all things twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer...
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Chapter 7
He sat in the tree outside her window. He was getting tired of this watching, no action. He'd been waiting in this tree every night since he got here. His mouth watered just at the thought of seeing the fear in her eyes.
There was a slight snag in his plan. Edward Cullen.
"Let's get out of here," he threw over his shoulder.
***
Edward was laughing at Jasper. "She doesn't have anything to worry about working at this store. That Mike guy is all over her here. He'd probably keep that creep off her."
Edward stopped laughing. "Just keep your eye open." He closed his cell phone.
"Hey, Charlie, where's your lap dog today?"
Just then the door opened. "You get a dog, Charlie?" Jacob Black came in and threw his leather jacket on the coat rack. "He doesn't look too protective. Hope you don't get any intruders." Jake flexed his arm and threw a look at Edward that said kiss my ass.
"Did you fetch the paper?" Edward sneered.
Charlie rolled his eyes. "Enough of the pissing contest, guys."
"Sorry, chief." Edward said truly sorry he was doing this and stressing him out.
Jacob rolled his eyes, who was the lap dog now? and said, "What game is on today?"
***
Bella was so tired. There had been a rush at the store. Out-of-towners were starting to flock in with the first glimpse of the spring weather. There had been no rain for two days, but there were clouds in the horizon. They were looming so close she had to turn on her headlights as she was winding down the road, and it was just four o'clock.
She would be so glad to get home today. She needed to be with her guys. All of them. Jake would be good for a hug, Edward would be good conversation, and Charlie-well, it would just be good to see his smile today. "Hey guys, I'm home." She threw her parka, which she'd just had to carry today instead of wear, on the coat rack next to the jackets there.
She looked at them. They each described their owner. Charlie's old police jacket hung there, dusty and unmoved since he worked his last day. Jake's giant black leather coat took up half the room on the rack. It was a warm coat, Bella knew first hand. It was comforting and it belonged here after so many times visiting. Next to it was the newcomer. A warm rich chocolate brown leather coat very different from the previous leather jacket. This one was sleek, it seemed to fit in no matter how new it was to its surroundings. It looked warm and inviting, but it was foreign to her. How could she just trust it enough to throw it on and go out? She should just trust the reliable neighboring coat that had always been there… shouldn't she?
She shook her head. She was reading too much into this.
"Heya, Bells." Jake put his big arms around her and hugged her close to him.
"Hey, Jake. That's exactly what I needed today after a day like this at the store."
"Busy?" he asked her.
Edward watched them from the doorjamb between the entry hall and the living room. "Hey, Bella." He said with a smile on his face. He knew exactly what he wanted and it was to get her alone for awhile. "Since, Jake, is here," he used the informal and familiar form of his foe's name to help win her over, "I thought maybe we could go get that coffee this evening. I called and got pizza for Charlie, on me."
"I couldn't ask him to…"
"You don't mind, Jake, do you?" Edward feigned an almost shock.
"No, me and Charlie were going to watch the game anyway." Jacob's shoulders were rigid as he said the words. "You go out and have fun, Bells, you deserve some time to relax. And I am pretty sure Charlie is glad to be having pizza for the first time in like three months."
Jacob turned around and the look that he gave Edward would have given a lesser man chills. Edward gave him a nod and a smile and grabbed his jacket and Bella's parka from the rack and threw them both over his arm. "Just in case. Looks like rain."
Bella just smiled a goofy teenage girl kind of smile then bit her bottom lip.
Edward suddenly found her habit as the sexiest thing he'd ever seen. He wanted to nibble that bottom lip himself. He cleared his throat to make sure it didn't crack or come out too husky, "Shall we?"
They took the Volvo down to the local watering hole. It was a good thing Jasper had gotten in his car to go to the Cullen's house just outside of town. It would have been a time trying to explain the absence of his car to Bella. He opened the door for her then almost sprinted to his side of the car.
Cora waited on them. "How's your daddy?" she asked Bella.
"You know, Cora, I bet he'd love it if you just came to see him. He's been good the past few days." This stung a bit. Bella wasn't even obvious enough to know that Cora was in love with Charlie and had been since their high school days.
"You think? My shift ends in an hour. You think six is too late?'
"No." Bella gave her a smile. She wondered if it was as hard for someone that had loved from a distance. Maybe just a different pain. A lot of what-ifs, Bella thought. She wanted to tell Cora just to tell him. It would be better in the end if he had known.
Edward order something that Bella had never heard of and wondered if Cora would even know how to make it. "You know your coffee. You go to Starbucks a lot, don't you?"
"Yeah, almost everyday before I go to work." He said. "They are on every street corner in Seattle."
"I'll have the same," was all Bella could say. She could never be a coffee ordering pro, and it was stupid that this was making her feel inferior now.
It was weird, now that they were here, he didn't know how to start or what to say. He knew he was falling for her. Did she feel the same? He couldn't help but to have these feelings for someone who was strong enough to laugh with her dying father, to take care of him like it was her burden alone and still hold her chin up. She could still smile and could still do what she had to do. It was hard to be around someone like this and not feel a little inferior. It made him think, would I be that strong for my father or mother? Had he been? No, he'd been locked away in quarantine kept away from them and their disease. And he'd been too weak to even fight for his right to see them.
He couldn't know if she felt this way for him. They way she seemed some comfortable in Jacob Blacks giant arms today and shown him a side he hadn't seen first hand before. Even though he was no sure they were not a couple now, they used to be and he could tell it was Jacob's goal to get her back. Edward was planning on making this a tough battle for her heart. Charlie had called it a pissing contest, but this was more. It was a battle of epic proportions to win the heart of his daughter.
Bella sat there looking at him in their excruciatingly long silence. From the look on his face it was only excruciating for her. He sat there looking at her with a half smile that sat crookedly on his face as if he was waiting for her to say something that would change his life. "I, uh…" she felt the need to fill this void. "I appreciate you brining me out tonight. I had a rough day. We'll have to make it quick so we can get back to Charlie."
"Why do you do that?"
"What?"
"Call him Charlie when he's not around."
"Its what I called him when I was with Renee, my mom. She always said Charlie when she spoke about him or to him, never 'your father.' So I just got used to it. When I used to come up here for the summers I started calling him Charlie to his face. That's when he tried to stop it. And so, for his benefit, unless we are arguing, I call him dad to his face. But he will always be Charlie to me."
He could tell this wasn't some way for her to be rebellious. Charlie was more endearing to her than just calling him dad. Dad was something every kid called their father. "You know we have a least two hours before the game is over. And I bet Cora would love it if there was less people there when she gets there. We should go for a walk. The rain is still holding off."
She looked out the window and sure enough the sun was still battling the clouds for control as it was getting lower in the sky. "That sounds like a great idea."