I felt her flinch.

"You've always been a part of my family," she disagreed.

My teeth made a grinding sound. 'That's a crap answer."

"What's a good one?"

"How about, 'Jacob, I get a kick out of your pain.'"

I felt her flinch.

"You'd like that better?" she whispered.

"It's easier, at least. I could wrap my head around it. I could deal with it."

I looked back down at her face then, so close to mine. Her eyes were shut and she was frowning. "We
got off track, Jake. Out of balance. You're supposed to be part of my life—I can feel that, and so can
you." She paused for a second without opening her eyes—like she was waiting for me to deny it. When I
didn't say anything, she went on. "But not like this. We did something wrong. No. I did. I did something
wrong, and we got off track___"

Her voice trailed off, and the frown on her face relaxed until it was just a little pucker at the corner of her
lips. I waited for her to pour some more lemon juice into my paper cuts, but then a soft snore came from
the back of her throat.

"She's exhausted," Edward murmured. "It's been a long day. A hard day. I think she would have gone to
sleep earlier, but she was waiting for you."

I didn't look at him.

"Seth said it broke another of her ribs."

"Yes. It's making it hard for her to breathe."

"Great."