Chapter 5

Edward was glad that Jasper was finally in town. This was something he was trying to keep from Bella at the moment. The longer he could stay in the house the better. And the longer it kept Jacob Black out too. Edward wasn't sure why he didn't like this guy but there was something about the way he looked at Bella, the way he touched her.

Like she was his possession.

Jasper was sitting outside in the Volvo. Bella wouldn't pay attention to a car that was supposed to be empty. Plus the tint on the back windows where Jasper was set up was the kind of tint they put on limos to keep the privacy in.

Another good thing about being in law enforcement- illegal tint.

"Hey, Jasper," he said loud enough that Bella would hear him in the kitchen. "What? What do you mean another week? A hurricane? Seriously! Japer, half of my vacation will be over by then. Okay, you both need to be careful in that weather."

"Problems?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, Jasper and Alice are stuck on the island. They are having hurricane winds there, and the flights aren't leaving. They are predicting five days to a week before they will be able to get back in the air."

"Well, our door is open as long as you need it, Edward."

"Thanks, chief."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Dinner is ready." She brought out two plates sitting one in front of Charlie and placing the other in front of Edward. She went back and got her plate and came back. Dinner was silent.

Bella had sat up with Charlie tonight laughing. Edward had excused himself early to go upstairs. It was nice being alone with Charlie for once. She was so used to having Jake- and now Edward- here to do male bonding kind of things with Charlie. They never had time alone together anymore. Charlie was snoozing lightly on the couch with a smile on his pale, tired face.

Bella was going to miss him.

She walked by the bedroom where Edward was, and she heard a slight snoring coming from the room. She smiled at this for some reason. It wasn't that tear the walls down kind of snore, it was more like a purr.

She was enjoying the times she and Edward had together while Charlie was asleep. He was intelligent. He knew about all the books that Bella loved. He knew so much about the classics, the ones Bella could recite from memory. He could almost stump her on some of them.

They talked about music. It was like he had devoted his life to the study of it. He talked about classical composers that Bella didn't know existed. She was ashamed that she had Googled some of them to make sure he wasn't just making it up to impress her.

He knew about poetry and plays. He recited lines from Romeo and Juliet, her favorite.

She was enjoying his company a little too much. She found herself wanting to touch his hand across the little kitchen table. She wanted to brush his messy hair out of his face when in fell in his eyes. She wanted him to ask her to coffee again. She was sure she could get Jake up here while she was off, just once.

What was she thinking? Charlie was her father and here she was panting after some guy and wanting to leave during her free time. It could be his last minute, he could take his last breath, at any given minute. She shook her head. She was being selfish.

He only had a few more days here at the house. He had gotten another call from Jasper saying that they should be here by Sunday. That would have made Edward a houseguest for a whole week. Jake had not been happy about this either.

Bella had asked him why he'd been in such a lousy mood all week. All he had done to respond was grunt and go back to watch baseball with Charlie. Well, it wasn't her job to make everyone happy. Right now, her focus was on Charlie. This was exhausting enough. She clicked off her light and got under the familiar covers in her room for a refreshing night's sleep.

Edward heard Bella whispering loudly on the phone in her room. A mixture of this and the sun filtering in the curtains brought him out of his deep dream filled sleep. He was tangled in the sheets. It looked like he had been trying to dance a tango. He focused on what Bella was saying.

"What do you mean you can't be here today? I'll have to call in at the store." Pause. "No, it isn't good, Jake, I'll be short on the bills." Pause. "Charlie doesn't get that much money." Pause. "No, Jake, I don't want your money. I'll find a way. Bye."

He pulled on his jeans and snuck out of his room to go down stairs. He needed to get coffee before he faced this angry woman.

Bella was pulling her hair into her daily ponytail that Edward was beginning to hate. He loved those few times when she let her hair down. It really was like mahogany silk. "Morning." He said to her and she came into the kitchen.

She looked at him in the glow of the early sun, just in a pair of jeans, no shirt, no shoes. He had his coffee mug in one had and the paper in the other. It was almost as if he could dissolve her pissy mood just by being extremely gorgeous in her tiny kitchen. He looked like a model for Foldger's. "Yeah, good morning." She fumbled when she grabbed her cup. It went crashing to the floor, ceramic shattering everywhere. "Dammit." She breathed the word. She looked down to the mess then her gaze wondered to the way of Charlie. She bit her bottom lip.

There was no sound from the living room except the steady snoozing of her father. She let out a breath that she'd been holding and went to get the broom.

"Something wrong?" Edward asked nonchalantly from his chair.

"I just… nothing."

"Bella, you are a horrible liar."

"I have to call in to work today so I can take care of Charlie. Jake can't come up today. He does too much already. I really shouldn't be so irritated by this. " He let her ramble on as she started to sweep. He got up to hold the dust pan for her as she swept of the shards. This was her sweeping up the sharps of her coffee mug, but Edward saw her alone in this house, really alone, after Charlie, sweeping up the shards of her heart, her life.

"Listen, Bella, the least I can do is take a day off from stalking you and watch Charlie. You are letting me stay here while I wait on my sister and Jasper."

"I can't ask you to…" she started.

"You didn't. I said I would." Jasper would be pissed that he had to extend his shift to this afternoon before he could get some sleep. He'd have to go to the shop to look after her there. He'll get over it, was all Edward could think. He had to be a one man show for almost three weeks while Jasper got to vacation and have sex.

"Thank you," she said and dumped the remains of the shards in the dustbin. She kissed Charlie on the forehead like she did before she left every time. "Love you, dad." Then she was out the door.

Edward was aware that Charlie had been feigning sleep since the crash of the mug. "Morning, Charlie."

"You trying to seduce my daughter?" He said it with a smile.

"No, just drinking my coffee." Edward replied.

"Tell me, Edward, what really brings you here from Seattle."