It was just beginning to drizzle when Edward turned onto my street. Upuntil that moment, I'd had no doubt that he'd be staying with me while Ispent a few interim hours in the real world.

　　And then I saw the black car, a weathered Ford, parked in Charlie'sdriveway — and heard Edward mutter something unintelligible in a low,harsh voice.

　　Leaning away from the rain under the shallow front porch, Jacob Blackstood behind his father's wheelchair. Billy's face was impassive as stoneas Edward parked my truck against the curb. Jacob stared down, hisexpression mortified.

　　Edward's low voice was furious. "This is crossing the line.""He came to warn Charlie?" I guessed, more horrified than angry.

　　Edward just nodded, answering Billy's gaze through the rain with narrowedeyes.

　　I felt weak with relief that Charlie wasn't home yet.

　　"Let me deal with this," I suggested. Edward's black glare made meanxious.

　　To my surprise, he agreed. "That's probably best. Be careful, though. Thechild has no idea."I bridled a little at the word child. "Jacob is not that much youngerthan I am," I reminded him.

　　He looked at me then, his anger abruptly fading. "Oh, I know," he assuredme with a grin.

　　I sighed and put my hand on the door handle.

　　"Get them inside," he instructed, "so I can leave. I'll be back arounddusk.""Do you want my truck?" I offered, meanwhile wondering how I wouldexplain its absence to Charlie.

　　He rolled his eyes. "I could walk home faster than this truck moves.""You don't have to leave," I said wistfully.

　　He smiled at my glum expression. "Actually, I do. After you get rid ofthem" — he threw a dark glance in the Blacks' direction — "you still haveto prepare Charlie to meet your new boyfriend." He grinned widely,showing all of his teeth.

　　I groaned. "Thanks a lot."He smiled the crooked smile that I loved. "I'll be back soon," hepromised. His eyes flickered back to the porch, and then he leaned in toswiftly kiss me just under the edge of my jaw. My heart lurchedfrantically, and I, too, glanced toward the porch. Billy's face was nolonger impassive, and his hands clutched at the armrests of his chair.

　　"Soon," I stressed as I opened the door and stepped out into the rain.

　　I could feel his eyes on my back as I half-ran through the light sprinkletoward the porch.

　　"Hey, Billy. Hi, Jacob." I greeted them as cheerfully as I could manage.

　　"Charlie's gone for the day — I hope you haven't been waiting long.""Not long," Billy said in a subdued tone. His black eyes were piercing.

　　"I just wanted to bring this up." He indicated a brown paper sack restingin his lap.

　　"Thanks," I said, though I had no idea what it could be. "Why don't youcome in for a minute and dry off?"I pretended to be oblivious to his intense scrutiny as I unlocked thedoor, and waved them in ahead of me.

　　"Here, let me take that," I offered, turning to shut the door. I allowedmyself one last glance at Edward. He was waiting, perfectly still, hiseyes solemn.

　　"You'll want to put it in the fridge," Billy noted as he handed me thepackage. "It's some of Harry Clearwater's homemade fish fry — Charlie'sfavorite. The fridge keeps it drier." He shrugged.

　　"Thanks," I repeated, but with feeling this time. "I was running out ofnew ways to fix fish, and he's bound to bring home more tonight.""Fishing again?" Billy asked with a subtle gleam in his eye. "Down at theusual spot? Maybe I'll run by and see him.""No," I quickly lied, my face going hard. "He was headed someplace new…but I have no idea where."He took in my changed expression, and it made him thoughtful.

　　"Jake," he said, still appraising me. "Why don't you go get that newpicture of Rebecca out of the car? I'll leave that for Charlie, too.""Where is it?" Jacob asked, his voice morose. I glanced at him, but hewas staring at the floor, his eyebrows pulling together.

　　"I think I saw it in the trunk," Billy said. "You may have to dig for it."Jacob slouched back out into the rain.

　　Billy and I faced each other in silence. After a few seconds, the quietstarted to feel awkward, so I turned and headed to the kitchen. I couldhear his wet wheels squeak against the linoleum as he followed.

　　I shoved the bag onto the crowded top shelf of the fridge, and spunaround to confront him. His deeply lined face was unreadable.

