CHAPTER 03

"Oh wow, hi.. I can come back later, Sam." Carlie said as she stepped into the den of Sam Uley's house, found herself surrounded by very tall teenage males that were truth be told, rather intimidating. Sam shook his head and said "I'll go get the letters your father wrote me. You can read them out on the patio if you want.. Or in here, just whatever makes you more comfortable."

She nodded quietly, edged back towards the doorway of the room, wary of the room full of rather tall Quileute males surrounding her currently. She raked her hand through a head full of messy blondeish brown hair and bit her lower lip, looking around warily. She'd just positioned herself leaning casually against the door's frame when Sam walked back in with 3 or 4 envelopes, held them out to her. The sight of her father's messy handwriting made her smile and she walked to the window seat, sat down in it, opened the first letter and began to read quietly.

Meanwhile, across the room, Embry watched her intently as he and the other members of the pack whispered back and forth, mostly trying to encourage him to walk over and talk to her or something. He shook his head and said calmly, "Whatever she's reading, it looks kinda private and personal. I'm gonna let her finish." as Paul nodded and Leah asked quietly, "Not a social one, huh?"

"They're clearly meant for one another, Leah." Seth quipped as Embry gave him a dirty look and then shushed them because she looked up and then around, then back down to the letters in her lap, hiding her face as if she were trying to wipe tears away covertly. About 10 minutes later, she handed them all back to Sam and said quietly, "Thanks.. I needed to read those." before almost flying out the front door of his house, the door shutting hard behind her. Sam sighed and then turned to the pack, said quietly, "Her father was pretty much her only parent, he has been for a while now. Her mother's just sort of existing. I'd really rather not get into it, but the basic gist of it is that I'm worried about her."

Embry nodded and then said quietly, "It's serious, huh?" which Sam nodded yes to and then said "You have to stay away, Embry. Your self control right now is all over the place and truthfully, I'm not sure how I feel about you imprinting on my niece, either." to which Embry asserted "Oh but it's okay if you imprint on your girlfriend's cousin and then dump your girlfriend, make us all have to deal with the fall out." before walking out onto the patio, slamming the door behind him, sitting down on the back steps of the house.

The music was on again next door and he heard a door slamming, looked up to see her walking out of the house next door, carrying what looked like two or three bags of garbage. He could hear her mother yelling at her from inside, and he could tell her mother was drunk already. He walked over to the fence that seperated the two yards and hissed, stood waiting on Carlie to turn around.

"What?" Carlie asked as Embry asked "Are you alright? I mean you tore out of Sam's."

"I'm good, okay?" Carlie said as she immediately felt guilty for snapping and said softly, "Sorry, it's just.. That woman in there.. She's about to drive me right off the deep end." which made Embry study her a few moments, concerned. "What's going on?"

"I'm cleaning up her damn mess, of course. She found a box of my dad's stuff and flipped out, threw dishes all over the dining room. Now she's locked in her room, probably drinking, she's probably taken a sedative or two. Now I get to clean up the mess she made. I knew I shoulda just let that one box go into storage with the rest. I knew she'd see it and freak out, over react about me having kept it." Carlie admitted, shocked by how easy it was to talk to this guy. "What's your name?" she asked as he chuckled and reminded her, "It's Embry.. Me and Paul kinda came over last night to invite you to grab some barbecue?"

"Sorry, my mind was all over the place last night. Sorry I'm in a mood today. It's a common thing with me, really." Carlie admitted as she put the trash into the bins behind the house, carefully seperating the non recyclables from the things that could be recycled. She closed the lid and leaned against the fence on her side, dug around in her pockets and lit up a cigarette as she glared at the house. Embry smelled the smoke and said quietly, "Smoking's a bad habit."

"Yeah, yeah.. " Carlie said as she asked, "Sam.. He's an alright guy.. Right?" cautiously. Her father expressed that Sam was to take care of her now in one of his letters after detailing every single addiction her mother had, and where to take her if she got so bad she had to go away to dry out again. Which mean that like it or not, Sam was going to be a part of her life and her mom's life.

She just hoped that finally she'd have someone to trust.

"He's okay.. I mean he can be an ass." Embry said as he added "But he'll help anyone, and he's very protective of his family, family means a lot to him.. Because of the way his father handled things." as an afterthought. Carlie nodded to herself and said quietly, "Yeah, I kinda figured. But like, I can trust him?"

"Yeah. And if you wanna talk, you can talk to me and the guys and Leah.." Embry added as she managed a smile that was hidden by the fence that seperated them while saying calmly, "I'm more of an internal person, actually. I'm just afraid that my mom's finally going to completely lose her shit and I'll be stuck with relatives I barely know from a hole in the ground." as she put her hand on the fence, wondering if he were standing the same way, on the other side. Talking to him through a gate seemed so secretive, sort of romantic for some reason or another.

Embry saw her hand and smiled a little as he rested his forehead against the fence and said "You'll be okay. You might not realize it, Carlie, but you have people who care about you now." while adding to himself 'And I'm one of them. I'm gonna take care of you, even if Sam does his worst. He will not stop this imprint from taking. Let him try.'

She heard her mom moving around the house and looked at it forlornly, then said quietly, "Gonna get back inside now." before turning, walking away from the gate hesitantly.

Maybe La Push wouldn't be so bad. It wasn't Chicago, but maybe she'd finally get a reprieve from her mother's downward spiral... Maybe she wasn't all alone after losing her father after all.

And the guy, Embry, well.. He sort of made her curious.. Very wary but curious all the same.