5. A Broken-Down Mustang
Jasper has never really cared about cars. Oh, he can drive, and appreciates a pretty piece of machinery, but of all the Cullens, he and Esme are the ones least interested in vehicles.
He is, however, still a fair judge of horseflesh and might have opted for owning a few horses -- the Cullens could certainly afford them -- but doubts any would let him get within twenty feet of them without shying and bolting. There is another reason for not owning horses, however. If Emmett likes grizzlies, and Esme likes elk, and Edward likes cougars, as hard as they can be to come by these days . . . Jasper has a taste for wild mustang. He fears that if he bought a horse, he might lose control and eat his ride.
In any case, he comes by this particular mustang by accident. One afternoon in mid-July, he gets a call from Leah. It is still a month before The Wedding. (He thinks of it in capital letters because it looms large in Alice's thoughts, and thus by default, in his life.) "I found a Mustang," she tells him. "You said you like them. Well this one's been sitting in Clayton Olson's back lot for about . . . twenty years now? It's mostly rusted out -- more a dog house than a vehicle. He said I can have it if I'll haul it away. Well, you can have it. I don't want it."
He blinks, then realizes the confusion and smiles to himself although she can't see. "When I said I liked mustangs, Leah, I meant the horse. For dinner."
There is a momentary silence, then she says, voice soft, "Oh."
"I appreciate the thought, however." He pauses, mind working, turning over possibilities. If he accepts the car, it will give Rosalie something to do besides drift around the house and complain. If she no longer resents Bella or begrudges Edward, of them all, Rose likes her routines disturbed the least and preparations for the wedding have been hard on her. "But if this Leonard wants to be rid of the car," Jasper says, "I'll take it. Assuming I can get to it. If it's on the reservation -- "
"We'll bring it to the line. Me, Seth and Quil. Meet us near the state road, ennit? Tomorrow afternoon, say . . . four p-m?"
"We'll be there."
He presses Edward and Rose into service, and Emmett tags along for fun. Alice doesn't. She has too much to do and dashes around these days like a chicken with her head cut off. She loves it. She was born to organize. People think all she cares about is fashion and parties, but that isn't it at all. Alice has a mind like a steel trap and a natural gift for seeing patterns. Perhaps that's what her prescience really is -- she sees patterns, whether it's for planning an event or the future. In any case, he's learned to stay out of her way.
So he, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett are waiting at the treaty line when they hear Leah and the boys coming down the road -- it is the grind of a large engine and the sound of something . . . dragging. There is shouting too, some in encouragement, some in curses. Then in the distance, he spots their approach and laughs. Leah drives what looks like a Bobcat backloader -- in reverse -- towing a wheelless, windowless, headlightless silver shell that might once have been a car. Jasper isn't entirely sure. It sits atop several sheets of plywood and is roped to the backhoe's articulated arm. Jasper has to admit, it's a rather clever improvisation, but he wonders why they couldn't just have used a tow-truck.
Beside him, Rosalie gasps. "Oh, my GOD, that is a classic '67 fastback! What are they doing to that poor CAR!" Her distress for the vehicle might have driven her to break the treaty getting to it if Emmett hadn't held her back by the waist. Jasper smirks. Rosalie will be in hog heaven for at least a week, fixing it -- and out of Alice's hair.
The Quileute reach the line and tow the car over it. Leah opens the backhoe door to shout over the roar of the engine. "Think you can take it from here?"
"I think we can manage," Jasper calls back.
"What'd you need a backhoe for?" Emmett wants to know, walking halfway around the Mustang while Seth bounds over (still more boy than youth) to bump fists with Edward, then help Quil untie the car from its makeshift sled and move it off as Rosalie directs.
"Careful of the grill! Careful!" she yells.
"We, uh, sorta had to dig it out," Leah explains now, gesturing to the loader. "It was buried at least a foot in the dirt."
Jasper pulls out his wallet. "What do I owe Clayton for it?"
"Nothing. He just wanted rid of it."
"What do I owe you and the boys for it?"
"A ride to a pow-wow. When it's fixed. You got yourself an NDN Kar there, Old Man." Leah slams the backhoe door shut and puts it back in gear, puttering up the road onto reservation land. Quil races after but Seth pauses a moment to grin at Edward, then he, too, follows.
Jasper just shakes his head and turns to Rosalie. "What'll it take to fix it?"
She taps one red-lacquered fingernail on full red lips. "Everything. Pretty much everything. All you've got here is the body."
"How long will you need?"
"A week."
It takes her a week and a half -- held up for parts. It's almost August when she calls him out to her garage. What he sees there he doesn't even recognize as the car Leah had delivered. "Acapulco Blue," she tells him and hands him the keys. He has never understood the need to give fancy names to car paint. The car is blue, or perhaps bright blue, if one is being particular. It's the rest of its transformation that truly startles. "You are now the proud owner of the only American-made car in this family," Rose adds.
That evening, he checks the newspaper for the nearest pow-wow -- realizes he isn't even sure where to start looking, despite all he's read. He's learned the history, but lacks the pragmatic of day-to-day native life. He opens his cell and dials Leah's number. "How do I find a pow-wow?" He doesn't even say hello. She'll know who it is.
"Car's fixed already?"
