A/N: This chapter is all backstory for Bella. I'll mark it once we get back to present time. I'll just let you get to it.
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns these fabulous characters; I am only borrowing them in my story. No copyright infringement intended.
How Can I Help You
Chapter 2
9 years ago
OoOoO
The summer before I turned eighteen was when I met the biggest influence on my life. My mom and dad didn't want me to get a job until after I graduated high school because they wanted me to concentrate on keeping my grades up so I could get a scholarship. I wanted to work through the summer and then during school afternoons and on the weekends to have my own spending money. I spent the last week of school working on my parents. There was a new store opening in the town square; it was big news for our little town. Forks, WA, had a population of just over 3,000. Usually businesses moved out of Forks, not into it.
"Mom, please let me go over and just submit an application. I've already sent my college applications in, but I won't hear from them until winter. Angela is going with me so we can work together and keep each other out of trouble." This was laughable, Angela, by best friend since kindergarten was the daughter of the local minister, my dad had recently been promoted to Chief of Police, I don't think there was a chance we would ever be considered troublemakers.
"Bella, honey, Dad and I just wanted you to be able to have fun before you go of to college. That's really the only reason we kept saying no. Once you leave home your life will be full of stress, and then you will have to work."
"I'm seventeen Mom, don't you think its time I took some responsibly onto my shoulders? I only have to take 3 classes next year anyway, so I will have time to work a few hours a week. I really want to do it; I'll be able to pay for my own gas, too."
Mom smiled, "That's a reason to let you alright, we could go to Hawaii with what we'd save on gas."
"The Beast isn't quite that bad Mom." My father bought my truck from his best friend down at the Quileute reservation in LaPush. It was a late 1950's iron tank of a truck, but it was reliable, loud as a Mack truck, but I loved it.
"Jake keeps it running smoothly, it just guzzles the gas. Please... talk to dad and consider letting me at least work the summer."
"Ok Bella, I'll speak to Charlie tonight and we'll let you know after school tomorrow."
"Thanks." I gave her a quick hug before running upstairs to my room.
The phone rings in the middle of the night,
My father yells "What you gonna do with your life?".
Oh,daddy,dear,
You know you're still number one,
But girls, They wanna have fu-un
"Hey Angie, What's up?"
"Bella, you have got to come with me tomorrow even if your parents won't let you apply. Mom was just telling me about meeting the owners of the new store. It's a women's clothing and accessory store Bella. Can you imagine no more running up to Port Angeles or a three hour drive to Seattle to find the perfect earrings, purse, cute top? I'm so excited."
"I can tell Ang. Mom and dad are going to talk about it tonight, but I think Mom will let me apply. Did your mom tell you about the owners? Charlie met them when they moved in, but hasn't told me much." With Charlie being the police chief, he usually welcomed all the newcomers to Forks.
"I think I know what you do, they are a married couple with two small children, moved from Seattle to raise their family in a safe small town."
"You can't get much safer than Forks, I think the only person to sit in Dad's jail was his deputy Mark, and he was only taking a nap because of their new baby. Well I'm glad they decided to come here, no matter what the reason, otherwise I would probably have to work at Newton's Outfitters, and I couldn't take that much time trying to side step Mike Newton. "
Angela laughed so hard she snorted.
"Bella, why don't you cut the guy some slack, go on one date and make sure you bore him to death, maybe then he'll lose interest."
"You're just lucky you have Ben, Angela. I wish I could find someone like him. My choices seem to be Mike the puppy dog, or Tyler Crowley, Mr. Grabby-hands. I'm probably going to have to wait until college to find the perfect guy."
"Ya know Bella there is always Jacob."
"Ewww! I love Jake, but he's like my brother. It would be too weird."
"Bells, that boy has been in love with you since second grade, he's great, he's there for you, and he's definitely a thousand times better for you than Mike."
"I don't know, I've never felt that way about him, but maybe later on… if I don't find Mr. Right, maybe I'll consider Jake. I just don't want to hurt him or our friendship."
Dad called up the stairs for me to come down. "Ang, Dad is home, I need to run. I'll see you tomorrow at school."