　　"Charlie won't be back for a long time." My voice was almost rude.

　　He nodded in agreement, but said nothing.

　　"Thanks again for the fish fry," I hinted.

　　He continued nodding. I sighed and folded my arms across my chest.

　　He seemed to sense that I had given up on small talk. "Bella," he said,and then he hesitated.

　　I waited.

　　"Bella," he said again, "Charlie is one of my best friends.""Yes."He spoke each word carefully in his rumbling voice. "I noticed you'vebeen spending time with one of the Cullens.""Yes," I repeated curtly.

　　His eyes narrowed. "Maybe it's none of my business, but I don't thinkthat is such a good idea.""You're right," I agreed. "It is none of your business."He raised his graying eyebrows at my tone. "You probably don't know this,but the Cullen family has an unpleasant reputation on the reservation.""Actually, I did know that," I informed him in a hard voice. Thissurprised him. "But that reputation couldn't be deserved, could it?

　　Because the Cullens never set foot on the reservation, do they?" I couldsee that my less than subtle reminder of the agreement that both boundand protected his tribe pulled him up short.

　　"That's true," he acceded, his eyes guarded. "You seem… well informedabout the Cullens. More informed than I expected."I stared him down. "Maybe even better informed than you are."He pursed his thick lips as he considered that. "Maybe." he allowed, buthis eyes were shrewd. "Is Charlie as well informed?"He had found the weak chink in my armor.

　　"Charlie likes the Cullens a lot," I hedged. He clearly understood myevasion. His expression was unhappy, but unsurprised.

　　"It's not my business," he said. "But it may be Charlie's.""Though it would be my business, again, whether or not I think that it'sCharlie's business, right?"I wondered if he even understood my confused question as I struggled notto say anything compromising. But he seemed to. He thought about it whilethe rain picked up against the roof, the only sound breaking the silence.

　　"Yes," he finally surrendered. "I guess that's your business, too."I sighed with relief. "Thanks, Billy.""Just think about what you're doing, Bella," he urged.

　　"Okay," I agreed quickly.

　　He frowned. "What I meant to say was, don't do what you're doing."I looked into his eyes, filled with nothing but concern for me, and therewas nothing I could say.

　　Just then the front door banged loudly, and I jumped at the sound.

　　"There's no picture anywhere in that car." Jacob's complaining voicereached us before he did. The shoulders of his shirt were stained withthe rain, his hair dripping, when he rounded the corner.

　　"Hmm," Billy grunted, suddenly detached, spinning his chair around toface his son. "I guess I left it at home."Jacob rolled his eyes dramatically. "Great.""Well, Bella, tell Charlie" — Billy paused before continuing — "that westopped by, I mean.""I will," I muttered.

　　Jacob was surprised. "Are we leaving already?""Charlie's gonna be out late," Billy explained as he rolled himself pastJacob.

　　"Oh." Jacob looked disappointed. "Well, I guess I'll see you later, then,Bella.""Sure," I agreed.

　　"Take care," Billy warned me. I didn't answer.

　　Jacob helped his father out the door. I waved briefly, glancing swiftlytoward my now-empty truck, and then shut the door before they were gone.

　　I stood in the hallway for a minute, listening to the sound of their caras it backed out and drove away. I stayed where I was, waiting for theirritation and anxiety to subside. When the tension eventually faded abit, I headed upstairs to change out of my dressy clothes.

　　I tried on a couple of different tops, not sure what to expect tonight.

　　As I concentrated on what was coming, what had just passed becameinsignificant. Now that I was removed from Jasper's and Edward'sinfluence, I began to make up for not being terrified before. I gave upquickly on choosing an outfit — throwing on an old flannel shirt andjeans — knowing I would be in my raincoat all night anyway.

　　The phone rang and I sprinted downstairs to get it. There was only onevoice I wanted to hear; anything else would be a disappointment. But Iknew that if he wanted to talk to me, he'd probably just materialize inmy room.

　　"Hello?" I asked, breathless.

　　"Bella? It's me," Jessica said.

　　"Oh, hey, Jess." I scrambled for a moment to come back down to reality.

