Oh, when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah, I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life
Summer of '69 – Bryan Adams
Bella's truck rattled into the fairground parking lot, the breaks protesting with a squeal as she swung into the closest space she came across. She could smell the bonfire and food stalls before she had even opened the door of her truck.
As she reached over the tailgate, feeling for the picnic blanket and basket, a hand landed on her waist, a strong tanned arm reaching over her and grabbing them for her.
"I like your dress," Jasper's breath fanned across her neck, raising goose bumps where it passed.
Bella turned and smiled at him, smoothing her hands across the patterned fabric.
"Why thank you good sir," she laughed as he tipped his hat at her, "never got much of a chance to wear summer dresses where I grew up."
"Washington State," Jasper mused, "does it really rain as much as they tell us lot down South?"
Chuckling, Bella checked him with her hip, snatching the blanket from him and leaving him to carry the basket as she weaved through the crowds to where they'd agreed to meet their friends.
Bella dropped the blanket on the ground when she reached Mike and Jess, tossing Mike the pager he'd left in the diner that afternoon. He caught it with a relieved huff, tucking it safely back in his pocket as he helped Bella pull the blanket straight.
The four of them stretched out on the blankets, Jess settling her head in Mike's lap as Bella smirked at her. Jess rolled her eyes and ignored her, fixing her eyes on the skies. As dusk fell fireworks rained down from above them, the sky lighting up in color.
The four of them headed back to Bella's much later that evening; Jasper and Mike trying to persuade Bella's rusty old VCR to take Mike's new Star Trek cassette without eating it while Bella and Jess popped the tops off beers in the kitchen.
"Hey Bells," Mike hollered, "your machine light's flashing."
"I thought you were meant to be dealing with the VCR," Bella's head appeared around the kitchen door, taking in the sight of Jasper with his head under her TV stand.
"Answer machine," Mike expanded, waving a hand in the direction of her telephone.
"My mom must have called to wish me a Happy Fourth," Bella shrugged, "I'll ring her back tomorrow."
The shrill ring of the phone interrupted them about half an hour into the movie. Bella shrugged off the noise, waving off Jess' offer to pass her phone. The answer machine clicked on, Bella reaching for the remote to being the movie playing again.
"Hey Bells," the voice came from the answer machine, "it's, uh, it's Jake. I was just calling to say Happy Fourth and wondering if you got my earlier message."
Bella had rocketed to her feet, snatching the receiver up and moving away from her friends sprawled out around the TV.
"I thought I told you to leave me alone," Jasper was surprised at the vitriol in Bella's voice.
Bella's scowl deepened, she listened to the man on the other side of the phone for a few seconds more before slamming the receiver back into its cradle.
"Sorry," she muttered, moving back to the sofa and curling back into her position next to Jasper, "old friend from Washington."
Jasper slung an arm around her shoulder, giving the shaken girl a friendly squeeze as she smiled tremulously at him.
Bella was banging on Jasper's B&B room door early the next week, smirking from ear to ear when he answered wrapped only in a sheet, eyes blurry from sleep.
"I thought I'd show our southern visitor one of Ohio's finest traditions," she said, thrusting a baseball cap into his hands, "get dressed, and wear that instead of your Stetson. I'll meet you at the diner in half an hour."
Jasper chuckled as he watched her walk away, turning the baseball cap over in his hands and seeing the Cleveland Indians' logo grinning back at him.
Handing him a hot dog, Bella sunk down into the seat next to Jasper's as the game got underway.
"You know there's no way they're gonna beat the Rangers, right?" Jasper questioned, settling his cap more firmly on his head.
"Whatever you say, Texas," Bella said, "neither of them hold a candle to the Mariners after all."
"Yeah yeah, Washington, we all know Texas plays the best ball in the whole damn country."
Bella snickered, handing over the popcorn.
"Maybe don't say that to a girl whose dad is a coach for the Mariners, hey buddy?"
