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Best Definition of Good Intentions
6 – Just Getting Up for the Letdown
Alice pulled back the covers to her bed and slid in, followed by Bella when she finished changing in the bathroom. It was a sleep-over like none before. The two girls spent the evening simply being. Alice's normally active personality was toned down and neither girl knew if it was because she herself was feeling less than happy or if she was awarding Bella the much needed relaxation. At least sleep came easy to Bella that night. As soon as the light was turned off and she closed her eyes, she fell into a deep sleep.
Alice, on the other hand, was plagued by disturbing dreams. The first time she woke during the night, she tried to shake the images from her mind and allowed herself to be pulled back under sleep's blanket. Merely an hour later, she awoke again. Instead of falling back asleep right away, she watched her dream flash before her eyes, trying to make sense of it. Shrugging it off, she tried her hand at sleep once more, only to be jolted awake again. She glanced at the alarm clock, which was scheduled to go off in another half hour. Alice got out of the bed, deciding she might as well get up and just have the extra time to get ready. As she walked downstairs, she noticed that no one else in her family was awake. She sat down on the couch and turned the television on. She quickly changed the channel until she found one filled with mindless cartoons. She lay back on the pillows and closed her eyes.
Immediately, her mind was filled with the pictures that filled her sleep. She was on an airplane, standing at the front looking towards all the other passengers. She smiled at the sight of her family towards the back of the plane. Emmett was leaning forward to speak to Carlisle and Esme, who were sitting in the row ahead of him. There was an empty seat next to him that Alice started to walk towards. Out the small window, a bright flash caught Alice's eye. She stopped next to a row where a small boy was sitting, playing with a red truck. Before she took a closer look out the window, she looked at the boy, immediately recognizing him. It was an eight-year-old version of Edward. He was dressed, and looked identical, to a photo the Cullen's had in their house of all the kids at that age. The young boy looked up, flashing a friendly smile of recognition and holding out the truck he had been playing with. Turning it over in her hand, Alice realized that it was an exact replica of Bella's loud monster of a truck. In fact, it had the same license plate number and school parking sticker on the bumper. Alice's focus was diverted when the bright flash stole her attention again. She leaned down, looking out the window. Alice gasped, jumping back in surprise. The wing was on fire! A huge wave of orange, yellow and red was inching its way closer to the cabin. Suddenly, Alice could feel the heat in the air. Looking down, she saw the plastic of Bella's toy truck melting into her palms. Panic took over. Someone had to do something. She looked back towards her family, but they remained where they had been, showing no signs of what was going on out their window. Alice looked back towards the cockpit, hoping to see a flight attendant to find out what was going on. When she noticed the door was open, Alice walked into the cockpit. She put her hand on the shoulder of the pilot, turning him towards her. At the sight of Edward, at his current age, sitting with his hands on the controls, Alice woke up.
"Alice!" Someone was shaking her shoulder, yelling her name. She opened her eyes to see Bella staring down at her. Her breathing was heavy, but her efforts to calm herself weren't working.
"Alice! What's wrong?"
"I...I…I don't know. I was having a bad dream," she stammered.
"What happened?" Bella's voice was full of concern.
"I was on a plane," Alice's mind was filled with the scene as she tried to recant her dream. "Your truck was there and Edward. But he was eight years old. And then Edward was piloting the plane."
"Alice, calm down. My truck was on the plane? And an eight year-old Edward was flying the plane?"
"No, no. A toy of your truck. And there were two Edwards, an eight year-old and then the real Edward was the pilot. I don't know. Nothing made sense. There was a fire, and I was the only one who could see it. But I couldn't do anything."
Bella remained silent, watching Alice. She was waiting for her to make more sense of this nightmare.
"I couldn't do anything," Alice repeated quieter.
"Girls! What are you doing? If you don't hurry up and get dressed, you'll be late to school," Esme called out as she made her way down the stairs to start a pot of coffee.
Alice lifted herself off the couch, pulling Bella up the stairs after her. Alice quickly began to get ready for school as Bella stood in the doorway, unable to move.
"Bella, come on! Get dressed! We're going to be late. And I was suppose to meet Jasper at school early this morning," Alice threw Bella's bag at her.
"Alice, are you okay? I've never seen you that worked up about a dream. I came downstairs when I woke up because you weren't here anymore. You were on the couch, yelling and muttering in your sleep. I'm surprised no one else heard and came down. It sounded like you were in pain," Bella made no move to get ready.
"Bella. I'm fine. It was just a bad dream, now please can we just forget it?" Alice pleaded.
Instead of responding, Bella started getting ready.
