Midday Clouds - The Charlie Swan Story

Chapter 25 (New Moon 14)

Bells was definitely more energized than usual at breakfast, even with the lost sleep that last night's nightmares had caused. I, on the other hand, was still rubbing sleep out of my eyes when we took our places at the table.

"What are you up to today?" I asked absentmindedly.

"I'm going to hang out with Jacob again."

"Oh," was all I could muster. It was a shock that Bella would have the social capacity for three friend hangouts in a row, but if it meant less time spent staring out her window, all the power to her.

"Do you mind?" She asked. "I could stay..."

"No, no. You go ahead," I encouraged. "Harry was going to come up to watch the game with me anyway." We hadn't actually made the plans yet, but I figured telling Bella that I'd have company over would incentive her to get out of the house a bit more.

"Maybe Harry could give Billy a ride up," she suggested.

"That's a great idea."

I headed over to the phone to give Harry, and then Billy, a ring. I said a silent goodbye to Bells as she made her way out the door, and noticed a rectangular shape in her jacket pocket. It was too long and thin to be a book, so I figured she was probably taking her checkbook with her. I'd never seen her use it, but figured if she had plans to make a big purchase I'd hear about it eventually. Boundaries.

—

Harry and Billy showed up a few hours later to settle in for the game. I could tell that Billy wanted to bring something up, and I was worried that he was about to lay into the Cullens again, but it was apparently about the other thing I actively avoided talking to him and Harry about.

"Look, Charlie," said Billy during intermission. "When are you going to find yourself someone to make this place a little more, well, homely?"

"What, you don't like the wallpaper or something Billy? This place is twice as full now as it's been for the past decade and a half. That's plenty for me." I knew what he was getting at; every few years Billy would prod me about my terminal bachelorhood. But I wasn't going to let him steer things that way so easier.

"Sure, Bella is great to have around, but she's going to be off to college in a few years! And wouldn't it be nice for her to get to know her potential step-mom while living with you here? It's an opportunity that won't be around forever."

"Who says I'm trying to find Bells a step-mom? Or that she even needs one? We're alright just the two of us."

"But are you alright, Charlie?" Harry asked from a couch over. I thought he'd been engrossed in the box of pizza on the coffee table, but he'd apparently been listening in. "We get that things were tough after what happened, but it's been so long... and surely Isabella being back has helped on that front a bit, no?"

The truth of the matter was that having Bella back in my life, back in this home, had actually reopened the old wounds that Renee had left in her wake. It wasn't that I'd never been on dates in the years since—I'd even had a few girlfriends here and there—but any time anyone got too close to me, any time I felt like we could really have something, I'd get scared. Scared they'd get sick of me. Scared they'd get sick of this town. It didn't matter if they were from here or not; I'd always begin having those nightmarish flashback to that day in the rain.

"Look guys, as I say every time you bring it up, I'm alright, alright? Between being Bella's dad and all the crap going on at the station, I've got enough on my plate as it is. Maybe once Bells is off to college I'll find someone to settle down with—God knows I could use the rest. But until then, just as I said last time, can we leave it? Please?"

The two men gave each other a long measured look, just as they had when we were kids and I naively (and, if we're being honest here, somewhat ignorantly) thought they might be doing some kind of Indigenous magic trick of speaking to each other in their minds, before nodding to one another and turning back to me.

"Alright," Billy said.

"We'll lay off it, for now," said Harry. "But take it from someone who knows; a good partner is the best thing you could have at this age, Charlie. I don't know what I would possibly do without Sue. I'm just glad she got tired of being teased about dating the white boy back in highschool, hey!" Harry laughed, nudging me in the ribs, and I play fought with him right back. 

"You're just lucky I haven't tried stealing her back from you!" I chuckled, putting Harry into a headlock as Billy egged us on.

"Over my dead body!" Harry joked, tapping out on my forearm so I'd release the grip I had him in. "Which might happen sooner than later with you roughing me up like that."

"Nah, you'll outlive the rest of us by miles," Billy said. "What with me already in this damn chair and Charlie here dealing with bad guys on a daily basis, what's a little heartburn?"

"The bad guys are easy to handle," I said, relaxing back into my indent in the couch. "It's whatever the hell is out in those woods that's worrying me. You all make sure you tell your boys to keep an eye out, hey? And make sure no one goes too far into the woods on their own. We had another missing hiker just this week. You'd think they'd respect the signs to stay out, but apparently not."

"Oh Charlie, the Quileute will be fine," said Harry. "We've been in these woods for generations beyond generations. It's the city folk who come in from out east you gotta be worried about. And hey, if we do run into your giant bear, be worried about the bear; my kung-fu is strong, after all."

"Yeah, yeah, says the one I just tapped out," I said with a laugh. Even with the worries of my daughter's mental health, the dangers of disappearing hikers, and the loneliness that still haunted me whenever I'm in this house by myself, the company of my two best friends still managed to make me see the good in the world.

The game finished up, and Billy suggested we all head to his place for dinner.

"You don't think I'll be imposing on Bella, do you?" I asked as we all piled into Harry's truck.

"Naah," said Billy. "Those two spend all their time in the garage anyway, so you hanging with me at the house is just the same as us hanging here. Then we can all have a dinner together! Get the fire going, talk about the good old days."

"Good old days?" asked Harry. "These, my brothers, are the good days."

Sitting between the two men on the bench seat as we rolled past the houses and forests of my hometown, heading towards a firelit evening with my daughter and my best friends, I couldn't help but agree; it felt as though a golden era of my life was just beginning. 

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