“I’ll have to. I’ve already got Terry scheduled to work for me that night.”
“What do you tell him?”
“I tell him I have a date. He hasn’t looked at the calendar to figure out that every time I ask him to work, it’s a full moon.”
“That’s something. Did the police come back any more about Lafayette?”
“No.” Sam shook his head. “And I hired a friend of Lafayette’s, Khan.”
“As in Sher Khan?”
“As in Chaka Khan.”
“Okay, but can he cook?”
“He’s been fired from the Shrimp Boat.”
“What for?”
“Artistic temperament, I gather.” Sam’s voice was dry.
“Won’t need much of that around here,” I observed, my hand on the doorknob. I was glad Sam and I had had a conversation, just to ease down from our tense and unprecedented situation. We had never embraced each other at work. In fact, we’d only kissed once, when Sam brought me home after our single date months before. Sam was my boss, and starting something with your bossis always a bad idea. Starting something with your boss when your boyfriend is a vampire is another bad idea, possibly a fatal idea. Sam needed to find a woman. Quickly.
When I’m nervous, I smile. I was beaming when I said, “Back to work,” and stepped through the door, shutting it behind me. I had a muddle of feelings about everything that had happened in Sam’s office, but I pushed it all away, and prepared to hustle some drinks.
There was nothing unusual about the crowd that night in Merlotte’s. My brother’s friend Hoyt Fortenberry was drinking with some of his cronies. Kevin Prior, whom I was more accustomed to seeing in uniform, was sitting with Hoyt, but Kevin was not having a happy evening. He looked as though he’d rather be in his patrol car with his partner, Kenya. My brother, Jason, came in with his more and more frequent arm decoration, Liz Barrett. Liz always acted glad to see me, but she never tried to ingratiate herself, which earned her high points in my book. My grandmother would have been glad to know Jason was dating Liz so often. Jason had played the scene for years, until the scene was pretty darned tired of Jason. After all, there is a finite pool of women in Bon Temps and its surrounding area, and Jason had fished that pool for years. He needed to restock.
Besides, Liz seemed willing to ignore Jason’s little brushes with the law.
“Baby sis!” he said in greeting. “Bring me and Liz a Seven-and-Seven apiece, would you?”
“Glad to,” I said, smiling. Carried away on a wave of optimism, I listened in to Liz for a moment; she was hoping that very soon Jason would pop the question. The sooner the better, she thought, because she was pretty sure she was pregnant.
Good thing I’ve had years of concealing what I was thinking. I brought them each a drink, carefully shieldingmyself from any other stray thoughts I might catch, and tried to think what I should do. That’s one of the worst things about being telepathic; things people are thinking, not talking about, are things other people (like me) really don’t want to know. Or shouldn’t want to know. I’ve heard enough secrets to choke a camel, and believe me, not a one of them was to my advantage in any way.
If Liz was pregnant, the last thing she needed was a drink, no matter who the baby’s daddy was.
I watched her carefully, and she took a tiny sip from her glass. She wrapped her hand around it to partially hide it from public view. She and Jason chatted for a minute, then Hoyt called out to him, and Jason swung around on the bar stool to face his high school buddy. Liz stared down at her drink, as if she’d really like to gulp it in one swallow. I handed her a similar glass of plain 7UP and whisked the mived drink away.
Liz’s big round brown eyes gazed up at me in astonishment. “Not for you,” I said very quietly. Liz’s olive complexion turned as white as it could. “You have good sense,” I said. I was struggling to explain why I’d
“What do you tell him?”
“I tell him I have a date. He hasn’t looked at the calendar to figure out that every time I ask him to work, it’s a full moon.”
“That’s something. Did the police come back any more about Lafayette?”
“No.” Sam shook his head. “And I hired a friend of Lafayette’s, Khan.”
“As in Sher Khan?”
“As in Chaka Khan.”
“Okay, but can he cook?”
“He’s been fired from the Shrimp Boat.”
“What for?”
“Artistic temperament, I gather.” Sam’s voice was dry.
“Won’t need much of that around here,” I observed, my hand on the doorknob. I was glad Sam and I had had a conversation, just to ease down from our tense and unprecedented situation. We had never embraced each other at work. In fact, we’d only kissed once, when Sam brought me home after our single date months before. Sam was my boss, and starting something with your bossis always a bad idea. Starting something with your boss when your boyfriend is a vampire is another bad idea, possibly a fatal idea. Sam needed to find a woman. Quickly.
When I’m nervous, I smile. I was beaming when I said, “Back to work,” and stepped through the door, shutting it behind me. I had a muddle of feelings about everything that had happened in Sam’s office, but I pushed it all away, and prepared to hustle some drinks.
There was nothing unusual about the crowd that night in Merlotte’s. My brother’s friend Hoyt Fortenberry was drinking with some of his cronies. Kevin Prior, whom I was more accustomed to seeing in uniform, was sitting with Hoyt, but Kevin was not having a happy evening. He looked as though he’d rather be in his patrol car with his partner, Kenya. My brother, Jason, came in with his more and more frequent arm decoration, Liz Barrett. Liz always acted glad to see me, but she never tried to ingratiate herself, which earned her high points in my book. My grandmother would have been glad to know Jason was dating Liz so often. Jason had played the scene for years, until the scene was pretty darned tired of Jason. After all, there is a finite pool of women in Bon Temps and its surrounding area, and Jason had fished that pool for years. He needed to restock.
Besides, Liz seemed willing to ignore Jason’s little brushes with the law.
“Baby sis!” he said in greeting. “Bring me and Liz a Seven-and-Seven apiece, would you?”
“Glad to,” I said, smiling. Carried away on a wave of optimism, I listened in to Liz for a moment; she was hoping that very soon Jason would pop the question. The sooner the better, she thought, because she was pretty sure she was pregnant.
Good thing I’ve had years of concealing what I was thinking. I brought them each a drink, carefully shieldingmyself from any other stray thoughts I might catch, and tried to think what I should do. That’s one of the worst things about being telepathic; things people are thinking, not talking about, are things other people (like me) really don’t want to know. Or shouldn’t want to know. I’ve heard enough secrets to choke a camel, and believe me, not a one of them was to my advantage in any way.
If Liz was pregnant, the last thing she needed was a drink, no matter who the baby’s daddy was.
I watched her carefully, and she took a tiny sip from her glass. She wrapped her hand around it to partially hide it from public view. She and Jason chatted for a minute, then Hoyt called out to him, and Jason swung around on the bar stool to face his high school buddy. Liz stared down at her drink, as if she’d really like to gulp it in one swallow. I handed her a similar glass of plain 7UP and whisked the mived drink away.
Liz’s big round brown eyes gazed up at me in astonishment. “Not for you,” I said very quietly. Liz’s olive complexion turned as white as it could. “You have good sense,” I said. I was struggling to explain why I’d
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