500Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Twilight or any of its characters. But I wish I did.
I'm gonna wish I had a storm warnin'
I'm gonna wish I had a sign
I'm gonna wish I had a little heads up
A little leeway, a little more time
Some kind of radar system locked in on love
I got a feelin' by the time the night finds the mornin'
I'm gonna wish I had a storm warnin'
Storm Warning by Hunter hayes
Storm Warning
June
~Edward~
"Edward!" my aunt hollered right after the loud smack of the screen door slammed shut.
"Let's go girl," I said to my German Sheppard who'd already been at the door ready to go when she'd heard my footsteps heading that way.
Quickly glancing over my shoulder, I saw Aunt Mae was not far behind me and I all but ran down the front porch steps in my haste to get away. My boot heels pounded loudly on the wood and banged in my head that was already throbbing with pain like a tractor had been dropped on it.
"You can't run off and hide from this forever," she called.
The throbbing in my head intensified. Ugh, why'd I get so drunk last night?
Stopping halfway between the porch and my truck, I turned around knowing Aunt Mae wasn't going to let me leave until she'd had her say. She had a temper that you didn't want to get on the wrong side of. Even Dottie had learned that in the year I'd had her.
Don't get me wrong, Esme Cullen was one of the most loving and caring women I'd ever known. But if you got her fired up, you'd best be counting your lucky stars she didn't catch up to you until she'd had time to settle down. Even then she'd still be a force to be reckoned with.
Kicking a few rocks around on the gravel driveway with the toe of my boot I replied, "Maybe not, Aunt Mae, but I sure can put it off for as long as possible."
"Edward…honey, I know how hard this must be for you. I know you're still hurting over what she did. But—"
I squeezed my eyes shut not wanting to let her see just how right she was. Flashes of blonde hair and deep red lips burst rapidly into my head and were gone just as quickly, leaving me wondering just what the hell I'd done last night. Or who. I swallowed down the wave of bile that threatened to launch out of my stomach and sighed as I silently prayed I hadn't done something I'd regret.
Lifting my hat, I ran a hand through my hair before turning the bill of it backwards.
"What Bel— " A sharp stab of pain shot through my head. I rubbed my temples, willing it to subside. "What she did was a long time ago. I've moved on. I'm okay, Aunt Mae."
"Well of course you are, honey," she declared in that voice of hers that told me she didn't really believe me. "I just meant that seeing her after all this time won't be easy. What with her comin' back for the funeral and all."
"I know you're just lookin' out for me and I appreciate that. I really do, but I'd figured this day would come sooner or later and I promised myself I wouldn't let it eat at me. Besides, her daddy died, she should come back. It's fine…I'm fine," I told her.
Who you tryin' to convince, buddy? Your aunt, or yourself?
"Well at least come back inside and let me fix ya something to help with that headache you got thumping in your head," she offered.
"Nah, I gotta get on home. Got some weather charts to double check before I head out with the team tomorrow."
"You know getting sucked up by one of those storms you like to chase ain't gonna make things any better."
"I'm not gonna get sucked up in a tornado, Aunt Mae. This is Oklahoma, not Oz," I teased. "And my head ain't that bad. I'll take a couple of aspirin for it as soon as I get home," I assured her.
"Well Emmett was over with Rose this morning and he was sayin—"
"Emmett has a big mouth that never knows when to stay shut. It's just a little headache. I'll be fine. Now I really have to get goin'."
I ran back up onto the porch and left a quick kiss on her cheek, then made my way to my truck before she tried to convince me to stay again.
"I expect to see you in church on Sunday for the funeral. So you best be careful out there. You hear me, Edward Anthony Cullen?" Aunt Mae called from where she stood perched at the top of the porch stairs.
"Yes ma'am."
As much as I hated it, I knew I had to.
I pulled open the door of my red Chevy truck and motioned for Dottie to hop on in. Climbing in after her, I tried to fight off the memories that wanted to plow their way into my thoughts.
"You'd never run off on me, would ya girl?" I asked Dottie as I ruffled the fur on her head. She barked as if she was answering me.
"Good girl," I praised, giving her a pat on the head before starting the truck.
Dottie was almost three years old. I'd rescued her last year when I'd been out on a chase and I'd gotten held up in Wakita. An F3 tornado had torn through the small town that was about three and a half hours northwest of Checotah. The main road in and out of town had been closed with debris so I'd been forced to spend the night. While there, me and the other guys decided to help with the rescue efforts going on and in the process I'd stumbled upon her trapped under a tangle of tree branches and heard her whimpering.
After getting her free, we'd taken her to the nearest animal shelter so her owners could be located. A week later I'd gotten a call that her owners hadn't made it through the tornado, and unless she had a home to go to, there was a chance she'd have to be put down. Knowing I couldn't let that happen, I'd driven back up to Wikita and adopted her.
She'd been glued to my side ever since, the only exception being when I was out on a chase. She stayed with Aunt Mae and Uncle Carlisle then.
By the time I'd driven the quarter of a mile down the dirt road that traveled along the back property line of my aunt and Uncle's farm, and had made it to the old barn I'd converted into an apartment for me, the memories were flowing like water from a wide open faucet.
It'd been four years since Bella had left. Since she'd packed up and walked out of this town, out of our relationship, out of all the plans we'd made, and out of my life. The problem with me remembering how she had upped and left me standing at the end of the now paved road leading to my aunt and uncle's farm, was those memories stirred up the good ones too.
