Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Perfect For Me

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 13:

As promised, Bella moved in with Jasper. The couple quickly made a home together. They started compiling a list of long overdue home improvement projects together; like replacing the windows and renovating the kitchen. Many parts of the home had long been neglected.

Jasper marveled at how different she was from Alice. His former girlfriend only decorated the house so it appeared perfect to the outside world, while Bella was more concerned about the roof not caving in. In fact, it was where they were now. They were inspecting the roof because it had rained the previous night. They noticed a puddle of water in the hallway.

“Holy shit! These are wooden shingles,” Jasper exclaimed. “No wonder we sprung a leak. Some of these are dried out and rotted.”

“How old is this house again, Jasper?”

“I don’t know. I think it was built in 1863 or something like that. I’ll have to ask Grandma Esme. It’s been passed down along the female line from her side of the family. I’m actually the first male to own it because my mom wanted nothing to do with it.”

“1863? This house is like a hundred-fifty years old, Jasper!”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why all of these repairs are cropping up. Grandma Esme hardly lived in it. She used it for summer lawn parties and such.”

“No wonder we have so much to fix.” She scanned the roof. “Let’s start measuring. We’re going to need to have shingles delivered.”

“We could always hire roofing contractors.”

“They’ll milk you for every cent you have. Nah, we’ll do it ourselves. I’ve done plenty of roofing jobs back home.”

“And exactly when did you do roofing jobs in Forks?” Jasper asked, a bit disbelieving, because it seemed the girl he wanted to marry was a jack-of-all-trades.

“Whenever anyone needed a new roof, we all went to help. That’s how it is in our town. Don’t worry, Jake, Paul, and Sammy can help, too. They’ve done a ton of roofs, too. And after you bring the electrical up to code, you can install the new central air.

“Wait! Why do I have to bring the electrical up to code?”

“You’re the one with the electrical engineering degree.”

“But it doesn’t mean I’m an electrician.”

“No, but you need to challenge yourself with the practical application of some of your knowledge. You don’t want another incident like the one with the hydraulic winch.”

“What was wrong with the winch? I repaired it correctly.”

“Yes, but it took you a week to do it, Jasper! It should have taken a day tops!”

“Wait a second! How did you find out about the winch repair anyway?”

“Your grandfather told me.”

“And exactly when did you speak to my grandfather?”

“He took me out to lunch Tuesday while you were at work.”

“Huh, no kidding. I wonder why he didn’t tell me.”

“It’s because it was our special bonding time together. He figured we needed to get to know each other more since I’m living at your house now; and we’ll more than likely get married. His words, not mine.”

“We should get married, you know?”

“Jasper, we’ve only been living together for two weeks. Give it a bit more time.”

“If I must.” He drew her close to him. “But mark my words, we will be getting married.”

“That’s great and all, but measure the roof so we can at least patch the leaky part up temporarily until we gather the pack. Rose is pretty handy, too. I’m sure she’ll help.”

Jasper stared at the expansive roof. “Are you sure we shouldn’t hire a contractor?”

“Trust me.”

---

By six am on Saturday, the entire crew had come over to help with the roof.

“I told Bella we can hire a contractor, but she insisted we didn’t need one.”

“Why in hell would you need a contractor for a new roof? It’s the easiest job in the world,” Pete, who had driven down from Dallas, asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anyone in my family ever do a repair.”

“The hardest part of a roofing job is removing the old shingles.”

“That’s what I told him.” Bella nodded, “but he doesn’t trust me. He even called a contractor for an estimate. The scam artist quoted forty-three grand. I told him it was more than triple what he should be charging. The guy had the nerve to tell me forty-three grand was the going price in this neighborhood. Can you believe that? Then he told me I should discuss it with Jasper and see what he said because clearly, as a girl, I knew nothing about construction. I told him to shove his forty-three grand up his ass and take a hike.”

“Forty-three grand?” Sam asked. “How did he come up with that price?”

“He’s obviously marking up the price of supplies and labor.” Emmett stated. “Where did you find him anyway?”

“I asked my dad. He apparently did their roof last year,” Jasper explained. He’d been getting along with his father ever since he met Bella.

