Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

The Road Back

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 03:

It took Jasper a full ten days to emerge from his self-imposed isolation and face the world or the rest of Forks as it were. He was depressed about losing his job, but not so much about losing his girlfriend. When he honestly thought about it, Alice annoyed him to no end. In looks and outward manners, she may have been cool and sophisticated, but that was where it ended. There was nothing in the noggin. Come to think of it, he had no idea how she managed to graduate from college or even high school.

Jasper’s mother not liking Alice was a considerable feat. Charlotte Whitlock liked everyone, and everyone liked her in turn. When he was growing up, his house was one of the central gathering spots for all his friends. His friends loved his mom, who was always friendly and welcoming. With the bakery closing at two pm, his mother would always be home with a warm smile and afternoon snacks waiting for them.

Jasper’s first stop was to the bank to ensure his salary was deposited per agreement. He had the same bank account that he opened as a teen and never bothered changing it. After receiving a printout of the statement and confirming everything was as it should be, he realized that he needed to change his address back to his parents’ house, at least for the nonce. As soon as he took care of that task, he went to the post office to fill out a change of address form and then called the credit card company, the loan provider for his law school financial aid, and his cell phone provider to inform them of his new location. Jasper had always been a stickler for paying bills on time, unlike Alice, who was perennially late with everything until her father stepped in. Like Charlotte Whitlock had said, Alice was irresponsible, and her father enabled her.

Jasper’s next stop was to the diner, where he ordered a large chicken salad for lunch. While he was waiting, he decided to peruse the paper to pass the time. He didn’t need to do that, of course, because a minute later, a familiar voice stated, “I’ll have some coffee and the usual, Lauren.” Jasper lowered the paper and looked across from him. “Hello, Jasper.”

“Chief Swan, Sir, how are you? How is your family?”

Charlie Swan, the Police Chief of Forks, Washington, and very close friends with his parents, had grown up in Forks, Washington and knew every citizen, every nook and cranny of the town, like the back of his hand. Most people, including the Mayor, agreed that Charlie Swan was the true leader of Forks.

He was an interesting man. Chief Swan and Peter Whitlock had been best friends since childhood. Chief Swan was brilliant. He had been accepted to the University of Texas on a baseball scholarship. He graduated after four years, and despite offers from the Major League to play professionally, he opted to follow his dreams and become a cop. He went straight through to graduate school, too.

Chief Swan’s wife Renee, who happened to be Jasper’s mother’s best friend since high school, also attended the University of Texas to become a teacher because it was the only school they were accepted together. The couple tied the knot the summer after their senior year. Renee began work as a school teacher while her husband attended graduate school. All was well until Renee discovered she was pregnant. She was a strong woman and insisted Charlie complete his professional degree while she returned to Forks after finishing the school year. She returned to Forks and gave birth to a daughter in September while her husband remained in Texas. They had a ton of family support, and everyone supported the couple’s decision.

Charlie and Renee’s daughter, Bella, had been part of Jasper’s friend group in high school. With their parents being best friends since high school, and their houses separated by one, it was no surprise. They had grown up together. Actually, Bella had been more than just a friend. She had been his girlfriend during high school until they mutually broke up to go away to college. Jasper had stayed in Washington while Bella had decided to go to college in Connecticut, of all places. At the time, Jasper had been hurt that she didn’t want to attend Gonzaga with him, but Bella being accepted to Yale was a big deal in hindsight. She had been the class valedictorian, after all. Jasper recalled her being absolutely gorgeous with the ability to always make him smile. He wondered how she was doing.

“Really? Don’t call me Chief Swan and Sir in the same sentence, or I’ll think you’re guilty of something. I thought we’d have lunch together unless you’re busy.”

“No, not busy. I don’t have anything to do, really.”

“So, I’ve heard. Your father said you’ve been wallowing in self-pity since you came home ten days ago. Now, I know you’re a big city lawyer, but you need to snap out of it, son. That scrawny Alice girl you brought home wasn’t good for you at all, and you know it. And the fact that the father canned you because she didn’t want to be with you anymore is bordering on illegal. There are all sorts of ethics violations involved with that. That’s why he gave you a generous severance package. Have you considered that?”