"Night Bella"
"Night"
I walked down to the living room where Charlie was sitting in his recliner. "Hey sweetheart. Mom was telling me what you talked about earlier. If working for the summer is what you really want to do, go ahead and apply. The Cullen's are still painting the store, so you should be able to track them down tomorrow."
I fell into his lap and hugged him hard. "Thanks Daddy, I really hope I can get a job there." Hugging my mom, I ran back upstairs. "You won't regret it, and I promise I'll still keep my grades up."
After quickly calling Angela to let her know, I set my alarm and got ready for bed.
School was a madhouse the next morning. Seniors were taking their exams a week early, so the rest of the students had to be not only quiet , but we had classes outside. This meant we were basically doing nothing all day. Girls sat together under the trees, the guys drifted to the track to throw baseballs or footballs around.
After an agonizingly slow day, we were finally released. Angie rode with me to the square. "Bella, we need to make a quick stop into the bakery. Mom wants me to take a basket of muffins to Mrs. Cullen."
"Sure Angie, no problem."
Mrs. Weber saw us through the glass and waved us in. "How was school, girls?"
"Boring" we laughed together.
"Angela, here is the box of pastries for Mrs. Cullen. Please tell her I will come down later to help, if she wants."
"I'll tell her, bye Mom"
We walked down two storefronts. SPARKLE was painted in blue across the door, we knocked and heard a crash. "Shit!"
"Uh oh, that didn't sound good Ang."
We were about to make a hasty retreat when the door swung open. "Hi, how can I help you?" There was a very little woman with pale blue paint dripping down her shirt.
"Hi, I'm Bella Swan, this is Angela Weber. We're hoping that you would still be accepting applications for the summer."
"Oh sure, come on in. Watch the paint splatters, I just knocked the pan off the ladder. I'm Alice Cullen. Let me go wash some of this paint off and I will see if my sister-in-law has the forms for you."
Alice went back through a door in the rear of the store, she almost seemed to dance when she walked. The store itself was nice sized, there were drop cloths around where all the painting was taking place. In the back were two dressing rooms, and several display cases.
While we were admiring how the store was coming together, the back door opened to show the most stunning person I had ever seen. I had expected Mrs. Cullen to be a normal "mom" type, like my mom or Angela's, but she was an absolutely stunning, statuesque, strawberry blonde. She was also the most down to earth, lovely woman I had ever met.
"Hi, girls, Alice told me you were interested in out part-time positions."
"Yes Mrs. Cullen," I began. "Angela and I are just finishing our junior year at Forks High, and we are looking for work for the summer."
Angela remembered the box in her hands. "My mother sent these down from her bakery for you, Mrs. Cullen, and she also wanted me to let you know she's available if you need any help later on setting up."
"That's very kind of her, and please, call me Tanya. Mrs. Cullen is my mother-in-law. Come back to my office girls, let's visit for a bit, then I'll let you fill out the applications."
We walked into her office and sat down amongst all the moving boxes. "I'm trying to get things set up here, but it is slow going. Alice is helping me out while my husband is settling everything in Seattle with our girls. So tell me all about yourselves."
We all talked for over an hour. Tanya was absolutely fabulous. She told us about her family, she graduated with a degree in design and business, going to work for a woman who would later be her mother in law. "Esme is wonderful, she'll visit often, she has to get her granddaughter fix, and Katie and Rini love her." Tanya was my mom's age, 37, her daughters Kate, 6, and Irina or Rini, was 5. "We had them close together because I didn't want to be too much older when I had them. Edward, my husband is only 28, so he really could have waited, but he told me there was no one else for him, I was it." Angela and I swooned listening to their story. "It's like a fairy tale. So romantic, Tanya."
"Oh you girls make me feel young. I'm not even going to make you fill an application out. I know this would be your first job, you both are children of pillars in the community, so welcome. I would be so happy if you both would work with me."
Angela and I looked at each other, smiled widely. "Thank you so much Tanya. We can't wait to start."
Tanya laughed then, "Good, because I want you both here bright and early tomorrow. We have to set up all the stock for the store. We open in 6 days."
