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CHAPTER SEVEN—THE BOY WHO SCARED THE GIRL
IT HAD BEEN A WHILE SINCE CLAIRE'S LAST REAL LAUGH.
She had supposed that the company of Bella would be more than enough to make her feel just like before, so happy and complete. But not even the long hours spent walking in La Push with her friend and Phillip, or the fact of having her back sized to please her. It was maybe the way that Bella's brown eyes were always so sad and that she claimed each day that she was not in her best mood. Claire tried to change that, giving her a special seashells jar that she made during one of her evenings together, and taking her to Emily's place to have one more company if she was having trouble dealing with loneliness, but nothing of that, just as nothing of what she did after, seemed to work. Bella still stared to the heavy waves of First Beach with a terrible anxiety that Claire couldn't understand. And she was not tired of trying it and going back to the same situation they were before, but sad because no matter what she did, she couldn't change anything.
And Jake... Claire didn't see Jake for most of the days. He was always working with the other Quileute guys, and apparently their job was so busy enough like to not even get a glance from any of them on her time in the Rez. That confused her a lot. Why did Jake invite her with the claim of getting back together if he didn't even have a free time? But when she expressed her concern to him, he ensured her that he would be around more frequently, and that his job was so important right now... He didn't get to finish his sentence, as Paul appeared to call him by saying the words that Sam demanded his presence. He did never mention anything about what he did at his job, but it was unsaid that Sam was sort of his boss. At night, when he finally came home, he was tired enough like to fell asleep only a few seconds after he touched his bed, not being able to speak a single word to both girls. Billy told Bella and her to let him be, as he had worked hard and deserved to rest. Claire agreed with that, but the idea that there was something strange about Jake's behavior, and of course, it was related to that job of him, popped suddenly into her mind.
"He is fine" Bella tried to calm her down when she expressed her concern. "You should know it better as you had been working in your father's store since almost always. A job makes you feel exhausted. He would get used to it, you'll see."
At the beginning, when Jacob was only a little tired and Bella a little quiet, she spent her second holiday afternoon with Billy Black, who was nothing but glad at telling her some of the stories from the tribe when she kindly ask for (he didn't have that much of a choice, as who in the Earth could resist to that charming smile of Claire Newton?). He was not a person of too much words, but Claire managed to have a nice chat with him and even helped him to cook one of the recipes that Emily had taught her the other day.
And during the night, Claire met Harry and Sue Clearwater, the first one a member of the Elders of the tribe (just as Billy), when they were invited to have dinner with the family, which even included Chief Swan and an awkward Bella, who barely spoke three or four words (she acted the same way while they were with Billy, a thing that Claire didn't quite understand. Did they have troubles with the other or they were just not in a talkative mood?). The Clearwaters' son and daughter were there too, beautiful Leah being all frowns while sweet and young Seth who was nothing but words and words in order to reach Jacob's attention every time he could.
