Chapter Three:
Throw a Bone
Caroline woke up a couple of minutes before her 7 AM alarm and couldn't help but feel like she woke up on the right side of the bed. She dressed quickly for her morning run and her day only brightened when she found Charlie downstairs standing in the doorway waiting for something outside. It took her a few moments to realize that the surprise Sue had for Charlie wasn't sexual afterall.
"Oh my god, is that a dog?" Caroline exclaimed, running past Charlie to the eager mutt in front of her. The dog started lapping at her face immediately, rubbing itself up against her to maximize her petting. The dog looked like the prison dog from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Caroline mused happily. A scruffy old lady.
"Apparently I spend too much time on the couch," Charlie grumbled, grabbing a brand new pooper-scooper off the front porch and grabbing the dog's morning business.
"What's her name?" Caroline said between dog kisses.
"His name," the older man rolled his eyes, "is Charles."
"Isn't he the cutest," Sue said from the doorway as Caroline burst out laughing. "He's a little older but the shelter couldn't hold him anymore and I thought he just reminded me so much of my Charlie that I just couldn't leave him!"
"You could have left him," Charlie argued.
"No," Caroline shook her head, she wrapped her arms around the mutt's neck. "Look at him, Charlie!" The dog barked. "I know you love him!"
Charlie's radio went off and he went inside to grab it. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Aunt Sue, this is amazing!"
"I think the dog will be good for Charlie. He has been so stressed at the station lately and ever since Bella..." She trailed off before making eye contact with her. "I also think he would be good for you." Sue joined her in her petting much to Charles' pleasure, relishing four hands instead of two. Caroline would be lying if she said she didn't suspect the dog to have a part in Sue's imposed therapy for her. The dinner last night was surely a part of it as well. Sue was trying to surround Caroline with people - and now animals. "I think you should take him on your runs. I don't like the idea of you going alone. Especially after what happened last night."
Caroline frowned. "What happened last night?"
Charlie walked back out the front door and towards his cruiser. "Animal attack. A hiker was attacked last night. She was attacked near the rez and people reported hearing howling throughout the night."
Caroline froze. "Howling? Like wolves?" She remembered listening to them last night. At the time it made her feel like she wasn't as alone as she thought, but now it made her blood run cold.
"Exactly. She's okay now - the hiker is. She made it out with a couple of scratches and a concussion but she's going to live."
Sue shook her head, "I don't think it was those wolves. Probably another bear. In fact, it's probably the same bear." Sue said in a stern voice.
Charlie gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You never thinks it's the wolves. Guess we won't know anyways, just got a call saying she doesn't remember anything."
"And so far, it never has been!" She called out to him as he pulled out of the driveway. She shook her head, "I have some doggy bags inside you can take with you. Just stay out of the woods today." Sue was the master at changing subjects on a dime.
"In case I run into any wolves?" Caroline grinned, trying to play at a joke but Sue's face was grave and she couldn't help but shiver.
"It's not the wolves I'm worried about."
Caroline didn't bring her headphones with her today. She had already planned out a route to keep from looping around Forks too much but it seemed Charles wasn't interested in anything she had planned for them. He started leading her west and once they got to the freeway she understood. "Once a rez dog, always a rez dog, huh?" She asked. "Well, we can't walk all the way there, and I don't want to put you in Bella's car - no offense but she probably wouldn't appreciate me getting dog hair in her astronomically priced Mercedes-Benz." Charles simply ignored everything she was saying and started pulling her along the freeway. "I'm not kidding, we really can't walk all the way there." She pulled on his leash. Charles started gnawing at the leash, he wasn't taking no for an answer.
"Need some help there?" a familiar voice called. Edward Cullen gave her a half smile from his flashy sports car. She wondered for a moment how much money the Cullens really had.
Caroline smiled briefly, pulling on the leash. "I think I've got it."
"Alice seems to have taken a liking to you."
"I seem to have taken a liking to Alice," Caroline shot back with a grin.
"Be careful heading that way." He motioned west with his head. "I'm sure Charlie told you of the attacks." His awkward and abrupt change in demeanor threw her off.
Caroline narrowed her eyes. "I think I've got it handled."
Edward chuckled as he watched Charles fight against her, now towards Edward instead. "Yeah, looks like you've got it. I'll see you around."
He pulled away without waiting for her goodbye, but she wasn't sure she was going to offer him one. She was beginning to feel suspicious of him and she couldn't determine why. Something about his demeanor seemed threatening to her. Dangerous. Not in a way that made her think he would hurt her, just in a way that convinced her he could. Easily.
After the Edward distraction, Charles was much more compliant and she managed to drag him home at a reasonable pace. The house was empty when she finally arrived but it felt less oppressive. She was in a better mood, a better head space really, and she had a cute dog with her.
