Chapter 38: Talk

"You went back to him?" I practically shrieked.

"Shhh!" Alice hushed. "You don't need to yell it to the world!"

Alice and I were sitting together on the front porch and she had just told me that she had gotten back together with Jasper.

"Last time we talked about him, you hated him," I pointed out. "What changed?"

She shrugged. "I realized how much I really loved him…after he and I were over for a few weeks, I wasn't doing too well. I'm sure you noticed it; one day when you came over I could see on your face that you knew something was wrong with me."

I actually remembered that day clearly. I remembered when she opened the door for me and had lied and told me she had just woken up. I hadn't pressed her on the issue because she had distracted me by talking about the baby.

"With me losing the baby in the accident, and then breaking up with him…it all got to be too much for me. I feel so weak for going back to him, Bella, so weak."

I hugged her tightly. "You aren't weak. You're just in love. How's his mom been?"

"Terrible," she said miserably. "She's been crazy judgemental of me. Every little thing I do…I feel like I'm being scrutinized for it."

"It's okay," I said. "It'll get better once she realizes that you two are actually going to last."

She took a deep breath. "I know, but it's hard."

"I know it is…dealing with my dad and Jacob when everyone found out…" I said.

"Edward was absolutely pissed."

This piqued my interest. "He was?"

She nodded. "He said that he knew something was going on, that it was too coincidental that both of you were leaving Forks this close to each other…he was even considering talking to Jacob or your dad about it, to see if they knew something. I, of course, had to pretend that I knew absolutely nothing. He kept bombarding me with questions; of course he was mad at our dad…as everyone around here seemed to be."

I stared at her in horror. "Everyone?"

"As you can imagine, the whole town was talking about both of you when it came out into the open. People were angry with my dad; people were talking about you…some of what they said…"

"Do I even want to know what they said about me or…?"

"They called you a slut," she said simply. "I think it was worse for my dad though."

"And I've brought him back here," I said, holding my head in my hands.

"It's okay," she said. "Firstly, you aren't going to be here again long, and if you guys do go out somewhere you can shove it up all their asses."

I chuckled. "When we were here before, when my dad was in the hospital, we went into a restaurant and literally everyone was staring at us. We got the order for take-out instead."

"Next time, don't," she said simply. "You don't owe them anything. Your dad gave our town so much, and look at everything my dad's done for this town. What is going on in your private life shouldn't change that at all. Before this, my dad was one of the town's favourite people. Why should that change now?"

"I guess you're right," I said. "Too bad the town doesn't seem to understand that. Did I tell you what Jacob did?"

She shook her head.

"Well, when I had gone back to Toronto to see that Carlisle wasn't at the apartment I came back here. I had just given up on us, so I came back here and…I guess accepted that I should be with Jacob. Meanwhile, I hadn't known that Carlisle had come here looking for me, and he had gone to Jake's place to find me," I said. "When I got back here, Jacob didn't tell me that Carlisle had gone there looking for me. He had hid it from me, knowing all too well that I had given up on Carlisle and me. He selfishly hid that Carlisle had come looking for me, even though I'm sure deep down he knew I wouldn't be happy."

"Oh my God, he didn't," she said.

"Unfortunately he did," I said.

"I can't believe he'd do that," she said.

"I sincerely hope that you aren't talking about me," Carlisle's voice floated over to me. I looked over at the front door to see Carlisle leaning against the door frame.

"We aren't," Alice said, getting up.

"You don't need to get up," Carlisle said.

"No, I'm going to go see Jasper," she said, smiling quickly at me.

"Bye Ali, see you later," I said, smiling up at her. She quickly went inside the house, and Carlisle joined me on the bench on the front porch.

"How is it for you, being back here?" he asked.

"It's fine," I said honestly. "How is it for you?"

He leaned against the backrest on the bench. "I haven't really gone out in public since I got here, I only went out to get some clothes…and as you saw last night, Edward wasn't pleased, but that's been the only big issue."

I was quiet. Carlisle's own son didn't even want to look at him. I had caused that tension between them. It was my fault that Edward didn't want to speak to Carlisle.

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to Seattle for dinner tonight," Carlisle said. I turned and looked at him in surprise. "If you don't want to, I completely understand. But I think it'll be good for use to get of here…actually go on a date."

I chuckled. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

He smiled. "I guess I am."

"Then I'd be honoured," I said, giving him a quick kiss.

I leaned against him and he put his arm around my shoulders. Of course, it was pouring rain, but it was nice to be able to sit here and just watch the rain fall with Carlisle.

"You know, I never thought we'd be able to do this," I said softly. "I never thought we'd actually be able to sit together on a front porch, just watching the rain pour…I guess I always thought we'd have to be holed up in motels, having to watch the sun rise through the window of the motel. It's just surreal to me, you know?"

He held me tighter against him. "I know."

"And with everything's that happened with us…" I trailed off.

"We've been through a lot together, love," he said.

"It's crazy," I said. "So much in less than a year."

I rested my head against his shoulder. We just sat together and looked out into the rain. It was soothing to be able to sit there with him. The rain was calming.

And then, of course, it had to be ruined.

Edward pulled up to the front of the house.

I don't know why he didn't just use the garage, but for whatever reason he didn't. He glared at Carlisle and I sitting together before trying to go into the door.

"Edward," Carlisle's voice held a very strong level of authority. It'd be hard for anybody to ignore it.

"What?" Edward asked, I could hear the stiffness in his voice.

"I want you to stop acting this way," Carlisle said. "You may not like either of us right now, but I'm still your father and I expect to be treated with respect. There is absolutely no reason for you to be acting this way towards us apart from pure jealousy."

Without another word Edward stormed into the house. Carlisle took a deep breath and made a move to get up, but I stopped him.

"I'll go," I said.

He looked worriedly at me, but allowed me to go into the house.

Edward was already in his room, so I went upstairs and knocked on his bedroom door. When he opened the door, I could tell he wanted to slam it in my face, but I spoke before he could.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked.

"You will anyway," he said arrogantly. "What choice do I have?"

"Listen, I know you aren't happy that he and I are together, but what difference does it make to you anymore? We don't even live in the same country anymore. We're only staying here for a few days because I don't think either of us could take another plane ride. Edward, I'm sorry, but I wasn't happy with you."

"You left me for my dad," he said, disgust lacing his tone.

"You knew, deep down, you knew that I was unhappy with you. I don't think you wanted to admit it to yourself, or you just didn't want to accept it. That was why you went to Jessica. You could tell that I wasn't happy."

"I could see us getting married," he said quietly, gazing out his window. "Yeah, deep down I guess I knew that you weren't happy, but I figured that was temporary. I figured whatever it was; you'd get over with or be comfortable enough to talk to me about it."

"Well I'm sorry, but I fell out of love with you," I said. "And it isn't your dad's fault-like everyone in this town seems to think."

He didn't say anything, so I turned to leave his room.

"Sorry about your dad," I heard him say softly.

"Thanks," I said before leaving. I went into Carlisle's bedroom and changed my clothes. As I was doing up my jeans, Carlisle came into the room. His arms came around my waist from behind me.

"You okay?" he asked.

I nodded. "Hopefully now Edward won't be as hostile to you."

His breath tickled my neck as he chuckled. "I highly doubt that will happen."

I turned so I was facing him and looked up into his eyes. "I talked to him…and I told him that it wasn't your fault."

I rested my head against his chest. It felt odd to be back in Forks, but it was nice to be here with Carlisle. It felt like we were finally doing something right, after we had made so many mistakes.

"Come on, you want to go for dinner?" he asked.

I smiled. "I'd love to."