It was raining when he first saw her.
This might be an appropriate opening line for a romance, or, more suited to Jacob's tastes, a tragedy, but the her in question was Olivia Archer, not Isabella Swan, and he really only saw her for a few seconds, anyways. Just her small round face curled against the banister as Billy welcomed the newest neighbors. The face was not remarkable – large, dark eyes, smallish nose – and she retreated as her name was called somewhere deeper in the house, but Jacob was struck by her. She seemed refreshing and new, although he knew nothing about her. But as he and his father walked away from the door, Jacob felt a curiosity, a desire to know more about these total strangers.
His hair, which seemed in perpetual need of a haircut without Sarah to remind Billy to take Jacob to the barber's, fell in his eyes as he shot a parting look at the closing door behind him, damp from the downpour despite the umbrella held by his father, high over his head. The door was red. Somehow he'd never noticed that when the Delorias lived there. He liked red. He wondered if she liked red, too. With a small sigh, he offered a small prayer that she please, pleasewouldn't turn out to be a mini Rebecca. One nail polish-wielding girl in the neighborhood was more than enough.
Seeing the all too familiar police cruiser round the corner, however, Jacob forgot all about Olivia, his thoughts turning, like his father's, to Charlie and his visiting daughter. Although Billy really wanted to take a nap, he had promised Charlie a boat, buckets of bait, and a beer for the afternoon. He wasn't going to renege, not with Charlie so anxious about his daughter. Bella spent most of the year in Phoenix and seemed as uncomfortable around her inexperienced father as he did around his twelve year-old daughter.
She was on the cusp of puberty and he often moaned about how he was going to handle the hormonal mood swings. Sometimes Billy wondered if Charlie realized how little he actually had to worry about with Bella – straight A's, or nearly, a level head and sense of responsibility certainly not inherited from the flighty Renee. Compared to Rachel and Rebecca's constant tears and convenient lack of pads (oh, those trips to the drugstore – Billy reminded himself mentally to get them to stock up in advance), Charlie was going to have it easy.
As the Swans emerged from their cop car, the rain, which had become more of a light drizzle, tapered off. Looking up at the clouds, Charlie commented on this, before casting a worried glance towards his daughter, who did not return his gaze. Maybe this trip was too soon after her arrival – they'd only stopped at the house long enough to let Bella drop off her duffel bag and get cleaned up. But La Push was neutral territory – Billy managed to avoid mentioning Renee, and there were two girls for Bella to talk to about… female things. Of course, the twins and Bella were kind of removed in age, but it was better than sitting in the den silently watching football. That had been in the early days, before Billy had realized his friend's distress.
Now the fishing trips were almost a ritual, although Charlie wasn't so sure Bella enjoyed them all that much. She was too nice to tell him if she didn't, though, too thoughtful. She was always thoughtful around Charlie, but it had always seemed to him like the kind of thoughtfulness you used on a neighbor or a coworker. Not the sort of relationship he imagined with his only child. But he shouldn't complain – Bella visited him willingly, and if she wasn't quite having fun, she never showed it. And they did have their good moments, such as whenever he tried to cook them a meal. Even at twelve, Bella was far more accomplished in the culinary arts than Charlie would ever be. With a smile, he gestured for Billy to lead the way to the boat.
Jacob never looked back, never noticed the curtains watching him with great interest. With a small disturbance, Olivia grabbed her books and traipsed up to her strange new room and settled in amongst the boxes, chilling tales of vampires and werewolves crowding out all thoughts of the boy in the house across the street.