Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,247

knew he could hear. Or would he?

“Bells, you can’t leave now,” Charlie said quietly, urgently. “It’s nighttime.”

“I’ll sleep in the truck if I get tired.”

Charlie imagined his daughter unconscious in the dark cab of the truck, on the side of a freeway in the middle of nowhere, while all around her, dark, amorphous shapes crept closer and closer. It wasn’t an entirely coherent nightmare, but my own panic, savage and irrational, echoed his own.

“Just wait another week,” he begged. “Renée will be back by then.”

Bella’s footsteps stuttered to a halt. There was a low sound—her shoe squeaking as she turned around to face him?

“What?”

I slid back out of the truck, and hesitated in the middle of the front yard. What would I do if his words confused her, delayed her? Did she realize the tracker was near?

“She called while you were out.” Charlie was tripping over his words, rushing to get them out. “Things aren’t going so well in Florida, and if Phil doesn’t get signed by the end of the week, they’re going back to Arizona. The assistant coach of the Sidewinders said they might have a spot for another shortstop.”

Charlie and I both waited, not breathing, for her response.

“I have a key,” she muttered, and her footsteps were now at the door. The knob started to turn. I darted back to the truck.

Her words sounded like a weak excuse. The tracker would have to assume this was a story for Charlie and the opposite of the truth.

The door didn’t open.

“Just let me go, Charlie,” Bella said. I could tell she meant the words to sound angry, but the pain in her voice overwhelmed any other emotion.

The door swung open at last. Bella shoved through, Charlie right behind her, his hand outstretched. She seemed aware of that hand, cringing away from it.

I crouched against the floorboards, mostly invisible. I couldn’t help peeking out the window. Without turning to look at her father, Bella growled, “It didn’t work out, okay?” She jumped off the porch, but Charlie was motionless now. “I really, really hate Forks!”

The words seemed simple enough, but crushing anguish speared Charlie through where he stood. His mind swirled, almost like vertigo. In his thoughts was another face, so much like Bella’s and also tearstained. But this woman’s eyes were pale blue.

It seemed Bella had scripted these words with care. Charlie stood, stunned and splintering, as Bella ran awkwardly across the small lawn, the heavy duffel compromising her balance.

“I’ll call you tomorrow!” she yelled back toward Charlie while she heaved the bulky bag into the bed of the truck.

He hadn’t recovered enough to respond.

I could no longer doubt that Bella understood the gravity of the situation. I knew she would never cause anyone this kind of pain, especially not her father, if there were any other way at all.

I’d put her in this hellish position.

Bella ran around the front of the truck. The quick, fearful glances she threw over her shoulder now were not for Charlie. She yanked the truck door open and jumped into the driver’s seat. She reached to turn the key as if knowing it would be waiting for her in the ignition. The engine’s roar shattered the silence of the night. This would be easy enough for the tracker to follow.

I reached out to brush the back of her hand, wishing I could comfort her, but knowing nothing could make this better.

As soon as she’d reversed out of the driveway, she dropped her right hand from the wheel so that I could hold it. The truck chugged down the street at its maximum speed. Charlie didn’t leave his post at the door, but the street curved and we were quickly out of view. I moved into the passenger seat.

“Pull over,” I suggested.

She blinked hard against the tears that streamed down her face and then splashed off the rain jacket she still wore. She passed Alice, without seeming to notice the Jeep on the side of the road. I wondered whether she could see at all.

Alice, still pushing the Jeep so the noisy engine wouldn’t alert Charlie, easily kept up with us.

“I can drive,” Bella insisted, but her words broke and dragged. She sounded exhausted.

She barely registered surprise when I pulled her gently over my lap and eased into the driver’s position. I kept her close beside me. She drooped there, wilting.

“You wouldn’t be able to find the house,” I said as my excuse, but she didn’t seem to be waiting for a reason. She