Where the Streets Have No Name
Chapter 105
"Bella, you need to call Paul. He is all worried that he didn't hear from you after you got here," Renee said as she maneuvered her car into a parking spot outside the shopping mall.
Although Edward had quite generously offered for her to take the day off, in the absence of a solid plan from either Renee or Bella on what they might do with their time, they settled for a quick shopping trip for a few hours so Renee could buy some school supplies for Bella, leaving Edward in charge of his daughter.
None of Bella's friends who lived in Seattle were informed of her hasty visit and she didn't want to impose on their weekend without prior warning. Until she stumbled upon Edward the night before, her sincerest hope was to spend her time in quiet contemplation and perhaps borrow her mother when she wasn't busy caring for Ella. But she was painfully aware that things were different now.
She urgently needed space and distance from the man called Edward Cullen. She needed to make sense of the strange impulses she was battling before she ended up doing something catastrophically inappropriate like...
She refused to entertain the different potential scenarios that played out in her mind as to what might happen if she stayed in close quarters with the man. Anything from getting slapped with a restraining order to her mother losing her job were bitter possibilities if she didn't rein in her madness.
So, even though a shopping trip wasn't high on her preference list, Bella didn't object when her mother proposed the idea and obediently followed her to the car as Renee drove them to the nearest strip mall.
She was lost in her thoughts and didn't notice the minutes passing by until her mother mentioned Paul.
Paul.
She had completely forgotten all about him until now. Not only didn't he cross her mind once since last night, she also failed to keep her promise to let him know that she had reached Seattle safely. She didn't even remember to turn on her phone after touching down at the airport.
She dropped her head into her palm in frustration.
"Oh damn! I totally forgot. He called you?" Bella asked with a hint of panic in her voice. It wasn't a complete surprise that he had called Renee once he couldn't reach her; Paul had great rapport with her parents.
"Yah, he did," Renee replied as Bella frantically fished out her phone from her purse and pushed the green button to bring it back to life. "He really does care about you, that kid."
Fourteen missed calls. Five text messages.
Bella sighed.
"I know, Mom," Bella said in a small voice as she quickly punched in a text, letting Paul know that she was okay and not to worry.
"Honey, I saw how upset you were this morning. You barely said a word at breakfast. Maybe what you feel for Paul is more than you realize," Renee pointed out sagely. "Or it wouldn't affect you that way. Maybe you need to think it through a little more before you do something you'll regret..."
Bella opened her mouth to correct her mother. Then closed it.
She had utterly failed to hide her distress earlier in the kitchen. Her mother picked up the clues and took them as a sign of the inner turmoil she was suffering over breaking up with Paul.
Her mother was wrong.
But setting her straight would be a million times worse.
"Yah... you're probably right," Bella lied.
Thank you Lulabelle98, HeidiJoVT, and Dinx.
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