Daybreak

1

 "What if we moved in with Charlie?" Isabella's voice broke through our mother's constant rambling. She froze in response, and I shot up in my seat at the suggestion. "Oh, no honey, you don't have to do that. I know how much ya'll hate it there." I ignored her distasteful comment and shook my head, "Can we really?" 

Isabella tugs at the bottom of her shirt and shifts uncomfortably. "Yeah, it sounds great, I honestly miss it. And on the plus side, you can travel with phil." I knew she was pulling this out of her ass. She didn't really want to go. Mom brings up her thumb and tugs at the nail between her teeth. 

After a minute or two, she slowly starts nodding, "Okay. Okay? Okay." She seemed unsure, but any kind of yes was all I needed to open my laptop and start looking for a flight. "When are you wanting to go?" I glance to my sister –Isabella– across the patio. She wrings out her hands and shrugs. Letting out a sigh, I scroll for a bit. "Two weeks sound good? It's the middle of the year, so school will already be in session anyway." She nods and stretches before whisking up her water bottle and leaving. 

I glanced at mom, then started dialing dads' number, waving her over so we could set everything up. As well as tell him all of her conditions when he inevitably agrees.

A thump is heard as Isabella closes my book, effectively losing my page and pissing me off. "What?" I glare at her as I huff in annoyance. She rolls her eyes and brushes it off. "We are landing." With a curt nod, I find my page and mark it with a note I need for later and a bookmark. I smile fondly at the bookmark peeking out. I had forced Dad to color with me when I was eleven, and he drew the shittiest cat I've ever seen. When I found it last year at fifteen, I folded the extra white to a rectangle to make a bookmark. 

Once I finally put my book in my purse, everyone is already leaving, and Isabella is getting antsy. She is holding her bag and bouncing her leg. We exit the plane and immediately spot the cruiser. Our father, Charlie Swan, is the chief of police in Forks. The messy brunette man is leaning on the car stiffly and watching us approach. 

We walk up to him, and I take in his looks, as I haven't seen him in two years. Isabella stopped going three years ago when she was fourteen. I had tried to go back the next summer, but afterward, Mom decided the flight was too expensive for just one person to be going.

  "So..." he starts trailing off. Instead of forcing him to make small talk, I slam into his chest. "Hi dad," I greet him quietly, hoping he hears me through the muffled hug. He gives a dry chuckle and pats me on the back. "Hello to you too, Mari."

I let go a few seconds later and step aside. "Good to see you, Bells," he greets, giving her a side hug, as she didn't initiate the act. "You haven't changed much, how is Renee?"Mom's fine. It's good to see you too, dad." It was odd hearing her call him anything but Charlie, but she isn't allowed to call him that to his face. I made sure to ingrain that into her brain so as not to hurt his feelings.

He takes my two suitcases from my hands and puts them in his car. When he turns to help Isabella as well, she side-steps him and does it herself. I may be the fun sponge feminist out of the two, but she is the overly independent one. 

We brush it off, and I reach for the passenger door handle, knowing Isabella wouldn't want to sit that close to him, and I do. I tug on the handle and see brunette waves pass me as she sits down. "I wasn't holding it for you, I want to sit with dad," I point out with a slight frown. 

"It's too cramped back there," she states and closes the door in my face. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and count to four.

once we are all strapped in, Dad speaks up, "I found a good car for you guys, real cheap too." I slide off my Crocs and tuck my knees up as I listen to my family make the worst small talk I've ever heard. Although I hate small talk, it would be better than this silence.  

Isabella is currently interrogating him about this truck he got us. I don't know much about cars, as long as they run, I don't mind at all. Since it's from Billy Black, I assume it won't come broken. From what I can remember, he never did let anything go bad or waste. 

"Well honey, I kind of bought it already. As a homecoming gift, though, you have to share." This caught my attention. "You didn't need to do that; I was going to buy myself a car," she says. "I didn't mind, I want you guys to be happy here." I smile to myself and cough."Thank you, dad, I'm sure we will love it." 

He clears his throat and adjusts his hands on the steering wheel with a quick nod. He has never been good with expressing himself verbally, but his acts of service and gifts mean a lot to me.

When the car came to a stop, I hopped out and looked straight for the truck. It was red but faded to a softer color, and the front of it was rounded. Isabella grabs my hand and shakes it by our sides.  I squeeze her hand back and shake it with her with a wide smile stretched on my face.

"Wow. Dad, I love it! thanks!" she says, letting go of my hand to go grab her bags. "I'm glad you like it," he says gruffly, once again being embarrassed by our appreciation. As Isabella walks inside, I walk up to Dad and kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you." He scratches his beard and looks away. "You're sharing with Bella until I can get Billy's son to finish up the attic for you." I look up to the sky as I try to think back, I remember the boy he is talking about. He had a stupid nickname for me, but two years is causing a brain fart. "It starts with a J." I pause and furrow my brows, mumbling names under my breath. 

 "Jacob?" 

"Bingo."

 I cheer in my mind and grab my bags out of the trunk, allowing Dad to close it for me and lock it. We walk inside, and I set my bags down as Dad shows me where I will be staying once Jacob can finish it. 

 He turns around and walks away stiffly without a goodbye when I put the pads and tampons in the bathroom. "He'll have to get used to it, with the one bathroom and all," Isabella says, having appeared behind me at some point. "Don't pop up silently. That's my thing, clumsy."

I help Isabella put the rest of her things away after explaining that the shared room is temporary.

I catch her shed a few tears by the window as I slide a pair of her boots neatly by the end of her bed. I walk over and push her hair over her shoulders, looking down at her. "Go get cleaned up, I'm going to read dead until dark, then start on dinner." She nods, wiping her face and collecting her things.

Later that night, I stared out the window as I listened to Izzy cry. Scooping up my quilt, I leave the room with a quiet "goodnight" and close the door. Cracking open Dad's door, I peek in and see him lift his head groggily to see me. 

"Hey sweetheart, something wrong?" I give a tired smile."She's having a moment; can I sleep here?" I can clearly see the gears in his head turning, but he seems too tired to care. "Sure, Honey." he pulls the covers down on the other side of the bed, and I slip under them. After building a pillow wall so he doesn't kick me, I finally close my eyes. "Night, Dad." "G'night."