Thirty-Three
The coffee in the war-room at the Seattle Times was always free. Jessica Stanley, knowing this, always showed up early to fill her reusable Starbucks coffee mug and position herself in one of the best seats. Granted, as an intern, fresh out of college, she only had her choice of three old breakroom chairs in the far corner, closest to the projector screen, so that she had to crane her neck at a painful angle to see what, if anything, was being shown.
Minor details, to her, at this point. Minor details.
She had been on staff (true, only an intern, but that would change soon,) all summer, acquiring the gig right after graduation when one of her professors submitted her name to the Terrance Pilgrim, one of the junior editors. During her interview with Terrance, she had noted, proudly, that she had graduated valedictorian from Forks High, leaping immediately into her time at collage where she double majored in journalism and political science. Her dream job had always been to become a primetime news anchor covering the political situations of Washington DC. She had grown up around the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, and from an early age she had craved the sophistication of a well-tailored suite, black microphone, and the cherry blossoms of "the other Washington" in the background.
Jessica sipped at her coffee, centering herself. The war-room was where all of the staff came together each morning to bounce beats and ideas off of each other for upcoming stories. It was also where the more senior staffers doled out research work to the interns and other grunts to assist on some of the more major headline news. Jessica had often relegated to entertainment pieces about the breakups of Pen Badgley and Blake Lively, or Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner. Once, though she had even been given the opportunity to research the arrests and eventual swap of ten Russian spies masquerading as civilians in the United States, which Terrance Pilgrim had complemented her work on.
As the war-room began to fill up with people she smiled politely at each of them. Complementing the women on their outfits and joking with the men about the latest sporting game—Jessica didn't watch any of them, but she had all of the major local teams pinged with google alerts and each morning she read up on the latest developments to be able to talk shop with the guys. Men, statistically, outnumbered women four to one in the journalism profession, and Jessica was determined to fit in amongst them as best she could.
When Terrance walked in, the room hushed. "Alright, everybody," his customary greeting. "What do you have me today?"
It was Tuesday, usually a slow day.
"More attacks in Pakistan," one reporter deadpanned.
Terrance nodded, "Sounds like a regular day in the Middle East, lets find a new angle. What else do we got?"
"Rwanda, Terrance. You've got to let me feature this story, two years of research and funding to rural birth attendants has reduced the country's mortality rate, significantly. I've been following this one for months."
Terrance nodded. Jessica could tell by the set of his jaw that he was intrigued. "I like it. Write something up, have it on my desk by noon. What else?"
Jessica spoke up. "Um," she had a nervous giggle, she was working on stopping it, but for now, it just slipped out. "I've been reading about some of the customary laws in Africa. A lot of them still bar women from owning their own land, and…"
She was interrupted when another reporter, a middle age man, who said, "I heard on the radio this morning that there've been a lot of sightings of huge wolves up on the Olympic Peninsula. The other night seven or eight huge wolves were seen on the highway around Forks."
"Forks?" Terrance asked. He looked at Jessica. She could see the gears in his mind whirring, remembering that she had graduated from Fork's high.
Jessica bit her lip. She hadn't heard anything about this. She didn't even have Fork's news pinged on her google alerts. Her mom had called her yesterday and she hadn't said anything.
Another reporter said, "In Montana a bunch of lawmakers are trying to kill several hundred wolves."
Terrance held up a finger, silencing them, "Jessica, you're from that area, aren't you? Have you heard anything about this?"
The crowded room, collectively, turned to Jessica. She smiled, laughing nervously again. "Um… Honestly, I haven't, Terrance. But, yes, I did grow up in Forks."
A few other reporters chimed in with topics. Some that Terrance liked and encouraged them to move forward on, and others, he shot down, nudging the reporter into a different direction. After the war-room session closed, he beckoned Jessica aside. "What do you make of the wolves?" They had started walking, Terrance on his way back to his corner office, with Jessica following close behind him.
She confirmed, "I think it's interesting, yeah. There might be something there." Was there? She wasn't sure… Terrance seemed interested and she wanted to look good in his eyes.
"I remember a few years ago, we ran a bunch of stories about large bear sightings. There was a thought that it might be chemical run off from the Satsop nuclear facility that was making the animals grow so large."
Jessica thought back, she did remember hearing something like that, but at the time she was still a junior in high school and more preoccupied with Prom. She vaguely remembered that a bunch of hunters from the surrounding areas, along with their chief of police, Charlie Swan, had tried to hunt the bears down, but she couldn't remember off the top of her head if they had actually done that or not.
