Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rosie's POV
Tennessee was...well, I wouldn't say beautiful, since Maryland and Alaska had been so much prettier, but Tennessee was definitely more interesting than Alabama.
The state was mostly just corn fields and small towns; that is, until we passed Nashville.
"Oh, my gosh." I gushed, looking at the beautifully tall buildings glistening in the sunlight. They sparkled almost as much as Momma and EJ did in the sun. "Why couldn't Aunt Becca live here?" I asked, trying not to show my envy.
"Because," Jacob said with a laugh, "Jesse needs a wooded area to phase in occasionally."
"But on a farm?" EJ asked, shaking his head teasingly. "No wonder she's going stir crazy."
"You have to remember not to eat her livestock," Nessie said with a laugh at the two of us, "no matter how convenient it is to hunt. Rebecca is still hesitant of us being partially vampire, and killing her pets won't really help that, now will it?"
"Of course not." EJ said, laughing along with her. I knew that my brother would never do anything to upset Becca or Mandi.
He loved them with a strange sense of protection that he had never shown to any of our other human relatives. It was probably because they weren't from Washington and weren't part of the group that had basically kicked us out; or maybe it was because they were innocent females that only had Jesse to protect them. Either way, he had always sucked up to Aunt Becca and she loved him for helping out.
"I don't do much hunting anyways." I stated, feeling excluded from their little joke.
"Well, you could always hunt with me." Jacob spoke up. "It'll be interesting to have Jesse in my head, though."
I smiled. I had almost forgotten that my imprint could phase too since we had only phased together once, back when they came to visit us in Alabama. I was a weak phaser, since I was only able to stay in form for an hour at a time, but now that I realized Jesse would be in my head to help me out, I was excited to try and stretch my limits.
"I'd like that." I spoke up, realizing that my parents were in the front seats and couldn't see my changed expression. "I think I might be able to go an hour and a half." I added, not wanting to jinx it.
"That'd be great." Jacob said and Nessie turned around in her seat to show me her smile of approving. EJ just rolled his eyes at me teasingly, knowing the real reason I wanted to be wolf.
Suddenly, Momma got distracted by the old familiar song on the radio and in the same instant, Daddy had it turned up louder. I smiled as they sung "their" song from back before she confessed her feelings for him and he was too naive to realize she loved him.
"...I was sixteen when suddenly I wasn't that little girl you used to see. But your eyes still shined like pretty lights..." She sung along with Taylor Swift, a twinkle in her own eye at the thought of her younger self being in love with his younger self, not knowing that it would all lead to this.
"...And our daddies used to joke about the two of us. They never believed we'd really fall in love. And our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes. And said oh my my my..." Jacob sang to her, and I was glad that we were at a red light, or we would probably have crashed. Their eyes were locked on each other's with such intensity, I had to look away.
"...Took me back to the creek beds we turned up. Two A.M. riding in your truck and all I need is you next to me. Took me back to the time we had our very first fight. The slamming of doors instead of kissing goodnight. You stayed outside til the morning light..." Momma finished, the song having gotten interrupted by some weather bulletin.
"Will this town always get this much weather?" EJ asked with a grim frown. We had gotten used to the sun in Maryland, and I could tell that my brother wasn't liking the idea of moving somewhere where we'd be trapped by rain once again.
"Let's hope not, kiddo." Jacob said, knowing how much Nessie liked the sun too. We looked like we had body glitter on instead of sparkling like diamonds like full vampires, and though it was a little embarrassing for EJ at first, he had learned to live with it so that he could enjoy a warm sunny day with us.
"We'd better hurry though, Jake." Momma said lightly but urgently. "If this storm sets in before we get there, Becca will throw a fit." She reminded him of the time that we had shown up after a light rain and Daddy and I shook ourselves off...all over her furniture in the living room.
"No problem. I can get us there in half an hour." Jacob said, cocking an eyebrow at her as if daring him not to. "That's plenty of time before the storm sets in."
Momma just giggled like the teenager she looked. "But her house is still an hour away."
"Half an hour, promise." He said, grinning like a maniac before putting the pedal to the medal.
True to his word, we were at Aunt Becca's in thirty-four minutes.
We would have been there sooner, but Momma had to talk the cop out of giving us a speeding ticket. She had EJ moan and hold his stomach as if he were sick. Dad tried to hide his smirk as the cop bought the line about "rushing our sick son to the hospital." It was EJ's pale skin that really nailed it for the cop.
"Stay out of this storm, now, ya hear?" Officer Judd said, smiling at us and giving us directions to the closest hospital since we weren't "from around these parts."
I think I was going to like living in such a courteous town.
