“Hardly, Bella,” Esme said, patting my hair again. “And nothing will happen to Charlie. We’re just going to have to be more careful.”
“More careful?” I repeated in disbelief.
“It’s all going to be fine, Bella,” Alice promised; Edward squeezed my hand.
And I could see, looking at all of their beautiful faces one by one, that nothing I could say was going to change their minds.
It was a quiet ride home. I was frustrated. Against my better judgment, I was still human.
“You won’t be alone for a second,” Edward promised as he drove me to Charlie’s. “Someone will always be there. Emmett, Alice, Jasper . . .”
I sighed. “This is ridiculous. They’ll get so bored, they’ll have to kill me themselves, just for something to do.”
Edward gave me a sour look. “Hilarious, Bella.”
Charlie was in a good mood when we got back. He could see the tension between me and Edward, and he was misinterpreting it. He watched me throw together his dinner with a smug smile on his face. Edward had excused himself for a moment, to do some surveillance, I assumed, but Charlie waited till he was back to pass on my messages.
“Jacob called again,” Charlie said as soon as Edward was in the room. I kept my face empty as I set the plate in front of him.
“Is that a fact?”
Charlie frowned. “Don’t be petty, Bella. He sounded really low.”
“Is Jacob paying you for all the P.R., or are you a volunteer?”
Charlie grumbled incoherently at me until the food cut off his garbled complaint.
Though he didn’t realize it, he’d found his mark.
My life was feeling a lot like a game of dice right now — would the next roll come up snake eyes? What if something did happen to me? It seemed worse than petty to leave Jacob feeling guilty about what he’d said.
But I didn’t want to talk to him with Charlie around, to have to watch my every word so I didn’t let the wrong thing slip. Thinking about this made me jealous of Jacob and Billy’s relationship. How easy it must be when you had no secrets from the person you lived with.
So I would wait for the morning. I most likely wasn’t going to die tonight, after all, and it wouldn’t hurt him to feel guilty for twelve more hours. It might even be good for him.
When Edward officially left for the evening, I wondered who was out in the downpour, keeping an eye on Charlie and me. I felt awful for Alice or whoever else it might be, but still comforted. I had to admit it was nice, knowing I wasn’t alone. And Edward was back in record time.
He sang me to sleep again and — aware even in unconsciousness that he was there — I slept free of nightmares.
In the morning, Charlie left to go fishing with Deputy Mark before I was up. I decided to use this lack of supervision to be divine.
“I’m going to let Jacob off the hook,” I warned Edward after I’d eaten breakfast.
“I knew you’d forgive him,” he said with an easy smile. “Holding grudges is not one of your many talents.”
I rolled my eyes, but I was pleased. It seemed like Edward really was over the whole anti-werewolf thing.
I didn’t look at the clock until after I’d dialed. It was a little early for calls, and I worried that I would wake Billy and Jake, but someone picked up before the second ring, so he couldn’t have been too far from the phone.
“Hello?” a dull voice said.
“Jacob?”
“Bella!” he exclaimed. “Oh, Bella, I’m so sorry!” he tripped over the words as he hurried to get them out. “I swear I didn’t mean it. I was just being stupid. I was angry — but that’s no excuse. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever said in my life and I’m sorry. Don’t be mad at me, please? Please. Lifetime of servitude up for grabs — all you have to do is forgive me.”
“I’m not mad. You’re forgiven.”
“Thank you,” he breathed fervently. “I can’t believe I was such a jerk.”
“Don’t worry about that — I’m used to it.”
He laughed, exuberant with relief. “Come down to see me,” he begged. “I want to make it up to you.”
I frowned. “How?”
“Anything you want. Cliff diving,” he suggested, laughing again.
“Oh, there’s a brilliant idea.”
“I’ll keep you safe,” he promised. “No matter what you want to do.”
I glanced at Edward. His face was very calm, but I was sure this was not the time.
“Not right now.”
“He’s not thrilled with me, is he?” Jacob’s voice was ashamed, rather than bitter, for once.