Jacob’s face brightened with understanding, and he laughed. “I was just thinking about you. Didn’t like that much, did he?”
“Me? What about me?”
Jacob laughed, with a harder edge this time. “I was remembering the way you looked that night Sam found you — I’ve seen it in his head, and it’s like I was there; that memory has always haunted Sam, you know. And then I remembered how you looked the first time you came to my place. I bet you don’t even realize what a mess you were then, Bella. It was weeks before you started to look human again. And I remembered how you always used to have your arms wrapped around yourself, trying to hold yourself together. . . .” Jacob winced, and then shook his head. “It’s hard for me to remember how sad you were, and it wasn’t my fault. So I figured it would be harder for him. And I thought he ought to get a look at what he’d done.”
I smacked his shoulder. It hurt my hand. “Jacob Black, don’t you ever do that again! Promise me you won’t.”
“No way. I haven’t had that much fun in months.”
“So help me, Jake —”
“Oh, get a grip, Bella. When am I ever going to see him again? Don’t worry about it.”
I got to my feet, and he caught my hand as I started to walk away. I tried to tug free.
“I’m leaving, Jacob.”
“No, don’t go yet,” he protested, his hand tightening around mine. “I’m sorry. And . . . okay, I won’t do it again. Promise.”
I sighed. “Thanks, Jake.”
“Come on, we’ll go back to my house,” he said eagerly.
“Actually, I think I really do need to go. Angela Weber is expecting me, and I know Alice is worried. I don’t want to upset her too much.”
“But you just got here!”
“It feels that way,” I agreed. I glared up at the sun, somehow already directly overhead. How had the time passed so quickly?
His eyebrows pulled down over his eyes. “I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” he said in a hurt voice.
“I’ll come back the next time he’s away,” I promised impulsively.
“Away?” Jacob rolled his eyes. “That’s a nice way to describe what he’s doing. Disgusting parasites.”
“If you can’t be nice, I won’t come back at all!” I threatened, trying to pull my hand free. He refused to let go.
“Aw, don’t be mad,” he said, grinning. “Knee-jerk reaction.”
“If I’m going to try to come back again, you’re going to have to get something straight, okay?”
He waited.
“See,” I explained. “I don’t care who’s a vampire and who’s a werewolf. That’s irrelevant. You are Jacob, and he is Edward, and I am Bella. And nothing else matters.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “But I am a werewolf,” he said unwillingly. “And he is a vampire,” he added with obvious revulsion.
“And I’m a Virgo!” I shouted, exasperated.
He raised his eyebrows, measuring my expression with curious eyes. Finally, he shrugged.
“If you can really see it that way . . .”
“I can. I do.”
“Okay. Just Bella and Jacob. None of those freaky Virgos here.” He smiled at me, the warm, familiar smile that I had missed so much. I felt the answering smile spread across my face.
“I’ve really missed you, Jake,” I admitted impulsively.
“Me, too,” his smile widened. His eyes were happy and clear, free for once of the angry bitterness. “More than you know. Will you come back soon?”
“As soon as I can,” I promised.
6 SWITZERLAND
AS I DROVE HOME, I WASN’T PAYING MUCH ATTENTION TO the road that shimmered wetly in the sun. I was thinking about the flood of information Jacob had shared with me, trying to sort it out, to force it all to make sense. Despite the overload, I felt lighter. Seeing Jacob smile, having all the secrets thrashed out . . . it didn’t make things perfect, but it made them better. I was right to have gone. Jacob needed me. And obviously, I thought as I squinted into the glare, there was no danger.
It came out of nowhere. One minute there was nothing but bright highway in my rearview mirror. The next minute, the sun was glinting off a silver Volvo right on my tail.
“Aw, crap,” I whimpered.
I considered pulling over. But I was too much of a coward to face him right away. I’d been counting on some prep time . . . and having Charlie nearby as a buffer. At least that would force him to keep his voice down.
The Volvo followed inches behind me. I kept my eyes on the road ahead.
Chicken through and through, I drove straight to Angela’s without once meeting the gaze I could feel burning a hole in my mirror.
He followed me until I pulled to the curb in front of the Webers’ house. He didn’t stop, and I didn’t look up as he passed. I didn’t want to see the expression on his face. I ran up the short concrete walk to Angela’s door as soon as he was out of sight.
Ben answered the door before I could finish knocking, like he’d been standing right behind it.
“Hey, Bella!” he said, surprised.
“Hi, Ben. Er, is Angela here?” I wondered if Angela had forgotten our plans, and cringed at the thought of going home early.
“Sure,” Ben said just as Angela called, “Bella!” and appeared at the top of the stairs.
Ben peered around me as we both heard the sound of a car on the road; the sound didn’t scare me — this engine stuttered to a stop, followed by the loud pop of a backfire. Nothing like the purr of the Volvo. This must be the visitor Ben had been waiting for.
“Austin’s here,” Ben said as Angela reached his side.
A horn honked on the street.
“I’ll see you later,” Ben promised. “Miss you already.”
He threw his arm around Angela’s neck and pulled her face down to his height so that he could kiss her enthusiastically. After a second of this, Austin honked again.
“’Bye, Ang! Love you!” Ben shouted as he dashed past me.
Angela swayed, her face slightly pink, then recovered herself and waved until Ben and Austin were out of sight. Then she turned to me and grinned ruefully.
“Thank you for doing this, Bella,” she said. “From the bottom of my heart. Not only are you saving my hands from permanent injury, you also just spared me two long hours of a plot-less, badly dubbed martial arts film.” She sighed in relief.
“Happy to be of service.” I was feeling a bit less panicked, able to breathe a little more evenly. It felt so ordinary here. Angela’s easy human dramas were oddly reassuring. It was nice to know that life was normal somewhere.
I followed Angela up the stairs to her room. She kicked toys out of the way as she went. The house was unusually quiet.
“Where’s your family?”
“My parents took the twins to a birthday party in Port Angeles. I can’t believe you’re really going to help me with this. Ben’s pretending he has tendonitis.” She made a face.
“I don’t mind at all,” I said, and then I walked into Angela’s room and saw the stacks of waiting envelopes.
“Oh!” I gasped. Angela turned to look at me, apologies in her eyes. I could see why she’d been putting this off, and why Ben had weaseled out.
“I thought you were exaggerating,” I admitted.
“I wish. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Put me to work. I’ve got all day.”
Angela divided a pile in half and put her mother’s address book between us on her desk. For a while we concentrated, and there was just the sound of our pens scratching quietly across the paper.
“What’s Edward doing tonight?” she asked after a few minutes.
My pen dug into the envelope I was working on. “Emmet’s home for the weekend. They’re supposed to be hiking.”
“You say that like you’re not sure.”
I shrugged.
“You’re lucky Edward has his brothers for all the hiking and camping. I don’t know what I’d do if Ben didn’t have Austin for the guy stuff.”
“Yeah, the outdoors thing is not really for me. And there’s no way I’d ever be able to keep up.”
Angela laughed. “I prefer the indoors myself.”
She focused on her pile for a minute. I wrote out four more addresses. There was never any pressure to fill a pause with meaningless chatter around Angela. Like Charlie, she was comfortable with silence.
But, like Charlie, she was also too observant sometimes.
“Is something wrong?” she asked in a low voice now. “You seem . . . anxious.”
I smiled sheepishly. “Is it that obvious?”
“Not really.”