AN: Wow. It has been way way way too long since I've updated here. I'm so sorry. Life has just gotten in the way, but thank you so much for sticking with the story! Again, so so sorry!

"I'll kill him," Charlie said sharply.

I sighed. "No, you won't."

He shook his head, glaring at the road before him. "That's what you two were yelling about last night?"

"You heard that?" I blushed.

"Of course I heard it, Bell," he said, shrugging. "It sounded like it was getting pretty heated."

"It did," I said. "But I'm sorry we woke you."

"That's okay," he assured me. "I wasn't sure if I should've stepped in or not."

"No, no," I told him. "I can handle Jacob on my own."

"Yeah, I figured," he said before shaking his head. "I just don't understand. What happened?"

"He said he wanted to break up," I said and shrugged.

"Just like that."

"Pretty much," I said.

He grunted and pursed his lips. "Seems kind of out of the blue, doesn't it? I thought you two were getting along great."

I exhaled. "I thought so, too."

He sighed. "Does Billy know about this?"

"I don't know," I said, "I guess."

"'I'll talk to Billy about this," he decided. "We'll get some sense into that boy's head."

"No," I said. "Don't say anything to Billy, please. Or to Jacob, for that matter. It's done. I don't want to rehash it." It had been nearly impossible for me to get to sleep the night before. I'd sat up, running scenarios through my head. At first, I thought only of ways to get Jacob back. First, simple things, like driving down to La Push and kissing him, and then, more dramatic things, like dropping out of school and proposing—birthing puppies and baking muffins with Emily—living a life with him. But it all felt forced, and I kept seeing Jacob's face as it had been right before he left—cold, hard, unflinchingly against staying with me.

"Okay," Charlie said, hesitant. "If you're sure, but, Bells, I don't want you going through what you went through when…" he looked to me for a second and then back to the road. "You know, before."

I sighed and bit my lip. "Yeah." I shook my head. "It's okay, Dad. You don't have to worry about that this time. I'm okay."

He continued to stare down the road. "No guy is worth that, Bella. We're not all that great, even the ones who seem pretty good, like Jake."

I smiled a little. "This really isn't a strike against Jake, Dad. I'm not upset with him."

"You sounded upset with him," he countered.

"Yeah," I sighed, "I guess I was last night, but I've thought it through, and it's not the end of the world. Really. I'm all right."

He smiled and sighed. "Oh, Bell, I gotta tell you; it is nice to hear you say that. I just—I don't think I—you just should never have gone through that to begin with, and I don't think I could take seeing you go through that again."

"You won't have to," I assured him.

"You'll understand when you're older and have kids of your own," he told me. "There's nothing that hurts more than watching your kid in pain. Nothing. Especially when there's nothing you can do to help them."

The familiar feeling of guilt and gratitude washed through me, and I smiled over at him. "You did help. A lot. Just by being there."

"Sure, sure," he muttered, before he had time to think about it. Then, with a wide-eyed expression of horror that I had never seen my father produce before, he looked over to me to see if I'd caught the significance. I shrugged and shook my head, trying to let him know that it was not a big deal. He still cringed. "Sorry. He's just been around for a while now."

"I know," I said.

He nodded a few times. "Did you tell your friends yet?"

"No," I said. "I'm sure it'll come up, though. They know it was our anniversary."

He was quiet for a moment before he said, "They're good friends, right? They'll be supportive and all?"

I laughed. "Yes, Dad. They're excellent friends, and they'll be entirely supportive." My mind wavered a bit when I thought of Rachael. "Probably."

"Probably?" Charlie sounded gruff.

"I," I sighed, "One of them has sort of shown a tendency to agree with Jacob about some things."

"Not about this," he decided. "She can't." I gave a weak smile in his direction. He narrowed his eyes. "Unless there's something I don't know."

"It's really not important," I insisted. "This was nothing other than Jacob's decision."

"Right," he said. "Okay."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and the air began to feel heavy between us. My chest tightened, and I braced myself for his reaction before saying, "He was jealous."

"Jacob was," he said, clarifying. "Why? What's there to be jealous of?"

My teeth clenched as I inhaled. "Uh," I said. "Well, nothing really."

Charlie shook his head. "I don't get it."

"Okay, just don't, you know, overreact, all right?" I asked.

"I'm as cool as a cucumber," he assured me.

"I may have recently spoken to Edward," I admitted, but then shook my head, "But I told him he should leave, because I was with Jake. He had no reason to be upset about it…"

He took a long breath. "Edward, huh?"

