CHAPTER TWO
Bella followed the map just like the guy in the office instructed. She drove by the beach access and backed the truck into the space for easier access to their camping supplies.
"Rose can you take out the broom to sweep off that wooden platform?"
Alice had already run to the platform and now looked out over the lake. "This site is perfect!"
Rose grabbed the broom but looked less than thrilled about it. "I thought you said you would set up the tent?"
Bella straightened and stood there holding the bag with the tent in it. "I am, but when you guys insisted on coming with me, you said you'd help and I'm not letting you back out now."
Rose rolled her eyes and marched off to the platform.
"Rose make sure you do a good job. The last thing you want is to sleep on an acorn or a rock." Bella hid her smile behind her hand at the horrified look on Rose's face.
"You said we were sleeping on air mattresses."
"We are, but if for some reason you roll off, you won't want things like that digging in your back, trust me."
Rose finished sweeping, Alice went back to the truck to start unpacking the rest of the stuff and Bella went to work setting up the tent. She prided herself on being an experienced camper. She grew up in Washington where she and her Dad went on camping and fishing trips. In more recent years, she and her boyfriend Jake spent the last three summers backpacking and camping through the Cascades.
Jake. She hadn't allowed herself to think about him since they broke up in early summer and knew this camping trip would bring up those memories. Being at Dartmouth on the east coast while he still lived in La Push on the west coast proved to be rough on both of them. A long distance relationship sucked, even with texting, Twitter and Skype and it finally took a toll on him.
Something felt wrong between them right after she took her finals. Jake seemed distant. Whenever she tried to Skype him, he wasn't there. His texts became one word answers.
"There's someone else isn't there?" She hated to ask, afraid to hear the answer. But she had to know.
His grainy face stared back at her on her computer screen. "I'm sorry, Bells. I thought I could do this. I've tried for the past two years but it's just...I'm lonely."
"And you don't think I am?" She fought back tears but lost that battle.
"Bella, don't. This is hard enough. I feel really bad about this."
"How long have you been seeing her?"
"Not that long." He got quiet after that and she gave up trying to talk to him. Every time she attempted to speak, emotion got lodged in her throat and she couldn't stop the tears. They had been through a lot together; his father's death, her mother moving away, Charlie getting shot while on duty. Through it all, they had been there for each other.
Her heart would never be the same. It would forever be missing the chunk that belonged to Jacob Black.
The breakup began to affect her physically. She had lost weight and had a hard time sleeping. Two weeks went by and she couldn't take it. She sent him a huge email detailing her feelings about him and their relationship.
When he received it, he texted her: "We'll talk soon."
Those three little words were just like a sucker punch to the gut. She gasped and sobbed until the emptiness enveloped her. That was two months ago.
She tried to move past the numbness the best she could. Alice, her best friend since they were in seventh grade, was the one who suggested this girl's camp out. They met Rose in high school and the three of them became inseparable. When Rose heard, by way of Alice's blabbing, that she and Jake broke up, she insisted on coming to be there for her, which surprised Bella. Rose attended New York University's Fashion and Design school and was not the camping type at all.
Bella spread the tent out on the platform and began to put the poles together when she looked up and saw the guy from the office staring at her from his golf cart.
Rose came up to her carrying her air mattress. "That guy is giving me the heebie-jeebies."
"I know, right? He keeps staring at me."
Alice bounced up holding two sleeping bags. "Maybe he likes you."
Bella snorted and shoved the tent poles through the pocket along the backside of the tent. "That's the last thing I want. I came here to forget about Jake remember?"
"There's no better way to do that than hooking up with someone new."
"Alice, you of all people know I'm not like that." She threw the fly over the top of the tent. "Jake and I were together over two years before we even thought about doing that."
Rose leaned up against the wooden railing of the platform. "Well, maybe it's time you let loose a little. A fling could be just what you need."
"A fling is the last thing I need."
Bella pounded the last stake in and glanced back down toward the dirt road. The guy from the office still sat in his golf cart gawking at her. "Take a picture dude, it'll last longer," she mumbled.
Her friends giggled and when she turned back, the golf cart was gone.
"Huh. You don't think —"
"Bella get that look off your face. He couldn't have heard you."
Alice knew her too well.
"What look?"
"That guilty look. You didn't do anything wrong. He was being rude by staring."
"Yeah, he seems like a creeper," Rose added. "And it doesn't look like he's washed his hair in weeks."
Bella wouldn't admit it to them, but she kind of liked his hair. "You just said I should a fling with him."
The three of them laughed. She had had her doubts about this getaway, but now that they were here, she got a good vibe about it.
An hour later, they finished setting up camp so Bella grabbed her folding camping chair with the foot rest, a book and a bottle of water. She unfolded the chair under a tree and sat down. Her whole body relaxed the minute she stretched out her legs.