"Rosalie works fast. It helps that we don't have to sleep."
"I guess so!"
"So -- about that pow-wow?"
"You trust me?"
"Yes." It is, he thinks, a profound statement. Because it's true.
"Seth and I'll be by your house tomorrow afternoon. Be ready to go."
"I thought pow-wows were on the weekends?" Tomorrow is Wednesday.
"They are. I asked if you trusted me."
"Yes." He says it with more caution this time. "What about Quil?"
"Oh, he has to work. So do I, but I've got some vacation coming. See ya tomorrow, Old Man."
And they are there, as promised, by early afternoon. Knowing he'd be in the company of humans (even wolves he doesn't want to eat) Jasper hunted at dawn, but it is several hours before they arrive. He hears her car rumbling down the long drive. They park it off to the side and pile out, and it should be awkward, this -- two werewolves visiting a house full of vampires. But it's not. Of the family, only Rosalie remains slightly hostile, but Jasper thinks that may owe as much to their method of towing the Mustang as it owes to the fact they're werewolves. Emmett is curious, but keeps his distance; Esme is welcoming. Carlisle is at work. Edward is there, and has come out of the house, probably to greet Seth. Alice comes out, too, followed by a disgruntled Bella and Leah's gaze on her is . . . cool. Jasper can feel the dislike radiating from them both, and thinks only some of it has to do with Jacob. Perhaps he can get it out of Leah eventually.
Alice approaches him and grips his arm, looks up into his face. "You're taking Edward," she says, and he's not sure if she's giving him an order or telling him what she's Seen. He suspects she likes it that way, less for the "mystery" than to keep people from arguing with her.
"I am? I didn't think you could See anything involving the wolves. And trouble is, I don't know where I'm going myself, hon."
Her smile turns impish. "A pow-wow."
"Yeah, I got that much."
"Look -- I need Bella's full attention this weekend, but when Edward's around, she runs to him to escape and he backs her up. If he ever wants me to get this wedding ready, I need to have her to myself for a few days in a row. I just know you and he won't be here this weekend."
"Ah."
Her smile is bright as she lets him go, pats his arm and stands on tiptoe to kiss him. He has to bend down to reach her. The kiss is brief. It always is, in company. "See you Tuesday night," she says.
"Come on," Jasper tells Edward, gesturing him towards the garage where the Mustang waits.
He appears confused, but follows. "Huh?"
"We're going for a little ride, it looks like."
"Me?"
He clearly hasn't been reading minds -- he doesn't always -- but now he does and his mouth turns into a stubborn line, arms crossed. Their rectitude is something he and Bella share. "I'm not going to argue with you," Jasper tells him, entering the garage and crossing to the Mustang, opening the driver's side. "Get in the damn car, Eddie. Alice said you're coming."
"But Bella -- "
" -- can survive without you for a few days. And you can survive without her for the same."
"I told her after I got back that I'd never leave her again."
"Oh, for pity's sake!" Jasper starts the engine, then reaches across to unlatch the passenger side. "Stop being a melodramatic ass."
Edward glares through the open passenger side, then sighs and crawls in, readjusting the seat because the last person to ride there had been Alice. "You have got to be kidding me. We're going on a trip to -- you don't even know where?" -- he turns to stare at Jasper in surprise -- "locked in a car with two stinky dogs -- "
"Leah and Seth. Their names are Leah and Seth, Edward. And you like Seth."
"I do. In small doses. He's a fourteen-year-old boy," Edward says, as if that explains it -- which it does. "How long is this going to take?"
"I don't know," Jasper lies and starts the engine. It doesn't stop Edward from plucking the truth out of his mind.
"Till Tuesday night?" Edward exclaims, twisting in his seat to stare. "Alice said Tuesday night? That's almost a week! And the wedding is -- "
"The wedding is why she's getting rid of you," Jasper interrupts, backing the car out of its place as one of the doors raises automatically. Outside, he stops on the drive whhile Leah and Seth drag luggage forward. Jasper must stop the engine in order to pop the trunk because it requires the key. Rosalie restored the vehicle exactly, and old cars lack modern advantages, even if he thinks an old car fits an old vampire better.
Leah and Seth fling in their luggage -- a pair of duffle bags, a big box that rattles suspiciously, and a backpack. The backpack is heavy and Jasper thinks it might contain books. He smiles.
Edward is out of the car too, talking to Bella off to the side. Their faces are somber, reluctant, anxious, and Jasper isn't sure whether he's more amused or more perturbed. "They'll get over it," Alice tells him, sidling up to slip small, thin fingers into his. He squeezes once and lets her go as Seth and Leah cram themselves into the black vinyl backseat.
"Come on, Edward!" he calls and walks back to the driver's side, sliding in and waiting. He doesn't need luggage, but he's glad his wallet was in his pocket so he doesn't have to go back inside to fetch it. Apparently Edward does; he dashes into the house at vampire speed and returns -- but back to Bella, who he kisses lingeringly. In the backseat, Seth makes a gagging noise, cut off with a whoosh when Leah elbows him. Jasper suppresses a laugh as Edward gets in, his mouth turned down. Jasper reverses the car and turns it, then heads off down the driveway towards the state road. He's not sure where they're going, but they'll be back in six days. God created the world in six days. To a vampire, six days are a blink.