Postcards

Chapter 7

"It was just a friendly peck on the cheek. Nothing more," I told him.

"But, you want there to be more?" Dad asked, and I let out a sigh as I shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. It can't be more while he's here and I'm in Florida."

Dad took my arm and led me over to the couch. He sat down beside me and pretty much told me the same thing Mom had. That if Edward and I wanted it to work, we'd find a way.

"Yeah, well, I don't even know if he likes me like that, so it doesn't even matter," I said quietly as I stared at my hands.

"Bells, that boy is crazy about you. How many times has he texted you just to say hey? How many postcards has he sent you ever since he found out that you collect them? And, I see the way he looks at you. I may have to have a talk with him."

"You really think he likes me?" I asked but then told him not to answer that. "Ugh. I'm acting like such a girl."

Dad raised an eyebrow, and I rolled my eyes at him before telling him I was going to bed.

........................................................

Christmas day was spent exchanging gifts with Dad while eating chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs. It was the one meal Dad was fairly good at cooking, and he'd make it for me whenever I stayed with him.

I'd saved up a bit of money and gotten Dad a fancy fishing pole, and he'd given me a new MP3 player and a gift card to Barnes and Nobles.

A little after ten, Mom called me, and I made my way up to my room to talk to her in private. Not that I really cared if Dad overheard me, but he was watching something on the TV, and I didn't want to bother him.

"Merry Christmas, Mom! Are you having a good one?"

"Merry Christmas to you, too! And my Christmas is going amazingly," she said before going on to tell me that Phil had proposed to her.

"Congratulations!" I told her.

I wasn't quite sure how I felt about her engagement. She and Phil hadn't been dating that long, and while he was a nice guy, I wasn't sure if I was ready for him to be my stepfather.

"Thanks, baby," she said. "We want to have a small wedding soon, and we need to figure out where we're all going to live."

"Wait. What?" I asked. "Why would we be moving?"

I was confused as to why Phil couldn't just move in with us. He lived in a small apartment across town, so it wasn't like he had a mortgage or anything.

"Phil has been offered a coaching position at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. He starts next week in order to be there for the start of the season in February, so he's out there now looking for a house."

"So what you're saying is that we're moving to West Virginia?" I asked, anger rising in my voice. This was not the sort of news I wanted to hear on Christmas. Hell, I didn't want to hear it at all.

"No, that's not what I'm saying, Isabella," she said in a sharp voice. "What I'm saying is that Phil is moving to West Virginia. Would I like to be with him? Yes, of course I would, but I also wanted to talk to you about it."

I took a deep breath and gave myself a minute to calm down. I loved my mom to death, and I certainly couldn't deny her her happiness, plus it would be unfair of me to make her live in Jacksonville while her fiancé was in West Virginia.

"Then I guess we're moving," I said quietly.

Later that night, I called Edward and told him everything. He let me vent about what I was feeling and how upset I was.