38
Unlike the last time I tried to get in, the door isn't bolted any more. When I try my key in the lock this time, it swings open. I hang my jacket up and wander through to the living room.
"Oh, hi." I'm not expecting to see Bree's sister, Victoria on the couch, holding Lucy. She looks at me, but where I was expecting out and out hostility, she emits a kind of wariness instead.
"Hi," she says, not resisting when I pluck Lucy from her arms.
"Hey, baby girl," I coo, kissing Lucy's soft cheek and breathing her in. She smiles at me and my heart swells.
"Bree's upstairs," Victoria tells me, picking up a magazine and beginning to flick through it.
"I'm sure she heard me come in." I'm eager to grab a little time with Lucy before everything inevitably takes a downturn. I grab one of Lucy's toys and sit in an armchair with her, dangling it where she can see it. "You're not mad at me?" I ask Victoria when she looks up and throws a small barely-there smile in our direction.
"Have you been having an affair?" she asks me. I know her pretty well, and so her forthrightness doesn't particularly shock me.
"No," I reply.
"Yeah, I figured," she says, shrugging her shoulders. "When would you have had the time? A quick heads-up though; Bree convinced herself you did. I think you're wasting your time trying to persuade her otherwise."
"I'm not even going to try," I confess. Her head shoots up and she looks at me in surprise.
"Wow," she says. I have no idea what that even means.
We sit for around ten minutes, exchanging occasional small talk, as though it's a normal day. For the moment I'm happy to pretend it is. Eventually the sound of footsteps on the stairs causes us to cast a loaded glance at one another, and I turn toward the door, waiting.
"Hi," I say to Bree when she appears.
"You came crawling back then?" she sneers. Victoria pushes off the couch and excuses herself, pulling the living room door closed behind her. I envy her the ability to walk out right now.
"No," I tell her, looking back to Lucy. "I came to see Luce and to collect some stuff. Jasper said I can stay with him."
"Really? I thought you'd be straight round to the slut's," she says.
I fight to maintain my calm.
"I'm going to say this once, Bree, that's all. Choose to believe me or not, I don't even care. I haven't been having an affair, not with Bella, and not with anyone else. And don't even think about calling her a slut again, she's been through enough with my idiot brother."
She bristles as I defend Bella, her arms folded in front of her chest.
"Yeah, well, you don't need to stay at Jasper's. We're going to my mom's."
I don't know how I didn't see it coming, but I definitely didn't, and I freeze as I process the information.
"Mercer Island?"
"Yes."
I want to shout; to curse loudly, but Lucy still nestles in my arms.
"You're doing it to spite me," I accuse. "You hate it there. You hate the people and the place and half the time you hate your mom. Did you conveniently forget that, just because it makes life more difficult for me?"
"You think this is all about you?" she asks. I laugh.
"Well there's a first time for everything," I say.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Her hands are on her hips and she tosses her head. She looks ridiculous and I wonder how the feistiness that attracted me to her in the first place, became so unappealing.
"It means that you are the most self-centered, selfish person I know. I'd rather walk barefoot to Mercer Island to see Lucy, than spend another minute living with you."
"You bastard. After everything you've been doing..."
Lucy begins to squirm and I stand to rock her.
"You gave me nothing, Bree. You withdrew everything that was holding this relationship together; every bit of affection, gone."
She huffs.
"Oh, I might have known it was about your dick. Why can't men live without sex?"
"I'm not talking about sex; I haven't had sex in almost a year, so don't try telling me I can't live without it."
Bella flits into my head as I say the words that are verging on an untruth.
"You're a liar," she spits.
"I'm not getting into an argument about this with you; like I said, I don't care if you don't believe me."
Her eyes narrow and I know she's getting frustrated at not getting the reactions she wants.
"Well all I'll say is, you'd better get yourself a good lawyer, Cullen."
I look directly at her.
"I already have one."
Her face draws itself into a pattern of confusion.
"On a Sunday? I sincerely doubt it," she scoffs, shaking her head as though I'm an idiot.
"Did I say I hired him today?" I ask.
"I'm your fiancée, I think I'd know if you hired a lawyer," she says.
I remain silent. I've revealed enough to leave her with questions she doesn't have the answers to. A calmness has descended over me, because for once I know I have the upper hand.
"I'll spend some time with Lucy while you pack," I tell her. The thought of her taking Lucy three and a half hours drive away makes me feel nauseous, but I know that letting her go without a fight is the best thing for now. When she's gone I'll work my ass off to negotiate some fair terms for access and custody. This is temporary, I tell myself. Bree won't last on Mercer Island, there's no way.
~RH~