Terrance continued, "I like this story. The wolf angle is interesting to me. I have read that Montana is trying to aggressively eradicate their wolf population. It doesn't sound like the animals are causing any harm, but I can image they'd be a nuisance to the locals."
"We're all pretty used to wildlife up there," Jessica explained. "There's more animals than people in most places."
"I think this is a good story for you. I remember you telling me when we interviewed that you didn't get to go home as often as you'd like."
She had said it as a way to humanize herself, but really, what she meant, was that she had worked two jobs while attending college and, in the summer, she found it easier to stay in campus housing with cheaper rent and keep working, then head back home to her parent's house. "You mean you want me to go to Forks to do the story?"
Terrance shrugged. "You're a local. They'd be more perceptive to you asking questions than anyone else that I would send up there."
She felt her face redden, and she tucked a strand of hair under her ear. "What's the angle?"
Terrance shrugged. Not in a dismissive way, though. His posture indicated to her that she should try and follow the story and see where she ended up, but the expectation was still there. Terrance liked his reports to get to the root of the story, and try to find an angle that would be unexpected to the reader.
"I don't have a car," she admitted. She had sold the 92' Honda that her grandparents had given her when she turned sixteen during her first semester at college. She couldn't afford the insurance and she'd been using public transportation ever since.
He told her, "You can expense the trip." Something as trivial as a car was unimportant to someone like Terrance who would chase the story wherever it went. "Just keep your receipts and fill out an expense report when you get back."
After her conversation with Terrance, she skipped over to her desk, too excited to dim her movement to a generic walk. Her desk was sandwiched into a cul-de-sac of cubicles with the other interns. None of them had been asked to go on assignment for a story, and she couldn't help but notice the cold shoulder that she got when she got back to her desk.
She grabbed her laptop and her power cord, then she grabbed her notebook. As she made her way out of the building she called the rental car agency, who agreed to pick her up downtown in twenty minutes. As she waited, she called her mom, and explained what was happening.
"Are you going to stay at home while you're here?" Her mom asked.
Jessica thought about it. She wasn't sure if the expectation was that the company pay for the hotel or if Terrance's plan was for her to stay at her parents to save the company money overall.
"I'm not sure, mom. I'll have to confirm."
In her mind, she was planning on checking into a hotel. It seemed more adult and interesting. More like a major reporter working for a national newspaper would do.
The car rental company picked her up in front of the building downtown and drove her back to their office where she signed her rental contract and got the keys.
"Where are you headed?" The employee asked her.
Jessica smiled, laughing nervously again. "Headed to Forks."
"Oh, yeah?" They seemed pleasantly surprised. "Business or pleasure?"
"Both."
Jessica decided to take the Bainbridge Island Ferry in Seattle, rather than drive farther north up to Edmonds. She drove back to her apartment first, packing a quick bag and grabbing some toiletries.
When she parked on the ferry, she locked the car doors and tied her trench coat tighter around herself. Her black boots clinked on the floor of the boat as she made her way up to the waiting area. She had snagged them from one of the better Goodwill's in Seattle, they were off brand and looked vintage, but she thought they could easily pass for designer to the untrained eye. She had brought a book with her, a raunchy bodice ripping romance novel, but she left it in the glovebox of the rental car. The kilted model on the cover remaindered her a bit of her former high school crush Edward Cullen. It was the cheekbones, she thought, or maybe the sideburns, a timeless air that made her think about men in war time era photos from decades ago.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket. She still texted Angela, occasionally. She had graduated from Washington State University early and was living somewhere in Oregon. Last time Jessica had checked in with her, Angela was really excited about the chicken coop she and her boyfriend were building on their property, no doubt she had a score of free-range chickens at this point.
Jessica still had Eric Yorkie's number, but she was positive he wasn't living in Forks any longer. Eric had dated Angela on and off in high school, but after graduation he had left to travel up and down the west coast for a gap year before college. She knew, via a Myspace post that he had recently come out to his parents as bisexual.
The couple of other close-knit friends that she had in school were Tyler Crowley, who had died of a drug overdose last year, and Lauren Mallory, who had just had a baby and was living with her sleezy boyfriend in Aberdeen.
As she scrolled through her contact's he stopped on Mike Newton's number. She smiled just thinking about him. They had been high school sweethearts for most of their youth, interrupted occasionally when Bella Swan batted her eyelashes in his direction. They remained cordial, and she always sent his family a Christmas card over the holidays.
