Stephenie's sandbox is a fun place to play! Thanks for the love, you guys. This chapter has been slightly updated to clean up some writing mistakes and ensure continuity.
"So, Bells," Charlie began, lowering his newspaper to look at me. I looked up from the vegetable stir-fry that I was cooking and nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"The Blacks are coming over tonight, and if you and Jacob want to go do something fun, well, don't feel obliged to stick around on my account."
"Okay, dad," I said, trying to hide my skepticism. I couldn't really think of anything in Forks that I would find particularly fun on a Saturday night. The town had a bowling alley, and… well, it had a bowling alley. That was about it.
"And, uh, weren't you planning on looking around for a job sometime soon?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about it." I couldn't in good conscience rely on either of my parents for pocket money, and while my savings account was much fuller than I had expected due to Charlie's generous gift of transportation, I knew that it wouldn't last for too long. I doubted that I could find as nice a job as the cashier position I'd held at the little bookstore back in Phoenix, but I wasn't averse to the idea of waitressing or something similar.
"I ran into Rob Newton yesterday and he mentioned that they're looking for a cashier over at his store. I'm sure he'd be happy to see an application from you, if you wanted to do that." Charlie seemed ill-at-ease in the role of parental advisor, but that wasn't terribly surprising.
"Wow, dad, thanks for the tip." I turned back to the stove just in time to keep the peppers from burning. "Maybe I'll swing by there and put in a resume."
"I just want you to be happy, here Bells," Charlie said gruffly, hiding behind his newspaper once more.
I scraped my stir-fry onto a plate and ate it in silence, then checked my watch. I was supposed to call Renee at some point between lunch and dinner on the East Coast, since I'd only talked to her twice since my initial safe-arrival call. I decided to do it immediately and retreated to my room, where I discovered that I had somehow forgotten to plug in my phone the night before.
"Ridiculous," I muttered, glaring at the blinking red battery symbol. From past experience I knew that it would take at least an hour for the phone to charge to the point of usefulness, which meant that the schedule I had hastily constructed in my head was no longer workable.
Crossly I consulted my to-do list, rejecting one alternative after another until I finally came to one that piqued my interest. I had been in Forks for over a week and yet I still hadn't visited the local library to get a library card, which was something that I needed to fix as soon as possible. I could also stop by the store and pick up some ice cream for dessert that night on my way home.
The Forks Memorial Library was only a block from the high school, so I knew how to get there. It was a long, low building with a cozy-looking exterior. I liked it immediately, and the feeling did not fade as I entered. The selection of books was basic but not inadequate and the librarian was warm and friendly as she helped me sign up for my library card. By the time I exited the building with a small stack of interesting historical novels and the flyer for a nearby farmer's market, I was thoroughly content with my choice of activity for the morning.
Following the directions that the librarian had helpfully penciled on the back of my flyer, I found the farmer's market in just a few minutes. As I pulled into the parking lot, my first impression was of a small, simple collection of stands and tables with a dozen or so people hanging around.
The variety was not overwhelming—this appeared to be a truly local market, not the kind that trucked in extras from warehouses – but I could see some promise. The prices were certainly lower than most health stores, and I was sure that the produce would be good. Local food was best, in my experience.
I filled a bag with apples, another with potatoes, and then added some kale and chard to the mix. I hesitated over grass-fed beef and ended up picking three meals' worth of inexpensive steak that I thought Charlie would like. A kind woman who introduced herself as Esme and somehow reminded me of Renee helped me total all my items and patiently waited while I dithered over whether or not to buy reusable bags. I ended up with three vividly printed canvas sacks to carry my shopping in.
"Do you need any help with getting that to your car?" she asked, her smile so motherly that I could summon only a momentary flash of annoyance at the fact that I did need help.
"Yeah," I said sheepishly, trying very hard not to drop the potatoes or overbalance and fall over into the mud. "Thanks."
"Alice, can you give her a hand?"
A girl who at first glance looked to be no older than fourteen skipped up, gave me a once-over, and casually twitched the top two bags out of my arms. She must have been stronger than she looked, because she didn't seem to have much trouble carrying them.
"Hi! I'm Alice. You must be Bella Swan. It's nice to meet you! Where's your car?"
I blinked at the onslaught. "I have the rusty monolith at the end of the row," I answered, a little bewildered. "How did you know my name?"
As soon as I indicated where we were going, Alice started in that direction. As I hurried to catch up, she glanced back over her shoulder at me with a mischievous twinkle in her dark eyes. "You have a Wildcats lanyard on your keys," she announced. "They're the football team for University of Arizona. Chief Swan has mentioned that his daughter from Arizona is coming up to live with him, so I put one and one together and got four."