“And he clearly ripped him off. What a crook!” Paul exclaimed. “Alright, you rented the dumpster and have all the supplies. Bella, are we missing anything?”

“I don’t think so, but if we are, we can run to the hardware store. Jake, I told Jared you’d send pics so he can advise us on whether or not we need gutters. I don’t know if we need to do anything different when installing them.”

“Alright, I’ll get right on it. We should all get started if we’re going to finish this tonight.”

Around midday, Jasper’s father stopped by for a visit together with his grand-daddy.

“What in Sam Houston are you kids doing?” His father asked.

“We’re replacing the roof,” Bella explained.

“What happened to the contractor I sent your way?”

“Mr. Beau, you should come up here so I don’t have to shout.”

“Up the ladder?” he questioned, horrified.

“Of course she means up the ladder, unless you plan on scaling the building,” Colton informed Beau.

They both climbed the ladder to the roof.

“Now, explain why you’re doing the roof yourselves,” he demanded.

“Because the contractor Mr. Beau sent over is a crook. A roof this size should be no more than twelve to sixteen grand tops. He wanted to charge forty-three grand, and he insulted my intelligence by implying I didn’t know anything about construction, so we’re doing it ourselves, for under six grand I might add.”

“Where’s Jasper?”

“Oh, well, we called a contractor buddy of ours, who suggested installing gutters since this house didn’t have any. Anyway, Jasper is at the hardware store with Emmett picking up the parts.” She smiled at them both. “Have you met my brother Sammy? He’s a petroleum engineer for some big corporation; and he hates his job.”

“Oh, yeah? Who do you work for boy?”

“I work for Winston Gates, sir.”

“Are you happy there?”

Sam grimaced. “It’s my first engineering job.”

“You’re one of the boys who built the beer lab with my grandson, aren’t you?”

“I am, Sir.”

“Who are the other boys?”

“Well, there’s Paul.”

“Hello!” he waved.

“What do you do?”

“I’m a corporate attorney for Wright and Ronge.”

“And there’s Pete.”

“How are you, Sir?”

“I’m fine, thank you. What do you do?”

“I’m a mechanical engineer for Ganvel Industries. I was just promoted to Senior Project Manager.”

“So you’re working out of Dallas?”

“Sadly.”

Colton nodded. “Where is your chiropractor friend?”

“He’s with Jasper, sir.”

“I see. And who are the other two on this roof?”

“Oh, that’s Jake. He’s the one I told you about,” Bella informed him. He goes to school with me. His fiancée is Rosalie. She is also a mechanical engineering major with us.”

“Very good.” He turned to his son. “Beau, I want resumes from the two engineers and the lawyer.”

“Sir?” Paul, Pete, and Sam all questioned.

“You heard me. I want all three of your resumes by Monday morning. Let’s see what we can do to get your careers moving.” He turned to Bella. “Get Beau and I some hammers. Let’s get this damned roof installed so we can all eat. My treat.”

“Daddy, I’ve never installed a roof.”

“Which was an oversight on my part. If these young’uns can slap on a new roof, so can you. I used to help your grand-daddy all the time. Now get your ass moving.”

“Bella. Bella,” Jasper’s father whispered.

“What is it?”

“I’ve never actually hammered anything before. Can you teach me?”

Colton listened in and chuckled as Bella taught his son how to hammer in a nail. She not only was the making of Jasper, but possibly even Beau as well.

With all the extra hands, they were able to get the roof fully installed by six pm. Jasper brought home a big platter of sandwiches and chips for everyone’s lunch when he brought the new gutters. He was stunned to see his father and grand-daddy helping with the install.

His grand-daddy took everyone out to dinner at a casual steakhouse located on a ranch he frequented. Everyone chowed down appreciatively. They were all beat. Jasper was positive his father had never worked so hard in his life except on the tennis court. He looked like he was going to pass out.

By the end of the evening, his father, much to Jasper’s surprise, had invited all of Jasper’s friends to his mother’s ball. His mother was most likely going to blow a gasket once she found out, but he didn’t care. He was grateful to have such solid friends; and happy he would have some friendly faces at the ball.