She texted first:
Hey, how are you? Long time no see…
Jessica waited, keeping the phone in her hand, anticipating the buzz of an incoming text. The waiting area of the ferry was freezing, and she pulled her arms tighter against herself. They sold hot cups of coffee and snacks in the commissary, but she didn't want to lose her seat by the window.
It took a few minutes, but her phone finally buzzed with an incoming message. Mike's text read:
Hey stranger! How's the big city treating you?
Jessica responded right away:
It's good. I'm coming back home on an assignment for Seattle Times.
Mike's response read:
No way. Look at you! What's the story?
She had hoped he would ask.
Wolf sightings in Forks. Near the highway. Huge pack of them. Have you heard anything?
There was a long pause before she got his response.
No, I haven't heard anything.
She responded:
Mind if I camp out at Newton's and see if any of the hunters have seen/heard anything?
There was another delay before she got a response.
Sure. Knock yourself out. Mom and Date won't mind.
She texted back:
Are you still in School?
She knew he had been going to the community college in Port Angelus. Still waiting for his response, she sent another text:
Are you back in Forks? I'll be in town for a couple of days. Want to hang out?
There was another delayed response. She wondered if he was at work or in school and was having to text her on the sly.
Yeah. That'd be fun. We can grab coffee or something.
Jessica smiled, sending a quick response back:
Perfect! It's a date! I should be back in town in the next couple of hours. On the ferry now.
He didn't respond back to her, but she was okay with that, figuring that he was working or in class at the moment.
Once the ferry docked on the other side of the sound she drove onto the highway. It would take more than an hour to drive to Forks on the 101.
Driving back through the main town was daunting. Jessica hadn't been back since the summer before last. Forgoing holiday celebrations to stay in the city and pick up extra shifts at her campus job and her regular job at Starbucks. When she passed the main turn up to the Cullen house, a place she had only been to once, for a graduation party that Alice Cullen threw, she laughed nervously to herself. It looked way more menacing and foreboding than she remembered. Well, we are definitely not going up there, she said to herself.
She wasn't even sure if the Cullen's still lived here. Doctor and Mrs. Cullen, sure, but the Cullen kids… The same scarily attractive group of teens that she had gone to school with must have left town by now. Rosalie Cullen was probably an Abercrombie and Fitch model, and her beefcake boyfriend Emmett was probably a linebacker for some NFL team—Jessica made a mental note to google him later. She also figured that Alice Cullen was operating her own physic network website somewhere, giving palm readings to the beleaguered masses, while her boyfriend Jasper was likely in in a psych ward somewhere. She had no idea what Bella was doing, her old friend had zero presence on social media and Edward Cullen, her husband, had nothing either. Jessica had texted Bella once, since her friend's wedding, but it had gone unanswered, and Jessica hadn't tried again.
Jessica needed to stop back at her parent's house to let them know that she was safe, but first she wanted to grab a bite to eat and try and get a few interviews and statements going before she dealt with her parents.
She drove past the Carver Café, but didn't feel like buying a full plate of greasy food. The local dive bar, The Evergreen, was also an option, but she didn't feel like dealing with the loggers and truckers that usually hung around there at midday.
Continuing deeper into town she passed Newton's Olympic Outfitters on the right side of the two-lane main street, its huge red neon sign was still turned on, and the N in Newton's was winking in and out. The grocery store was across the street from there and she turned in, the cheap rental was still one of the nicer cars in the lot, but the store was mostly empty at this time of day. Jessica got out, slinging her purse over her shoulder and tucking her hands into the pockets of her trench coat. Had it not been raining, she would have kept her sunglasses on as she walked in, hoping to make the best entrance that she could.
Once inside, the smell brought her immediately back to her childhood. The fish and deli meet smell of small-town food establishments, mixed with the lemony glaze of cleaning products. She saw the line of candy machines that she used to frequent when she was a kid, and Mrs. Dolly, the slow but still feisty eighty-year-old was still manning the checkout register.
Mrs. Dolly recognized her, and waved. Jessica waved back.
She wandered into the produce isle, sandwiched up against the dairy section along the back wall. She remembered that Angela used to work here while they were still in high school, and Jessica recalled spending many afternoons squirreled away in the back with Angela as she slid milk gallons and jugs down the tilted shelving.