"Oh." It seemed a plausible, if unlikely explanation. "I see."
"Also, your wallet is open in the top of your bag and I saw your license."
I looked down and, indeed, my license was clearly visible. "Oh," I said again, feeling a little stupid.
She slowed her steps and I finally caught up with her. As we walked together I covertly studied the side of her face, trying to figure out why she looked familiar. The answer came suddenly as I compared her rapid speech with Jessica's chatter and recalled the first day of school.
"Are you a Cullen?"
The corner of her mouth quirked up into a half-smile. "Sorta. I live with them, anyway. My last name is actually Carter, because I'm Esme's cousin. That makes me a cousin-in-law to Carlisle, who is an actual Cullen."
I blinked again, trying to assimilate the barrage of information. "Cool." I wasn't usually this monosyllabic, was I? "Carlisle is Dr. Cullen?"
"Yep!" We were at the truck now, and Alice managed to open the passenger door faster than I could reach for it, even though she was carrying more than I was. We piled the groceries onto the floor, carefully putting the greens on top so that they wouldn't be crushed by the heavier bags.
I turned to say goodbye to Alice, but her attention was fixed beyond me. I followed her gaze to where a silver Volvo was pulling into the parking lot. The last parking spot was right next to my truck, so I closed the door and flattened myself against the side to let it park. Alice stayed right where she was and I briefly considered reaching out and yanking her back to keep her from being run over, but decided against it.
I held my breath as the Volvo slid smoothly into the spot, missing Alice by about three inches. I must have let out some sort of anxious sound because she glanced back at me and grinned.
"Jazz and I do this all the time," she said. "I know right where to stand and he knows how not to hit me."
"Jazz?" I asked, unable to connect the name to anything. Alice's mere presence seemed to engender confusion.
Instead of answering, Alice tackled the boy who had just emerged from the car. "Jazz!" she squealed enthusiastically, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Oh." I was saying that word entirely too much. I felt a little annoyed with myself for suddenly losing all of my conversational abilities, but I couldn't really find anything else to say.
"Alice," he greeted her affectionately, dropping a kiss on her forehead. As he lowered her back down to the ground, I was struck by the height difference between them—he had to be over six feet, and she couldn't be more than five.
"Jazz, this is Bella Swan." Alice gestured between us. "Bella, this is Jasper Hale, my boyfriend."
"Nice to meet you." I smiled politely, shaking the hand that Jasper offered. His hands were even colder than my own, but his expression was warm enough to make up for it.
"My pleasure," he replied. The faint Southern twang in his voice made the words charming rather than stiff or overly formal and I found myself liking him immediately. My smile became more genuine and I felt a sense of peace and comfort steal over me.
"Ja-azz," Alice wheedled in a sing-song voice. "C'mon, let's go!" She was tugging at his arm, pulling him back toward the market.
"Excuse me, Bella," he said contritely, allowing himself to be dragged away. "Have a pleasant afternoon."
"Bye?" The one word was all I managed to get out as I watched them heading away, Alice almost skipping and clearly yammering his ear off. He looked happy about it. Well, that's love for you, I mused. I hopped into my truck, musing over the uneventful day as I drove home. By the time I turned into my driveway, I was finally able to form coherent sentences of more than five words. What was it that had turned my brain to mush all of a sudden? I wasn't normally such a basketcase around energetic people… at least, I didn't think so.
My phone was fully charged when I checked it after putting away the produce that I had just bought. I dialed Renee's familiar number and waited for her to pick up, drumming my fingers impatiently against my nightstand. Three rings later it went to voicemail.
"Hey, mom," I said. "I called to chat with you but it sounds like you're busy. Call me back?" I paused. "Love you. Bye."
Well, there went my schedule again. I sighed and looked over at my bookshelf, wondering if it was worth it to begin a new book when I'd probably be interrupted at any time either by Renee's call or the Blacks' arrival. I preferred to devour my books whole rather than read them in little bits.
It was worth it, I decided, before spending another twenty minutes vacillating between Interview with the Vampire and The Hunt for Red October. Both were good reads, and both were upcoming on the English reading list, which made them practical as well as enjoyable. It finally came down to the fact that my gloomy mood was more suited to gothic horror than to a military thriller. And Interview was fifty pages shorter. Double-win. I sprawled across my bedspread and immersed myself in the tragic story of Lestat and Louis.
Louis was in the middle of his spiral into misery and murder when I heard a car pull into the driveway. I bookmarked my spot and hurried downstairs to throw the front door open and welcome Billy and Jacob in with open arms. As soon as they were settled in the living room with Charlie I headed for the kitchen, putting a pot on to boil and emptying a can of tomato sauce into a saucepan to heat up. There was spaghetti for everyone within fifteen minutes and I tucked myself into the overstuffed armchair that belonged to nobody in particular to enjoy my meal and do my best to follow the basketball game that was on.
