Okay so this chapter when way differently than it was originally thought out in my mind but well it is written and wow not sure how you all will like but prolly not what you expected ENJOY
Chapter 26
I pull Edward's car into the driveway along side what must be my mom and Phil's rental car…nervous waves crash through me and I have to grab a hold of the steering wheel in order to stop the trembles in my hands. My mother and Phil have been here since about noon alone with Edward, what if something when wrong? My deep breath sounds loud and shrill as I force myself out of the car and towards the house. The front door opens before I even get halfway up the walk, my mother's arms encircle me, and I force a smile.
"Oh wow, Bella I didn't know how much I missed you until I got here!" She exclaims into my ear causing me to wince.
"Yeah, missed you too, mom." I smooth down my clothes and start towards the house again. As I step through the door Phil's large arm drapes across my shoulder pulling me into a slight embrace.
"Hey, there. Hope you liked your birthday gift." He says with a half smile and a wink.
"Loved it, thanks." I reply tossing my book bad on the floor by the dinning room table.
"Bella, I hope you don't go cluttering up this house with your junk like that often, besides Edward could trip on that bag." My mother scolds me making me feel about 6.
"It's all right, Mrs. Dwyer," I hear Edward try to come to my rescue but nobody can have an opinion around my mother.
"No, no, Edward I raised here better than that…go put it in your room." Her voice is exactly as I remember it tight, tense, and commanding. I do what anyone in the situation would do; I grab my bag and hurry off towards my room feeling embarrassed.
I take a few minutes to collect myself; standing in front of my mirror, I fight to push all my emotions down and away. A slight rap on the door has be squeaking, "Come in." My breath is stolen from me until Phil's face peeks in through a small opening, exhaling in relief that it isn't my mother I relax.
"Don't mind your mother too much, Bella. You know how she gets sometimes." He says leaning against the once again closed door. "You know she was pleasant until she heard you pull up in the drive." He chuckles.
"Guess I bring out the best in her don't I?" I turn to look out my window avoiding his eyes.
"Just let her relax a bit, she's just worried that you are burdening Edward, becoming a nuisance and all."
"She has nothing to worry about; Edward and I get along fine."
"So you two have become…friends." He states more than asks but I feel obligated to reply.
"Yeah, I guess."
"Good." He clears his throat loudly and I turn away from the window to look at him, "Your mother and I want to take you two out to dinner tonight before we head back to the hotel, I'd suggest wearing something to uh, make your mother happy."
I frown at him, "I am not wearing a dress." I grumble thinking about the one and only dress I would have to wear to please my mother.
"A skirt?"
"Fine, but that is where I draw the line."
"Just don't come out wearing that and a hoodie, that last time you had that idea she about had a conniption fit." He says before smiling at me as he closes the door behind him.
I grab my jean skirt from the back of the closet and throw a blouse I know my mother loves on my bed along side it. The skirt is knee length and the blouse while not too girly does sport lace trim. I wonder where we are going and how long I will have to wear this outfit. I throw on the clothes and head back out to the front room with a fake smile on my face just to make my mother happy.
Edward's eyes are on me as I enter the room; my mother is fussing over how dusty the blinds are while Phil is seated next to Edward on the couch. I glance at Phil wondering if he has noticed that Edward's staring at me a little. He doesn't give any indication that he does.
"Bout time you got back out here, Bella. Let's all sit down and catch up." My mother smiles at me and joins Phil on the couch and I take a seat in the chair making sure to mind my knees and legs correctly not wanting to entice Edward any more than I am.
"So Bella, Edward doesn't appear to be malnourished or lacking but you need to make sure you dust every once in a while, and I think the shower has a bit of soap scum, not to mention…"
"You already made her a list, dear." Phil cuts her off and places his arm around her shoulder.
"I'll be sure to keep up on what ever you wrote down, mom." I fidget with my skirt, cross my legs and uncross them before settling on just keeping my knees together.
"Bella, is wonderful Mrs. Dwyer, you have a great daughter I couldn't ask for a better helper around here." Edward praises me and I feel my cheeks heat up at the compliment.
"I'm glad; Bella has always wanted an older brother." She smiles and I do my best to just smile back and not react to what Edward being my brother would mean—incest. Ewwww, he is so not like a brother.