After saying good bye to a still blue Alice, Angie and I drove back to my house to study and give my parents the news.
Angie and I spent the weekend helping Tanya and Alice unpack, price and display the stock, also learning the best perk of working in women's fashion. We got first dibs on the products. I think we each had our first paychecks spent by the time we had hung the last blouses up, Sunday afternoon. Tanya went down to Weber's Bakery to get drinks and snacks for us. Angela was taking the last of the boxes to the dumpster in the back while I was creating a jewelry display in the front window, when the door opened and the bell chimed. I looked up and met the most mesmerizing emerald green eyes. "Um, hi. We aren't open for business yet, is there anything I can help you with?"
Breaking eye contact, I noticed the eyes belonged to the most beautiful face. "I'm Edward, Edward Cullen." Oh God, kill me now, I was checking out my boss's husband. I was blushing ten shades of red by the time my mouth decided to work. "Hi, Mr. Cullen, I'm Bella Swan. It's nice to finally meet you, Tanya has told me and Angela all about you." She did forget to say he was a God, though. Stop thinking about that Bella. He's going to think you are mental.
"Good to meet you, Bella. Is Tanya in the back?"
"No, she just stepped…"
"Eddie! You made it!" I had to smile at Tanya's enthusiasm. She sounded like one of the cheerleaders at school. Edward swept her into his arms and gave her one of those movie love story kisses. I turned away to give them some privacy.
"Go Tanya" I heard Angela call from the back. Tanya pulled away from her husband, laughing over at the two of us. "Girls, this is my husband, Edward. Honey these are the two girls I told you about, Bella Swan and Angela Weber."
"Bella and I just met, and Angela, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Babe, where are the girls?"
"Mom took them over to the ice cream shop. They'll be bouncing off the walls in a while."
Angela and I continued working around the store while Tanya and Edward went to her office.
"Wow, he's hot!"
"Angela, he's our boss."
"He's still hot, with a capital H. Their children have to be beautiful, there is no way those genes could produce ugly kids."
I pushed her out of the way, "You are such a nut Ang, but I think we'll find out right now. I see two little girls coming this way with dripping ice cream cones. Pass me the paper towels, please."
As the door opened I wet two towels and headed to meet Mrs Cullen and the girls.
"I think these will help."
"Thank you, Katie and Rini can make a mess in no time flat. I'm Esme Cullen."
"Bella Swan, nice to meet you. Hi girls, lets wrap those cones up in paper towels to keep from dripping all over your mom's new carpet." Katie and Rini were absolutely adorable, one had blonde hair, one auburn hair and both had deep green eyes and cute little freckles over their noses.
"I'm Bella, and this is Angela. We work for your mom. Which one of you is Katie?" The auburn haired girl raised her hand.
"Well Miss Katie, how would you like to help me take these items back to where they go. Angela can you bring Rini? I think there is someone that wants to see them."
We led the girls with Esme following us to Tanya's office, I knocked- no telling what might be going on in there, and Edward opened the door.
"I think we have something that belong to you both."
"Mommy! Mommy!" Kate and Irina ran into Tanya's arms. You could feel the love that the Cullens had for each other.
"Tanya, everything seems to be set up. Is there anything else Angela and I need to do?"
"No girls, go on home. We are set to have the Grand Opening on Friday, so I guess I will see you then. Do well on your exams. I don't want your parents to have any excuses for keeping you at home this summer."
"Bye Tanya, Edward, nice to meet you. Bye girls, have fun with Mommy."
Angela and I left and Esme locked the door after us.
"Oh my God, he's just too cute." Angie was gushing.
"Angie, do I need to call Ben? You shouldn't be looking at someone else like that, let alone our boss."
"Come on Bella, you have to admit that you could totally go for someone like him, if he weren't married with children."
With a glance back towards SPARKLE, I sighed to myself. "Yeah Angie, I could, I really really could."
OoOoO
So Bella gets a job, meets the Cullen's. We caught a very brief glance at Alice and Esme, they will be around more a little later .Edward makes an appearance, and Tanya is going to be really really nice.
There are some fics where I love to hate Tanya, but this Tanya you are going to love.
I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know.