　　It felt like months rather than days since I'd spoken to Jess. "How wasthe dance?""It was so much fun!" Jessica gushed. Needing no more invitation thanthat, she launched into a minute-by-minute account of the previous night.

　　I mmm'd and ahh'd at the right places, but it wasn't easy to concentrate.

　　Jessica, Mike, the dance, the school — they all seemed strangelyirrelevant at the moment. My eyes kept flashing to the window, trying tojudge the degree of light behind the heavy clouds.

　　"Did you hear what I said, Bella?" Jess asked, irritated.

　　"I'm sorry, what?""I said, Mike kissed me! Can you believe it?""That's wonderful, Jess," I said.

　　"So what did you do yesterday?" Jessica challenged, still soundingbothered by my lack of attention. Or maybe she was upset because I hadn'tasked for details.

　　"Nothing, really. I just hung around outside to enjoy the sun."I heard Charlie's car in the garage.

　　"Did you ever hear anything more from Edward Cullen?"The front door slammed and I could hear Charlie banging around under thestairs, putting his tackle away.

　　"Um." I hesitated, not sure what my story was anymore.

　　"Hi there, kiddo!" Charlie called as he walked into the kitchen. I wavedat him.

　　Jess heard his voice. "Oh, your dad's there. Never mind — we'll talktomorrow. See you in Trig.""See ya, Jess." I hung up the phone.

　　"Hey, Dad," I said. He was scrubbing his hands in the sink. "Where's thefish?""I put it out in the freezer.""I'll go grab a few pieces before they freeze — Billy dropped off some ofHarry Clearwater's fish fry this afternoon." I worked to soundenthusiastic.

　　"He did?" Charlie's eyes lit up. "That's my favorite."Charlie cleaned up while I got dinner ready. It didn't take long till wewere sitting at the table, eating in silence. Charlie was enjoying hisfood. I was wondering desperately how to fulfill my assignment,struggling to think of a way to broach the subject.

　　"What did you do with yourself today?" he asked, snapping me out of myreverie.

　　"Well, this afternoon I just hung out around the house…" Only the veryrecent part of this afternoon, actually. I tried to keep my voice upbeat,but my stomach was hollow. "And this morning I was over at the Cullens'."Charlie dropped his fork.

　　"Dr. Cullen's place?" he asked in astonishment.

　　I pretended not to notice his reaction. "Yeah.""What were you doing there?" He hadn't picked his fork back up.

　　"Well, I sort of have a date with Edward Cullen tonight, and he wanted tointroduce me to his parents… Dad?"It appeared that Charlie was having an aneurysm.

　　"Dad, are you all right?""You are going out with Edward Cullen?" he thundered.

　　Uh-oh. "I thought you liked the Cullens.""He's too old for you," he ranted.

　　"We're both juniors," I corrected, though he was more right than hedreamed.

　　"Wait…" He paused. "Which one is Edwin?""Edward is the youngest, the one with the reddish brown hair." Thebeautiful one, the godlike one…"Oh, well, that's" — he struggled — "better, I guess. I don't like thelook of that big one. I'm sure he's a nice boy and all, but he looks too…mature for you. Is this Edwin your boyfriend?""It's Edward, Dad.""Is he?""Sort of, I guess.""You said last night that you weren't interested in any of the boys intown." But he picked up his fork again, so I could see the worst was over.

　　"Well, Edward doesn't live in town, Dad."He gave me a disparaging look as he chewed.

　　"And, anyways," I continued, "it's kind of at an early stage, you know.

　　Don't embarrass me with all the boyfriend talk, okay?""When is he coming over?""He'll be here in a few minutes.""Where is he taking you?"I groaned loudly. "I hope you're getting the Spanish Inquisition out ofyour system now. We're going to play baseball with his family."His face puckered, and then he finally chuckled. "You're playingbaseball?""Well, I'll probably watch most of the time.""You must really like this guy," he observed suspiciously.

　　I sighed and rolled my eyes for his benefit.

　　I heard the roar of an engine pull up in front of the house. I jumped upand started cleaning my dishes.

　　"Leave the dishes, I can do them tonight. You baby me too much."The doorbell rang, and Charlie stalked off to answer it. I was half astep behind him.

