I think I must have cried myself out on the side of the road because the next thing I remembered was my mom pulling the Jeep into the gravel driveway and cutting the engine. I looked over at her, my face feeling sore and puffy, and felt the tears start to flow down my cheeks yet again. "Don't," she quietly said as she wiped my face with her sleeve. "Everything will be okay, my darling." And with that she climbed out of the Jeep and waited for me, obviously expecting me to do the same.
Desperately clinging to the hope that she would be right, I hopped out of the Jeep and walked around to meet her. "He's going to hate me, mom," I pathetically muttered while she was fiddling with the lock on the door. The same stupid lock that my father had promised to fix, but for obvious reasons, never did. "He's going to be surprised as hell," she said with a laugh. "That's for sure. But that man could never hate you, Leah. He's always loved you and your brother." The lock finally gave way and she pushed the door open, stepping inside. I glanced back over my shoulder, knowing this was not where I was longing to be. "Stalking him isn't going to help you, you know." Stalking? That's a bit much. Or not. I frowned to myself as I followed her inside, slamming the door a little harder than I should have.
I followed the noises of my mother putting the kettle on in the kitchen and slumped down dramatically in a chair at our table. I wasn't looking forward to continuing this conversation, but I knew it couldn't be avoided forever. Truth be told, I needed advice. I wasn't sure what kind, but I definitely wasn't equipped to deal with this sort of thing. I only had Sam before and he was the one that pursued me. I shook my head again, trying to get those sorts of thoughts out of my head. I needed to remember that anything with Charlie would probably never go past friendship. As long as I could be with him in some way, though, I figured that would be okay.
I'm not sure how long I sat there, lost in thought, but I jumped when my mom set a mug full of tea with lemon in front of me. She laughed and sat down next to me, earning a glare in response. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm just not used to seeing you like this. So, what exactly have you told Charlie about all of this," she asked before taking a sip from her own mug. "I didn't tell him anything," I mumbled, slowly turning the mug in my hands as I kept my eyes on it. "He probably thinks I'm crazy." I looked up at her as she laughed again. "Oh, honey, you're a Clearwater woman. He knows you're crazy, but that's okay. At least he's got fair warning, right?" I dropped my gaze back to the slice of lemon floating in my tea. She was always so optimistic. To the point of annoyance, especially in times like these.
"What do you think Charlie's going to do?" I asked in a small voice. I knew that, just like my mother, I would have to tell him sooner or later. Someone was going to break the news to him if I didn't. My brother probably wouldn't be able to keep his mind off of it, especially when Jake asked for an update on what was going on while he was with Nessie in Alaska. And if he found out, Bella would find out. Not to mention that he would probably tell Billy, who was the biggest gossip out of all of them and couldn't resist giving his old buddy a hard time, especially about something like this.
"I really don't know. You're probably going to have to give him some time to process all of this because it's Charlie after all," she added with a smile. As much as I was appreciating the advice, I couldn't help but be annoyed with the fact that she knew Charlie better than just about anyone. Save for maybe Billy. It should be me who knew all of his little personality quirks. He was my imprint, after all.
I tried to stuff my jealous feeling down, knowing that they weren't justified and wouldn't help anything right now. "You know, maybe you could bring him some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Those are his favorites." Yeah, so much for trying. I got to my feet, the chair flying back as I made my way out of the kitchen, announcing "I need to get some sleep. I love you". I hurried upstairs, accidentally slamming the door behind me, and took a deep breath to calm myself. "Get it together, Clearwater," I muttered as I climbed into bed, not bothering to take off Charlie's shirt.
Pulling the collar up to my nose so that I could take in his scent, I settled in, wondering what he was doing right now. I frowned at the thought of him asleep on the couch, alone. I knew if I didn't fall asleep soon, the urge to sneak in and join him would be too much to bear. And I wasn't really sure how I would even begin to explain that one, so I closed my eyes and focused on drifting off, thoughts of tomorrow swimming through my head.