Coming back home to Jake after a weekend spent with Edward declaring our newly expressed love is less than ideal, but since my boyfriend has a week of preparing for a short underway ahead of him, I had no choice but to let him drop me off at my place and swap out our vehicles so he could go home and get some rest.
"I'll text you before we leave, and I'll call you when we get to Seal Beach," Edward tells me as he tosses his bag into the back seat of his truck.
"Maybe I'll drive up one of the weekends," I offer, and he smiles.
"I'd love it. Let me know what happens with Jake." He grabs me to him, kissing me gently. "I love you."
"I love you too. Get out of here before I refuse to let you go." He laughs before kissing me again and climbing into the cab.
"I'll talk to you soon."
I wave as he pulls onto the street and watch as he drives away. I don't linger outside, and when I head in with my bag, I find Jake lying on the couch, curled under a blanket, watching one of our favorite movies.
As I shut the door, he sits up. "How was your weekend?" He mutes the TV and pats the couch next to him.
Smiling, I sit down, kicking off my shoes. "It was great. I'll tell you all about it. How are you?"
He shrugs. "I'm good, I think. I'm sure Edward told you about the position at TSC."
"He did, but I'd rather hear about it from you. What are you thinking?" I pull my legs up under me and face him.
Jake sighs. "I'd be stupid not to take it, right? This keeps me in the Navy."
"Is there room for advancement? I mean, are you going to be stuck there forever?"
"Maybe. But I could train for instructor duty, and that's a sweet gig. I never wanted to be a chief or anything, I just wanted to make this a career." Jake slumps back against the cushions, and I smile to myself.
"This actually sounds like the beginning of a great career opportunity. And I think you know what you want to do, you just don't want to admit it." He looks over at me with a smirk. "You forget, Jacob Black, I know you better than you know yourself."
"Then tell me this. Why can't I make up my mind?" He sighs, a little more dramatically than usual.
Laughing, I grab his hand. "Because you were just dealt a shitty hand that you had to play for longer than you should have. Your confidence is shot to hell, and you don't recognize this version of yourself. I'm not saying taking this role will make you confident again or erase what happened, but maybe it will create a new version of you."
"Maybe I need a new version of me, a better one that listens to my friends when they're trying to warn me." He side-eyes me, and I roll my eyes.
"Love makes us do stupid things."
"So does gaslighting." We both laugh. "I'll take the job. I also applied for base housing. They don't have any openings for a month though. Can I stay until then?"
I squeeze his hand. "Of course, you can. Just let me know what's going on. I do sort of feel like you haven't been sharing anything with me, and if you don't want to, I get it. But some things—"
"Some things I need to be transparent about, like work and my living arrangements. I know I can't stay here forever, Bella." I nod, and Jake sighs again. "If that's settled enough for now, will you tell me about your weekend?"
I tell Jake everything as I drag him to my room and unpack. The drive up, Bart's Books, the hotel and beautiful garden, ziplining, and telling Edward that I love him.
"He's in love with you too, right? Because I will kick his ass if he said something asinine like 'thank you'." Jake looks mildly furious, and I giggle.
"He's in love with me too. I just wish he didn't have to go to Seal Beach on Friday." I sigh, throwing my clothes into my hamper before putting my bag away. "But duty calls."
"Ammunition loads aren't fun. I didn't realize they were gearing up for a full-blown deployment. You could always drive up there. How long is he there?" Jake is moving toward the door as I'm frozen in front of my closet.
Is Edward's ship preparing for a deployment that I know nothing about? How is this possible? Did he tell me and I somehow forgot?
"Um, he'll be up there for two weeks. I might drive up." I catch my breath and turn around. "What do you want to do for dinner?"
Jake is yammering on about how he's marinating some chicken and was thinking about grilling it as I follow him out of my room. I'm trying to pay attention, but nothing's sticking. I'm racking my brain, trying to recall if Edward mentioned anything, and I do remember something.
He took his test for Chief, and I don't know if he got the results yet.
I love that man dearly, but he's got some 'splaining to do.