Wandering past the vegetables, she grabbed a single serving fruit container with grapes and strawberries. She wasn't involved in TV journalism, yet, but she wanted to stay ready for it. She couldn't help looking at the wall of milk, though. She didn't have anything against diary, but other than creamer in her coffee she had no use for the stuff. She meandered over anyway. There were glass doors up now, where before, when she was in high school, they used to be exposed and easily reachable. As an adult now, she raised an eyebrow at what those air conditioning bills must have been back then to keep the milk cold enough to sell. Jessica pulled out her phone, and took a quick selfie, tilted at an angle, arm extended to aim above her head to hide her unflattering double chin. Her intention was to text this to Angela with a funny, 'guess where I am,' meme.
A shadow passed behind her, startling her. "Excuse me. I'm sorry," she said, awkwardly, turning to expose herself to the stranger. She laughed to herself. "I used to hang out here."
There was a pause, but then she heard Emmett Cullen's voice say, "You used to hang out in the milk isle?"
"Emmett…?" she asked, bewildered, and a little bit scared. Emmett Cullen had the body of a linebacker with the face of an overgrown toddler. He was, or at least had been, Rosalie's boyish jock boyfriend.
He looked at her. Jessica could tell he was trying to place her.
She tilted her head, letting another nervous laugh slip from her throat. "Jessica," she said, gesturing to herself. "Jessica Stanly. We went to high school together. This is so weird. I was literally just thinking about you."
She watched him grab a gallon of milk, pulling it out and holding it with his pinky finger, as though it weighed nothing. "Wow," she noted, "Looks like you're still lifting weights. I remember you always used to walk around with a bag of hardboiled eggs so you could eat them throughout the day."
Emmett nodded, smiling in that devil-may-care way that she remembered from years ago. "That sounds like something Alice would make me do."
"Alice?" Jessica took the opportunity. "How is Alice? And Rosalie…? Are you guys still together…?"
Emmett leaned back against the glass doors, smiling again at her. "Alice is good. She's getting a marketing and fashion degree."
Jessica hated to admit it but she was shocked and impressed. "That's amazing," she told him. "Is she going to the University of Washington?" Jessica didn't think so, she would have seen someone like Alice Cullen hanging around.
"Nah," Emmett said. "She's going to school online."
"Oh, cool. Cool… And Rosalie?"
"She's good. She's studying Law."
"Wow!" Jessica was a little upset about how many times she was saying 'wow,' she was not in high school anymore and just because the Cullen's had always been unusually interesting back then, didn't mean that she was now, or that her accomplishments weren't important. "That makes sense," she explained. "Rosalie always had a hard edge to her." It came out like an insult, and she immediately regretted it. "I mean, I can see that she would be a really good cross-examiner. She's got that Law and Order, SVU vibe about her."
Emmett nodded. He remained silent. Listening to her trip over her words.
"You want to know about Edward, don't you?" He asked without preamble.
Jessica tilted her head again, shocked. She pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "No. Oh my gosh, no. Why would you think that? He and Bella are married. I went to their wedding."
"Yeah," Emmett said honestly. She heard boredom in his voice. "But I know you had a crush on him in school. He and Bella are very happy. They adopted a daughter." He held up the milk jug. "Picking this up for the kid. Have to get her strong bones."
"Oh," Jessica said. Still a little off putted. "I mean, I heard they had adopted, but after that, I hadn't heard anything."
Emmett said, "Her name is Renesmee. She was named partially after my mom." Jessica knew that he meant Mrs. Cullen.
Jessica thought it was the ugliest name she had ever heard. She wouldn't have been able to pronounce it again, even if she tried. "That's a really pretty name," she lied.
Emmett smirked. Jessica felt unusually exposed. "Well," he began. "I'll see you around maybe."
She blinked and he was gone. Jessica felt uneasy and frazzled. The whole exchange was weird. Like having an out of body experience or waking up from a technicolor dream only to find that you really lived in black and white. She wandered to the checkout line, fruit cup in one hand, and a water bottle tucked under her arm. Somehow, even though he should have only been a few steps ahead of her, Emmett Cullen was already gone.
Mrs. Dolly was still manning the checkout line and she asked Jessica half a dozen questions about college and her life in Seattle, which Jessica answered with a smile and her usual animation. She explained to the older women that she was back in town on assignment to cover the recent sighting of huge wolves on the county roads.
Jessica finished, asking extravagantly, "So, Mrs. Dolly, have you seen anything?"
Dolly cocked an eyebrow, looking as mischievous as a teenager about to let a juicy secret spill out. "As a matter of fact, I have." Mrs. Dolly went on, "Just the other day, while I was driving in to work." Jessica leaned in, anticipating what the elder women would say next. "It was one of those mornings that makes you realize how quickly autumn is coming on. Real cold, you know. Anyhow, I was driving, and it was real early and a deer came barreling out of the woods, right in front of my car." She pronounced 'my' with an exaggerated 'a' at the end, and she lifted her hands to her lungs, as if to say, 'little old me, why I never.' Mrs. Dolly was born and raised in Forks, but Jessica had always likened her to the Scarlet O'Hara of the pacific northwest.
