Assumption Chapter 9
Another Goodbye
BPOV:
I woke the next morning alone on the couch. Edward must have covered me before leaving last night. I felt bad for falling asleep on him but it had been a really long, hard day. I lay there thinking about Edward and how his life paralleled mine and Charlie's for a long time. It was shocking when he told me about how his wife had left him, while she was pregnant as well. He had a daughter that was living with her mother on the other side of the country. The similarities were completely unnerving.
I was still lying there thinking about Edward when my mother came downstairs. She was half asleep and stumbling through the living room. I remained where I was listening to her banging around the kitchen in an attempt to make a pot of coffee. I smiled to myself; I've missed my mom since she moved to Florida.
I decided to lie there a few minutes more, until I could hear that the coffee was done brewing before I got up and joined my mother in the kitchen. Experience with her told me that it was better to let her completely wake up before anyone started to interact with her. She was never the most coherent person before her first cup of coffee.
I quietly walked into the kitchen to see that Mom was still sitting at the table with her head lying on her arms and her eyes were closed. I made both of us cups of coffee and sat down across from her and waited for her to sit up.
We were on our second pot of coffee when I got up and started making us some real food for breakfast. I did nothing more complicated than just bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast.
"Mom, why didn't you push Charlie and me to try harder when I was a kid?"
"I never knew that there was a problem. Neither of you ever said that there was an issue to address until you stopped going to Forks completely. And don't call him Charlie; he deserves the respect of you calling him Dad."
"Sorry."
She nodded and then continued, "By the time that I knew there was an issue it was too late, you were so stubborn and refused to listen to any of us when it came to your Dad. You had been dealing with your father and scheduling your visits with him for a couple of years, I really didn't think it was any big surprise when you announced that you weren't going to Forks that summer. You never hid your hate for this town and given Jamie being in your life, and your job, I was sure that you were going to back out."
"Why did Dad alter the visitation schedule when I was a baby?"
"How did you know about that?"
"I found the papers once."
She sighed and shook her head, "Bella, you have to understand that his job was 24/7. Every time he'd get called out in the middle of the night, he'd have to scramble to find someone to stay with you or wake you and take you to the station with him. Plus, his parent's health was deteriorating fast and he was their only choice for a caretaker. It was a very hard time for him and it wasn't an easy decision for him by any means. But it was the only option that he could see that would be best for both of you."
After we were done eating Mom told me to go on upstairs and get ready for the day while she washed the dishes, saying that since I cooked she'd do the dishes. It felt almost like our lives when I was a teenager; I always cooked and she did the cleaning. The last time that she was allowed to do any cooking, she, Phil, and I ended up in the emergency room with food poisoning. Phil and I banned her from cooking after that.
Esme arrived while I was still upstairs and she had Rose and Bree with her. We were all going up to Port Angeles to hang out until it was time for Mom's flight. She was flying out of the Port Angeles Airport and up to Seattle before continuing on to Florida. She was going to have a long day of traveling and layovers ahead of her today.
I was sad to see my Mom go but understood that she had to get back to her life. We spent the remainder of the morning popping in and out of various shops. Mom was completely taken with Bree. I knew that she wanted grandchildren but I was not in a place to give them to her. She would have to settle for attempting to steal her friend's grandkids for now. Then it hit me that Charlie would never meet any of the children I had in the future. That thought devastated me. I had never really thought about having kids before and what kind of relationship they'd have with their grandfather, but now I knew they wouldn't have one.
We stopped for lunch at Bella Italia and Mom told me about how Charlie had brought her here for their first date. Well, it was their first date without their parents having to drive them up to Port Angeles. Charlie had just gotten his driver's license and was eager to take her on a real date. They came here for dinner and then went to see a movie.
"I can still remember how nervous he was driving us all the way to Port Angeles in his mother's car. I think he drove ten miles under the speed limit the whole way," She told us, making us all laugh. She told us many more stories about Charlie when they were young. Esme knew a few of them but as she and Carlisle were older than Mom and Dad they never ran in the same circles as teenagers.
As soon as lunch was over it was time for Mom to say goodbye. Esme and Rose promised to look after me for however long I remained in Forks settling Charlie's estate. Then she made me promise her that I would call her if I needed anything and if need be, she could be on a plane back here within a couple of hours. I hugged her hard for the longest time before I let her go. She didn't want me to follow her to the airport saying that there was no need. She was right; I wouldn't get past security without buying a ticket and she wasn't going to have that long to wait before her flight.
