Chapter 10: Date

Nessie

My heart dropped all the way to my stomach as the wolf began his approach. His teeth bared as he snarled. I knew that all chance of escape was impossible. This wolf would easily kill all three of us right now. The young female wolf pup stood protectively in front of my son. Just when I thought that the wolf was about to bite my head off and have me for dinner he instead turned toward the young pup, grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, and ran back into the woods with her.

I was left there wondering what the hell had just happened. A sane person would have gotten up and ran like hell. But, I guess I was not a sane person because I remained exactly where I was. My muscles felt like they had been frozen into place. I gasped when I heard a noise not far from where I was currently sitting. I thought for sure the wolf had returned to finish me off. But instead, much to my absolute and utter shock, it was a man with a baby. A very, very, very, handsome man. He wasn't wearing a shirt which made it impossible for me to look away. That six pack, and oh holy muscles.

"Hi, I was hiking through the woods with my daughter when I saw you, do you need any help?"

"No. We're fine," That was an absolute lie. My heart was accelerating. I was breathing harder and faster. I had an insane amount of butterflies in my stomach. It was all because of this impossibly handsome guy.

"You look lost. Are you sure there isn't anything that I can do to help you? My name is Jacob by the way and this is my daughter Hailey,"

I chuckled nervously. "It's really nice to meet you but no, we're not lost. My name is Renesmee by the way and this is my daughter Faith and my son Hunter,"

"Renesmee. Well, you're all grown up now,"

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"I mean, nevermind, forget I said that. That's a very unique name,"

"Yeah. It's such a mouthful though. I prefer people call me Nessie,"

"Well you're very beautiful Nessie. Your boyfriend is a lucky guy,"

"I don't have a boyfriend anymore," I said sadly. "And you seem nice. Your girlfriend must be very lucky," Very, very lucky.

"I don't have a girlfriend. I'm very much single,"

"Oh," I said. "So am I," I wanted to slap myself after the words slipped out of my mouth. I was sounding so desperate right now. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

He grinned widely. "Well since we're both single. Why don't you allow me to take you to dinner so that we can get to know each other better? I mean, if that's alright with you of course?"

"Sure. Yeah dinner sounds great. When do you want to go?"

"How about right now?"

I sputtered. "Right now?"

"Unless you have something else going on?"

"But, I can't, I have my babies with me,,"

"And I have my baby with me. I don't mind. We'll take them with us,"

He held out his hand for me to grab. I hesitated before finally reaching out for his hand. Oh holy shit was he hot! His hand felt like he had left it burning over a hot furnace for hours. "Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Trust me when I say that this is the most okay I have been in a long time,"

"But your hand it's so hot. You feel like you have a fever. Are you sick?"

He shook his head. "It's a genetic thing in my family. We all run a little hotter than most people do. Here, you can touch Hailey and see for yourself," I stroked his daughter's cheek gently and was just as surprised to find that her skin was just as hot as her father's skin was.

"So Renesmee, do you know any good places to eat around here?"

I sighed. "I'm kind of new to the area but I did see a restaurant around here that I wouldn't mind trying. It's an Italian restaurant,"

"That sounds good to me. Lead the way," he said.

I laughed. "So you're new to the area?" he asked me.

"That's putting it mildly. I just arrived here less than forty-eight hours ago. It's kind of a long story that I really do not want to get into,"

"That's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry,"

"So I take it you are new around here also?"

"Just arrived here today,"

The restaurant I was thinking of was about a thirty minute walk away from where we were. It was much longer than I had expected. But, if I was being honest, I enjoyed hanging out with this strange, yet, handsome guy. We talked a lot and I got to learn more about him and Hailey. As it turned out his daughter was the exact same age as Hunter and Faith. They were born on exactly the same day. I thought it was a very funny coincidence.

There were not a lot of people waiting when we got to the restaurant. So we were seated pretty quickly. "Shit, oh fuck!" Jacob suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" I asked him, alarmed. Even the three babies looked alarmed by his sudden outburst.

"Hailey. She needs a new diaper and new clothes. Right now. And, because I'm an idiot I don't have any with me,"

"Here," I passed him my diaper bag. "I've got plenty of extra diapers and clothes. You're more than welcome to use it,"

"Thanks," he said. "Really you're a lifesaver," he said as he quickly grabbed the diaper bag from me and headed off to the restrooms with Hailey.

Jacob came back a while later. "I'm sorry about that,"

"It's okay. I have two of them. Trust me when I say….I understand,"

"I don't know how you do it with two. I can barely handle one,"

"Well you seem to be doing pretty well. I'm sure being a single dad isn't easy but you seem to be hanging in there,"

I watched as Hailey reached out towards Hunter with a big smile on her face. Jacob didn't seem very pleased by this. My son smiled widely and reached out toward her hand with his own tiny little hand. They giggled happily when they made contact. Hunter started kicking his feet which is something he did when he was happy. My daughter, on the other hand, wasn't smiling. It was almost as if she was quite unimpressed with her brother's antics.

"Your son seems really happy," Jacob pointed out.

"He doesn't see babies other than his sister very often. So I think he's quite fascinated with your daughter,"

"And my daughter is quite fascinated with your son. By the way, if you don't mind my asking. What happened to their father?"

Sadness came over me as I thought of Ethan. "I don't know. He's been missing for the last three months. The police think he's dead but they never found a body so-yeah,"

"But you don't think he's dead," Jacob said not as a question, but as a statement of fact.

"Yeah," I said before nibbling on a piece of bread. "I won't believe it until they find a body. The problem is that they're not even looking anymore,"

He didn't bring up the subject again after that. The waitress came by to take our orders. I ordered my mom's favorite. The mushroom ravioli. It was really good. Jacob and I kept talking all throughout dinner. Hailey and Hunter were having fun just sitting right next to each other. I didn't know that my son could be such a smiley little baby boy. Faith appeared to be very unamused by her brother throughout dinner.

After dinner we decided to head across the street to get ice cream from a parlor we had seen. We spent another hour there. Then I decided that it was time to start heading back. Jacob wanted to go with me but I didn't want to suddenly show up at the Cullen household with a guy. So I walked back alone.

The lights were on when I got home. I didn't have a key so I knocked on the door. Edward was the one to open the door. "Where have you-" he stopped mid question. He sniffed something in the air. I sniffed also but I didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. His eyes widened, alarmed.

"I was out a bit later than expected. Sorry about that. Um, can we come in?"

He didn't say another word. He silently stepped aside so that I could come in.