"A deer?" Jessica asked before punily adding, "Oh, dear."
"Yes," Mrs. Dolly went on. She was slowly putting the one item that Jessica was purchasing into a plastic bag, gesturing to the individually wrapped sporks that were kept at the counter, and when Jessica nodded, she dropped it in as well. "Now, I know what you're thinking. A grown-up reporter lady like you. No, I did not see the huge wolves that some people say they've been seeing, but I figure that for a deer to be running like that, it must have been being chased by something."
Jessica pursed her lips. "Something."
Dolly shrugged. "That's all I saw. But, in my humble opinion that deer was being chased by something unnatural."
"Do you believe that the animals are being exposed to some sort of chemical to make them potentially grow so large?"
"Oh, honey," Dolly's voice deepened into sadness. "I hope not. But really, I don't know anything about that."
After she left the store, Jessica made notes while sitting in the rental. Mrs. Dolly was a bit of an eccentric, but her opinion was valid. Jessica didn't believe that the animals were being exposed to chemicals or nuclear runoff, but she was duty bound, as a reporter, to uncover the truth. She started skewering fruit onto her spork, chewing as she typed notes onto her cell phone.
She texted Mike:
Hey, I'm back in town, woohoo! I'm heading to Newton's now. Can we meet up later?
After she hit send, she dropped her phone back into her purse, expecting a reply to be waiting for her when she crossed the main street and pulled into a parking spot, but when she stepped out of her car and started walking through the parking lot toward the interior of the store, she saw that Mike hadn't replied yet.
Jessica pursed her lips. She minded, of course, but it was the middle of the day, and he was probably still in school, or something.
Walking into the store sent a rush of memories flooding into her brain. So many days in junior high were spent here, hanging out with Mike, and Angela, and Eric. In high school she stopped driving down into Olympia to buy her surf gear, and switched exclusively to Newton's, just so she could see Mike more. Even when Bella started working here, she found herself frequenting the store more, except for that weird time in eleventh grade when Edward Cullen ditched Forks with his family and Bella became a depressed basket case for most of the year. Her dower attitude made Newton's a gloomy place that year.
Nothing about the layout of the store had changed in the four years since she started college. Fishing, the most popular sport in Forks, was featured front and center. Whether you were looking for new casting lines or new galoshes. The perimeter of the store was divided into hiking, surfing, hunting, and pedal biking.
She saw Frank, Mike's father, working at the counter. "Hey, Mr. Newton, long time no see!" She was bubbling with excitement.
Frank looked up, studying her. She could tell that he didn't immediately place her face. "Jen—ssica?"
Jessica nodded, enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's me." She flung her hair back from her face. "It's been a long time, I lost all of the baby fat in my face. My dad doesn't even recognize me nowadays."
Frank nodded. His look was skeptical, though. He still seemed like he didn't recognize her, even though she had spent so many afternoons here growing up.
"You must be here for Mike," he said, gesturing behind her. "Hey, Mikey?"
Jessica turned, smiling to herself at Frank's nickname for his son, but she was also surprised. What was Mike doing at his dad's store in the middle of the day? Could he have been so excited to see her that he left whatever he was doing to make sure he had as much time as possible with her? With her back turned she noticed him, wearing the signature Newton's light blue polo with his name Mike embroidered in the front in red thread.
"Well, hey, stranger!" She said, smiling. He looked so adorable; he didn't look a day over seventeen.
"Jess," he said, the same excitement from her voice was detectable in his. "I can't believe it's you."
She hugged him, crossing her arms around his neck, and squeezing tight, taking in the smell of him.
"I'll leave you too kids to get reacquainted," Frank said, heading back to the empty checkout line.
"I can't believe it's you," she lied. She was so glad to see him.
Mike fingered her trench coat, his skin touching the curled ends of her hair. "You look amazing."
He reached out for her again and she happily let herself be enfolded into his embrace.
"So, you're here on assignment? Fancy big city newspaper woman."
Jessica laughed. "I am. My editor wants to see where the story goes organically. "So, tell me," She clenched her fist, holding it out to him, imitating a microphone. "Have you seen any large wolves prowling around Mainstreet? Maybe wandering around Forks High? Why do you think they're so large?"