“Jesus Christ, does nothing remain confidential in this town?” Jasper griped.

“Son, you made the fatal mistake of telling your mother, who told my wife, who told me, and I, in turn, told your dad. But, of course, your father and I guessed everything once that moving truck showed up with all your belongings. Honestly, boy, something has to be done about your shopping habit. Fifty suits? I only own three police uniforms for everyday use. Now, what the hell has gotten into you?”

“I… I don’t know. I guess I got used to Alice just supplying me with clothes. She liked to shop, you see, and she’d shop while I was at work. She liked buying clothes for me.”

“Okay… We’re going to get back to that in a minute. But, first, let’s talk about your job. According to your mother, your boss fired you and announced the end of your relationship with his daughter at the same time.”

“Shove over, Charlie. Let me get in on this conversation,” Jasper’s father suddenly interrupted, sitting next to the police chief. “Hey, Lauren, can you bring me some coffee and a burger. You know how I like ’em.”

“Sure, Mr. W.” Lauren placed coffee mugs in front of all three of them and poured. Jasper knew her from high school. She was a nice girl, still pretty, though she had put on some weight. She also put salads in front of Chief Swan and Peter Whitlock.

“We didn’t order these,” Peter said.

“Renee’s orders. She said that if you insist on eating grease daily, you’ll have some greens with it. She really asked me to substitute salad for the fries, so I’m actually doing you a favor. By the way, Mr. W, she has your wife’s permission.” She gave them a cheeky grin and walked away.

“God, damn it! Your meddling wife is going to be the death of our taste buds,” Peter griped. When Lauren brought out Jasper’s chicken salad next, he said, “It’s people like you that make our lives miserable. You’re not eating lunch. You’re eating rabbit food, boy!”

“I wanted something healthy for a change, Dad,” Jasper argued.

“Hey, at least you get real food at home. Renee insists on eating Paleo, whatever the hell that is. If your wife didn’t run the bakery, I’d get no bread whatsoever. As it is, I have cereal stashed in my desk at work,” Charlie admitted, eyeing the salad with distaste. “I should get some Pop-Tarts, too. Enough of this, Jasper; you were canned and dumped on the same day, right?”

“That’s about what happened.”

“Then you hibernated in the house feeling sorry for yourself through yesterday,” his father added.

“You hit the nail on the head.”

“Have you considered the fact that this may have been a blessing in disguise?” Charlie asked. “You see, son, I don’t think you’ve been happy, not really. I don’t see how anyone could be with a bossy ex-girlfriend who manipulates her father and you. It looks like she told you when to eat when to sleep, and even what to wear. She had you by the balls, son, and you let her lead you around by them.”

“I wasn’t led around by the balls,” Jasper argued, but he didn’t have tremendous confidence in what he said.

“Bullshit! Don’t lie to me, boy! You were her lapdog,” his father seethed, slamming his fist on the table. “You let her decide everything from what to do to what to wear. You probably, even let her tell you when to shit and fuck! What decisions have you made on your own since you’ve been with her? Was it even your idea to attend law school? Because if it was, then excellent, you should make a career out of it. If it was her idea for you to become a lawyer so you could join her father’s firm, then you need to really consider your next steps.”

Charlie Swan gave Peter Whitlock’s shoulder a pat, urging him to calm down. The police chief then turned to Jasper. “From the time you were a kid, it was your dream to become a social studies teacher. What happened?”

“Well, teaching is not very lucrative.”

“Teaching isn’t lucrative. Hmm… That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

Jasper’s jaw dropped. Chief Swan was correct. It didn’t come from him. It came from Alice. She had drilled that into his head over and over as soon as they started dating in college. She insisted that law was the way to go because it would make him wealthy like her father. But, of course, Jasper knew the truth; it took years for most lawyers to become rich. The only reason he was paid well was that he had an in at the most prestigious law firm in Dallas. Still, he worked hard, and he’d give himself credit for that. And he enjoyed law as a practicing attorney.

“I actually enjoy practicing law.”