I watched her until her car was gone and then turned to find Esme patiently waiting for me. "Rose took Bree into the toy store at the end of the block to grab something that Emmett wanted for his birthday." I guess I should be surprised that a grown man, who was thinking about running for Sherriff, wanted something from a toy store, but from what I've learned about Emmett in the few days that I'd been here, I thought it made perfect sense.
Esme and I waited quietly out on the sidewalk for Rose and Bree to be done so that we could make our way back to Forks. They didn't take long and soon enough we were on the road. It was when we were about half way home when my phone started to ring. I didn't recognize the number on the caller ID but I answered it anyway, "Hello?"
"Ms. Swan? This is Ben Cheney. I just wanted to let you know that I have your car done and it's just like new." I had forgotten that my car was in the shop…again. It just didn't seem as important to me anymore. I really liked driving around in the old truck that Charlie had bought me. Now I was going to have to decide what I was going to do with it.
EPOV:
I have this really bad habit of thinking that I hit the snooze button when in reality I've turned off the alarm clock. When I finally woke up I was fifteen minutes late in opening the store. I threw on the first thing I could grab out of my closet and ran downstairs. I found Alice Whitlock standing outside on the sidewalk waiting for me to open. Alice is the Librarian for all of Forks Public Schools. I had been expecting her to be in soon to discuss the fall reading list. The town closed the public library a couple of years ago due to financial reasons and lack of interest. The biggest problem was that they weren't buying anything new to put on the shelves. After the library closed Alice came to me, concerned about the kids in town whose parents could not afford to buy the kids new books all the time, so together we came up with an exchange program. One corner of my shop was dedicated to used books. You bring in a book you can take a book. It's almost like having the library back but on a smaller scale. Alice would love to be able to do more with the school library, but she has to deal with budgets and bureaucracyand her hands are literally tied. I try to throw in a copy or two of any new release that is going to be in very high demand. I don't think it's fair that some kids have to wait months to read a book that all their friends are reading just because their parents don't make much money.
Then we have the reading club. We run it like a contest and run it three times a year; summer, fall semester, and spring semester. There are three winners, one in the elementary division, middle school, and high school. We decided that to be fair we had to invite the kids from the Reservation to join as well. While, for the most part, the kids get to choose which books they want to read and there are certain ones that we make mandatory. We want to be sure that the kids are reading to their levels and learning something and are being challenged in the process. And not cheat. The winners each get a $100 gift certificate to my store so I want to make sure that it doesn't go to some high school student who cheated by picking "Pat the Bunny" or "The Little Engine That Could." Someone would do that. I can guarantee it.
It took Alice and me five hours and lunch ordered in to complete the first draft of the three book lists for the fall semester. There were several books that I was going to need to order because I didn't keep them in stock, and a couple that were going to be released in the fall that I knew the kids were getting excited about.
After Alice left I had a couple more customers come in, but for the most part I was left alone with my thoughts. I was excited about dinner with Bella tonight and hoped that she would indeed let me see her manuscript. That would be so freaking amazing.
By the time that it was six I was ready to close up and get out of here. All I had left to do to close down was to lock the door and I did that as I was running out to go to Charlie's. I contemplated quickly whether I should drive or walk since it was likely that we would start drinking again. I looked up at the sky and realized that it was about to start raining any second and I would be better off by driving there. I figured that if I didn't feel comfortable driving myself home I could crash at Emmett and Rose's for the night. But, honestly, this "drinking so much" thing needed to stop; it wasn't me and I really didn't think that it was who Bella was, either. I think the stress of everything was getting to her and that was fine for a short term thing, I guess. As long as it didn't become a problem. Now I was sounding ridiculous. I rolled my eyes at myself.
I pulled into Charlie's drive way to see that Bella's fancy car was there. I looked at it closely as I got out of my car. Ben really did an amazing job fixing it up. You couldn't tell it had ever even had a scratch on it.
A/N:
Happy Saturday! I want to thank my awesome beta sweetpea123 for cleaning this up. She's getting Chapter 10 tonight so we should be on target for another update next Saturday. Thank you to everyone that is reading and who are reviewing for giving my story a chance. Reviews will get teasers.