"Seriously?"
"Yep," Bella confirmed, "taught me everything I know," she added, pulling out her pencil to keep score.
"Jessie-Lou," the next morning found Jasper slouching across the diner's counter, beckoning the waitress on the breakfast shift over towards him.
Jess swayed over from Mike's table, fixing a questioning look at the troubled young man at her counter.
"Yes, honey?" she asked, filling his coffee mug as she reached him.
"What is Bella doing so far from home? She obviously still has family there, old friends ringing her up, she told me her dad's involved with the Mariners?"
"Step-dad," Jess spoke idly, wiping down the counter in front of her, "and to be honest I think she'd rather Jake didn't keep ringing her."
Jasper hummed in acknowledgement, his eyes following the sweeping motion of Jess's hands. The forlorn look in his eyes stirred something in Jess, and she took pity on him.
"Jake's an ex-boyfriend who never quite got the hint," she dusted the crumbs from her hands into the bin, "beyond that I don't know much. She arrived July after we finished high school, never left."
She rested a kindly hand on his shoulder, smiling sadly when he flinched away from the contact, and crossed back to Mike in the window.
Jasper paced in front of the diner as he waited for Bella to finish her shift, clenching and unclenching his hands. Watching as the lights went out, he approached the doors, Bella bent down to lock them.
"Bella," he announced his presence from a few feet away so as not to startle her.
"Hey," she smiled, turning around to face him, "I was just heading home. Fancy keeping me company for dinner?"
Jasper reached a hand around the back of his neck, fingers rubbing just below his hairline.
"I was actually, uh, well I was wondering if you fancied going out for dinner? I've heard there's this great little restaurant a couple miles down the road, run by an Amish family and, well, while in Amish country, right?"
Bella laid a gentle hand on his arm to stop his rambling, fingers catching under the cuff of his shirt.
"Sounds wonderful, let me get changed first?"
Bella arrived home that night with a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth, Jasper's arm wrapped around her waist. He pulled her to him on the porch, smiling down at her as he stroked the hair back from her face.
Bending down he placed gentle kisses on the upturned corner of her lips, before fully capturing them with his own.
"Goodnight Bella," he hummed softly into her mouth, unwillingly pulling himself away.
He turned to go but Bella caught his hand, tugging him gently towards the house with her.
"Stay?" she asked, teeth capturing her bottom lip.
Jasper wrapped himself around her, and allowed himself to be pulled inside.
Early July turned to mid July, and the final few green leaves on the trees gave up their battle and turned brown. Jasper and the rest of the mechanics had abandoned shirts for the season; working in overalls tied around their wastes, sweat smearing grease and oil more liberally across their skin than usual.
Bella and Jess spent all the time they could hiding out in the freezer at work, packing ice underneath the fans in an attempt to cool down the stifling diner. Bella slept with her sheets thrown off, windows thrown as wide as they could go.
She had ventured out to Cleveland late one afternoon to find a birthday present for Phil, abandoning her search after half an hour thanks to the sheer oppressiveness of the heat. Pulling her car back into her driveway she had found Jasper propped up on her porch.
"Hey there Cowboy," she jumped from the cab of the truck, slamming the door behind her, "shouldn't you be at work?"
"Tyler closed up today," he hummed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Mike and I got off early. Jess is fancying a trip to the falls, thought we could join them."
Bella squealed so loudly Jasper flinched.
"Yes!" she grinned so widely Jasper was fearful her face would split in two, "we haven't been to the falls for ages. Oh it's such a Midwest town, you're in for a treat, Texas."
"I thought this was a Midwest town," Jasper teased, swatting her on the butt as she moved past him to her front door.
Bella rolled her eyes at his childishness, pulling open her screen door and unlocking the green front door of her small house.
"Go on," she said, shoving him towards the kitchen as she moved to her bedroom, "you're in charge of the picnic while I get changed."