"I think we're supposed to turn off to the right up there, just before that big tree." I pointed ahead. "The road's a little difficult to spot."

"A little difficult." Charlie grumbled as he turned onto the road leading up to the Cullens' house. "It barely even qualifies as a road."

He had complained a little when I told him I was having lunch with the Cullens, but I managed to appease him سے طرف کی promising I would make his پسندیدہ رات کے کھانے, شام کا کھانا that night.

"Are آپ sure this is the right way?" He now asked doubtfully.

"Yes, dad. I know it looks like the middle of nowhere, but it's really not." Just as I finished speaking, we arrived at the clearing and Charlie stopped in the driveway, behind Edward's Camaro.

"Nice place they've got." Charlie admired the beautiful house as I got out of the car.

"Bye dad. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

"Sure thing Bells." I slammed the passenger door shut and he drove away.

"Hey." I turned towards the house to find Edward on the porch. He must have heard us pull up.

"Hey." I climbed the steps and he welcomed me with a kiss.

"The food's not quite ready yet, want to sit for a while?" I nodded and he led me over to a porch سوئنگ, جھول that stood in the right corner.

"This is nice." I کہا as we sat down. He put his arm around me and started moving the سوئنگ, جھول with his foot.

"Esme likes to sit out here, and I must say I understand the appeal now."

"It must be nice in the summer."

"We'll have to wait and see."

I glanced up at him then, but he was staring unseeingly into the woods across the clearing. I liked the fact that he still saw us together in the summer.

"They don't need any help in there?" I glanced over my shoulder towards the front door.

"Nah, Esme won't let anyone in the باورچی خانے, باورچی خانہ when she cooks anyway."

We swung in silence for a while, until Alice came out to tell us that lunch was ready. She gave me a hug before walking ahead of us into the house.

The food was, again, amazing.

"You're really a wonderful cook, Esme." I complimented her as we cleared the table; I had insisted on helping her.

"Thank you." She smiled at me. "My mom loved cooking, and she taught me everything I know."

"My mom would burn the house down if she tried to cook." I said, remembering Renée's last disastrous attempt at making dinner. "And Charlie… well, he would probably still be surviving on take-out if I hadn't come along." Esme laughed at that.

"I'm guessing you're the one in charge of رات کے کھانے, شام کا کھانا at ہوم then?"

"If I want to eat something that hasn't come out of a box and made a pit stop in the microwave, then yes." I put the last plate into the dishwasher and felt Edward's hands encircle my waist from behind.

"Do آپ have to get home, یا do آپ want to go for a walk?" He mumbled in my ear.

"I don't have to leave yet." Good thing I had on a thick sweater, it was freezing outside.

Luckily, it hadn't snowed again since my disastrous slip the گزشتہ week, so the ground wasn't covered in ice.

We followed a narrow path into the woods, and after ten منٹ یا so, we came into a small clearing سے طرف کی the river. Edward sat down on a large, flat stone and pulled me down in his lap.

"It's beautiful here." The Sol Duc-river formed a small waterfall just beneath us, and the woods were thick all around.

"It's one of my thinking spots." He mumbled. "I go here when I need to get away for a while, be alone."

"One of them? آپ have more?"

"I found this amazing place in the woods when Emmett and I were out hiking once. It's this little, completely circular meadow, and in the summer the گھاس is covered in wild flowers." I could almost imagine it. "It's a bit of a walk to get there, but I'll take آپ when it gets warmer."

"I'd like that."