The conversation stalls for the rest of the time we are at the house, the four of us just watched the news until Phil decided it was time to head out to the restaurant. Two cars I almost got excited but then my hopes crashed and burned I would be riding with my mother, to give Phil and Edward time to catch up.
My mother and me in Edward's car and Edward and Phil in the rental, oh crap I think as I turn onto the road following Phil.
"Edward being nice to you?" She asks but what she really wants to ask is something a little less innocent.
"Yeah, he is a nice guy, not a picky eater." I say concentrating on the road and not her expressions, they would only make me more on edge.
"Making any friends at school?"
"Uh, yeah tons everyone wants to be my friend here, you know being the new girl and all."
"Oh? Any boys ask you out?"
"Don't be silly, mom, you know I don't date I have to concentrate on my school work so I can get into college."
"That's my girl, you always did have a good head on your shoulders." my eyes focus on the road straight ahead never once giving away anything other than what I say. Will I be able to fool her?
She quits questioning me to stare out the window as we pass all the green.
"What's wrong, Bella? You have seemed tense all day." She asks just when I thought I was in the clear.
"Nothing…" I sigh trying to think of something, hell she knows me too well and my lies have to be showing, "I just got in a fight with one of the girls at school today." I mumble hoping she doesn't want details, so I offer a little more to please her curiosity. "She didn't like what I was wearing and called me a geek it hurt my feelings."
"Awww, honey don't let one girl spoil your day." She says believing my lies must be the darkened car.
epov
"You got enough room there, son?" Phil asks me startling my nerves already strung up as high as they can go, have been since they arrived.
"Yeah, sure…You know where were going?" I ask and I get a silent nod.
"That leg healing well?"
"They aren't gonna let me play again, just so you know. I mean nothing is official as of yet but it just comes down to the fact that I am replaceable. There is always another hot shot looking for their in." I rattle off and glance at the man beside me feeling as though I some how let him down. He is probably one of the reasons I wanted to play to begin with, him and my dad.
"You got any other plans yet?"
"Nawh, I mean besides Bella, you are the first person I have told. I don't think I have accepted it yet." I sigh, run my fingers through my hair, and sink into the seat behind me a little further.
He looks at me at the next stop, his eyes deep and hard riddled with meaning. As we pull away and speed back up, I feel like he is gonna say something though I have no idea what. Tell me what I should do with my life now that baseball isn't my one and only career.
"You know," He pauses to glance at me again and our eyes lock for a minuscule amount of time and he starts again, "You know she has only just turned 17."
I feel my eyes widen wondering what he is talking about exactly. My back tenses and I force my gaze to look over at the man beside me. Not breathing and definitely my heart must have stopped beating, cause inside this car it is dead quiet. The silence continues for what seems like an eternity.
"I see they way you look at her and how much more tense you got when she arrived home from school. Now, Edward, I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but she is my daughter. I only hope that you are as honorable of a young man as your father claims."
I say quiet still not sure what to say. Is he gonna tell her mother? This maybe sounding all well and good so far but the wrath of Bella's mother is another story.
"Just tell me the truth." He says with a sigh. "I don't want to act on this if I don't have to, but I'm too young to be a grandfather."
"No, no…I mean I haven't I would never." I stammer unable to get a thought through my pitiful brain.
"Good, let's keep it that way for the time being, like I said she is only 17."
Shit, is all I can think as we drive the rest of the way to the restaurant. The rest of the car ride remains eerily silent and I wonder what Phil is thinking. His reaction not what I expected at all and I wonder as to why he hasn't removed my genitals from my person like most fathers who find out a older guy is interested in his daughter.
We pull up into the parking lot and before we open our doors and get out, I have to know.
"Why?"
He chuckles, "Why do I trust you? Or why aren't I mad?"
"Maybe both I guess." I say sheepishly and shrug my shoulders turning to him.
"Edward you may not know this but I think of you like a little brother or maybe a son, hell I don't know anymore, but I watched you grow up, helped raise you for a little while there. Even though it is unorthodox, I can't say in my heart that you are a bad young man. In a couple years your two's ages won't matter, so for now I won't tell her mother. Just don't give me a reason to regret this." He squeezes my shoulder and I look up and realize we have an audience, both Bella and her mother are watching from the sidewalk by the restaurant.