The Twilight Saga Collection part 1(326)

I took a deep breath and tried to make my tone more reasonable. “I’ll do my time without complaining when I’ve done something wrong, Dad, but I’m not going to put up with your prejudices.”

He sputtered, but managed nothing coherent.

“Now, I know that you know that I have every right to see Mom for the weekend. You can’t honestly tell me you’d object to the plan if I was going with Alice or Angela.”

“Girls,” he grunted, with a nod.

“Would it bother you if I took Jacob?”

I’d only picked the name because I knew of my father’s preference for Jacob, but I quickly wished I hadn’t; Edward’s teeth clenched together with an audible snap.

My father struggled to compose himself before he answered. “Yes,” he said in an unconvincing voice. “That would bother me.”

“You’re a rotten liar, Dad.”

“Bella —”

“It’s not like I’m headed off to Vegas to be a showgirl or anything. I’m going to see Mom,” I reminded him. “She’s just as much my parental authority as you are.”

He threw me a withering look.

“Are you implying something about Mom’s ability to look after me?”

Charlie flinched at the threat implicit in my question.

“You’d better hope I don’t mention this to her,” I said.

“You’d better not,” he warned. “I’m not happy about this, Bella.”

“There’s no reason for you to be upset.”

He rolled his eyes, but I could tell the storm was over.

I turned to pull the plug out of the sink. “So my homework is done, your dinner is done, the dishes are done, and I’m not grounded. I’m going out. I’ll be back before ten-thirty.”

“Where are you going?” His face, almost back to normal, flushed light red again.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I’ll keep it within a ten-mile radius, though. Okay?”

He grunted something that did not sound like approval, and stalked out of the room. Naturally, as soon as I’d won the fight, I began to feel guilty.

“We’re going out?” Edward asked, his voice low but enthusiastic.

I turned to glower at him. “Yes. I think I’d like to speak to you alone.”

He didn’t look as apprehensive as I thought he should.

I waited to begin until we were safely in his car.

“What was that?” I demanded.

“I know you want to see your mother, Bella — you’ve been talking about her in your sleep. Worrying actually.”

“I have?”

He nodded. “But, clearly, you were too much of a coward to deal with Charlie, so I interceded on your behalf.”

“Interceded? You threw me to the sharks!”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t think you were in any danger.”

“I told you I didn’t want to fight with Charlie.”

“Nobody said that you had to.”

I glowered at him. “I can’t help myself when he gets all bossy like that — my natural teenage instincts overpower me.”

He chuckled. “Well, that’s not my fault.”

I stared at him, speculating. He didn’t seem to notice. His face was serene as he gazed out the windshield. Something was off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Or maybe it was just my imagination again, running wild like it had this afternoon.

“Does this sudden urge to see Florida have anything to do with the party at Billy’s place?”

His jaw flexed. “Nothing at all. It wouldn’t matter if you were here or on the other side of the world, you still wouldn’t be going.”

It was just like with Charlie before — just like being treated as a misbehaving child. I gritted my teeth together so I wouldn’t start shouting. I didn’t want to fight with Edward, too.

Edward sighed, and when he spoke his voice was warm and velvet again. “So what do you want to do tonight?” he asked.

“Can we go to your house? I haven’t seen Esme in so long.”

He smiled. “She’ll like that. Especially when she hears what we’re doing this weekend.”

I groaned in defeat.


We didn’t stay out late, as I’d promised. I was not surprised to see the lights still on when we pulled up in front of the house — I knew Charlie would be waiting to yell at me some more.

“You’d better not come inside,” I said. “It will only make things worse.”

“His thoughts are relatively calm,” Edward teased. His expression made me wonder if there was some additional joke I was missing. The corners of his mouth twitched, fighting a smile.

“I’ll see you later,” I muttered glumly.