CHAPTER FORTY
(BPOV)
Pancake batter was dribbled all across Charlie's kitchen counter and he looked less than enthused at the mess but his mood quickly changed when Jacob came back from picking up Clarissa. His grumpy countenance all but vanished when she reached her tiny arms out toward him. He had taken to her far more quickly than even I expected him to and it made me smile for him. This less rigid and more nurturing side of him was something I rarely got to see anymore.
"Come see your uncle Charlie, huh? Let's leave the cooking to the ones who know how. Come on." He sighed, taking hold of Clarissa as she enthusiastically shook the rattle in her hands with glee.
Jacob's returning smile was warm to them and he offered to help me with breakfast.
"Alright, put me to work in here, Bells. No reason you should have to cook this all on your own. I can be useful sometimes."
"Are you actually serious right now? Do you really want to cook with me?" I bemused, my stunned expression not easily hidden when he nodded to me in reply.
"Yeah, I'm serious. I have to learn sometime. What better timing is there to start than right now? Come on, how hard can it be, anyway? You just follow the recipe."
"Uh-huh." I chuckled, handing him the large mixing bowl as he took hold of the oversized spoon and started mixing the chocolate chips into the bowl of soupy batter.
"I should be able to stir up the batter at least." He began.
"I still have the scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls to finish. They have to go in the oven. You could start there." I kindly suggested, noting his raised eyebrow when he shook his head to me.
"I think I can handle this. It's just stirring. How can anyone screw that up."
He no more than said this before reaching for the electronic beaters and turning on the mixer. The speed of it so high that it sent the pancake batter flying in all different directions out of the mixing bowl. I gasped and stopped beating the eggs, my mouth hung open while Jacob hurriedly unplugged the mixer from the outlet in the wall.
Charlie's cupboards were covered from top to bottom with the batter now and Jacob merely shrugged innocently in response to the sight of it.
"Jake...-" I busted out laughing, unable to stop myself, the sound causing a grin to pull at the corners of his mouth.
"Okay, so I take that all back. Everything I just said. I should have stuck to the eggs and cinnamon rolls. Clearly, I need some serious work in this department. I don't get it? I'm a hands on person. I fix cars for a damn living and rebuild engines piece by piece. How can I screw up pancakes!?"
"Look at it this way. Cooking is like a fine art. You'll get it. You just have to learn. It takes time." I assured him.
"Guess so." He readily agreed.
"What time are you heading in to open up the shop? Is that still your plan for today?"
"Yeah, it is. Paul is opening with Embry this morning. I'm scheduled to be in before noon and stay open after hours to finish up some of our finances. Our budget needs work and a lot of it. Staying closed the last few weeks really hurt us. I'm worried we may not recover from it."
His defeated tone made me reach for him with a weary smile then.
"Hey- don't sell yourself short, alright. You're one of the best mechanics I've ever known. Your skills are unmatched. Maybe it's time to spread the word about your business in more ways than just by word of mouth? You could post something online or see if Charlie would put up a few business flyers in town and at the station? Do you have your own business cards?"
"No, we never got around to ordering them." He tiredly huffed out in frustration.
"Well, if you want, I'm pretty good with online graphic design. I've organized a few nurses campaigns in my time at Pen Bay. I could make something up and see if you like it?"
"It wouldn't be too much to ask?" Jacob softly replied.
"No, not at all. I have a program on my Mac for it. When you close up tonight, I'll come by and we can take a look at some of the designs together. If you like one, we could even place an order for the business cards so they'd arrive in the mail before next week. There's dozens to choose from."
"Thanks, Bells. I would really appreciate your help."
I smiled again his way and went back to cooking breakfast as Billy timidly wheeled himself over to us.
"Good morning, son."
Jacobs gaze met mine and I gave him an encouraging nod before he turned and spoke to his father.
"Morning." He gruffly replied.
While it was the briefest of exchanges, in my book, their communication was better than nothing and it still counted.
"Jake, can you grab the oven mits and pull out the cinnamon rolls? They should be about done." I asked.
"You still trust me to be in the kitchen at all after this mess?" He disbelievingly countered.
"Course I do, besides, mistakes are all part of learning and if you still want to learn, I'd be more than happy to teach you."
He soon complied and I saw the hint of a smile on Billy's face when he wheeled himself up to the table and began playing with Clarissa.
Breakfast was delicious and the talk around the table about the upcoming ice fishing trip Charlie still planned to make happen, proved to be enough to ease some of the tension from the night before.
"Say son, I ran into Sam Uley at the corner market in town, he mentioned to me in passing that his good friend Gentry is coming back this way for another visit?"
"I'm not sure, Charlie. Sam hasn't mentioned anything about it to me."
"Well, he's a nice guy. We got along real well last time he was here. He sure knows his stuff about hunting and fishing. Guys built like a grizzly! No wonder he and Sam are close. They look enough alike to be brothers."
I noticed the unsettled look that crossed Jacobs face at this, the sight of it soon mirroring Billy's uneasy expression and causing them both to stop eating.
