Chapter summary: Sheriff Swan introduces Dr. Hale and Edward Platt around town. In a surprising reversal, Edward is interested and engaging. Afterwards, Bella, encouraged by his attention, slyly suggests to her father a house-warming visit to check on the Hales.
Well, I suppose a girl can be wrong about a thing or two. At 5 pm sharp Dr. Hale shows up, but, lo and behold, there was Edward Platt, the perfect gentleman today. He sure knew how to turn on the charms in general to Pa and the people he met, but he seemed to spend most of his attention, in our walk around town, on me.
It was very flattering.
He did look much better: the circles were mostly gone from under his eyes. I suppose he was just cranky — really cranky — yesterday, but he surely made up for it today: giving way, asking about the town and about Pa, and me.
It just didn't make sense. I'm nothing to look at, but that's all he did: look at me ... intensely. It wasn't rude, or leering, so as to make a girl uncomfortable. Actually, it did make me a bit uncomfortable, because it was a look like he was trying to figure me out, and he kept being surprised at the things he was discovering.
I didn't really see myself as a surprising girl, either. In fact, I would describe myself as a 'no-nonsense' kind of girl; taking care of Pa kind of required that. I could put 2 and 2 together, which also surprised him, but I could tell he was really smart. I mean really smart: he had seen more of the world than me, had an education that was both philosophical and pragmatic at the same time, and had read more than me, to boot, but he was also surprised I could cite his quotations from literature ... we shared a passion for reading it seemed, although I preferred Victorian novels, such as Brontë, Eliot, Austen, he tended to read more of the classics: Plato, Homer, Marcus Aurelius, Dante, Milton, Shakespeare — I teased him about the last one: why did he decide to go all so modern with an Elisabethian late-comer? He refused to be baited, and he refused to tease me back about my reading choices. I was sure he would attack my light reading after hearing his reading list — for goodness sake! — but he was all interestedness and politeness.
Edward Platt, your all-around Renaissance Man, right here in Carter County.
Pa introduced Dr. Hale and Edward around and showed them the sights, and the tour ended all too quickly for my taste. Folks around here, being for the most part of good Germanic stock, were proud of their education, but they didn't let that get in their way of the day-to-day business of surviving. Conversations around here didn't usually involve mental gymnastics. But talking with Edward had been confusing, and frustrating, and, well, a pleasure: a thing to remember and to reflect upon. Add that on top of how his voice sounded as he formed his thoughts into words, and the strength of his looks from his captivating eyes, and I knew I had things to think about for quite a while. A very pleasant change from the other conversations I've had up until now, which could only be described as predictable and forgettable.
And whatever cologne he was wearing made being around him a lot easier. Not that he needed any help in that department. But I was glad he wasn't of the mind that 'natural boy smell' was at all attractive. I wondered, self-consciously, what I smelled like to him. He made no comment one way or the other, but if I hadn't heard him talking with me and asking all those questions, I could have sworn he wasn't breathing at all.
Dr. Hale and Edward thanked us for the tour and bade us good night. Well, that was that. I reflected ruefully as we closed up shop. But then a thought occurred to me as Pa and I were eating supper: "Pa, it was nice of the Hales to come around like that. I wonder how they're doing setting up house."
"Hmm. Yeah, Bella, we should probably give them a little welcome-to-Ekalaka house-warming kind of gift." I could see Pa thought that was a great idea: he could see how they were settling in, and show them this town could be friendly and neighborly to the new comers.
I went to bed smug that night, pleased both that I was going to be able to see that Edward Platt again, and that Pa practically ordered me to do it, volunteered to chaperone, and thought the idea was his own.
Too bad I wasn't a gambling girl, because I loved winning trifectas like this and did so quite often. But, this was Ekalaka, not Butte. I sighed into sleep, happy with my winnings, anyway.