Mike smiled, huffing an awkward laugh. He looked uncomfortable and Jessica immediately regretted what she had said.
She took her hand away. "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that."
"No," he shook his head. "It's not that. Sorry. In my head we were back in high school all of the sudden. All those strange things."
Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Strange things?" Looking back, nothing in high school seemed strange to her, except for maybe the Cullen's. Or even, Bella Swan. Everything seemed to change when she arrived. In her memory there was a clear line, everything before Bella came to town, and then everything after.
Mike shook his head again. "It's nothing. But, yes, I do believe something strange is going on."
She leaned forward. "Do tell?"
"It's not so much anything that I've seen, but like, a feeling. Something seems off. Like the woods are darker, or something."
Jessica bit back a smile. "I never knew you were a poet."
He frowned. The gesture was only for a moment, then he shrugged it away and laughed. "You definitely came to the right place for your story. Hunters are always in and out telling weird stories. Just yesterday…"
"Wait," she stopped him. "Are you working here again? I thought you were going to school in Port Angelus?"
"Yeah," he stalled. "I'm taking a break from school."
"Oh." She didn't want to judge him, but she couldn't hide her disdain. Had he even graduated? She recovered, "It's okay. Totally fine. I think Eric is still in school too. We're only twenty-two. We have our whole lives in front of us."
"Absolutely," he agreed. "I'm not really making plans right now."
"No plans, huh?" She stepped closer. "What about dinner, then?"
Mike took a step back. "Jess, I'm flattered. But I'm seeing someone right now."
Jessica couldn't hide the look of disappointment that crossed her face.
"Hey," he started, recovering. "You're a fancy city girl now. I'm sure you've got men jumping through hops to go on a date with you."
She smiled. If only it were like that. "Well, who is she? Anyone I'd know?"
"No, I don't think so. She's Quileute; went to school on the reservation. She's a little older than us."
Smirking, Jessica joked, "An older woman, huh?"
Mike gave her a sly grin. "That's right."
She talked with Mike a bit more. Reminiscing about the details that they both remembered from high school. When a group of hikers came in, Mike introduced her to them, before casually going back to his work. She asked the strangers if they had seen anything, and both agreed that they had not.
Over the next few hours, Jessica stood near the cash register, inquiring politely if the person making a purchase wanted to be interviewed for the Seattle Times. Most of the customers were weary until Mike or Frank told them that Jessica was a Fork's native.
A hunter, purchasing a new camouflage poncho told her that he had, in fact, seen not just large wolves, but bears and deer as well. He did agree that modern chemicals were involved, but rather than agreeing with the hypothesis that the Satsop nuclear facility was behind it, he blamed commercial pesticides and lawn fertilizer. He told her that people put chemicals on their lawns, deer at the grass, and in turn, bears and wolves ate the deer. He then went on to tell her about a buddy of his who had witnessed a young girl jump off the cliff near La Push Beach and rather than falling to the waves below she actually turned into a black raven.
About an hour later, a women came in, looking for a new hunting rifle, and explained to Jessica, when pressed, that the Satsop facility was never fully operational. It had been built in the 1970's but had since been rented out to large businesses, and most recently the call center and shipping hub for Inspire dot com, a Christian-based retailer who sold bibles and inspirational calendars.
Another customer, right on the heels of the last, argued that the nuclear facility was fully built, and why should the government not use it. They argued that the real nuclear work was done underground, and not easily detectable to the human eye.
Jessica nodded with each new interview, listening patiently to each story, taking notes, and recording the conversations on her cell phone. In her mind, she was forming her own opinion of the story, and that was the story of large wolves was preposterous. If anything, there could be a pack of large dogs running around in the woods, ala the end of the world, and they had likely lost their domestication.
Later in the evening, when customers were few and far between and many of the part time employees left for the day, Mike approached her. Jessica was leaning tiredly against the counter, trying to chat with Frank as he busily finished up his day. Mike gestured her over to the surf section of the story, an area that she was particularly familiar with.
"What's up?" She asked.
"I called my girlfriend," he explained. "Do you want to meet up with us after I get off? It's Tuesday, and well," he shrugged. "Leah has a thing about going to The Evergreen on Tuesdays."
Jessica wrinkled her nose. She hated The Evergreen. To think that when she was a teenager, she used to imagine the local dive bar was something akin to a nightclub. She had been shocked by the dingy, rundown, and sticky environment when she finally turned twenty-one and could go inside. After recovering her expression, she said, "Sure. That would be awesome. I'm so excited to meet her." It was only partially a lie. True, she was not enthusiastic to go to that bar, but there was a glimmer of excitement to meet Mike's new girlfriend. Seeing Mike now, made her understand that the two of them were never truly compatible. In high school he had very little drive to move beyond Forks, and she was even more sure of that now.
