Chapter Seven
Bella
Well I knew my mother and Phil were serious but when she told me they were getting married I was still shocked. After all she'd said over the years I never expected her to remarry and not a guy ten years younger than her although he seemed to be genuine in his love for her. I didn't meet him often, he didn't like the idea of Renee having a teenage daughter, a reminder she had been married before and if I were being catty probably someone closer to his own age! Of course the wedding arrangements were all down to me, no expense spared as long as I got the majority of the work done cheaply by myself. Still it kept me occupied on the long school evenings. Renee didn't like me going out with friends so I spent nearly all my time in my room reading or doing school work. I was a straight A student but only because there was nothing else to take up my time. I wondered what life would be like once Phil moved in permanently, I guessed apart from coming out to cook and clean I would become a permanent resident of my room, so no real change there but he was always agitated when I was around so life wasn't going to get any easier. I had everything ready two weeks before the big day, with the exception of a few "last minute details", which were the changes Renee kept making about the theme of the wedding, or the colour of the flowers and ribbons or the seating plan or anything else she could worry about and expect me to put right.
I tried very hard to be polite and welcoming to Phil, cooking his favourite meals and ever brushing up on my baseball knowledge so I could speak to him but nothing made him any more fond of me. I heard him talking to Renee as I made dinner one evening, the door being open a little.
"I don't like this Renee, you've got to tell her. She hates me I can see that, trying to trip me up on baseball facts and looking down her nose at me. She thinks I'm stupid and that's not right. I'm amazed she acts the way she does with you for a mother. If she were my kid I'd have put her across my knee and whacked some sense and manners into her. I told you I don't want her and I mean it."
"I know honey and I agree. I tried my best but she's just so ungrateful. I gave up everything to look after her when that louse Charlie Swan kicked me out with her just a babe in arms but she doesn't appreciate me. I've got it sorted so you don't need to worry, now come and give me a cuddle, I've missed you today."
The smell of burning brought me back to reality and I quickly salvaged the vegetables opening the window to get rid of the smell and scraping the burned bits into the bin to hide the evidence. How could she lie to him like that? My dad hadn't thrown us out she's left him and I had little to be grateful for although Phil's slaps wouldn't be any worse than others I'd endured over the years. I had thought that my relationship with my mum had become a little better of late but now I knew my life was going to get a lot worse once this wedding was over and what did Renee mean by having it sorted?
I found out the next day when I got home to find Renee there, alone for a change.
"Izzy, come and sit down a minute."
I dreaded it when she said that because I'd either done something to annoy her or she wanted to go through the wedding arrangements yet again but I put on a smile and grabbed the folder with all the paperwork in it before sitting at the table with her. She was nursing a glass of chilled white wine and she looked slightly drunk and edgy. Was she going to change things again? It was getting too close to do anything but last minute adjustments but that wouldn't stop her trying. I didn't put anything past my mother, she thought I could work miracles and God help me if I failed.
"I need to talk to you about the future"
"OK"
"Phil has been offered a very lucrative contract in Japan."
"Japan?"
"Yes Japan, and he's decided to take it so we'll be moving there in March."
"Japan?"
"Yes Izzy Japan, stop saying it like a stuck record, Japan."
"Are there English schools in Japan?"
"I have no idea, why?"
"Well I don't speak Japanese."
"I know that."
She sounded exasperated which meant I was missing something,
"Phil and I are moving to Japan."
"What about me though? Am I going with you?"
I swallowed hard, what did she have planned for me?
"Hardly Izzy, this is our honeymoon too after all and Phil isn't going to want you snooping around is he? You are so stupid sometimes. So no, you wont be going. You are staying here."
"In Phoenix? You're keeping the house on?"
"Of course, what else would we do? We're going to live in a camper van in Japan so you can live in comfort here. Would you like us to send you an allowance every week for food and utilities too?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed theatrically,
"Don't be stupid, how could we afford to do that?"
"Then what's going to happen to me?"
"Now that's just typical of you, me, me, me, that's all I hear from your mouth. You are going to live in Forks with your father. It's about time he had the burden of looking after you, let him bitch about how much it costs then."
"In Forks?"
I felt suddenly apprehensive, live with my dad? A man I hardly knew and someone I hadn't spoken to in years?
"But I don't know him. He'll be a stranger."
"Don't be ridiculous girl, he's your father not a stranger. Stop being so melodramatic for God's sake"
She stopped and took a gulp of her wine before continuing.
"Its all arranged, you fly out after the wedding, well the same day but you will have time for the ceremony, I need you to get me organised obviously and around in case there are any hitches. Your flight doesn't leave until after lunch and my friend Peggy has volunteered to drop you at the airport, just to make things easier for me. Your ticket is in my bag and Charlie's paid for two extra cases so you can take what ever you want and I'll bin the rest."
"This is permanent then is it?"
She sounded exasperated now,
"Of course, I told you were moving to Japan and I have no idea how long we'll be there or where we might go afterwards. Anyway enough of that, is everything set for my big day?"
She insisted on going through the wedding details yet again although I found it hard to concentrate. I was going to live with my dad, I saw myself getting free of Renee at last, yet I was terrified.
When we finished I asked if I could ring my dad,
"Why? I just told you the details."
"I'd just like to speak to him"
"Don't be ridiculous, you haven't spoken to him in ages so why start now?"
"Well I just thought it would be nice to speak to him before I move up there"
"Well he's probably at work now and he wont thank you interrupting him while he's saving Forks from its latest crime wave, an old timer jaywalking or a toddler shop lifting. God I hate that place! If you must ring do it tomorrow but don't be on long, I do not want a huge phone bill before we leave."
I went to my room and sat on my bed, three cases? I didn't have enough stuff to fill three cases but I started sorting my things out ready and I finally had something to look forward to, my dad may be a stranger but life with him couldn't be any worse than the last seventeen had been with Renee. I hardly slept that night thinking of the fact I was finally going to be free of my mother, would my dad be as bad? He lived alone so I'd possibly have to keep house but that was second nature now so it wouldn't be a problem. A new school was a little intimidating especially as being a small town everyone would know everyone else and I would be the outsider but as I had no real friends here even that wouldn't be so different.
The days went so slowly now although the call to my dad hadn't made me feel any less anxious. He sounded very formal over the phone but I think he was happy that I was coming. He asked me a few strange questions like my favourite colour and what kind of things I liked to eat. Things I'd never been asked before and hesitated before answering, worried I might say something he didn't like. If I did that to my mother she threw a fit but he seemed much more mellow. He did tell me he'd enrolled me at Forks High and put me on his medical insurance which made me smile, I was never sick, I never had time to be ill. I heard about his friends the Quileutes and vaguely remembered him telling me about them then I was little. Apparently they were looking forward to meeting me. He would be picking me up at Sea Tac provided he wasn't called in to work but if so then someone called Harry Clearwater has said he would step in. I suggested getting a bus but he wouldn't hear of it which was nice, no one had ever bothered about me having to struggle with buses before.