It's barely been an hour since Edward left, but when he gets back—silver paper wrapped box in hand—the rest of the house is up. Bella is chatting in the living room with Rose, who she seems to get along with best. Not surprising, really, since she's one of the two other people who knows what it's like to be an outsider of the family who isn't, like Jasper, working for Edward's sister in order to question and torture Bella.
His mom is in the kitchen pouring cereal for Jordan and Madison, but she finishes when Edward pokes his head in and says, "I got your present," with a big grin on his face. Edward's present has become another tradition over the past couple of years, and they all gather around the armchair in the living room, waiting for her to sit down. He places the box carefully in her lap when she does.
"I wonder what it could be," she says with a teasing smile.
He grins back at her. "Guess you'll just have to find out."
"You know, if you wanted to give me a real present, you could give me the name of who makes these."
He shakes his head. "Nope," he says happily. "Now open."
With a very put-upon sigh, she does, carefully slicing the tape with her fingernail and easing back the paper, so as not to rip it.
He rolls his eyes. "You don't have to save the wrapping paper, you know."
"Hush," she says, gingerly unfolding the paper.
He does, excitedly watching as she opens the box and pulls out the paper, peering inside.
"Oh," she breathes.
She pulls the gift out of the box and holds it up in the light. It's a tree this year, based on one he saw while driving a few weeks ago. The branches are twisted and free of leaves, the trunk split down the middle from a lightning strike. Most of the tree is made of clear glass, but it's tinted dark where it is supposed to have been struck—the dark color bleeding into the rest of the tree. The glass piece is mounted onto a small, round mirror, but it too is covered in glass, thick and bumpy around one side of the tree, like dirt, with the roots coming out of it, and thin on the other side and wavy like ripples on water.
"That," says Alice, "is awesome."
The others make sounds of agreement, and he beams.
"You have to tell me who makes these, Edward," his mom implores.
"Nope!" Edward catches Bella's eye and grins. "It's a secret."
It's while the glass tree is being passed around that Edward's phone rings. He excuses himself and steps into the hall, flipping open his phone. "Hello?"
"Edward, man, I gotta tell you something."
He frowns at Jake's voice. "Jake? What's wrong?"
"Look, you can't get mad; I really didn't mean to."
Shit. He knows that tone, and those words. This isn't the first time Jake has said the exact same thing to him. "Jake, what the hell did you do?"
"I was drunk man, and didn't know what I was doing, and the people I was with were just as bad."
"Jake," he growls. "What. Did. You. Do."
"I lost the charity money."
He sucks in a breath, feeling like he's been punched.
Oh. Oh, crap. Oh, fuck.
"What do you mean you lost it?" He hisses.
"I lost it gambling."
"God dammit, Jake!" He barks, then immediately quiets, peering into the living room to see if anyone took notice, breathing a sigh of relief when no one is looking his way. "Why the hell would you gamble with charity money? Is there something wrong with you?"
"I didn't gamble with it," Jake explains. "I was at this poker game, and I was drunk. I ended up betting more than I actually had. And these guys, well, they weren't nice guys. When I lost and they realized I didn't have the money, they weren't happy. They pretty much beat the shit out of me until one my friends told them about the envelope I had in the hotel room, and they made me go get it. They took it, checks and all, not that I know how they're going to cash them, but man, these guys are criminals; they'll probably find a way, and shit, man, they were tough. I mean, I gave a pretty good fight when they dragged me outside but—"
"Jake, shut up," Edward snaps. He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath. "I cannot believe you."
"Hey, man, at least it wasn't your money this time, right?" Jake jokes.
"No. It was Bella's, and it was for charity, which makes it worse. God. Just..." He sighs heavily. "Meet me at my apartment. We'll figure out a way to get the money somehow."
"Edward, man, I really don't think we can get that much—"
"Just do it, Jake," he cuts him off, and ends the call.
God. What a mess.
He stands there for several moments, just breathing, hands clenched. He has to go back to the living room, though, before the others notice he's been gone too long, so he forces himself to calm down, smoothing out his expression.
Bella immediately catches his eye when he enters the living room. "All right?" she mouths, brows furrowed.
He nods and forces a smile, even though he isn't.
He isn't even close to being all right.
Yeah... A lot of you guessed this... Now what? Thank you got the reviews!
Jess