Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,246

I ran to the dresser to help her pack. Charlie wasn’t wrong.

Despite that, Bella screamed, “NO!” She joined me at the dresser, seeming to expect to find me there. She held open the duffel bag and I tossed clothes into it, trying to get a variety of items. It wouldn’t help her blend in if she only had t-shirts.

The keys to her truck were on the dresser top. I pocketed them.

“Did he break up with you?” Charlie asked in a moderated tone. This question didn’t sting.

But Bella’s answer was a surprise.

“No!” she yelled again, though I thought maybe this—a breakup—was the easiest excuse. I wondered where the script would lead.

Charlie battered against the door again, the rhythm impatient. “What happened, Bella?”

She yanked futilely on the zipper of the now full duffel bag.

“I broke up with him!” she shouted.

I moved her fingers out of the way and fastened the zipper, then weighed the bag in my hand. Was it too heavy for her? She reached for it, impatient, and I put the strap carefully over her shoulder.

I rested my forehead against hers for one precious second.

“I’ll be in the truck.” My whisper did nothing to hide the desperation in my voice. “Go!”

I urged her toward the door, then dove back out the window so I would be in place when she exited.

Emmett was on the ground, waiting for me. He jerked his chin toward the east.

I cast my mind in that direction, and sure enough, the tracker was little more than half a mile out.

The big one is playing watchman tonight. Patience.

So he’d seen Emmett in the trees, but he couldn’t see either of us now. Would he assume I was here, or would he be watching for an ambush? I wished we had Jasper with us now. If we could come at him from three sides…

Edward, Alice cautioned from her hiding place. She thought of the possibilities spinning off from my train of thought. The tracker was slippery. We would leave Bella vulnerable.

“What happened? I thought you liked him,” Charlie was demanding. He was back downstairs now.

I made a firm decision about what would happen next.

On it, Alice responded. She slithered out from under the truck and ducked into the Jeep. Once she had it in neutral, she pushed it silently out of the driveway, one hand on the doorframe, the other reaching up as high as she could to move the steering wheel with two fingers. I didn’t want the sudden roar of the Jeep’s engine to distract Charlie from Bella’s performance. It was better if he thought I was already gone.

Emmett watched Alice for half a second, then raised his eyebrows at me. Do I help her?

I shook my head. Charlie, I mouthed back at him. Follow on foot.

He nodded, then leaped up into the tree, where he would be visible again. It would make the tracker keep his distance. He didn’t retreat, however, even when he caught sight of Emmett; he was fascinated with the scene playing out and confident he could outrun any sudden pursuit. It made me want to prove him wrong. But I couldn’t risk falling into a trap with Bella so near.

“I do like him,” Bella was explaining, her words muffled and breaking. She was crying freely now, and I knew that she wasn’t a good enough actress to fake these tears. The pain in her voice was palpable. The chasm in my stomach twisted in answering agony. She shouldn’t have to do this. She was paying for my mistake. My foolishness.

“That’s the problem,” she railed. “I can’t do this anymore! I can’t put down any more roots here! I don’t want to end up trapped in this stupid, boring town like Mom! I’m not going to make the same dumb mistake she did. I hate it—I can’t stay here another minute!”

Charlie’s mental response was deeper, more searing than I would have expected.

Bella’s weighed-down footsteps moved toward the front door. I climbed silently into the cab of her truck and shoved the key into place, then ducked down. Emmett was close to the front door of the house now, in the shadows. Still, the distance from the door to the truck seemed long. I concentrated on the tracker. He hadn’t moved, listening intently to the drama unfolding inside the house.

What would he hear? This much: Bella preparing to escape, to run. Not planning to return in the near future.

He would know that Emmett had seen him. He would have to assume that Bella