　　I hadn't realized how hard it was pouring outside. Edward stood in thehalo of the porch light, looking like a male model in an advertisementfor raincoats.

　　"Come on in, Edward."I breathed a sigh of relief when Charlie got his name right.

　　"Thanks, Chief Swan," Edward said in a respectful voice.

　　"Go ahead and call me Charlie. Here, I'll take your jacket.""Thanks, sir.""Have a seat there, Edward."I grimaced.

　　Edward sat down fluidly in the only chair, forcing me to sit next toChief Swan on the sofa. I quickly shot him a dirty look. He winked behindCharlie's back.

　　"So I hear you're getting my girl to watch baseball." Only in Washingtonwould the fact that it was raining buckets have no bearing at all on theplaying of outdoor sports.

　　"Yes, sir, that's the plan." He didn't look surprised that I'd told myfather the truth. He might have been listening, though.

　　"Well, more power to you, I guess."Charlie laughed, and Edward joined in.

　　"Okay." I stood up. "Enough humor at my expense. Let's go." I walked backto the hall and pulled on my jacket. They followed.

　　"Not too late, Bell.""Don't worry, Charlie, I'll have her home early," Edward promised.

　　"You take care of my girl, all right?"I groaned, but they ignored me.

　　"She'll be safe with me, I promise, sir."Charlie couldn't doubt Edward's sincerity, it rang in every word.

　　I stalked out. They both laughed, and Edward followed me.

　　I stopped dead on the porch. There, behind my truck, was a monster Jeep.

　　Its tires were higher than my waist. There were metal guards over theheadlights and tail-lights, and four large spotlights attached to thecrash bar. The hardtop was shiny red.

　　Charlie let out a low whistle.

　　"Wear your seat belts," he choked out.

　　Edward followed me around to my side and opened the door. I gauged thedistance to the seat and prepared to jump for it. He sighed, and thenlifted me in with one hand. I hoped Charlie didn't notice.

　　As he went around to the driver's side, at a normal, human pace, I triedto put on my seat belt. But there were too many buckles.

　　"What's all this?" I asked when he opened the door.

　　"It's an off-roading harness.""Uh-oh."I tried to find the right places for all the buckles to fit, but itwasn't going too quickly. He sighed again and reached over to help me. Iwas glad that the rain was too heavy to see Charlie clearly on the porch.

　　That meant he couldn't see how Edward's hands lingered at my neck,brushed along my collarbones. I gave up trying to help him and focused onnot hyperventilating.

　　Edward turned the key and the engine roared to life. We pulled away fromthe house.

　　"This is a… um… big Jeep you have.""It's Emmett's. I didn't think you'd want to run the whole way.""Where do you keep this thing?""We remodeled one of the outbuildings into a garage.""Aren't you going to put on your seat belt?"He threw me a disbelieving look.

　　Then something sunk in.

　　"Run the whole way? As in, we're still going to run part of the way?" Myvoice edged up a few octaves.

　　He grinned tightly. "You're not going to run.""I'm going to be sick.""Keep your eyes closed, you'll be fine."I bit my lip, fighting the panic.

　　He leaned over to kiss the top of my head, and then groaned. I looked athim, puzzled.

　　"You smell so good in the rain," he explained.

　　"In a good way, or in a bad way?" I asked cautiously.

　　He sighed. "Both, always both."I don't know how he found his way in the gloom and downpour, but hesomehow found a side road that was less of a road and more of a mountainpath. For a long while conversation was impossible, because I wasbouncing up and down on the seat like a jackhammer. He seemed to enjoythe ride, though, smiling hugely the whole way.

　　And then we came to the end of the road; the trees formed green walls onthree sides of the Jeep. The rain was a mere drizzle, slowing everysecond, the sky brighter through the clouds.

　　"Sorry, Bella, we have to go on foot from here.""You know what? I'll just wait here.""What happened to all your courage? You were extraordinary this morning.""I haven't forgotten the last time yet." Could it have been onlyyesterday?

　　He was around to my side of the car in a blur. He started unbuckling me.

　　"I'll get those, you go on ahead," I protested.

　　"Hmmm…" he mused as he quickly finished. "It seems I'm going to have totamper with your memory."Before I could react, he pulled me from the Jeep and set m............