Breaking Dawn   ::   Meyer Stephenie

Eager to shake off the nightmare, I got dressed and headed down to the kitchen long before I needed to. First I cleaned the already tidy rooms, and then when Charlie was up I made him pancakes. I was much too keyed up to have any interest in eating breakfast myself—I sat bouncing in my seat while he ate.

“You’re picking up Mr. Weber at three o’clock,” I reminded him.

“I don’t have that much to do today besides bring the minister, Bells. I’m not likely to forget my only job.” Charlie had taken the entire day off for the wedding, and he was definitely at loose ends. Now and then, his eyes flickered furtively to the closet under the stairs, where he kept his fishing gear.

“That’s not your only job. You also have to be dressed and presentable.”

He scowled into his cereal bowl and muttered the words “monkey suit” under his breath.

There was a brisk tapping on the front door.

“You think you have it bad,” I said, grimacing as I rose. “Alice will be working on me all day long.”

Charlie nodded thoughtfully, conceding that he did have the lesser ordeal. I ducked in to kiss the top of his head as I passed—he blushed and harrumph ed—and then continued on to get the door for my best girlfriend and soon-to-be sister.

Alice’s short black hair was not in its usual spiky do—it was smoothed into sleek pin curls around her pixie face, which wore a contrastingly businesslike expression. She dragged me from the house with barely a “Hey, Charlie” called over her shoulder.

Alice appraised me as I got into her Porsche.

“Oh, hell, look at your eyes!” She tsk ed in reproach. “What did you do ? Stay up all night?”

“Almost.”

She glowered. “I’ve only allotted so much time to make you stunning, Bella—you might have taken better care of my raw material.”

“No one expects me to be stunning. I think the bigger problem is that I might fall asleep during the ceremony and not be able to say ‘I do’ at the right part, and then Edward will make his escape.”

She laughed. “I’ll throw my bouquet at you when it gets close.”

“Thanks.”

“At least you’ll have plenty of time to sleep on the plane tomorrow.”

I raised one eyebrow. Tomorrow , I mused. If we were heading out tonight after the reception, and we would still be on a plane tomorrow… well, we weren’t going to Boise, Idaho. Edward hadn’t dropped a single hint.