Chapter 1 _

A/N: I haven't written a story in quite awhile... And my last one was kind of a dud... I stopped working on it and don't know if I will ever go back to it.. Sorry to all the readers of that story if their were any, I love you guys? Please don't hate me! But here is a new story for you. I hope you enjoy it at least a little bit. And no I'm not trying to infringe on Steph's characters, just playing around a little bit :) Oh and the thought are in italics. And one last thing.. I don't have a beta so I am super sorry if there are any mistakes. I am only human! Anyways... On to the story :D
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A hot summer day in early July, the people of old Fortwalk, North Carolina were trying to stay inside as much as possible. It was one of the hottest days they had had that summer. Annemarie was putting up the "We'll be back in 1 hour" sign on her bookstore door. She was taking her lunch break. Most people called her Anne or Annie, but only select few called her by such. She was walking across the street to the little diner when she spotted him, Jasper Hale. He was probably one of the most handsome men in their dinky little town. Not that Annemarie would know of course, because she was happily single. She shook her head from her thoughts and continued into the diner.

Seated, Anne looked over the menu that she knew by heart. Nancy, the long-time waitress, just looked at her with a small smile.

"Anne, you do that every time..." She chuckled "You gonna have the usual?"

"Sorry Nancy... Force of habit I guess. No, today I think I'll change it up a little. Maybe I'll have... a pulled pork sandwich on Texas toast," replied Anne

"Ooooh, really changin' things up aren't we?" Nancy countered with a grin. Annemarie just nodded and smiled. "Well, your food will be out in a bit, hun," Nancy said and walked away only to bring Anne her usual water she had at lunch and then walked away to help another customer. Annemarie sat there sipping her water, waiting on her food when the aforementioned Jasper Hale walked into the diner.

She didn't gasp for breath, stare all googly eyes at him or any other embarrassing peculiarity. But she did hear his voice, deep but not too deep and with that sexy southern drawl, not like Paula Dean's fake southern accent though.

"Hey Nance. Can I get a glass of sweet tea and a turkey BLT?" Jasper asked her politely.

Nancy smiled. "Sure thing handsome. It'll be out in a bit,"

"Thank you ma'am," he replied

Nancy gave him his sweet tea and then took Anne's food to her.

"Here's your food, hun," Nancy said with a smile.

"Thanks Nancy," Anne replied

"Not a problem. It's my job!" she said as she walked away chuckling.

Anne began eating her food, smiling a bit to herself at Nancy's antics. 'As always the food is perfect' she thought to herself. Just after that thought Nancy gave Jasper his food at the counter. Anne had looked up at that moment to see the exchange.

"Thanks Nance," Jasper said after receiving his food. He began eating and Anne found herself staring. Watching his throat move as he swallowed. The way his temple moved as he chewed. (Kind of creeperish if you ask me...) But then she caught herself as Jasper shifted in her seat.

'Dang Annemarie! Snap yourself out of it! Now your single but your not gonna jump the bones of the first nice lookin' man you see!' She thought to herself quickly. Nancy had been quietly watching Anne the whole time she had been ogling Jasper. She knew something was bound to happen between the two eventually. Nancy just smiled to herself at the thought.

After those wonderful (horrible!) thoughts Anne quickly finished her lunch and went to the counter to pay. Nancy rang her up and then smiled.

"See ya around Annemarie!"

"Bye Nancy, and thanks again." Anne smiled back and waved goodbye.

Out in the fresh, muggy North Carolina air, Anne took a deep breath to refocus herself and walked back to her store. Taking the 'out to lunch' with her as she went into her bookstore and got ready for customer's again.

15 minutes later the one and only Jasper Hale walked into her tiny bookstore. She was shocked of course, but she did think to herself 'Dang, how many times am I going to see this man in one day...?'

Anne quickly discarded that thought and put on her usual smile.

"May I help you sir?"

"Yes ma'am I think you can. I need a book about crops and a book about fixin' tractors," Jasper drawled.

The sound of his voice (DID NOT) made her weak at the knees.

"W-well," She stuttered. "I believe that we have a tractor manual for all different types of tractors, sir." Anne said surely.

"Name's Jasper. You don't have to call me sir," He said with a chuckle.

She smiled a smile, blushed and said "Well I'm Annemarie."

She walked from behind the counter and made a 'follow me' gesture. Anne went to the right aisle and began searching for the book. Making a small 'ah-ha' sound she reached up to grab it but came several inches too short. Jasper easily reached up and grabbed the book.

"This the right book?" he asked with a slightly (a LOT) dazzling smile.

Anne nodded. "Yup, that's be the one."

She gently took the book from him and walked back to the counter and placed the book on it.

"Now what kind of crops do you want a book about?" Anne asked politely trying not to look into his (beautiful!) blue eyes.

"Well all crops really, mainly ones that grow in our area, but all sorts of crops."

"I'll go check the back to see if we have any, " she said and quickly went to check the back. She brings a few books back with her to the counter to show Jasper.

"Umm.. Mr. Ha- I mean Jasper... These are all I could find," Anne said and offered him the few she had found.

Jasper skimmed through one book then the other, sighing softly.

"Thank you Annemarie, but these aren't quite what I was looking for..." Jasper said sounding a bit discouraged.

"We do have a catalog the you could look through to see if it has what your looking for." Anne said hopefully.

She grabbed the book magazine from underneath the counter and put it in front of him. Jasper took it and began to look through it. Instead of standing there awkwardly Anne walked amongst her bookshelves, straightening books as she went along. About fifteen minutes later Jasper called her over.

"Ok I think I've found something Annemarie,"

She smiled slightly and nodded.

"Here's the order form. Just write down all your information. I'll be about a week or maybe even two before I can get it out to you, Jasper."

He took the form from her and began filling it out. When he was done, he handed it back to her. She took it and placed it in a stack of similar looking forms.

"Ok, as I said before it'll be a week or two before the book actually gets here," Jasper nodded. "Do you want to pay today or whenever the book comes in?" Annemarie asked.

"I'll pay today. How much was it?" Jasper asked as he took out his wallet.

"That'll be $17.95." she answered.
He hands her a twenty dollar bill and then she gives him back his change.

Jasper nods again, telling her to have a nice day and then walks out of her quaint little bookstore.

A/N: Ok so that's the end of the chapter. What do ya think? Well leave me a review and tell me about it :D