School that day, as well as everyday that week, dragged on. Alice's mood continued to be muted a little more everyday. In an effort to help Alice, Bella tried to be the cheery one. She tried to spark excitement in Alice by talking about the shopping trip in Seattle they had planned for the upcoming weekend. She tried reenacting the stories of Mike asking Bella out countless times. She tried to get Alice to squeal over Angela's new relationship with Ben. She tried to talk Alice into a beach trip. Nothing worked. Alice remained stoic and un-amused. Every afternoon, Bella would return home exhausted. She didn't understand how Alice acted so excited on such an unwavering scheduled. After just a few days, Bella could hardly stand it. Maybe it was because Alice wasn't faking her happiness and excitement. Bella would do her homework each afternoon and cook dinner for her father, who would come home late each night and leave early for work each morning, giving Bella only a few waking hours with him each day. Renee was home this week even less than she was the week before. And when she was home, she was in even more of a bad mood than normal. On Wednesday, Renee actually made it home for dinner. She walked in the door just as Bella was dumping a bag of rice into the boiling water on the stove.
"What are you making?" Renee asked.
Bella looked up and stared at her mother. She had been too involved in cooking that she hadn't heard the front door open. Instead of being happy about finally seeing her mother this week, she was automatically annoyed at the tone her mother had taken with her. Bella was annoyed that her mother couldn't say hello and give her a hug first.
"Chicken enchiladas," Bella answered, turning back to the food.
"Why? You know I hate Mexican food," Renee put her purse down, plugging her cell phone in to be charged.
"So?" This time Bella turned around to face her mother. She couldn't believe what her mother was saying. And she wouldn't put up with it.
"Excuse me, young lady, but you will not talk back to your mother," Renee scolded.
Bella rolled her eyes at her mother's attempt to act like a parent.
"Bella! You can drop this attitude right now!"
"Or what, Mom?" the daughter shot back.
"I'm not going to threaten you with a punishment, Bella. But you need to treat your mother with some respect."
"Mother? Is that what you call yourself?" Bella couldn't hold back. All of her anger that she'd kept bottled up for the past few months came flooding out.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Renee's temper was starting to flare. She was raising her voice, something she hardly ever did.
"You know very well what it means."
"I'd like you to explain it to me," Renee was trying her hardest to control her voice. Her daughter was right, she knew exactly what she was saying, but it didn't mean she didn't need to hear it from someone else. Renee thought it might do her some good to have her daughter call her out on her poor behavior.
"Seriously?" Bella waited for an answer but Renee only stared back at her. "Fine. I'll tell you. Mom, you've hardly been around anymore. Today is Wednesday. The last time I actually talked to you was on Sunday and that was on the phone! I can't even remember the last time I saw you. And now, you come home, for once. And what do you do? The first thing you do is yell at me for cooking something you don't like! Really? No 'Hi, Bella. I missed you, sweetie.' No hug. No nothing. Like you honestly were expecting me to assume you'd be home for dinner. And you're expecting me to be cooking? You do realize that before you decided you were too good to spend time with your family, you cooked dinner every night. You know Dad can't cook, so thanks for leaving me the responsibility of cooking. Oh, and to take care of Dad, too." Bella turned her back, facing the stove. She placed her hand on the countertop, trying to steady herself.
"Your father can very well take care of himself, Bella." Of all the things to address in Bella's tirade, she picked that one? Bella's anger took control again.
"No, Mom, he can't. He can't because he's heartbroken that his wife isn't around anymore," Bella calmed herself before continuing. "Look, Mom. I know you don't like Forks. I know this new job in Seattle is great, but do you realize what you're doing to our family? This is tearing us apart. Dad won't talk about it and I really can't deal with anymore right now. So why don't you just decide what you want so that we can all move on."
The sizzling on the stove was the only sound for almost five minutes. Bella thought her mother had left the room.
She spoke so quietly as first that Bella almost didn't hear her.
"You're right."
"What?" Bella placed the tray in the oven, slamming the door.
"You're right," Renee's voice was still quiet. Bella could see the moisture on her mother's cheeks reflect the light. "You're right, Bella. I haven't been acting like much of a mother or a wife. But I'm going to fix that. Tomorrow, I'll go down to the resort and quit. I'll be home again. I'll cook dinner and I'll take care of Charlie. And you. I'll take care of my family."
Bella watched Renee walk out of the kitchen and into her bedroom. When Charlie arrived home for dinner, Renee still hadn't come out.
After hanging up his gun belt, Charlie noticed Renee's purse on the counter next to her charging cell phone.
"Is your mother home, Bella?" Charlie leaned down and kissed Bella's head as she prepared two plates for dinner. Bella was stunned. Charlie didn't show affection, ever. He must be happy at the prospect of his wife being home for once.
"Yea, she is, Dad," Bella said with a smile, showing her father that everything was going to be alright. "You know she's not much of Mexican fan, so she went to lie down instead. She seemed really tired so I figure we could just let her sleep."
"Good idea, kid. She's been working so much lately, I was beginning to wonder whether she ever slept."
"She said she's going to quit her job tomorrow," Bella decided to tell her father because then Renee couldn't back out.
"Really?" Charlie looked up in surprise.
"Yea. She said she missed being home with us," Bella lied. Her father didn't need to know the finer details when the end result was the important part.
"That's great news."