"Hey, Bella," Billy said during the commercial break, and I nodded politely. "How was your week at school? Getting along with everyone?"
"Mostly good. I made a few friends."
"Oh?" Jacob asked. "Anyone I would know?"
I thought over the people that I had met so far. "Mike Newton? Jessica Stanley, uh… some of Dr. Cullen's wards. Some others, but I can't remember last names."
"I go hiking with Mike," Jacob replied cheerfully. "He's a cool guy. Did he finally work up the balls to ask Jessica out?"
I grinned. "They're very happily dating, as far as I can tell."
"Good for him."
The game came back on and the guys returned to viciously rooting against the TrailBlazers. They seemed like a perfectly decent team to me, but Jacob explained that there was some kind of rivalry between Portland and Seattle about everything, including basketball.
Over the next commercial break I had a question of my own. "Dad, one of my teachers said something about an animal attack yesterday. What's up with that?"
Charlie shrugged. "Something savaged a couple of hikers up on Hoh River. They were there out of season, but that doesn't mean they should have died."
"Animal attack?" Billy asked mildly. "What kind of animal?"
"We're working with Animal Control to figure out what it was—maybe a starving cougar or a big bobcat," Charlie replied.
"Scary," I murmured. In Arizona we had scorpions and big spiders, but no large, hungry cats. "I'll remember not to go hiking by myself."
"Cougars come out of the woods once in a while, Bells. They can be nasty. I'll pick you up some pepper spray next time I swing through town."
"Thanks, dad." I had had a can of pepper spray back in Phoenix, but you couldn't take them on airplanes and I hadn't wanted to not have it for the two weeks after I'd shipped my boxes off, so I had left it for Renee. "I could get it myself if it'll be a bother for you."
"It's my job to keep you safe, Bells," Charlie grunted, not making eye contact.
We were both saved from further displays of affection by the end of the ad break. I got up to take my dishes to the sink and get out some bowls for ice cream.
Wait, the ice cream. Oh no! The little farmer's market and odd Alice not-Cullen (Carver? Cooper? Carter? something like that) had driven my errand right out of my mind. I had completely forgotten to stop by the store on my way home from the library.
"I goofed," I said loudly toward the living room. "No dessert unless Jacob wants to come and pick up some ice cream with me."
Jacob bounced out of his seat on the couch and grinned at me. "Can do. Who's driving?"
"I can," I volunteered. He pouted, and I felt guilty. "Unless you really want to," I added, trying to make it sound more like part of my original statement and less like a tacked-on afterthought.
"Just kidding, you can drive." Jacob headed for the door and, with a roll of my eyes, I followed him, wiping my hands dry on my jeans and grabbing my wallet off the counter.
"Shotgun!" Jacob whooped, jumping into the truck with ease.
"I should make you sit in the bed," I said, hauling myself into the driver's seat.
"What am I, a dog?" Jacob complained over the earsplitting roar of the truck's engine turning over.
"Yes," I laughed. "A Newfoundland puppy. Clumsy and friendly and very large."
"Woof," Jacob said. "I'll think about sticking my head out the window and panting, but I draw the line at being stuck in the bed."
"Deal."
"Deal."
I pulled out of the driveway carefully and made the short drive to the local little store. Jacob had his door open by the time I made it into a parking spot and was in the store by the time my feet were on the ground. I was laughing at his enthusiasm as I walked through the dimly-lit entrance, only to be confronted by a grinning Jacob holding a gallon tub of off-brand vanilla.
"Quick work."
"I figured that as long as I was being a puppy I might as well play the part," he said with a wink, gesturing grandly toward the self-checkout beside him. "It's scanned and everything, you just need to pay."
"I knew there was a catch," I grumbled jokingly, pulling cash out of my wallet as I walked over. "There's always a catch."
The machine accepted my bills without complaint and we traipsed out of the store light-heartedly. The drive home was punctuated by Jacob's bad jokes ("A dyslexic man walks into a bra.") and my groans ("Jaaaacooob!").
As soon as we got home I dished up ice cream for everyone. The game was over by the time we were all finished. Billy and Jacob said their goodbyes and Charlie followed them out to their car, talking animatedly with Billy for another ten minutes before they finally drove away. I watched them through the window as I scrubbed the dinner dishes, smiling at how happy Charlie looked.
I was just finished putting the dishes away when he came back inside. He hugged me goodnight and went off to his room. I stifled a yawn and determined to follow suit as soon as I got the spaghetti into the fridge.
Sleep was not long in coming that night.