But it wasn't enough make her forget. Her father died in the same woods the woman was mauled in. From the picture she saw, it could have easily been a wolf - or a pack of wolves. She finds herself spending the next couple of hours on the desktop computer in Charlie's office researching the wolves of La Push. They've never been accredited with any animal attacks - at least not officially. Most of the animal attacks are blamed on bears - some with more evidence than others. The police and local hunters had trapped a couple of bears in the time since the first attack and the most recent, but there was a pattern of behavior that Caroline couldn't seem to shake. Some of the attackers were never determined, adding themselves to Caroline's list of unanswered questions. Even if every attack was a lone bear, why would so many bears turn on people, it wasn't that bear attacks were unheard of, but so many in such a short period of time? It just seemed unlikely.
By the time Charlie comes home at 5 PM, Caroline isn't any closer to developing a solid theory. Just a few unhinged conspiracies, she thought bitterly. "Any plans tonight?" Charlie dropped onto the couch and flipped on the television to ESPN. Charles followed him in the living room and plopped down onto the carpet next to his feet.
"No," Caroline sighed, realizing that now more than ever she didn't like all of the alone time she was receiving, and had been receiving for the last month. "I got a job."
"Oh?"
"On the rez. At a bar. I start Friday."
"Really? Have you told your aunt?"
"No, but she probably already knows."
Charlie laughed at that. "Yeah, she probably does."
The conversation ended comfortably there and Caroline made her way upstairs. The rest of the week went by in a similar fashion. Emily called the house phone at least once a day, asking Caroline when she was coming to visit. And everyday Caroline told her "tomorrow". She was stalling, she knew. She liked hanging out with them, in fact she really liked hanging out with all of them, but there was something about them that didn't sit right with her either. They were all close and she felt almost like she was imposing on their time. Like they had things they wanted to say, jokes they wanted to make, even secrets they wanted to share that Caroline couldn't hear. Her natural curiosity pushed for her to find out but she needed time. Or rather, she thought they needed time to warm up to her. She made a good enough first impression, now she just hoped distance made the heart grow fonder.
By the time Friday rolled around, Caroline had finally committed to meeting up with everyone the following week. She didn't know if she would work all weekend but apparently Colin, Brady and Jake would be busy and it wouldn't be a good time for her to come anyways. Emily insisted she had to meet them but things were tense on the rez after the attack. Emily told her that the boys felt like it was their fault the hiker had gotten hurt, even though her injuries were relatively harmless. It struck Caroline as odd. What did they think they were going to do against a bear - or a pack of wolves? Emily just said it was another long story that Caroline could here but not today.
These "long stories" were starting to pile up and Caroline was growing restless without the explanations. But the more time that passed, the more certain Caroline was that she likely would never hear them and that didn't sit well with her.
Caroline didn't start work 8 that night and he didn't specify a time but she hadn't changed since her run and she was beginning to smell herself. Tonight, when she stood in front of her mirror she knew nothing had changed really but she felt fuller. Her skin felt softer and her eyes shone brighter. She was healing.
She settled on a pair of black jeggings and a white v-neck shirt to play it safe since she didn't have any information about this job other than it's location, the time she needed to be there, and that she had the job. She got there 15 minutes early and met her co-worker. She almost lost it when she saw who it was.
"Hey Sam." She stifled a laugh. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Don't get too excited, I'm covering for Paul. I usually work days but Stanley is going to be putting you on nights. He thinks a more feminine touch might help business."
"Paul doesn't flirt with the patrons?"
"Paul doesn't acknowledge the patrons." They both laugh at that. "Now, let's get you started. The usual crowd doesn't come in until around nine so we've got time to show you the ropes."
Sam and Caroline were never particularly close, mostly due to her constant poking fun at him and everything for that matter and his lack of ability to take jokes, but in a professional environment they thrived.
"If you don't know a drink," he said as muddled the mint in the mojito he was preparing, "just make it up. By the time anyone notices you'll be helping the next customer."
"Not a very high class bar, is it?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Have you seen this place?" Sam deadpanned. "Most people order beer anyways. Jimmy Buffett over here only drinks Mojitos." The door opened roughly and Sam motioned to the group of young men walking in. "You handle them. They'll probably tip better with you than with me."
"You got it boss," Caroline saluted him and if he saw it he ignored her. They all ordered domestic beers and didn't ask her too many questions, which she appreciated. She adopted a don't speak unless spoken to attitude. As the night went on the shift picked up and she found this place was more popular than Emily had let on. The crowd tended to ask for their usuals, which left Caroline feeling like a fish out of water. By the time Sam announced last call, she was starting to figure it out.
Caroline was wiping down the tables when Sam broke the comfortable silence. "Emily said you're coming over this week to meet the rest of the - group." He stuttered over the last word.
Caroline quirked an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything about it. "It seems I have two fans I just have to meet."
"I almost wish you wouldn't meet them," Sam confessed, which only made Caroline want to meet them sooner.
"Anything that will annoy you only brings me joy, Samantha." She winked and ignored his oddly realistic sounding growl.
They ended the night smoothly with a customary threat from Sam over his new nickname from her but it only egged her on. "Good night, Samantha! See you tomorrow!" She threw herself in Bella's car and started to back out before he could yell at her.
On the drive home she found she couldn't wipe the grin off of her face. That "group", as Sam had so eloquently put it, did have their secrets they weren't letting her in on, but she hoped they'd open up their tight knit group enough to throw her a bone.