Bella and Charlie then fell into the comfortable silence for the rest of dinner. After they finished their meals, Bella cleared the table and returned to her room to finish her math assignment. As she got ready for bed that night, she could hear muted voices drift up the stairs. Normally, the voices would be much louder and sound much angrier at this time of night if both of her parents were home. Hope was making a home in Bella's heart as she settled into bed. Giving into slumber, she tried to keep the hope at bay in an effort to save herself from the pain that would come if her mother didn't change her ways. Before falling asleep, the last thought Bella had was of all the things she and her mother could this during the upcoming weekend if she wasn't working.
While she was sleeping, the hope managed to grab hold of her thoughts and refused to let go. Both Renee and Charlie had already left for the morning by the time she was getting ready for school. She didn't know whether to take her mother's absence as a good or a bad sign, but the hope made her believe she'd have her answer by the end of the day. Bella could barely contain her excitement as she made her way into the school and she looked for her best friend to share it with. Alice was, once-again, showcasing her subdued attitude, but her eyes immediately brightened at the obvious happiness that Bella displayed. Bella, though, was hesitant to give reason. Only Alice would understand how extremely happy she was at the possibilities, but at the same time, only Alice would know how truly horrible she would feel if those possibilities returned to their drea-like states.
"What's going on?" Alice's eyes were dancing once again and Bella had a hard time denying her best friend anything that would give those eyes further reason to sparkle.
"I got in a fight with my mom last night," Bella purposely said only little, making the story more dramatic.
"I'm going to assume that's a good thing since you're so chipper this morning. That at least means you spent some time with her, even if you were yelling at each other," Alice's eyes moved towards the door at the sign of Ms. Howell, their Algebra II teacher, preparing the begin class.
"Well, yea. But besides that, she told me she was going to quit her job," The limited time cause Bella to blurt out the things she was trying to hold back. At the sight of Alice's grin, Bella sighed, thinking that if her problems and Alice's were solved all at once, the better. Maybe the problem was that Alice couldn't deal with all the sadness going on in the lives around her, maybe she just needed to see some happiness in the world.
Alice squealed in delight as Ms. Howell called the class to attention. The rest of the school day passed by in a blur. The black hole that had claimed Alice throughout the week was suddenly gone, and Bella reveled in the fact that her life seemed to be turning around. Not only was her best friend back to her cheerful, pixie self but her family was also on the road to recovery.
Her good mood only improved at the sight of her mother's car in the driveway as Bella pulled into the driveway that afternoon.
"Hey, Mom!" Bella called out, stumbling through the front door.
"In the kitchen, sweetie!" So far, so good, Bella thought.
Bella dropped her school bag at the foot of the stairs and walked into the kitchen where her mother was standing, hands on her hips staring into a bowl on the counter.
"What are you making?" Bella peered into the bowl.
"They were suppose to be cookies, but something's missing and I can't figure out what," Renee's frustration was apparent as she wiped her hair off her face, smudging her forehead with flour.
Bella dug through the spice cabinet until she found what she was looking for. She held out the small, dark bottle for her mother to take. "Add a tablespoon of vanilla," she instructed.
Renee did as she was told then mixed the ingredients thoroughly. She scooped some onto the wooden spoon and handed it across the island for Bella to try.
"Mmm. Perfect!"
As Renee spread spoonfuls of cookie dough onto the tray, Bella noticed the cell phone lighting up.
"Hey, Mom. I think someone's trying to call you. Your cell phone's lighting up. Is it on silent?" Bella handed the phone to her mother, without looking at the caller ID. Renee took the phone and while glancing at the name, pushed the "ignore" button.
"It's just the resort. I don't feel like talking to them." She finished dolling out the dough then slid the tray into the pre-heated oven. Renee washed her hands in the sink as she and Bella noticed her cell phone lighting up again. "Just hit ignore for me, please," she instructed her daughter.
Bella lifted the cell phone, thumb poised above the red button when she saw the name "James" scroll across the screen. "I don't think its work this time. It says James."
"That's still work. James is one of the managers, he's probably calling from his phone as he's walking around. Just hit ignore," Renee waved it off. She dried off her hands and sat at the bar stool next to her daughter. "I was thinking maybe we could plan a trip to Port Angeles this weekend. Get lunch, do a little shopping. I know you've got plans with Alice, but I feel so bad that we've spent so little time together lately. Do you think she would mind if I stole you for the day?"
"Of course not, Mom! She won't mind at all. And I'd love to go to Port Angeles with you."
"Great! I was thinking we could go earlier in the morning since Charlie's going fishing with Billy then. Your father was telling me that Billy's daughters are in town this week and I haven't seen them in forever. I thought it might be nice if we joined them in La Push after we got back from Port Angeles and had dinner together. What do you think?"
"I'd really like that. I'm going to go call Alice and let her know about the change in plans, and then I'm going to get some homework done. I've got a math test on Friday and I'm really having trouble with this unit. Let me know when the cookies are ready, will you?" Bella got up and hugged her mother, then headed up the stairs, ready for the weekend to start.