(19) Expose

I cautiously slid my eyes to Lily and she thankfully jumped into the conversation after tossing the bread roll back in the basket. She was the best liar sitting at the table the only one who could bluff Myra completely. She leaned forward to give her words extra meaning.

"Myra, Jacob cannot call you because he's out of town. Bella said that he went to visit his cousins in Oregon. Obviously she'll let you know when he comes back." Myra raised her eyes and stared directly at me, which made me flinch slightly.

Joey sat nervously pretending to stare at the tablecloth and I clamored to agree with Lily's reply. "Sure he said he would keep in touch." I put the fork of vegetables in my mouth chewing furiously.

Myra paused as she absorbed our words then seemed placated and finished her lunch. Connie started to talk about her garden and I tuned out the rest of the conversation. A little fact kept floating in the back of my mind. Jacob didn't visit yesterday. He said he would and he didn't come. I tried not to take it personally but it hurt all the same. I wanted to believe that everything was okay with him and he wasn't brushing me off. I had faith that he would keep his word eventually.

A few days passed…

I was sitting on the stone bench outside balancing my reading book on my legs. I wasn't in the mood to read so I stared at the serene water for quite a while. I thought about Jacob and his vacancy in my life. My proclaimed faith was dwindling. I laughed at myself. Stupid Bella! He probably is really busy, I hope.

Myra passed by me with her headphones on. She gave me her daily look of contemption and continued on her way. She went for a jog everyday at four o'clock. This was part of her obsessive pattern that I came to know so well. After her jog she did a yoga exercise on a mat in the garden. She always did the same moves squatting on the mat and balancing her weight on her hands. Her feet dipped to the ground then her head tipped back. That pose was held for several seconds then onto the next. Lily slammed the back door and stomped over to me.

"It's so annoying you know." Lily explained and sat in the small space on the bench forcing me to move my legs to the gravel. Her movements were so intrusive that my personal space was always challenged.

"What?" I brushed my hair away from my eyes and noticed the weather was turning colder. The frigid breeze made me pull my jacket tighter to my body.

"Myyyyra." Lily exhaled and crossed her arms to her chest. "This plan isn't going the way we planned. She was supposed to be humiliated not glorified. I can't take one more mention of that stupid note."

"What do you want to do?" I asked carefully. I didn't want to deliver another note to her and risk being throttled when she got a clue. Lily seemed more irritated than usual.

"I want Jacob to come here and ignore Myra. Once she sees that he doesn't have any interest in her then she will be mortified." Lily smiled.

"He can't come here. This wasn't supposed to last this long at all. She was supposed to know that the note was fake when we said, "hey Myra that note wasn't real". Then she'd get mad and we'd laugh. The end." I stated and another breeze blew the frozen air right through us.

"Jeez us it's freezing out here. We need a new plan because this one sucks. I'm holding a meeting tomorrow same time when you know who is out." Lily padded back to the house and shut the door. I watched her go and wandered what else we could do to Myra. She is going to get suspicious when Jacob writes another letter even though he's out of town.

An engine noise caught my attention and I looked at the small driveway. I saw a familiar truck coming up the path. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. I sucked in the frosty air and felt my body go numb. Jacob jumped from the cab and gave me an enormous smile. I was incapable of moving and stared in disbelief. Why was he here? What happened to his hair?

I got my senses back and rushed over to him before he made his way to the garden. He chuckled when he saw me attempt to run and trip over the stone steps. I gathered myself before I crashed to the ground and continued with warp speed over to him.

"Where's the fire?" He joked and opened his arms. I clumsily ran into his embrace and gave him a brief hug.

"What are you doing here?" I accused him then felt badly when his face fell slightly. He put his hand on my shoulder and looked down.

"I came to see you. I told you I would. I know it wasn't sooner but I wasn't feeling good. Billy made me stay in bed and nursed me back to health good as new. Well except for the pain right here." He pointed to his chest and stared at me. I nodded along while stealing looks at the front door.

"Let's go for a walk." I blurted out and led him to the opposite direction back down the driveway.

"Wait." He said and pulled me back. "I need to explain something."

I watched him standing there and noticed the curtain parted from the window. Joey peeked out and her eyes widened. She opened her mouth in shock and quickly closed the curtains.

"What's wrong?" I stood there shaking with nerves.

"It's about your friends the Cullens." Jacob leaned closer to me. I felt a huge boulder of pain creep into my chest. No, please I don't want to talk about them. I struggled to regain my composure.

"What about them?" I said quickly alerting Jacob.

"I know about them. I know that you know about them. Don't make me say it out loud." Jacob grimaced and his face remained hard.

I flinched from his sudden change in emotions. "I don't know what you're talking about." I lied and walked away from him. I wasn't thinking about Myra anymore I was trying to hold it together until Jacob left then I would lose it. I was walking a thin line.

"Wait, I said it all wrong. Don't go." Jacob pleaded and followed me. I continued walking down the driveway till I got to the beginning of the woods. I knew he would follow me and I wanted him away from the house. Nobody needed to hear our heated conversation.

"Is that why you drove down here? To accuse me of something?" I turned to him and his eyes weren't spewing hatred. He calmly stared at me for a while.

"I can't stay long. I didn't want you to think I didn't want to talk to you anymore." He ran his hands over his hair and stopped. He put his hand back to his side.

"Why did you cut your hair?" I blurted and he blushed.

"Just wanted a change you know. It was getting in the way of things." He moved closer. "I have to be really careful around you. I just need you to know that I'm here for you if you need me." He was so earnest that I immediately narrowed my eyes.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're you leaving for a long time?" I had the suspicion in my gut that I wasn't going to see him again. "Why?"

"I can't tell you. I seriously can't. Even though I would tell you if I could. I don't want to make you sad by bringing up the Cullens I can see that it hurts you. But Bella, they're dangerous. More so than I could possibly explain to you.." His voice stopped cut off and he turned away.

"No Jacob they would never hurt me." I revealed and his eyes opened a little. We were both on point with our conversation. He shook his head. I missed his long hair and clamped my fingers from touching his short tresses. "I can't tell you much but I can tell you that whatever stories you heard about them it's not true. They've never hurt me."

He shook his head again. "Not from what I've heard." Jacob moved closer to me. "I know you don't want to hear this but I'm glad they're gone. You don't have any idea how complicated it would have been." He brought his hand to my face. "I would be torn."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Myra stood with her hands on her hips her eyes fuming with rage.