"Twilight - 03 - Eclipse" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meyer Stephanie)

IТd spent most of my life taking care of Renщe, patiently guiding her away from her craziest plans, good-naturedly enduring the ones I couldnТt talk her out of. IТd always been indulgent with my mom, amused by her, even a little condescending to her. I saw her cornucopia of mistakes and laughed privately to myself. Scatterbrained Renщe.

I was a very different person from my mother. Someone thoughtful and cautious. The responsible one, the grown-up. ThatТs how I saw myself. That was the person I knew.

With the blood still pounding in my head from EdwardТs kiss, I couldnТt help but think of my motherТs most life-altering mistake. Silly and romantic, getting married fresh out of high school to a man she barely knew, then producing me a year later. SheТd always promised me that she had no regrets, that I was the best gift her life had ever given her. And yet sheТd drilled it into me over and over Ч smart people took marriage seriously. Mature people went to college and started careers before they got deeply involved in a relationship. She knew I would never be as thoughtless and goofy andsmall-town as sheТd been. . . .

I gritted my teeth and tried to concentrate as I answered her letter.

Then I hit her parting line and remembered why IТd neglected to write sooner.

You havenТt said anything about Jacob in a long time, sheТd written.WhatТs he up to these days?

Charlie was prompting her, I was sure.

I sighed and typed quickly, tucking the answer to her question between two less sensitive paragraphs.


Jacob is fine, I guess. I donТt see him much; he spends most of his time with a pack of his friends down at La Push these days.


Smiling wryly to myself, I added EdwardТs greeting and hit Уsend.Ф

I didnТt realize that Edward was standing silently behind me again until after IТd turned off the computer and shoved away from the desk. I was about to scold him for reading over my shoulder when I realized that he wasnТt paying any attention to me. He was examining a flat black box with wires curling crookedly away from the main square in a way that didnТt look healthy for whatever it was. After a second, I recognized the car stereo Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper had given me for my last birthday. IТd forgotten about the birthday presents hiding under a growing pile of dust on the floor of my closet.

УWhat did youdo to this?Ф he asked in a horrorstruck voice.

УIt didnТt want to come out of the dashboard.Ф

УSo you felt the need to torture it?Ф

УYou know how I am with tools. No pain was inflicted intentionally.Ф

He shook his head, his face a mask of faux tragedy. УYou killed it.Ф

I shrugged. УOh, well.Ф

УIt would hurt their feelings if they saw this,Ф he said. УI guess itТs a good thing that youТve been on house arrest. IТll have to get another one in place before they notice.Ф

УThanks, but I donТt need a fancy stereo.Ф

УItТs not for your sake that IТm going to replace it.Ф

I sighed.

УYou didnТt get much good out of your birthday presents last year,Ф he said in a disgruntled voice. Suddenly, he was fanning himself with a stiff rectangle of paper.

I didnТt answer, for fear my voice would shake. My disastrous eighteenth birthday Ч with all its far-reaching consequences Ч wasnТt something I cared to remember, and I was surprised that he would bring it up. He was even more sensitive about it than I was.

УDo you realize these are about to expire?Ф he asked, holding the paper out to me. It was another present Ч the voucher for airplane tickets that Esme and Carlisle had given me so that I could visit Renщe in Florida.