Cliff Diver || Paul Lahote•Jacob Black/Twilight Fanfiction

Chapter 41

They returned to the rez after a wonderful time in Mexico, Renata was even tempted to stay, after all, they now had Leah. Surprisingly, Karina was the one that pushed her to get into the plane, Karina knew the pack needed her, and she needed them. The time the mother-daughter duo spent together had been wonderful, and Renata had long needed it, it gave them the opportunity to talk things through, to cry together, and to laugh together, it was a closure they didn't have after the tragedy, and they both needed it. Renata though her therapist would be very happy with the progress they made. Carlos and his coven thanked the council for their blessing to be there and said their goodbyes shortly after Renata and the boys returned, they woulf be visiting the Denali coven; before they left, Carlos apologized to his daughter and to the twins for treating them like replacements, and promised to change, to tell the twins a out René and Rodrigo, and to honour their memory.

It was now January 13th, and Jacob's 17th birthday would be the next day. Renata was nervous, she had planned the day as much as she could, but in the end, Jacob would have the final word. Everything was ready, and the only person Renata couldn't contact was Bella, she knew Bella was important for Jacob so she figured it would be nice to invite her. However, the only person he could reach was Charlie, who apologized and excused Bella, she had not been feeling well since the Cullen's left, she had been in a Major Depressive Episode and refused to go to therapy or take pills, so she wasted away in her room most of the time. Renata felt sorry for both of them, but somehow, more for Charlie, because she knew how hard he was trying to help Bella and to make her get better, but she refused the help.

The next day, Renata got dressed in some jeans, a turtleneck black shirt, a jacket and a beanie, it was snowing and while she could warm herself up, it would be pretty weird if everyone was all covered up and she arrived like it was summer. She borrowed Paul's truck to make her way over to Jacob's house, it was early, so he was probably not up yet, so she would make him birthday breakfast. Billy had left the door unlocked for her.

She entered the house and started working, taking out all of the ingredients she needed for it. She had brought real tortillas from back home and had left some to dry to make chilaquiles. She made salsa verde and salsa roja, because she didn't know which one they liked better, Renata knew green was superior but she respected people with no taste in salsa. She also cooked some eggs and frijoles refritos with feta cheese. She boiled some water and some milk, with the water she made café de olla using coffee, cinnamon, clove and piloncillo, and with the milk she made some hot cocoa with cinnamon.

Billy woke up as Renata was finishing setting up the table, and mentioned how good it smelled. Renata thanked him and told him to go ahead and sit by the table, she'd go to wake Jacob up. Silently, Renata opened Jacob's door. He was sleeping on his side, covered up to the chin by his comforter, Renata smiled and approached him, she looked at him lovingly, enjoying how peaceful he looked, almost wishing he'd wake up calmly and softly. Almost.

"¡ESTAS SON... LAS MAÑANITAS, QUE CANTABA EL REY DAVID!" Jacob woke up with a start, his heart beating a million times per minute, just to see Renata standing over him, singing in the most out of tune way he'd ever heard, "¡HOY POR SER, TU CUMPLEAÑOS, TE LAS CANTAMOS ASÍ!" Renata smiled mischievously and sat on top of Jacob, "¡DESPIERTA, JACOB, DESPIERTA! ¡MIRA! QUE YA AMANECIÓ, YA LOS PAJARITOS CANTAN, LA LUNA YA SE METIÓ" As Renata finished singing, she leaned over to give Jacob a kiss. Jacob kissed her back and grabbed her by the waist, not letting go, so Renata had to squiggle a little to ease his grip, "Happy Birthday, Jacob" she said with a smile.

"Was the heart attack necessary?" He groaned, and let Renata lay next to him.

"It's tradition, be thankful I didn't bring Mariachi to wake you up at midnight" Renata laughed, "come on, take a shower quickly, breakfast is ready"

Renata left the room and found Embry and Quil talking to Billy, so Renata took out two more plates and cutlery sets. She asked them what they wanted, coffee or hot chocolate, Billy asked for coffee, Embry asked for hot chocolate and Quil said he wanted both. While Jacob showered, Renata served the coffee and chocolate, and started serving the chilaquiles with eggs and frijoles, starting off with Quil, because he didn't like food when it was too hot and often had to wait for it to get cold, then Billy, then Jacbo, then her and Embry, who were the two that liked their food the warmest. Just as she finished serving breakfast, Jacob came out of his room, Quil and Embry hugged him and they sat to eat. They all loved the chilaquiles, they all repeated except for Billy. Jacob thanked Renata about a million times for the fabulous breakfast she'd done.

After breakfast, Quil and Embry helped with the plates while Jacob and Renata talked about her trip. Of course, she avoided the topic of shifting, but she told him about how her family had introduced Sam, Paul and Jared into some traditions, she showed him some photographs of them and of her family, cooking, playing soccer, teaching Paul how to sew a pair of shorts he had ripped playing with her cousins, in a cenote, at Chichen Itzá during New Year's eve. And she promised Jacob she'd take him someday, so he could meet her mother, and mentioned that they'd get along just fine.

When Embry and Quil were finished with the dishes, they said goodbye to Billy, who would go hang out with Charlie. They decided to go bowling in Port Angeles. By the time they got to the Bowling Alley, it was two in the afternoon, so they'd play and eat there before having to get back. They discovered two things: the first was that Embry was not really good at bowling, the second is that they can put children's barriers in the lane if you paid an extra five dollars. Halfway through the game, they ordered some hamburgers and fries, along with milkshakes for Renata and Embry. Even with the help of the barriers, Embry still managed to lose, while Quil kicked everyone's butt by doing a game full of strikes. Renata was third because one time she tripped and ended up throwing the ball into the gutter, Jacob ended up second, beating Renata by six points.

Quil had his photo taken with his ball, because apparently, it's not common for someone to have all strikes in a game, so the manager wanted to hang up his photo in the wall. After the picture, they all got into the truck and Renata drove them back home, holding Jacob's hand the entire time. Embry and Quil kept bickering in the back seat, about how Embry got literally the worst luck that day, it was not only that he was bad at bowling, he was convinced the lane had something against him, one time, his ball suddenly stopped midday through, and the clerk told him to just walk up and give it a push, as he was walking there, he slipped, fell, and kicked the ball, which somehow ended on the gutter.

After dropping Quil and Embry at their houses, Renata drove Jacob home.

"Seems like my dad's not home yet" Jacob mentioned as he saw none of the lights were on. He got out of the car and went to open Renata's door. They entered the house and Jacob noticed there was a voicemail.

Hey Jake, it's dad. I- uhm, I'll be staying at Charlie's tonight. I love you, be safe. Then the call ended.

"Well, seems like it's just me tonight" Jacob mentioned, it was not uncommon for Billy to spend the night at Charlie's if night had caught up to them, "do you want to spend the night, Ren?"