Chapter 8: An Ill Wind
Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns Twilight.
Things fell into a routine at Renee's home. Every morning, except Sunday, Derek came over, to pick Bella up for their daily run. He was off on Wednesdays, and every other Saturday. Sometimes he would stop by just to shoot the breeze over a glass of lemonade and a couple of homemade cookies.
Afternoons would find Renee and Bella at the beach or shopping. Bella couldn't decide which activity she hated the worst.
Out of self preservation, Bella did the cooking in the evenings, leaving Renee to do the simpler meals. Renee would frequently invite Derek to dinner, but he would always refuse out of principle, thank goodness.
They had a really equipped library in Jacksonville, and Bella took advantage. There's just so much you can do on a beach when you don't enjoy getting wet all that much. She actually brought home two books in the Artemis Fowl series and had to admit, they kept her entertained—d'arvit! She kept the books a secret from Derek though. After her little speech about only reading real literature, it would be embarrassing if he found out. It was a mystery to her why she should even care about that. So what if she was reading the series; it was no one's business but her own.
Bella wrote to Jacob every other day, and he did the same. Holy cow, his letters were funny and sweet, and so emotion provoking that she was moved to tears on more than one occasion. It was easy to see who cornered the market on wearing their heart on their sleeves. Why was it so hard for her to let him know how much she loved him? No wonder he was continually fishing for verbal cues of affection. It wasn't that he was so needy; it was the fact that she was so stingy with her declarations of love. The poor boy was starved for those confirming words. She would try to do better.
The phone calls continued each Friday, but it was a double edged sword. On the one hand she longed to hear his voice. It was no secret that he was desperate to hear her too. On the other hand it pained them both to sever the connection. All those pangs of longing would fill their souls, making the nights intolerably lonely.
Three and a half weeks had passed. Renee was going to pick up Phil at the airport that afternoon. She would be gone for hours, so Derek invited Bella to go fishing with him on his family's boat. She was feeling especially down in the dumps. She missed her Jacob, and if that wasn't bad enough, her dad had emailed her, making her even more homesick. Derek sensed she needed some cheering up.
They got back from their run, and Bella went into the kitchen. Breakfast was on the table—ugh—Renee's oatmeal. She searched for her pop tarts, but the last box had been eaten. It was unusually gross this morning, and unfortunately, Bella had to make a trip to the bathroom and unload her stomach's contents. Maybe when Phil got home, he could take over breakfast duty. She remembered him making breakfast for them when they all lived together in Phoenix. She settled for some toast, but her stomach was still queasy. Good lord, she'd be swaying back and forth on a boat today too.
Renee stood by the doorway, ready to go. "I'm leaving for the airport, Sweetie. Come give your mother a kiss goodbye."
Bella dutifully gave Renee a hug and a kiss.
"Now don't forget, we should be home by 6:30. Do you think you could have dinner ready for us?"
Rolling her eyes, Bella answered, "Mom, have you missed a meal since I arrived?"
"No, but . . ."
"Don't worry. It'll be on the table."
Renee probably hadn't eaten this well since her daughter set foot in the door. It was practically an insult that she uttered that comment.
By the time Derek came by, Bella was feeling better.
His parents owned a pretty sweet motor boat, and Derek was a pro at maneuvering it through the waves. The sea was a little rough today, but he pushed it past the white caps to a more placid area to fish.
He got out the sunscreen from his backpack, when a book fell out. Uh-oh, he didn't want Bella seeing it. She reached out and picked it up, laughing. It was a copy of Wuthering Heights.
"D'arvit, I'm busted," he lamented. "I forgot to take it out of my pack."
She playfully slapped his shoulder. "Hey, I may as well confess too; I'm reading Artemis Fowl."
"No fooling. We'll have to form a book club, the real and non-literature book review."
He handed Bella a fishing pole already baited. "Okay, enough about books. We came here to fish."
They chatted for a couple of hours and Derek had reeled in several scaly creatures from the briny water. Bella was empty handed, but it didn't matter any. She wasn't there for the fish. This was just an escape from her doldrums.
All at once, her pole started to bob. She had all she could do to hang onto it. Whatever was on the other end, was putting up quite a struggle. Derek placed his pole on the deck and ambled over to help Bella. Suddenly the fish flew up into the air. Holy cow, it was a huge marlin, the kind you see displayed on the wall of a seafood restaurant.
