Chapter 3
When Bella woke up the next morning the whole house smelled of burned toast. For a moment she was back in Phoenix. Her mother burned toast every second time she attempted to put a slice of bread into the toaster. She sighed and crawled out of the heavy sheets. In Phoenix Bella had only used a thin sheet, but last night at one point she wished for having even another layer.
Would Charlie expect Bella to be all dressed up before she said “good morning” or would he be weirded out by that? It was the simple questions that Bella now stumbled upon when thinking about her dad. She also wasn’t sure if she should call him dad or Charlie. When she was little he had always been dad but now it felt kind of strange. They were basically strangers only connected through some coincidence seventeen years ago where Bella got half her DNA.
It didn’t really matter what Charlie thought of her. Not to that big of an extent that would make Bella bother to change out of her comfy pajamas. It was the best thing about summer break and weekends - to sleep in and hang out in your pjs all day or at least until you had to leave the house - for whatever reason.
“Morning!” Bella avoided directly addressing her dad. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable in any way. It was nice enough of him to take her in after all these years of christmas and birthday cards. She wasn’t sure if she’d do the same.
Charlie turned around. “You’re up early.” He was already wearing his uniform.
“What time is it?” Bella rubbed her eyes. She felt like she had slept in almost all day.
“Seven thirty.” He gestured to the clock. “I thought you kids like to sleep in.” His voice was kind of rough and he coughed. Bella asked him if he was sick but he shook his head. "Nah. It’s just from smoking. Don't do it.”
“Okay.” Bella stood there in the tiny kitchen and didn’t know what to do. Charlie had his routine, he knew his life by heart. Every single day. It didn’t matter if she was here or not. She was not a part of his life. Not of his day.
They ate breakfast in silence. Luckily Charlie had bought the cereal he remembered Bella used to like, so she didn’t have to eat burned toast as well.
“I gotta work until 4 today, but I have a surprise for you then.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a surprise.” Charlie blushed. Was he ever going to not be nervous?
Bella smiled but nodded. “I wanted to try at least.”
Charlie gathered all his stuff and put the dishes into the sink. In her head Bella made a note to clean them up later. She probably would have enough time and enough boredom anyway.
“Oh and before I forget. Please promise that you won’t go out into the woods alone. Some weird stuff has been happening lately and I don’t want anything to happen to you, okay?”
“With weird stuff you mean me moving here?” - Like what else happened here? This was Forks. Bella tried to make a joke but only earned a serious look from Charlie.
“Please, Bella. It’s not funny. Take care at least until we find out more, promise. I don’t want to call your mom and tell her that you’ve died.”
Was her dad being dramatic? Or was there actually something serious going on? Bella didn’t really care. She hadn’t planned on leaving the house anyway.
“Understood.” Bella nodded. “Have fun at work, dad.” Now she blushed. It was weird to call him dad but at the same time she felt like he was her dad after all. He cared for her, now. Maybe he had always cared for her without her realizing. And it felt nice to show him some affection. Bella knew that life had been hard on Charlie, and one didn’t even have to know his life story. One could see it in his eyes and the way he walked through the world. And Bella felt sorry for him; because with all the time that has passed by she realized she was part of the reason why.
WIth the house empty Bella felt like a stranger again. The moment had slipped away as quickly as the affection had entered. Up in her room she grabbed her copy of “Romeo & Juliet” to read it once again. She had a whole day to get to pass away before all. And she didn’t want to spend it wondering what surprise Charlie might have planned for her.