Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,289

obsolete heart.

“No!” she protested; it was almost a shout. She deliberately moderated her volume back to a near whisper. “No, I meant, why does my mother think you’re here? I need to have my story straight before she gets back.”

“Oh.”

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. So many times I’d thought she was done with me, but she never was.

“I came to Phoenix to talk some sense into you,” I explained, using the same sincere and guileless voice I used when I needed the nurses to believe that I was supposed to stay in this room. “To convince you to come back to Forks. You agreed to see me, and you drove out to the hotel where I was staying with Carlisle and Alice.” I opened my eyes wide, made them extra innocent. “Of course I was here with parental supervision.… But you tripped on the stairs on the way to my room and… well, you know the rest. You don’t need to remember any details, though; you have a good excuse to be a little muddled about the finer points.”

She considered this for a second. “There are a few flaws with that story. Like no broken windows.”

I couldn’t help grinning. “Not really. Alice had a little bit too much fun fabricating evidence. It’s all been taken care of very convincingly—you could probably sue the hotel if you wanted to.”

This idea obviously scandalized her.

I stroked her unbruised cheek softly. “You have nothing to worry about. Your only job now is to heal.”

And then her heart started racing. I looked for signs of pain, I thought through my words for something upsetting, but then I noticed the dilation of her pupils and realized. She was responding to my touch.

Her eyes focused on the machine beeping out her heart’s excesses, and narrowed. “That’s going to be embarrassing.”

I laughed quietly at her expression. A light blush was coloring her good cheek.

“Hmm, I wonder.…”

I was already only inches from her face. Slowly, I erased that distance. Her heart raced faster. When I kissed her, my lips barely brushing against hers, that rhythm stuttered. Her heart literally skipped a beat.

I jerked away from her, anxious until her heart resumed a healthy cadence.

“It seems that I’m going to have to be even more careful with you than usual.”

She frowned, winced, then said, “I was not finished kissing you. Don’t make me come over there.”

I smiled at the threat, then gently kissed her again, quitting as soon as her heart started acting up. It was a very short kiss.

She looked about to complain, but this experiment had to be put on hold regardless.

I scooted my chair a foot from her bed. “I think I hear your mother.”

Renée was climbing the stairs now, on her way to get some quarters from her bag, worrying about the junk food she’d been consuming over the past few days. She wished she had time for a gym visit, but for now the stairs would have to do.

Bella’s face contorted. I assumed it was pain. I leaned close again, desperate for something to do.

“Don’t leave me,” Bella said, a sob close to the surface of her voice. Her eyes were tight with fear.

I didn’t want to think about this reaction.

In my head, Alice’s vision tormented me. Bella, curled in on herself in agony, gasping for air.…

I gathered myself for a moment, then tried to answer casually. “I won’t. I’ll… take a nap.”

I grinned at her and then dashed to the turquoise easy chair and reclined it all the way back. After all, Renée had told me to use it whenever I needed a break. I closed my eyes.

“Don’t forget to breathe,” she whispered. I remembered her playing asleep for her father’s benefit, and fought a smile. I took an exaggerated breath.

Renée was walking by the nurses’ station now.

“Any change?” she asked the nurse’s assistant on duty, a solid younger woman named Bea. It was clear from Renée’s absentminded tone that she expected a negative response. She kept walking.

“Actually, there’s been some fluctuation on her monitors. I was about to go in.”

Oh no, I shouldn’t have left.

Renée was taking longer strides now, worried. “I’ll check on her and let you know.…”

The aide, rising out of her chair, sat back down again, bowing to Renée’s desires.

Bella twitched and the bed squeaked. It was obvious how much her mother’s distress upset her.

Renée opened the door quietly. Of course she wanted Bella to wake up, but it still felt rude to be noisy.

“Mom!” Bella whispered joyously.

I