Bella nearly fell overboard as the marlin jetted through the water. Derek dove for her, his arms laced around her waistline, catching her before she landed outside the boat. He widened his stance, firmly planting his feet beside hers, and pulling her body closer to himself. His arms wrapped around her so that his hands covered her tiny ones—ones that were fighting so hard to keep the pole from flying away.
With her soft form so close to him, it was difficult to concentrate on reeling in that monster. After a good twenty minutes, the battle for dominance was won. The marlin was finally reeled in and hauled over the side, thrashing and spattering droplets of ocean spray in every direction.
Derek loosened his hold on Bella, remarking, "Wow—talk about beginner's luck. Good grief, girl, he's as big as you are."
They both sat down, exhausted, while the silvery spectacle continued to writhe on the decking. As they caught their breath, the radio onboard announced that a previous gale warning was now being upgraded to hurricane status. Derek hadn't worried about it earlier. He figured they'd be back home way ahead of the storm, but now, he felt it his duty to dock the boat and help to warn the beach goers to evacuate the area.
There was one dock worker left at the station. "You two better scramble for cover. Haven't you heard, there's a hurricane coming our way?"
The wind was blowing so hard that Derek had to shout at the man. "Yeah, we just heard it on the radio. But before we leave, can you do us a favor, and take a snapshot of us with our catch?"
The man helped Derek haul the humongous creature out of the boat. He took the cell phone camera from Derek and waited for the couple to pose. Bella held onto the tail fin while Derek lifted the front end. The man snapped a photo of the two of them dwarfed by the denizen of the sea.
Grabbing a tarp from the boat, Derek wrapped the marlin in it and with the help of the dock worker dragged it to the car, and flopped it onto the back seat.
Bella followed him as he borrowed a megaphone from one of the empty towers, and shouted for people to hurry and leave the beach. The clouds were gathering ominously, and most of them exited, so Derek left with Bella and drove her home with the biggest fish he'd ever seen taking up the back seat; its snout sticking out one window, and it's tail fin out the other.
Unbeknownst to Bella, Jacob had been cramming every spare minute with doing odd jobs. He was busy repairing cars and trucks and carving charms to sell at the souvenir shop, all to save up some money for a round trip ticket to Jacksonville.
Embry was helping out in the Taj, but he was getting increasingly irritated by Jacob's moodiness. "Damn, I must be a masochist. Every time I come over here, you're either in a deep funk or in a piss-poor mood. Either way, it's no fun being around you. If you were a girl, I'd swear you were on the rag.
"And another thing—you're killing yourself, man," Embry cautioned. "Think about it, Jake, by the time you save up enough money, she'll already be home. You'll be stressing yourself out for nothing."
Jacob wouldn't listen to reason. "Just give me that battery cable, and shut up."
Embry sighed and reached for the cable sitting on the work bench. He placed it in Jacob's outstretched hand.
He peered at Embry, with the cable laying on his palm, his face a mask of determination. "You don't know the half of it. She writes about this Derek guy in every freakin' letter, and talks about him nonstop with every phone call. I don't like it. They're getting waaay too close.
"I can't lose her, Em. I worked too hard to get here. I won't lose her—and that's that!"
Placing a hand on Jacob's shoulder, Embry inquired, "Well, have you called her on it?"
"Hell, yeah . . . I'm not stupid—of course I've called her on it. She says they're just friends." Jacob's body began to vibrate just from thinking about it. In so doing, he dropped the cable into the engine accidentally. He threw his wrench on the floor angrily; a cloud of dust flew into the air at the impact. "#$##***%%%!"
Embry shook his head in frustration at seeing his best friend falling to pieces in front of his face. "That's it—I'm done. I'm out of here. It's too painful to listen to your ranting day in and day out. I can't wait 'til Bella comes home. You're a nutcase, Jake. When the old Jacob Black reappears, let me know. Until then, this is Embry Call signing off."
He started marching toward the doorway.
Jacob turned; his attention directed at his friend. "No—wait, Em . . ."
Stopping in mid stride, Embry pivoted around to remark, "Pfft, forget it. You heard what I said. Chew on it for awhile, will ya."
He gave Jacob a two finger salute and walked out the door of the Taj.
Jacob leaned over and retrieved the wrench from the dirty floor. He plopped down onto the old orange crate, stretching out his legs. He stared at the wrench as he rolled it over and over in his grease-stained hand.
That night, Jacob watched the news with Billy. Seems that Mother Nature was wreaking havoc in Florida—a hurricane to be exact. Great—one more thing to worry about. Bella was a danger magnet all right, even the wind and rain conspired against her. Jeez, hurry home, Bells!