Jess thought impatiently, before answering Angela's question. "She's fine. We'll get to the restaurant in plenty of time, even if we go back. Anyway, I think she wanted to be alone." I got a brief glimpse of the bookshop Jessica thought Bella had gone to.
"Oh," Bella said, it made sense that she would want to go to a bookshop and she would definitely want to be alone if that was where she was going.
"Let's hurry, then," Angela said. I hope Bella doesn't think we ditched her. She was so nice to me in the car before... She's really a sweet person. But she's seemed kind of blue all day. I wonder if it's because of Edward Cullen? I'll bet that was why she was asking about his family...
"Aw... you're obsessing about Edward," Jacob teased, trying to not get too worried.
I should have been paying better attention. What all had I missed here? Bella was off wandering by herself, and she'd been asking about me before? Angela was paying attention to Jessica now - Jessica was babbling about that idiot Mike - and I could get nothing more from her.
I judged the shadows. The sun would be behind the clouds soon enough. If I stayed on the west side of the road, where the buildings would shade the street from the fading light...
I started to feel anxious as I drove through the sparse traffic into the center of the town. This wasn't something I had considered - Bella taking off on her own - and I had no idea how to find her. I should have considered it.
"You would think he could just roll down a window and sniff you out," Jacob said.
"That sounds ridiculous," Bella shook her head.
I knew Port Angeles well; I drove straight to the bookstore in Jessica's head, hoping my search would be short, but doubting it would be so easy. When did Bella ever make it easy?
Jacob chuckled at that and Bella rolled her eyes.
Sure enough, the little shop was empty except for the anachronistically dressed woman behind the counter. This didn't look like the kind of place Bella would be interested in - too new age for a practical person. I wondered if she'd even bothered to go in?
"Probably not," Bella said, what he had described stated clearly that wasn't a place that she would want to see.
There was a patch of shade I could park in... It made a dark pathway right up to the overhang of the shop. I really shouldn't. Wandering around in the sunlight hours was not safe. What if a passing car threw the sun's reflection into the shade at just the wrong moment?
But I didn't know how else to look for Bella!
I parked and got out, keeping to the deepest side of the shadow. I strode quickly into the store, noting the faint trace of Bella's scent in the air. She had been here, on the sidewalk, but there was no hint of her fragrance inside the shop.
"See... he is trying to sniff you out," Jacob said looking pleased.
"But it looks like the sun is going to keep him from doing a thorough job of it," Bella said.
"Welcome! Can I help - " the saleswoman began to say, but I was already out the door.
I followed Bella's scent as far as the shade would allow, stopping when I got to the edge of the sunlight. How powerless it made me feel - fenced in by the line between dark and light that stretched across the sidewalk in front of me. So limited.
I could only guess that she'd continued across the street, heading south. There wasn't really much in that direction. Was she lost? Well, that possibility didn't sound entirely out of character.
"I don't like this," Jacob said, Edward was right, there really wasn't anything in that direction and the thought of Bella wandering around alone wasn't pleasant. He shook his head then; no, he was just letting Edward's panic get to him... Bella was fine.
I got back in the car and drove slowly through the streets, looking for her. I stepped out into a few other patches of shadow, but I only caught her scent once more, and the direction of it confused me. Where was she trying to go?
I drove back and forth between the bookstore and the restaurant a few times, hoping to see her on her way. Jessica and Angela were already there, trying to decide whether to order, or to wait for Bella. Jessica was pushing for ordering immediately.
"Bitch," Jacob said and then he mumbled, "Can't even wait for you."
I began flitting through the minds of strangers, looking through their eyes. Surely, someone must have seen her somewhere.
I got more and more anxious the longer she remained missing. I hadn't considered before how difficult she might prove to find once, like now, she was out of my sight and off her normal paths. I didn't like it.
"Yeah, maybe you should LoJack her or something," Jacob chuckled, but wouldn't have been surprised at this point if Edward did something like this.
The clouds were massing on the horizon, and, in a few more minutes, I would be free to track her on foot. It wouldn't take me long then. It was only the sun that made me so helpless now. Just few more minutes, and then the advantage would be mine again and it would be the human world that was powerless.
Jacob grimaced at this, but not because of the thought that Edward thought that the human world would be powerless to him, but because he was sure the fact that Edward couldn't do anything at the moment wasn't good.
Another mind, and another. So many trivial thoughts.
...think the baby has another ear infection...
Was it six-four-oh or six-oh-four...?
Late again. I ought to tell him...
Here she comes! Aha!
There, at last, was her face. Finally, someone had noticed her!
Both Bella and Jacob shivered uncontrollably.
The relief lasted for only a fraction of a second, and then I read more fully the thoughts of the man who was gloating over her face in the shadows.