She hung around with Mike and his father as they closed the store. The emptiness was eerie and romantic to Jessica.
Frank asked Mike if he wanted a ride home, which made Jessica inwardly cringe. Did he also not have his own car? Well, neither did she, but at least she wasn't still living at home.
She watched Mike turn to her, assessing. "Want to ride with me?" She asked.
"That'd be great."
She checked the clock in the rental when they got out to the car, 9:45 PM, and it was pitch black outside, with a blanket of mist falling in glittery raindrops. Her trench coat didn't have a hood and she had walked to the car with her purse perched over her hair. "So," she began, once they were both seat-belted. "To The Evergreen?"
"Yeah," Mike confirmed.
Jessica watched him check his phone. From the looks of it, it was the same one he had while they were in high school. "Leah just got there. She ordered tacos for us."
"Tacos?"
"Oh, yeah," he chuckled. "Leah has a thing for tacos."
Jessica smiled. "I'm so excited to meet her."
The drive to The Evergreen barely took five minutes. After pulling the car out of the empty parking lot, she drove through main street toward the outskirts of town where the bar was located, directly across from the body shop and the only gas station in town. Both Mike and Jessica were silent as the car sliced through the night, the occasional shaft of buttery light from the street lights illuminating her hands on the wheel, her knuckled slightly clenched. It had been a long time since she drove in the rain, but she was also strangely nervous to meet this woman. Mike lit up like a candle when he spoke about Leah. Granted, it had just been a few sentences, but she had picked up on the change in his demeanor. She wanted to ask more about her, but by the time she had worked out the right sentence to say to her old friend, they had already arrived.
The parking lot was half empty, or half full, if you wanted to think about it that way. Jessica pushed her keys into her purse after locking the rental and followed Mike inside. He held the door for her, and she was immediately struck by the smell of cigarettes and beer, mingling with subtle hints of fish and wood shavings. A delicate cough escaped her lips and she pressed her flat hand against her chest, recovering.
"There she is," Mike coaxed, grabbing her arm and pushing her deeper into the dark bar. There was a lit jack-o'-lantern on the bar, with a flickering candle inside, and two large tv's were streaming different sporting events on either side of the room.
"How ya doing, Kwaiya?" The bartender called, as Mike and Jessica passed him.
Mike lifted her arm, waving. "How you been, Randy?" Mike responded.
Jessica pursed her lips, "Kwaiya?"
Mike had dragged her to the back of the bar, near the pool table, where a slim and foreboding women stood. Jessica noticed her bluntly cut short hair, and her piercing gaze. She wore a sleeveless plaid shirt, tied into a sinch at the waist and Jessica noticed a large tribal tattoo on one forearm and another smaller wrist tattoo that read Harry in light archaic script. Jessica wondered if Harry was a former boyfriend. "Kwaiya means water in Quileute, it's my nickname for Mike." She held out her hand to Jessica. "I'm Leah."
Jessica slowly extended her hand, more than a bit intimidated by the women who stood before her. She stuttered, "I'm Jessica."
Leah sat down quickly, and Mike followed suit, scotting his chair close to her. Jessica followed their lead, but much slower.
Randy, the bartender, scuttled up behind Jessica, placing a beer in front of Leah and what looked like a water with a tiny umbrella in the glass for Mike. "What can I get you?" He asked Jessica.
"Er," she looked for a menu, but didn't see one. "Um, how about a cosmopolitan?"
Randy paused for the briefest of seconds before sighing. He said, "Okay," the meandered away to make her drink.
Jessica pointed to Mike's glass. "So, water then?"
Leah smirked.
"I'm not much of a drinker," he explained.
"Hench the nickname," Jessica deduced, gesturing toward Leah, who was giving Mike a Cheshire grin. "So, Leah," she went on. "It's really nice to meet you."
Leah chewed on her lip, tearing her gaze away from Mike. "Yeah, it's really nice to meet you, too. Mike said you too went to high school together?"
Jessica laughed nervously. "Oh yeah. We were fast friends, and," she looked away, lowering her voice, "High school sweethearts, for a bit."
Mike blushed. "Um, I don't know if I would go that far."
Leah looked at both of them, amused by the banter. "I don't care if the two of you dated when you were younger, no need to be self-conscience about that."