I shook my head. "Really," I insisted. "Don't worry about it. It's been two years. I'm not going to turn into scary, zombie Bella again. Not ever. I promise."

"Still," he said, "I'm not sure I like the idea of you seeing that boy again. He was never any good for you."

I crossed my arms. "What does that mean?"

"You were way too attached, Bells. I don't know what he did to you, exactly, but I didn't like it," he said.

"That's not true," I countered. "Before he left, you liked Edward."

"I tolerated Edward."

"No," I demanded. "You liked him. You watched baseball with him. You defended him and his family when I asked about them."

"Well, that was before," he grumbled.

"Dad," I sighed. "There really wasn't much Edward could do about that. I mean, his family was moving, you know? What was he supposed to do? Take me with them?" I had been the worst secret keeper ever when the Cullens had left; I had not reacted at all as if the family had simply moved away and brought Edward with them, so I felt that now that the funk was over, I owed it to them to remind others of the lie.

"He broke up with you," Charlie reminded me. "He didn't have to do that."

"No," I said, "But he apologized for that, so I really have no reason to be upset with him, and neither do you."

He shook his head. "I can't forgive him, Bella, no matter how logical it seems to you. He crushed you. Whether he meant to or not—whether he's sorry or not. He didn't have to break your heart like that."

"Jacob broke up with me," I said, shrugging.

"Well, I'm not all too pleased with him either at the moment."

"Dad, that's silly," I said. "Billy's your best friend. You've known Jacob his whole life. You shouldn't hold grudges like that. It's not good for you."

"Hmm," he looked over at me then back at the road. "So what you're saying is that you're not holding a grudge against the Cullen kid, so I shouldn't hold one against Jake."

I shrugged. "I guess, yeah."

He nodded slowly. "You still like him?"

"Jacob?" I asked.

"Edward," he said, his voice hard around the sound.

I bit my lip and narrowed my eyes. "Maybe a little."

He let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, Bells. Please, be careful. Please. I know he's an attractive guy or whatever, and he's got a lot of money—"

"Dad, you know that has nothing to do with it," I insisted, slightly insulted.

"Okay," he said. "Just please, Bella. Don't get hurt. If you're going to see him, keep your guard up. All right?"

A flicker of white caught my eye outside the window, like a white dash drawn through the woods, but when I turned to see it, it was gone. My heart spontaneously quickened as it occurred to me that it could have been Edward, racing along beside the car.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Please, Bell. Just tell me you'll be careful."

I kept looking out the window. "I'll be careful. I'm always careful."

He huffed and cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, I'll bet your ankle feels different."

With a glare to the aforementioned ankle, I sighed. "I'm uncoordinated, not un-careful."

"Uh huh," he smiled, and we lapsed into quiet.

Suddenly, the shock of impact flooded through me like an acid shot in my throat. Charlie cursed loudly as he fought the car for control of the steering wheel. My head jolted forward, pulling my neck, and my hands reached out to the dashboard to brace my fall. The car behind us honked furiously as it passed.

I blinked frenetically, trying to make sense of what had happened. Charlie shook his head, muttering angrily, as he swerved the car on to the side of the road. It took me a few moments to comprehend. Something had hit us. I'd felt it like a push on the side of the car, but I hadn't seen anything.

Once we were parked on the side on the highway, Charlie tore off his seatbelt and threw open his door, moving around to the passenger side to survey the damage. I breathed slowly, a hand on my chest. My heart was franticly pounding. Charlie shook his head and then came up to my window. I swallowed hard and brought it down. "Well, that was bracing. You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said. "What was that?"

"Probably a deer or something," he guessed with a shrug, "Left a nice-size dent, though."

"A deer?" I breathed. "A deer ran into the car?"

"Looks like it," he said.

I shook my head. "A deer ran into a moving car, dented it, and then ran away?"

Charlie put his hands on his hips. "I guess it could have been something else. Something tougher." A chill ran through me, and I stared at Charlie. Something tougher. He sighed, "Well, either way, I think the car's still driveable. No use standing around here staring at it."

"Yeah, I guess," I said uneasily.

Charlie gave me a half smile. "Really, Bells, it's all right. Take a breath. It was just a lost animal, okay? No one's out to get you."

I blinked slowly before making myself smile and nod to him. "Right, of course. Let's get going then. You're right."

The car drove without any trouble, but I could see the dent in the side view mirror. My heart continued to pound as I stared at it. It was a large dent, round and smooth, as if it was made with a large stone. I did not panic, though, until I noticed just above the dent, the faintest imprint of a hand.

AN: Review?