She opened her book and Alice stood over her.
"Bella, seriously?"
She shrugged. "What?"
"That's a text book!"
"So?"
"So I order you to put that away." She yanked the book out of her hands, tossed it on the ground and pulled her up out of the chair. "We're on vacation. You need to rest your whole self. That includes your mind."
Alice held her hand and led her down the path onto the dirt road and down to the beach.
"Alice, stop. Where are you taking me?"
"Rose rented a canoe. Oh, there she is." Alice waved and Rose waved back.
Bella's heart pounded when she saw Rose holding three life vests and two paddles in her hands.
"You can't be serious. Do you guys even know how to paddle a canoe?"
Rose handed her one of the paddles. "Nope, but that's why you're here."
Bella glanced from Rose to Alice and her heart sank. They both looked so excited. She couldn't disappoint them. "I'll sit in the back and steer if you guys paddle up front."
Alice clapped and jumped up and down. "Yay! Okay, I'll sit up front first."
The two of them climbed inside and when she didn't, they both looked up at her.
"Why aren't you getting in?" Alice's eyes widened and she looked a little panic-stricken.
"Someone has to push us into the water."
"I can do that."
Bella turned around and the creeper stood behind her. The sun made the blond highlights in his brown hair glimmer and she thought about what Rose said about him not washing it. She bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. "Thanks, but I've got it."
She buckled the last buckle on her life vest, grasped the metal sides of the canoe and pushed off. The canoe eased into the water, she climbed in and grabbed her paddle.
Alice paddled from one side to the other while she used hers as a rudder to steer them away from shore and the creeper.
Curiosity got the best of her and she turned her head back to the shore. Creeper-boy had gone over to the boat house but hadn't taken his eyes off them. The moment he caught her gaze, he waved.
"Jerk."
"What was that?" Rose glanced over her shoulder at her.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
Alice was right. She needed this. To be out in nature with nothing but the sound of the birds, the smell of the pine trees and the touch of cool lake water every time it dripped on her bare legs when she switched sides with her paddle. It felt great to work her muscles especially after the long drive.
Rose and Alice changed places when they got out into the middle of the lake. How they didn't tip the canoe doing that, she'd never know, but they managed it. Rose paddled as Bella steered them into shore an hour later. She gathered the life vests and paddles to bring them back to the boat house because Alice and Rose saw the two geeks they met at the office and took off after them. Creeper-boy wasn't there, thank God. Hopefully he got the message she wasn't interested and went off to stalk someone else.
The kid behind the counter thanked her for returning the items and she turned to go back to her site when she ran into a chest — a man's chest with dark, curly hair sticking out from the open collar of the blue shirt with the Camp Cullen logo over the left pocket. She recognized it as the same shirt he wore.
She looked up and squinted. His hair didn't seem that dirty now that she stood up close and personal. "Is there something you want?"
"No. I'm helping the DJ set up for the beach party tonight and you're standing where I have to put the tables." "Oh." How ridiculous she must've sounded. She really thought he kept showing up wherever she was because he ... wow. She really did need this rest. "Sorry. I forgot you work here."
"My family owns this place." His tone was soft and he sounded almost embarrassed to admit that, but it all made sense now. The reason he was at the office, rode the golf cart, and now the beach.
"So those guys?" She nodded toward the two geeks with her best friends.
"My brothers," he said then smiled and glanced away, no doubt thinking she was just a simpleton for not figuring all of this out on her own.
"Okay, well, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."
What else could she say? She felt like a moron on so many levels. She slinked by him to get back to her campsite and read her book.
"Hey, Bella?"
Cullen's voice caressed her name in such a way, she changed direction and walked back to him. "Yeah?"
"Will you be at the dance party tonight?"
She snorted. "No. Dancing is not my thing. Walking really isn't my thing either. I'm terribly clumsy."
He raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
"No, really. Ask my friends." Why did she feel the need to plead her case to him?
"You managed to pitch a tent, set up camp and canoe across the lake without incident. I think you underestimate yourself."
His voice oozed over her and made her shiver in the hot summer sun.
"Yeah. Well, I'm not sure about the dance party. It'll be a last minute decision."
He nodded. "I just thought I'd mention it. It's a great time."
Bella stared up at him and again he looked away but kept that shy smile. "Will you be dancing, Cullen?"
He laughed out loud. "I won't be dancing, but I'll be down here ... supervising. And it's Edward."
"Well, maybe I'll see you then. Edward."
He dipped his head affirmatively. "The DJ needs my help."
The DJ stood there holding a huge speaker and Edward took it from him and placed it on the counter of the boat house. A pang of disappointment jabbed her stomach, but why? She didn't know this guy.
Whatever it was, she wouldn't stand there and dwell on it. She had some relaxing to do and had every intention of starting that right now.