Twilight: But it's a Thriller and I Never Read Twilight

The longer I waited to tell my Dad that I was engaged, the worse I felt. Edward eventually got me a ring, that old, yellowed diamond he'd proposed to me with the first time. When I looked at it on my finger, all I could feel was joy and anticipation even though it was as ugly as the day was long. When I was home, however, I took it off to avoid letting Charlie see it. I didn't wear it when I was at school either. I couldn't be sure that Jessica and Angela wouldn't scream loud enough for the entire town to hear when they learned. Instead, I only wore it while I was with Edward and the other Cullens. It was our little secret, that I was part of the family now.

It wasn't fair to Charlie though, and I knew it, every time I dropped that ring back into the box and hid it away in my backpack. I felt like a fraud, but I had become good at keeping secrets in the past year. Every little lie I told added up and now it felt like it was crushing me. Now when my Dad asked me if I wanted to go up to Lake Pleasant for the weekend or go to Carver's for dinner, it crushed me to tell him no. And every time, it was so easy to lie to him.

So as October was coming to an end and the days were getting shorter and colder, nearly too cold for fishing, I asked him if he wanted to go fishing one last time. After all, it might be the last chance we got to go fishing before I was married and out of his hair for good. When I was a vampire, there was no telling if I would ever see him again. I wanted him to be there for this, for my wedding at the very least.

I asked him at the dinner table while we ate spaghetti that he'd cooked a little too long. I put down my fork after he'd asked me how my day was, and I'd said 'fine' to avoid bringing up anything of what I was really thinking. It wasn't going to be easy to tell him any of this, but out at the lake, I would at least have him to myself one last time.

"I was thinking," I said. "We should go fishing again before it gets too cold."

Charlie looked up to me, trying to hide his surprise and the little twinge of a smile. I could tell he'd been missing this for a while. All summer while I'd avoided him and built my bike, we'd missed out on the trips we were supposed to be having. The whole reason I'd moved up here.

"Isn't it Halloween weekend coming up?" he asked.

"Yeah, but it's also the last weekend it's going to be nice," I said. "Isn't it?"

"If you're willing to give up the weekend to hang out with your old man," Charlie said. He gave me a little smirk under his mustache.

"If you're willing to give up Saturday night football," I replied.

Charlie slammed the table at that and offered me his hand. "You got yourself a deal."

I shook his hand, and the deal was struck. As he looked back to the dinner on his plate, I could already tell he was planning the trip in his head. There would be cold packed lunch and beer and lots of live bait. And I was looking forward to it like nothing else. It had been a long time since I felt so steady. This fishing trip was nothing special, not supernatural or complicated. A few lines and a quite place to think all of this through. That was all I needed.

As always with our fishing trips, we got up at the crack of dawn and loaded my truck up with coolers and rods. The sun was just coming up as we arrived at the lake, the same lodge we'd rented a boat from before, and parked in the small gravel parking lot. The boat they had for us was a smaller motorboat than the one we'd taken the year prior, but it fit us and all our gear comfortably as we headed out for the center of the lake.

It was quite and peaceful at this time. No one was out but the animals around Lake Pleasant and the fish were biting easily enough. We were out there less than twenty minutes before Charlie snagged one and reeled it in. His rod arched along the water as the line went taut and he reeled in a crooked motion until he managed to fight the creature's strength.