Anna Begins [Paul Lahote]

Chapter Eleven

Anna

After watching Paul shift into a wolf, I didn't see him for three whole days. If not for seeing Felicity every day at school, I'd have thought I imagined the entire thing.

But she'd apparently been holding back a lot when she chattered at me before because she had so much to say pertaining to the wolves in the midst of everything. How worried she was about their safety. How concerned she was about Jacob dealing with Bella Swan now being an enemy. How scared she was for her own safety—and mine because I was being pulled into everything now too. How she felt guilty for all those feelings because she truly adored Jacob and Paul was an amazing friend.

Felicity had a lot to say, and though there was still much I didn't quite understand I was mostly quiet as I gave her a listening ear. That was what she needed. She didn't need someone to explain away her thoughts or address her concerns. She just needed to vent—and someone to listen while she did.

Once I understood this, I felt better about the stability of our friendship. Listening was my strong suit. It was when I needed to start and lead actual conversations that things got tricky. But listening and giving reassuring nods? I could handle that.

As the days passed with no Paul, however, I doubted whatever was supposed to be happening with him more and more. Though Felicity said the pack was dealing with new problems the Cullen family presented, I still lost stock in the idea that I was important to Paul.

Not that this was hard considering I'd never really let myself believe it, anyway.

But that didn't stop him from taking over the forefront of my thoughts most of the time. By Friday afternoon, it was getting annoying. So what if Paul didn't want to see me? If he'd been exaggerating how he saw me for whatever reason? I'd been fine without him before, and I could be fine without him now. Heck, I'd be better than before because now I at least had Felicity as a friend. That was one more than I'd had back in Colorado.

Home after parting ways with her a few minutes before, I decided I could use a distraction. "Hey, Alex," I called to my brother who was puttering around in the kitchen.

"Yeah?" he said, though his focus was more on the sandwich he was throwing together than me.

"Why don't we go visit Grandpa?" I suggested, thinking that it was the perfect way to get my mind off him. Our grandfather was awesome. Funny and kind. He'd been having a hard time since our grandmother died, which was why the family had uprooted to Forks in the first place, but he'd been a hoot when we went over there for Easter.

Alex popped his head around the corner, a sandwich raised to his mouth. "I don't know; I think mom's there," he said, then took a huge bite of his sandwich before ducking back into the kitchen to hopefully clean up his mess.

I got up from the couch and went to stand in the doorway as he quickly tucked away his ingredients. "Shouldn't she be at work?" Mom was a bookkeeper at a local restaurant, and while it wasn't full-time I found it off she was spending so little time at the restaurant and so much time apparently with Grandpa.

He shook his head. "No, she worked this morning. That's why I'm having a sandwich. Mom said she was probably going to stop over to see Gramps this afternoon and Dad would bring something home for dinner if she was late. Obviously, she's late, so..." he trailed off with a shrug.

"Is it just me or is it weird that Mom is spending so much time with Grandpa when we've only gotten to see him a couple of times since we moved here?" I asked, pursing my lips. I had a bad feeling about this.

My brother's face was solemn. "Definitely not just you. We were supposed to move here so we could all keep him more company."

"But it seems like they're trying to limit how much time we spend with him," I added.