charlie’s mind seemed to be vacillating between anxiety and humor. I thought he was still enjoying the idea of Bella willingly being involved in a baseball game; I was almost positive I had it right.
Charlie opened the door, his eyes focused at about my shoulder height; he’d been expecting someone shorter. He readjusted, and then staggered half a step back.
I’d experienced the reaction often enough in the past that I didn’t need clearer thoughts to understand. Like any normal human, suddenly standing just a foot away from a vampire would send adrenaline racing through his veins. Fear would twist in his stomach for just a fraction of a second, and then his rational mind would take over. His brain would force him to ignore all the little discrepancies that marked me as other. His eyes would refocus and he would see nothing more than a teenage boy.
I watched him come to that conclusion, that I was just a normal boy. I knew he would be wondering what his body’s strange reaction had been about.
Abruptly an image of Carlisle flitted through his head, and I thought he must be comparing our faces. We really didn’t look much alike, but the similarities in our coloring were enough for most people. Maybe it wasn’t enough for Charlie. He was definitely dissatisfied about something.
Bella was watching nervously over Charlie’s shoulder.
“Come on in, Edward.” He stepped back and gestured for me to follow. Bella had to dance out of his way.
“Thanks, Chief Swan.”
He sort of smiled, almost unwillingly. “Go ahead and call me Charlie. Here, I’ll take your jacket.”
I shrugged it off quickly. “Thanks, sir.”
Charlie gestured to the small living room alcove. “Have a seat there, Edward.”
Bella made a face, clearly wanting to be on our way.
I chose the armchair. It seemed a little forward to take the sofa, where Bella would have to sit next to me—or Charlie would. Probably better to keep the family together for an official first date.
Bella didn’t like my choice. I winked at her while Charlie was settling himself.
“So I hear you’re getting my girl to watch baseball,” Charlie said. Amusement was winning in his expression.
“Yes, sir, that’s the plan.”
He chuckled aloud now. “Well, more power to you, I guess.”
I politely laughed along.
Bella jumped to her feet. “Okay, enough humor at my expense. Let’s go.” Hurrying back to the hall, she shoved her arms into her own jacket. Charlie and I followed. I grabbed my jacket on the way and slipped it on.
“Not too late, Bell,” Charlie cautioned.
“Don’t worry, Charlie, I’ll have her home early,” I said.
He eyed me keenly for a second. “You take care of my girl, all right?”
Bella performed another dramatic groan.
It felt more satisfying than I would have thought to say the words “She’ll be safe with me, I promise, sir” and be confident that they were true.
Bella walked out.
Charlie and I laughed together again, though this time it was more genuine on my part. I smiled at Charlie and waved as I followed Bella outside.
I didn’t get very far. Bella had frozen on the small porch, staring at Emmett’s Jeep. Charlie crowded behind me, looking to see what had slowed Bella’s determination to escape.
He whistled in surprise. “Wear your seat belts,” he said gruffly.
Her father’s voice galvanized her. She dashed out into the pouring rain. I kept my speed human but used my considerably longer legs to get to the passenger side first and open the door for her. She hesitated for a moment, eyeing the seat, then the ground, then the seat again. She took a deep breath and bent her legs as though about to jump. Charlie couldn’t see much of us through the Jeep’s windows, so I lifted her into the seat. She gasped in surprise.
I walked around to my door, waving to Charlie again. He waved back perfunctorily.
Inside the car, Bella was struggling with the seat belt. Holding a buckle in each hand, she looked up at me and said, “What’s all this?”
“It’s an off-roading harness.”
She frowned. “Uh-oh.”
After a second of searching, she found a tongue, but it wouldn’t fit into either of the two buckles she tried it with. I chuckled once at her baffled expression, then snapped all her attachments into place. Her heart drummed louder than the rain when my hands brushed across the skin of her throat. I let my fingers trail across her collarbones once before I settled into my seat and started the engine.
As we pulled away from the house she said, sounding a little alarmed, “This is a… um… big Jeep you have.”
“It’s Emmett’s. I didn’t think you’d want to run the whole way,” I admitted.
“Where do you keep this thing?”
“We remodeled one of the outbuildings into a garage.”
She eyed the empty harness behind my back. “Aren’t you going to put on your seat belt?”
I just looked at her.
She frowned and started to roll her eyes, but the expression got stuck midroll.
“Run the whole way?” Her voice rose to a higher octave than usual. “As in, we’re still going to run part of the way?”
“You’re not going to run,” I reminded her.
She moaned. “I’m going to be sick.”
“Keep your eyes closed, you’ll be fine.”
Her front teeth bit deep into her lower lip.
I wanted to reassure her—she would be safe with me. I leaned over to kiss the top of her head. And then I flinched.
The rain in her hair affected her scent in a way I hadn’t expected. The burn in my throat, which had seemed so stable, seized me in a sudden flare. A groan of pain escaped my lips before I could block it.
I straightened up at once, putting space between us. She was staring at me, confused. I tried to explain.
“You smell so good in the rain.”
Her expression was wary as she asked, “In a good way, or in a bad way?”
I sighed. “Both, always both.”
The rain pelted the windshield like hail, sharp and loud, sounding more solid than a liquid. I turned onto the off-road track that would take us as deep into the forest as the Jeep could go. It would cut a few miles off the run.
Bella stared out the window seemingly lost in thought. I wondered whether my answer had upset her. But then I noticed how tightly she was bracing herself against the window frame, her other hand gripped around the edge of her seat. I slowed down, taking the ruts and the rocks as smoothly as I could.
It seemed as though every method of travel besides her lethargic dinosaur of a truck was unpleasant to her. Maybe this bumpy ride would make her less loath to travel the most convenient way.
The track died in a small open space surrounded by close-packed fir trees—there was just enough room to turn a vehicle around in order to head back down the mountain. I shut off the engine, and suddenly it was nearly silent. We’d run through the storm; it was just misting now.
“Sorry, Bella,” I apologized. “We have to go on foot from here.”
“You know what? I’ll just wait here.”
She sounded breathless again. I tried to read her face to see how serious she was. I couldn’t tell if she was really that frightened, or being stubborn.
“What happened to all your courage?” I demanded. “You were extraordinary this morning.”
The corners of her lips twisted up into a very small smile. “I haven’t forgotten the last time yet.”
I dashed around the car to her side, wondering about that smile. Was she teasing me a little?
I opened the door for her, but she didn’t move. The harness must still be an impediment. I worked quickly to free her.
“I’ll get those,” she protested. But it was already done before she could add, “You go on ahead.”
I considered her expression for a moment. She looked a little nervous, but not terrified. I didn’t want her to give up on traveling with me. For one thing, it was the simplest way of getting around. But more than that… before Bella, running had been my favorite thing. I wanted to share it with her.
But first I had to convince her to give it another try.
Maybe I would attempt a more dynamic form of dazzling.
I thought through all our past interactions. In the early days, I’d often misinterpreted her reactions to me, but now I saw things through a new filter. I knew that if I looked into her eyes with a certain intensity, she would often lose her train of thought. And then when I kissed her, she forgot all kinds of things—common sense, self-preservation, and even life-sustaining activities like breathing.
“Hmmm…” I considered how to proceed. “It seems I’m going to have to tamper with your memory.”
I lifted her out of the Jeep and set her gently on her feet. She stared at me, a little nervous, a little excited.
She raised her eyebrows. “Tamper with my memory?”
“Something like that.”