Jacob
I knew it was wrong. The guys told me not to do it but I couldn't help myself. I went back that night to see if I could catch another glimpse of her. She was inside her house today. I could hear her inside drilling something. Every so often she would pass by a window but finally after about an hour she came outside with a beer and a bag. She put the beer on one of the steps of her front porch and then she walked over to the side of her house and emptied out the contents of the bag into a dog bowl.
"Come get you stupid mutt." She yelled out and then she went back to her front porch and sat next to her beer. After a few minutes the dog came out and ate the food she left out for it. The dog looked very uncomfortable as if it was very aware that Leslie was outside. I couldn't understand that mutt. Leslie took a sip of her beer and she leaned back and looked at the forest line. Finally, the dog finished and it crossed the area in front of her with its shackles up. It looked at her for a moment before it disappeared into the forest line.
"You know what mutt. If you keep acting like a brat I may just have to turn you into dog meat." She yelled out to it before she took another sip of her beer. I mentally chuckled. She looked calmer, almost at peace. Satisfied, I went back to run my patrols. Getting to know Leslie would take some work but something told me that it would be worth every bit of effort.
I watched her every night for the rest of the week. The guys couldn't understand why I didn't just go see her but I simply couldn't. I had this feeling that she needed space. She needed time. Every night, I watched her she would come out for a beer and some star gazing at around midnight. She looked so lost. Some night she even cried like the first night I met her, other nights she was calmer but still sad. It wasn't until the weekend that I got to see my beautiful angel.
On Saturdays, Embry and I had a business meeting at his shop before we closed at noon. We were talking finances when I felt her near and then I heard the front door open. I glanced out the office window and caught a glimpse of her.
"Are you even listening?" Embry asked me.
"She's here." I told him. Embry closed the books and got up from his desk. I stared at him, wondering what he was doing.
"Well? Aren't you coming?" He asked me as he walked out the door to the office. Of course I was going! I rolled my eyes and followed him. She was in the paint aisle so Embry walked right up to her.
"Hi Leslie. How did the floors turn out?" He asked her. She turned to him and nodded once.
"Good." She told him. It turned out Embry had met her almost a month ago when she came in to pick up a bunch of materials and equipment to start her renovation project. She would call in her order and then she would pick it up herself to take home. He also thought she looked a little too much like Bella which is why he didn't say anything to anyone. She looked at me and gave me one of her small smiles.
"Hi Jake." She greeted.
"Nice to see you again Leslie. You getting ready to paint?" I asked her. She nodded.
"The exterior, yes." She told me. She stared into my eyes for a few more seconds before she turned to the pain swatches.
"I would like these two." She told Embry and pointed to a greyish white and a deep blue. Embry took the swatches and nodded.
"White house with blue shudders?" He asked her. She smiled and nodded at him.
"I'll get these ready for you. The rest of the stuff you ordered is already set." Embry told her before he disappeared. I walked closer to her. Her heartbeat was already speeding but somehow it got faster when I got closer.
"How are things working out for you at the farm?" I asked her.
"Yes. The house is coming along." She said hesitantly.
"Painting a house is hard work. Do you want some help?" I asked her. She smirked at me but then she shook her head.
"I got it. Besides, I like hard work." She told me.
"Doesn't mean you should do everything on your own. That's a big house and it's a bit far from town. You could fall of a ladder and no one would know for a week. Why run the risk when you know a guy that's willing to help for free pizza and beer?" I told her. She chucked and blushed slightly. Her blush made her seem even more beautiful.
"Right..." She looked at me contemplating and then she smiled. "When can you start?" She asked me hesitantly.
"Any time. Just say the word."
"Word." She said smugly and handed me a paintbrush. I laughed.
"Sure, sure, wise gal. I guess there is no time like the present, huh?" I asked her teasingly. She nodded and we headed to the counter to pay.
I got in my pick up and drove over to her house. She drove her SUV this time so I helped her load up the supplied but I insisted she at least let me take the paint for her on my pickup truck. He SUV was really nice and I would hate to see it get ruined with paint. She really didn't want to but eventually I convinced her. Leslie was very independent or perhaps that was her way of keeping people at arm's length, either way I was surprised she let me help her.
When we got to her place I was shocked. I knew she had been working on the front porch intermittently all week. I had seen it several times at night so I knew she was finishing up but seeing it in the daylight was a different experience. Last night, all I saw was the set up for the platform and some supports but now it was completely done. I mean completely. She laid out a platform that wrapped around the house, all the way to the back plus she extended the roof to cover the platform, placed large wooden beams for support, railings, and everything. How the hell did she do all this in one day, on her own?
