As I drove home from the grocery store I reflected over the days events. It had been what I expected, but at the same time it hadn't. I had expected to go to school, get stared at, brush people off, be bored out of my mind, and not learn a thing. What I hadn't expected was to go to school, get everything I expected and then on top of it meet a girl like Bella Cullen. If you could call what we had had a meeting.

To me what had happened with her was, at best, confusing. The girl had stared at me with open curiosity then not ten minutes later she seemed to hate me with every fiber of her being! I didn't understand it at all. I couldn't say I wasn't interested, because I was. There was something about her eyes. Something in addition to the strange Ocher color of them and how they could change from that Ocher color to something like Onyx, again, in the space of ten minutes. There was an intelligence and warmth to them that held me captivated.

I reached the house and filled one hand with groceries then flung open the truck door. I then filled the other hand with groceries and climbed from the cab of the truck and kicked the door closed with my foot. I walked up the brick walkway and climbed onto the wooden-floored porch. It wasn't until I attempted to reach up and grab the key from the eaves to unlock the door did I realize that that would be impossible to do with a handful of groceries.

To my relief I heard a car pull into the yard behind me. Now Charlie would come and open the door and I wouldn't have to put the groceries on the ground.

"Hey kid, looks like you need a hand." Charlie said reaching up to grab the key from the eave.

"Yeah, I grabbed the groceries without thinking about how I was going to get them into the house."

"Yeah, well it happens to the best of us," Charlie said swinging the door wide so I could walk through.

He hung his keys and gun belt up and then took off his boots. He came and stood in the kitchen doorway for a moment.

"So, what's for dinner?" I hesitated not knowing if he would like what I had decided to make.

"Uh, Spaghetti and meatballs with green beans and garlic bread."

"Sounds good." He said and went into the living room and flipped on the T.V.

I began to put the groceries away and pondered the man who had just left the room. He had never been an utterly essential part of my life. Sure I called him on Father's Day and visited him over the summer but it wasn't like with my mother.

With my mom it was like she was the center of my world. Almost everything I did was to please her in some way. It was like making her happy was my mission in life.

Take cooking for example. I started cooking out of necessity. Mom had never been very good in the kitchen, so when I got sick of microwave dinners and popcorn I picked up one of the many cookbooks she 'collected' and followed the directions.

The first thing she tried that I created was a chicken casserole. She praised it from the first bite to the last. I assumed she was just trying to make me feel good about it. That is up until she invited her friends over and then asked me to make dinner for them. After that I let her pick whatever she wanted to have and I would make it for her. I sighed remembering the fun we had had planning menus together.

Charlie was another something that had been for her benefit. It had been her idea to visit him for the summer. According to her I needed to know my father. When in all actuality it was for her benefit. But I don't think spending the summer with Charlie had the effect she desired. Me visiting Charlie, I think, was her way of making up for walking out on him. I suppose if I had given it a little bit of effort it might have had the effect she wanted, but I had to admit I didn't try very hard. It went the same every summer. I would get off the plane, we would say our mutual hellos, and for the rest of the summer we both tried as hard as possible to avoid having a conversation with each other and it worked magnificently. Now that I thought about it, it was actually kind of stupid.

I stopped thinking about the two people who were supposed to be in charge of my life and focused on making the best pot of spaghetti and meatballs I had ever made.

I finally got the meatballs made and allowed them to simmer with the sauce and noodles. I opened the can of green beans and put them into a separate pot to cook, then added a little salt and a few other things to give it some flavor. I looked around the kitchen. It felt like I was missing something, but what in the world was it? My eyes fell on the empty bread package and I realized I had forgotten about the garlic bread.

I rushed to the stove and yanked the door open. The garlic bread was just turning a golden brown. I breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the cookie sheet holding the pieces of bread from the oven. I switched off the fire underneath the spaghetti and grabbed a couple of plates. I fixed one for Charlie and called for him to come to dinner. Within moments he ambled into the kitchen and sat down.

"This looks great kid," he said picking up his fork to take a bite. I turned my back to him and fixed myself a plate. I sat across the small table from him and tried to think of something to say.

"This is really good, where'd you learn to cook? Certainly not from that mother of yours."

I laughed. "No, not from mom. Mostly from cookbooks, but mom says I have a natural aptitude for it."

"Yeah, your mother was never much of a cook, she could burn a salad with very little effort."

"No, cooking is not one of her talents," I agreed with him.

Charlie and I, in the little conversation we had ever had, steered clear of my mom. I figured it was a sore topic for him, but tonight I wanted to talk about her with him.

"Charlie, after mom left….. did you feel like it was your fault?" I let the question hang in the air like a cloud of smoke, not even sure if he would answer. After a moment he sighed and shook his head. "When I met your mother it was her free spiritedness that attracted me, so when she left I never felt like it was because of me. Even when we were still married she would never commit to anything. So when she left I just felt like she had finally gotten bored with me, you know it wasn't a surprise or anything. I expected it." He picked up his fork again and fiddled with the remaing spaghetti on his plate.

Charlie's explanation made sense. The way my mother jumped from activity to activity, I knew of her short attention span and easily brought on boredom. But something my mother had told me still nagged at me.

"But mom said you tried to get her to stay…."

Charlie smiled. "If you had a diamond, more precious than the world had ever seen, you wouldn't readily give it up without a fight would you?"

I smiled, "No, I suppose not." Charlie smiled again and continued.

"I knew your mother wanted to leave, and I knew there was nothing I could do to make her stay, but I wanted her to stay. So I knew I had to try. Even if the chances were slim, I knew I had to try."

I studied Charlie's face and understood what he meant completely. My father was more than he seemed really, more than I had ever given him credit for. It wasn't his fault that he had met and fallen in love with my transient mother. I cleared my throat and asked another question that had been on my mind for some time now.

"Uh, Dad? What do you know about the Cullens?"

He smiled a little more. "The Cullens or one specific Cullen?" I blushed and shook my head.

"No, all of them. I mean their dad is supposed to be some world class surgeon, why is he here?"

Charlie shook his head. "It's a mystery to all of us, kid. No one really knows why he chose to come here, but for whatever reason we're grateful." Charlie paused. "Now about that daughter of his…." I blushed again and picked at my dinner. "Dad, it's not even like that. I haven't even talked to her, I don't think she likes me very much."

"Pfft. What's not to like. Handsome, like his old man," I smirked at this but Charle continued. "Smart, kind." He studied my face. "You can't know she doesn't like you. She could have been having a bad day, you can never tell with females. But I will tell you this, there isn't a more caring, generous girl on the face of the planet than Bella Cullen."

"Okay Dad." Charlie had cleaned his plate by this time and was leaning against the table with his arms folded looking intently at me.

I cleared my throat. "So how was it?" he looked puzzled for a moment, then nodded.

"Excellent, I could get use to meals like this." I laughed. I was sure he could. I got up and began clearing the table.

"Uh, there's a game on if you want to watch…" he said uncertainty in his voice. I shook my head. "No thanks. I have some homework to finish."

"Okay then, well good night," I nodded.

"Good night," I said my back to him. I was glad I had talked to Charlie. It had cleared up a lot of things for me, and given me a few more things to think about. My mind wandered to the angelic face of Bella Cullen. It had certainly seemed like she disliked me in Biology today, but maybe Charlie was right. Maybe things would be different tomorrow. I climbed the stairs a few moments later to finish the homework I had neglected earlier.

After what seemed like hours I finished the homework I had been assigned, and climbed into the bed after changing into my pajamas. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come. I wanted to be well rested I had a feeling tomorrow would be just as eventful as today had been.