“Well, then, that’s good, don’t you think? Now, you have a starting point. But you still have to consider how you got into the position of being manipulated by that Alice girl,” Charlie added. “In my field, I come across lawyers almost daily. I can tell you one hundred percent that being easily manipulated is not a trait that’ll serve you well as an attorney.”

“Chief Swan has a good point, son. You need to consider why you were led astray. What were you thinking when it happened?” Peter Whitlock had clearly regained his composure after his earlier outburst.

This was the issue with Forks. Everyone was in his business. Granted, it was his father and Chief Swan, who was like a second parent to him, but still, there was absolutely no privacy in this town.

“What are we talking about?” Billy Black, the Chief of the Quileute Nation, his favorite social studies teacher at Forks High and also his buddy Jake’s father, slid into the booth next to Jasper. He was followed by Dr. Carlisle Cullen, who ran the emergency room at Forks Hospital, and was his friend Edward’s father.

“We’re trying to find Jasper’s balls,” Peter Whitlock stated matter-of-factly. “He lost them somewhere between Washington and Texas.”

Exactly why did Jasper think he could have a peaceful lunch at the diner in Forks? His father literally knew everyone in town, and the group sitting here was his posse. The four of them had been friends since high school. Unlike in Dallas, where your neighbors were complete strangers, Forks was a small town where everyone knew everything about you, down to the color of your socks. Parents looked out for their neighbors’ kids, and if there was an at-risk youth, help was immediately found for that child, usually by one of the four men surrounding him.

Lauren Mallory stopped by again with Charlie and Peter’s food. She poured coffee for the newcomers and refilled everyone else’s mugs. Then, after taking Billy and Carlisle’s orders, she disappeared again, but not before giving Jasper a look of sympathy.

---

Jasper sat with the fathers for another half hour before they dispersed to return to work. He left his car on the street and walked a couple of doors down the block to his mother’s bakery.

“Oh, Jasper, I’m so happy you’re here. Can you watch the store for a bit while I run to the bank? Unfortunately, I’m out of change in the register.”

“Sure, Mom, no problem.” Jasper had worked at both the bakery and the service station since he was a kid. He knew how to use a cash register, could bake, and was a master at frosting a cake. He remembered baking a cake for Alice for her birthday when they had first started dating; she didn’t appreciate his efforts because it wasn’t an expensive gift. In hindsight, he should have broken up with her right then and there. But, instead, he latched onto her like a puppy dog.

Speaking of work, Jasper wasn’t afraid of it at all. He had always worked, ever since high school and through college. He used to help out at his father’s service station. It was his father who taught him everything he knew about cars. Jasper hated having to bring his vehicle in for minor service jobs like oil changes and brake jobs, but he wasn’t allowed to repair vehicles in the building he lived at in Dallas. In any case, Alice detested when he did-as she called it-servant’s work. Again, another reason to have broken up with her. Jasper’s father was not a servant. He was a hard-working business owner, so was his mom.

Damn it! The thought of Alice made him so upset. And he fell for it. During the two days she stayed in Forks, she insulted his family and his friends, demeaning their chosen professions and the lives they decided to lead. None were good enough to be friends with Jasper while he was with her. As a result, he ended up alienating almost all of his friends. He hadn’t heard from any of them in at least six years. He had no idea what they were doing or even if they lived in Forks anymore.

A few minutes later, his question was answered when Edward Cullen stopped by at the bakery. “Hey, Jasper. What’s up?”

“I’ve come home.”

“Yeah, I heard what happened. That girl you were dating was a nasty piece of work, but I’m glad you broke free.”

“Uh, yeah. Me, too.” Jasper decided to change the subject. “How are you?”

“I’m married.” Edward flashed his wedding ring.

So, he did end up marrying Bella. Jasper knew they had dated while they were in college, but it looked like they made it permanent.

“Wow. Congratulations,” he murmured without much feeling.

“Thanks. Anyway, we’re having a little get-together at our place on Saturday. You should come.”

“I will. I’ll be there.”

“Good. Anyway, I need a dozen cupcakes, assorted, and a loaf of sourdough bread.”

Jasper packaged everything up nicely for him and watched him leave, realizing belatedly that he forgot to ask where Edward and Bella lived.