Randy brought Jessica her drink, and she fiddled with the straw. "Oh, good," she admitted. "So, Leah, what do you do?"
Mike interjected, his voice boyish and excited, "She teaches preschool on the reservation."
Jessica was truly impressed. "Oh my gosh, that's amazing." Jessica had once entertained the notion of becoming a teacher, but had quickly realized that working with kids was not for her.
"Thanks," Leah said, genuinely. "It's challenging work, but I like it." Leah took a sip of her beer, and Jessica mimicked her by taking a sip of her own drink.
"Leah's brother goes to UDUB," Mike offered.
Jessica lit up. "Oh my god, I went to UDUB!" She had shouted a bit, already feeling slightly drunk.
Leah smiled. "Yeah, he played in the big game over the weekend."
"What's his name?" Jessica asked.
"Seth. Seth Clearwater."
Jessica had heard some of the reports talking about the football game played over the weekend. Seth Clearwater was the first native kid to ever play varsity for the Huskies. "That's so cool," Jessica told her. "I honestly don't know that much about football, but it's a great school, and the team is amazing."
"Yeah. He's a good kid," Leah said. "The whole family got together over the weekend to watch it."
Mike said, "Leah's mom is dating chief Swan."
Jessica chocked on the sip she had just taken. First, she looked to Mike for confirmation, then she looked at Leah. "You must know Bella, then?"
Leah nodded, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, Bella was there. Her daughter, too."
Jessica took another much-needed sip of alcohol. "Was Edward, there?"
Mike huffed. "Cullen still makes my skin crawl. I can't believe you had a thing for him."
Jessica countered, "I can't believe you had such a thing for Bella."
Leah snorted. "You never told me that," she said, turning to Mike. Jessica could tell that she was joking. Leah tapped Mike on the nose with her index finger, which made him blush, and then turned back to Jessica. "Yeah, Edward was there for a while too."
"Oh, my god. They're so creepy. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about them."
"Same!" Mike noted. He raised his glass and clinked it with Jessica's in a wordless toast.
"You guys think Bella and Edward are creepy?" Leah asked.
Jessica stared into her half empty glass, then took another sip.
Mike answered to fill the silence. "There's something off about Cullen. He reminds me of Ted Bundy, or something. The kind of person who appears a certain way to people, then years later, you see his face on the news and he's committed some horrible crime."
Jessica nodded, but didn't answer. There was still a romance novel in the glovebox of the rental with a kilted model who reminded her of Edward Cullen when she bought it.
Leah looked at Mike. "Do I creep you out?"
Mike gave her a dubious look before leaning in to kiss her lightly on the cheek. "Of course not."
Jessica smiled at the affection that he showed her.
"So, Mike says you're a reporter," Leah said, changing the subject. "And you're here working on a story?"
Jessica relaxed. Pleased to no longer have to talk about Edward, or Bella, or the rest of the Cullen's. Her earlier exchange with Emmett Cullen still unnerved and fascinated her. "Yes," she gushed. "I'm working on a story about some abnormally large wolves who were spotted in the area."
Jessica watched Mike turn to Leah, his expression was somewhat expectant, as though he were watching Leah for tells or reactions.
Leah took a long sip of her beer. "Large wolves? Was there a sighting or something?"
Jessica placed her palms flat on the table, as though she were exposing all her cards. "About a week ago a woman was driving home at night—reminds me," she added to herself, "—after I drop you off, Mike, I'm going to need to drive around to see if I see anything. But, anyway, a woman was driving around late at night when she saw a pack of huge wolves running across the road. She claims that they were literally bigger than her car. She had to swerve to avoid hitting them. And remember a few years ago when all of those large bear sightings were happening," Jessica waved her hand, as though the previous bear sightings were neither here nor there. "Well, my editor thinks the two sightings may be connected."
"Oh, yeah," Leah said slowly. "The Satsop nuclear facility. I've heard those stories, it's nuclear run off that's making the animals grow so large."
"Oh my gosh," Jessica noted. "One of the customers at Newton's said the same thing earlier. Do you believe that?"
Leah shrugged, taking another sip of her beer. Her eyes had changed, Jessica noticed, and her expression was harder than it had been. "What other explanation could there be?"
Mike cut in. "I don't know. Sometimes strange things happen." Jessica watched his face. "I've seen some pretty strange things in this town over the years." He put his arm around Leah, pulling her closer to him, and kissing her temple. Jessica thought Leah looked a little annoyed with the PDA. "Sometimes different is good."