71

My flight home is four hours and forty-five minutes after Izzy's, so when she leaves for the airport, I have a little time to kill.

I have a plan.

"Hi Edward. Is everything okay? Where's Izzy?" Phil cranes his neck and peers over at my car at the kerbside.

"She's left to catch her flight. I wondered if we could talk."

He shrugs.

"Sure, come on in."

He leads me through to the living room and clicks off the TV. He lowers himself into a chair and gestures for me to do the same.

"I just wanted to make sure you were serious about not threatening to try and reverse Jimmy's guardianship," I tell him, getting straight to the point.

"I'm not proud of the way I handled that," he says. "I've been desperate to see the boy. I thought Izzy would be okay once she saw I was sober, but I knew she wouldn't bring him willingly." He stares down at his hands. "I don't blame her for that, I know it's all my own doing. I still hate myself for what I did to the girl and I know I always will."

I hate him too, but I keep that particular thought to myself.

"She's been through enough," I tell him. "Your threats and demands just place pressure on her again and jeopardize the fantastic job she's doing of raising your son."

Phil nods.

"I see that now. She's a strong girl. I never thought she'd pull herself back from the car wreck she was at sixteen, seventeen. Man, she was a mess. Every time Charlie would send her home from Forks, she'd be that much wilder; harder to control. Renee tore her hair out trying to stop her destroying her life. Nothing worked, until Renee got sick."

He shakes his head and rubs his eyes, his mind back in what I can guess was the darkest of times.

"I don't know what we'd have done without her. I wasn't in any shape to take care of Jimmy. Give the girl her due, she stepped up when I fell apart. And look how I treated her for it."

"You really don't want to start talking about that in front of me, Phil," I warn him. However well he's done in turning things around, the fact remains that he used to hurt someone that I care about.

"I'm glad she has you," he says. "Fighting all the time is exhausting, it's good to have someone to lean on when you need to." His eyes find the photograph of his new family on the wall above the TV.

I stand, ready to leave, and he does too.

"No more threats," I remind him. "She might be tired, but I'd fight for her and Jimmy until I'm on my knees. I'm willing to tell Charlie everything and I know there are medical records to back it all up. Put one foot wrong, Phil, and you won't see her or Jimmy again. I'll make sure of it."

He doesn't reply and I turn and leave, slamming the door behind me, hoping he realizes I meant every last word.

~S~