"Alice," I moaned "I thought you were planning the wedding…"
We were sitting in my kitchen, the tabletop scattered with phone books. Alice sat cross-legged in the middle of the table, rapidly flipping through one on her lap. She didn't even look up to answer me.
"I am, but I want you to pick the place!" She chirped. I groaned and laid my right cheek against a book, gripping the sides of the chair.
"Why can't we just have it at your house?" I glanced up at her and glared darkly. She rolled her eyes as I glared, still not looking up.
"Bella, this is your wedding we're talking about! The biggest day of any woman's life! You have to care about where it's held…" She reached the end of the phone book and set it aside, then reached for another and started flipping through it faster than any speed reader I had ever seen.
"I don't care if I get married on the moon! Now can we please do something else?" I pleaded. Alice was starting to get out of hand with the wedding. After going through dozens of types of flowers and going shoe shopping for my dress, I felt I had been tortured enough. With the sound of the garage door opening I sprang to my feet, knocking the chair over.
"Charlie's home!" I gasped, jumping at the loud bang the chair made when it hit the floor. Alice already had the phonebooks stacked up into a neat pile on the table.
"Calm down Bella," she warned, "why would he get suspicious of a few phone books?"
I bit my lip. "He found that wedding catalog you gave me." I glared slightly at her. "You promised to keep this wedding a secret!" I couldn't help but feel angry, and I felt myself fold my arms.
Alice frowned, but spoke calmly. "Don't worry about it Bella. I need to speak with you about it later." Right when she finished her last word, Charlie walked into the house.
"Bella?" He called. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm in the kitchen!" I quickly straightened up the chair I had foolishly knocked over. When I looked up, Alice was sitting in a chair, her sallow hands folded in her lap. As Charlie walked in, his weary expression quickly changed to a bright smile when he saw Alice. I clumsily sat down and smiled at Charlie. "Hey dad."
"Hey Bells. Hi Alice."
"Hello Charlie." Alice replied politely. Charlie faltered for a moment as he took off his jacket and set it on an empty chair, then walked to the fridge opened the door, examining his options. I just remembered I'd forgotten all about dinner and quickly stood up, once again knocking over my chair. Charlie jumped and looked up from the door.
"Sorry Dad, I forgot about dinner. I suppose I could order you a pizza-"
"Don't worry about it," He cut me off, closing the door, "I'm going out tonight."
I sighed with relief and set my chair upright again, sitting down. "Are you going fishing or something?"
There was a long pause before Charlie answered. "No, Bella. I'm going to dinner with someone."
I looked up at Charlie, my mind filling with confusion. "Are you going out to eat with Billy or something?"
He glanced at Alice, who was staring out the window, pretending not to listen. "No, Bella." Charlie sighed heavily. "Her name is Jacqueline. She's my new partner at work."
My mind filled to the rim with confusion. Charlie-my Charlie- was going on a date. I shuddered at the "d" word. For as long as I could remember, my father has been single, until now. I struggled for the right words.
"Oh, well…Have fun." I managed a smile then stood up. Alice snapped her head away from the window and stood up as well, giving me a concerned look. I turned away from her and heard a faint sigh come from her.
"I'm sorry Bella," Charlie said feebly. I looked up at him and frowned as his cheeks were blotched with red. He must have been embarrassed for saying all of this in front of Alice, "There's some food in the fridge you can eat." His tone was trying to sound hopeful.
"That's alright, Charlie," Alice suddenly piped in, "Bella can eat dinner at our house." She grabbed her white jacket and pulled it on. I sighed and grabbed my black one, which was lying next to Charlie's on the chair, and slipped it on.
"That's fine, bye Bella." Charlie looked at me, weary and hopeful at the same time.
"Bye Charlie, have fun on your….Have fun." I concluded as I walked out the front door with Alice.
We drove to the Cullen's house in silence.
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