Chapter 1, Amber Bauer
I threw my dark red hair back behind me as I shut the door to my new rainy home in Forks. The gust of wind from closing out the inevitable rain sent strands of hair whipping around my pale face. I sighed and threw my last, now wet bag onto the floor amidst all the also wet boxes that reminded me of my former life. I had thrown away all the photos of my ex husband and I together. The mere thought of him made my stomach tighten. I ran my hand across the scar he had given me on my shoulder I shook the thought from my head as I walked into the kitchen of my new home.
I moved to Forks after my divorce, from Southern California, but you could never tell. My southern accent from my childhood in Georgia and my impossible to tan skin gave me the California appeal of a vampire. I started putting away boxes in the kitchen when I heard a car pull up out front. I stepped outside warily, hiding in the shadows of the porch. A small car was stopped in front of the house across the street, apparently home to a police officer judging by the squad car in the driveway. An exceptionally tall, tan man climbed out of the car, and the police officer answered the door. I watched as the tall man's shoulders slumped and he walked back to his car which I now identified as an old Volkswagen rabbit, mid-eighties, I guessed. The man looked in my direction, but I closed the door again quickly, my hair blowing into my face once again. I huffed out a breath before heading back into the kitchen.
The next morning, I started on the remodel that this incredibly cheap house needed. I started on the loose boards on the porch that kept tripping me the day before, trying to beat the rain that hadn't quite started yet. A soft mist blew through the air, but it was almost peaceful. I watched as the same little Rabbit pulled up across the street again, in front of the policeman's house. I ignored the tall tan man this time, nailing the new board down. I heard him knock on the door across the street, but I didn't suspect he would get an answer, because the cruiser was not in the driveway this morning. I looked up, then, and saw the tall man looking in my direction. I noted now, in the pale light of the clouded morning, that he was beautiful. His hair was midnight black and shaggy, in a disarray across his perfectly tan face. His eyes were almond shaped and a deep chocolate brown. He watched me with the strangest look on his face. I was jolted from my thoughts by a sharp pain in my finger. I had brought the hammer down without looking straight onto my middle finger. A parade of swear words escaped my lips from the pain. I sucked my finger into my mouth in the fashion of a sad child and sat back onto my bum from my kneeling position to pout. A warm brown hand covered mine, making me jump. I looked up into the same alluring deep brown eyes.