"This is pretty impressive." I told her as I got out of the truck. She nodded.
"I just finished up the front porch since you came here last." She said but that was a lie. She usually worked on the inside of the house at night and the front porch was still in studs last night so she must have done most of the work this morning. Why would she lie about that? I would be bragging about something like that.
I got the paint out and she took the rest of the supplies from the bed of my truck. I followed her to the front porch. She already had a paint sprayer and all the supplies ready to go.
"Wow, you really mean business." I commented when I saw the industrial strength equipment. She shrugged.
"Do you want a beer before we get started while I order the pizzas?" She asked me. I nodded. She signaled for me to follow her and she went inside. I got a little nervous for some reason. I felt like I was entering her private sanctum but when I went in, all I saw was more construction, that is, until I got to the kitchen.
"Wow. You must really like cooking." I commented as I looked around to see her beautiful kitchen. It looked like out of a damn magazine. She smiled and handed me a beer that she had just taken from the massive fridge.
"I do. I started with the upstairs and worked my way down but finishing the kitchen was a priority. It's the heart of a home." She told me. I was glad she offered so much of herself today. I was getting really tired of her one word answers.
"You're putting a lot of work into this place. I hope you don't plan on selling it and moving on." I said hoping to find out if she was going to stay in town long term. She shook her head and I felt a weight slip off my shoulders.
"No. I'm not leaving any time soon." She assured me. She grabbed the house phone and started dialing.
"What do you want on your pizza?" She asked me as the phone rang.
"All meats please." I told her with a wink. She smirked at me this smart kind of smirk as if she already knew that was what I would say. It stunned me because for a moment, it almost looked like one of Edward's stupid know it all smirks. What a weird comparison to make between my imprint and the being I hated most on this planet? I don't know if it was because she had Bella's same chocolate brown eyes and Edward's copper toned hair but for a moment, she reminded me of both of them. I shook my head and looked around her house to distract me from the sickening comparison.
It was big farm house. Plenty of space for kids to run around. I could almost see the little rugrats running into the kitchen looking for snacks. I saw that the living room had a fire place. She had put in a new hearth of stone to match the old stone that was there originally. I could see in my head the two of us cozying up before the fire. The images that came in my mind of us in that house felt amazing. I saw a photo book on top of one of the boxes so I took a peak. I was so mesmerized by the images that I didn't even hear her approach.
"Those aren't really for viewing." She told me. I turned towards her with the book in my hands.
"You took these? Are you photographer?" I asked her. She nodded.
"Yes. These are just copies. I have my originals in storage out back." She told me. I nodded and kept flipping through the pages.
"They're amazing." I told her. She smiled.
"Thanks. Pictures are my life. I moved around a lot so they were connection to the world. They can capture everything from a moment to an emotion. They are the one thing you can hold on to when something is lost." She said. I looked at her and looked at the images before me. There were landscapes, people, animals, all were so different yet all of them captured an emotion, just as she said.
"You're very talented. I mean, seriously... You're an artist. These should be in a gallery or something." I told her.
"Thanks." She said. I could tell she was beginning to close herself off again. That darkness inside her was creeping out.
"Who taught you how to take pictures?" I asked her as a distraction. Luckily it worked.
"I've always taken pictures, with or without the camera but it was my grandmother who taught me about art. She helped see the story within the picture and then I took classes that helped me tell the story I saw." She told me.
"Seems like a really cool grandmother." I noted. She smiled, a genuine smile, the first I ever saw on her sad face.
"Yes. She is." She told me.
"Does she live around here?" I asked her.
"No. She's in Norway." She told me.
"What about your parents?" I asked her.
"They're gone." She said quickly. I don't know why but I got this strange feeling that she was lying to me. I wondered if her parents were the reason why she was so sad. Something awful must have happened for her mood to have changed so quickly.
"I'm sorry." I told her and handed her back the book.
"Its ok." She told me and took the book to place it back on the box. "But that's probably why you shouldn't be so nosy." She said under her breath, while she was facing away from me. She probably didn't know I heard her. I felt the heat on my face and I knew that I was fifty shades of red at that moment. She turned, saw me blush, and knew that I had heard her. She looked horrified and then she was blushing too.
"Do you want to get started?" I asked her awkwardly. She nodded and we headed outside.