Like the first day I met her, first time I kissed her, and the day she turned 16 and rode her horse right into my heart, making me realize I loved her for the first time. And God help me but I couldn't forget the time we'd almost gotten busted for fiddling around on my piano.
No, I couldn't afford to let her get under my skin again. She'd probably blow into town and right back out just as fast as a summer rain storm anyways.
Who are you trying to fool, cowboy? Did she ever really get out from under your skin?
"Fuck," I cursed, slamming my foot on the brakes and my hand on the steering wheel at the same time, bringing my old red truck to a skidding halt in front of the barn.
Dottie barked at me and pawed at the door as if she was telling me to let her out.
"I'm sorry, girl. I didn't mean to spook you." She let out a whine and promptly came over to give me a doggie kiss on the side of my face.
After waiting outside for Dottie to do her business, I found myself sulking as I lay sprawled across my bed.
Why did I feel like finding out Bella was coming back should have come with some kind of a warning?
A storm warning. The severe kind.
I'd known it was a possibility as soon as I'd heard of their dad's passing from her brother Emmett, who also happened to be my best friend and my cousin's husband. But somehow having the possibility become a reality stung so much more than I'd ever imagined it would.
Closing my eyes, I buried my face in the pillow and was assaulted with memories of her I'd kept buried for so long. The sight of her hair blowing behind her as she rode her horse, the deep brown color of her eyes that left me drowning in them, and a smile so bright it could light the darkest night. She was everywhere—In my truck, in my bed, on the tractor, my aunt's front porch, the stables, hell even in Aunt Mae's and Uncle Carlisle's house. I think she spent more time there with us than she ever did at her own house. Especially after that one summer. The summer that made her hell bent on leaving this town.
Even if I hadn't known it at the time.
It had taken me months and months to not see her face everywhere I went, and had gotten a little easier once I'd turned this old barn into my own place, a place where she'd never been, and now there she was again…filling my head as if she'd never left.
My hand gripped the pillow so tightly it was a miracle it hadn't ripped. A deep ache formed in my chest as I remembered how as kids me, Rose, Alice, Emmett and Bella used to always hang out around the farm. Alice, my twin sister, and I had always enjoyed the time we'd spent here every summer. The five of us had been inseparable. We'd play hide and seek in the barn by the house, and the hayloft. We'd sneak down to the lake on the far end of the property to swim at night. The last summer we'd all been together was when Bella, Alice, and I were twelve. Bella had still been a lanky tomboy back then. That'd been the summer of 2002. Though Alice had continued to go, I'd started going to science and tech camps each summer, where I met my other best friend and brother-in-Law, Jasper Whitlock.
Next time I'd seen Bella was four years later, the summer after the accident that had taken our parents from Alice and me, back in July of 2006. I'd been mowing the yard for Aunt Mae on the tractor when I'd caught sight of someone sitting on the wooden fence holding out a bottle of water. I'd figured whoever it was had been sent out there by Aunt Mae. I'd been right about that much, but who the someone turned out to be had blown me away. As I'd shut down the tractor and started the walk to the fence, I'd surprisingly recognized who it was. Her long ponytail sticking out of the back of a baseball hat had been a dead giveaway that it was little Bella Swan. Only when I'd gotten close enough to really see her, had I become stunned by the beautiful young woman that had once been a tomboy. Sure at nearly sixteen she still had her trademark ponytail and baseball hat, and the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks, but the lanky, skinny girl I'd once known had blossomed into a natural beauty with curves in all the right places, full red lips, long lashes framing her espresso eyes, and a shy smile that stirred something deep inside me that I'd never felt before. Instead of wanting to toss her into the lake like old times, in that moment all I had been able to think about was getting her lips on mine.
That had been the turning point in our friendship and just a couple of months later on her sixteenth birthday, I'd realized I loved her as I watched her ride up to the house on her horse Midnight.
Old questions still lingered at times. Why hadn't the plans we'd made…the love we'd shared been enough to hold her here?
Why hadn't I been enough?
A thought echoed in my head. Maybe it's time you ask her?
Maybe it was. But could I really handle knowing? I thought I could. Maybe?
Maybe not.
I'm so fucked.
~Bella~
I couldn't believe I was really here. That I'd really come back after all this time.
I stared out the window as the truck drove down the winding two lane highway. I thought I'd let go of all the memories of the life I'd once had here. Or had at least buried them so deep they'd never come to the surface again.
Well other than the dreams that still haunted me.
I thought I'd long ago said goodbye to this place…to him. But as we got closer to the turn off leading to his family's farm, an aching, yearning feeling filled my heart like it was trying to anchor me to this town I'd once loved and called home.
To the man I'd once loved more than anything on this earth.
It didn't matter though. All the reasons that I once would have stayed for probably no longer existed. Of course he's moved on. When I'd made the choice to go, to leave this town behind, to leave him behind, I was sure I'd burnt bridges that could never be rebuilt, that there wasn't anything left for me in Checotah, Oklahoma any more.
But as the truck turned onto the gravel driveway and the crunch of the gravel beneath tires filled my ears, one thought circled in my head…
How will you know if you don't try?
I know, it's been a while. But here I am back with a new story that I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride. Thank you to my partner in crime, My-Bella, for making sure all those dang commas go where they are supposed to, and helping me keep my sanity when the plot bunnies get out of control. I couldn't do this without you.
Can't wait to see what ya'll think.
~EA