I nodded as I started pulling things out of the fridge. Charlie settled himself in at the table.

He seemed to be in a more talkative mood than usual.

"I don't think you need to worry about Jake too much. Anyone who can cuss with that kind of energy is going to recover."

"Jake was awake when you saw him?" I asked, spinning to look at him.

"Oh, yeah, he was awake. You should have heard him - actually, it's better you didn't. I don't think there was anyone in La Push who couldn't hear him. I don't know where he picked up that vocabulary, but I hope he hasn't been using that kind of language around you."

"He had a pretty good excuse today. How did he look?"

"Messed up. His friends carried him in. Good thing they're big boys, 'cause that kid's an armful. Carlisle said his right leg is broken, and his right arm. Pretty much the whole right side of his body got crushed when he wrecked that damn bike." Charlie shook his head. "If I ever hear of you riding again, Bella -"

"That's the least you have to worry about with her," Emmett said.

"But the only thing that he will know about," Jasper added.

"No problem there, Dad. You won't. Do you really think Jake's okay?"

"Sure, Bella, don't worry. He was himself enough to tease me."

"Tease you?" I echoed in shock.

"Yeah - in between insulting somebody's mother and taking the Lord's name in vain, he said, 'Bet you're glad she loves Cullen instead of me today, huh, Charlie?'"

I turned back to the fridge so that he couldn't see my face.

"And I couldn't argue. Edward's more mature than Jacob when it comes to your safety, I'll give him that much."

"Hah, it seems like Charlie might be warming up to you, Eddy," Emmett said, looking at his brother who only shrugged at his comment. Emmett sighed. He was trying his hardest to act normally and it wasn't too difficult, but he couldn't help but be put out by Edward's lack of enthusiasm.

"Jacob's plenty mature," I muttered defensively. "I'm sure this wasn't his fault."

"Weird day today," Charlie mused after a minute. "You know, I don't put much stock in that superstitious crap, but it was odd. . . . It was like Billy knew something bad was going to happen to Jake. He was nervous as a turkey on Thanksgiving all morning. I don't think he heard anything I said to him.

"It seems that Billy was more nervous than Bella had thought," Jasper said.

"Yeah, wasn't he wishing he could join the fight before?" Emmett chuckled.

"That doesn't mean he wasn't worried," Esme said. "It's tough sitting on the sidelines when your family is in danger."

"And then, weirder than that - remember back in February and March when we had all that trouble with the wolves?"

"She might remember them, yeah," Emmett chuckled.

I bent down to get a frying pan out of the cupboard, and hid there an extra second or two.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"I hope we're not going to have a problem with that again. This morning, we were out in the boat, and Billy wasn't paying any attention to me or the fish, when all of a sudden, you could hear wolves yowling in the woods. More than one, and, boy, was it loud.

"Oh, dear," Esme shivered.

Sounded like they were right there in the village. Weirdest part was, Billy turned the boat around and headed straight back to the harbor like they were calling to him personally. Didn't even hear me ask what he was doing.

"The noise stopped before we got the boat docked. But all of a sudden Billy was in the biggest hurry not to miss the game, though we had hours still. He was mumbling some nonsense about an earlier showing . . . of a live game? I tell you, Bella, it was odd.

"It seems that he might need some lessons on how to keep up the facade, too," Emmett chuckled.

"It's understandable though," Esme sighed. "He really must have been terrified."

"Well, he found some game he said he wanted to watch, but then he just ignored it. He was on the phone the whole time, calling Sue, and Emily, and your friend Quil's grandpa. Couldn't quite make out what he was looking for - he just chatted real casual with them.

"Then the howling started again right outside the house. I've never heard anything like it - I had goose bumps on my arms. I asked Billy - had to shout over the noise - if he'd been setting traps in his yard. It sounded like the animal was in serious pain."

"Ouch!" Emmett chuckled. "What a way to get the information."