"I don't think he'll be in town for too long, Charlie." Billy added.
"Well, I was thinking he could join us when we go ice fishing on Sunday? Couldn't hurt to add one more to our little voyage, right?" Charlie cluelessly continued.
"Gentry usually has business matters regarding his farm when he makes the trip this way. He may be too busy." Billy deflected, sharing a look with Jacob and I from across the table.
Clearly I was missing something here.
Jacob was pretty damn welcoming and friendly to just about everyone who crossed his path, but the moment Charlie suggested that Gentry accompany us on Sunday's fishing trip, his relaxed stature changed. I glanced over at him, seeing the set line of his jaw as it flexed and his hand now tightly gripping around his fork while his body filled with a rigid tension.
"I'll have to ask Sam if I see him before the weekend." Charlie sighed, shoveling in another rounded spoonful of his scrambled eggs and carrying on with a different conversation then. "You feel ready to go back to work this soon, Jacob? There's no shame in taking some more time for yourself."
"I don't have much of a choice, Charlie. Have to keep the place running. We have a lot of customers already backed up. I'll be alright."
"Okay, well, it could do you some good to get back into a routine like you were. I know structure always helped to keep me sane after Renee and I split ways years ago. I would have been lost without my job at the station back then."
Jacob simply nodded to him and looked my way.
"Would it be okay if Clarissa stayed here with Billy for the day. If it's not too much trouble?" He nervously asked and I placed a hand over his when Charlie spoke up in response before I could.
"Are you kidding? Of course it's okay. We'd love to have her over for the afternoon. Could be fun having a little one around here again. You go to work and don't worry about a thing. You can come back later to pick her up or Bella could even bring her to you. It's no trouble, son."
"Thank you." Jacob replied, squeezing my hand under the table, his gaze filling with sincerity. "I mean that."
When clean up was finished and everyone stuffed, Jacob kissed Clarissa goodbye and handed me her diaper bag.
"I packed extra diapers and wipes and her teething rings are in here, too. Formula's on the left and the pacifiers are in the front."
I could see the traces of guilt there on his face and hear the hesitation in his husky voice when he stated this by the door. Like he felt he was somehow being a burden by leaving her with us for the day.
"We're gonna have lots of fun, aren't we Clarissa?" I sighed, kissing her round cheek when he handed her to me.
"I can't thank you enough for keeping her all day."
"You don't have to. We'll love having her here. She seems to bring out the best in Charlie."
"Yeah, she's been known to do that for a lot of people. I'll have my phone on me all day. Call me if anything comes up with her?"
"For sure, Jake. Try to enjoy your first day back to the shop." I softly encouraged him, his nod still uneasy when he placed a hand on my shoulder with his parting words.
"I owe you, Bells."
"Nonsense." I chuckled, lifting Clarissa's tiny hand in mine and waving to him with her as he headed out to his car. "Say, Bye Bye daddy. See you soon."
She let out a giggle at this and I held her close as his rabbit disappeared from sight.
We spent the afternoon finding new ways to entertain sweet Clarissa and all of us were equally captivated with her. After lunchtime rolled around, her rich brown eyes began to grow heavy with sleep and I covered us both in a blanket while she drifted off for her nap.
Charlie kept staring at me as he and Billy found a new show to bide their time. After a while longer, I turned my attention to him with an inquisitive stare.
"What?" I asked with a slight shrug of my shoulders. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing." Charlie huffed, taking a swig from his cold beer and nudging his arm into Billy's beside him. "See, this is why I try to tell her to not bury herself in her work. She's a natural with kids. You'll make a real good mother one day, kid. Just you wait and see."
Billy tried to keep the faint smile on his face but I knew he saw the change in my countenance from Charlie's words and it made me want to disappear from his knowing gaze.
While I knew that Jacob had yet to tell Billy the truth surrounding my endometriosis, I had a sinking feeling that he somehow already knew what it had taken from me.
"She sure will make a good mother. Lucky kids they'll be." Billy added then, his heartfelt words making my eyes well with emotion.
I hurriedly blinked the tears away and placed a kiss into Clarissa's hair, inhaling the sweet baby smell that lingered heavily on her soft skin. Every NICU nurse I knew had always told me about how there was truly nothing like that precious smell and now I understood just what they had meant by that.
"She's really taken to you, Bella" Charlie hedged.
"She's just a very loving baby." I countered.
"She used to only let Jacob or Lilly hold her while she slept. She's been like that since she was first born."
I went quiet at this and noticed the misty eyed looked Billy wore just as a loud knock came to Charlie's front door.
"Are you expecting someone?" Charlie asked me and I shook my head as he got up and answered it.
There was a silence as the front door swung open and the exchange I heard next made me instantly tighten my arms around Clarissa.
"Hello, there. I'm sorry to bother you. My name is Peter and this is my ex wife Judy. We're here for our granddaughter Clarissa Black? We understand she's here with you?"
A/N: Thank you for reading. New update tomorrow. Thank you for all your reviews and be sure to stay tuned.
