I was working the early shift today. As I put on my makeup, I took out the cluviel dor and held it to my chest. Touching it seemed important, seemed to make it more vital. My skin warmed it quickly. Whatever lay at the heart of that smooth pale greenness seemed to quicken. I felt more alive, too. I took a deep, shaky breath and returned it to the drawer, again dusting it with powder to make it look like it had been there forever. I shut the drawer with something like regret.
My grandmother felt very close to me that day. I thought about her on the drive to work, during my prep work, and in odd moments as I fetched and carried. Andy Bellefleur was eating lunch with Sheriff Dearborn. I was a little surprised Andy wanted to sit down in Merlotte’s again after the invasion of two days before.
But my new favorite detective seemed happy enough to be there, joking with his boss and eating a salad with low-fat dressing. Andy was looking slimmer and younger these days. Married life and impending fatherhood agreed with him. I asked him how Halleigh was doing.
“She says her stomach’s huge, but it’s not,” he said with a smile. “I think she’s glad school’s out. She’s making curtains for the baby’s room.” Halleigh taught at the elementary school.
“Miss Caroline would be so proud,” I said. Andy’s grandmother, Caroline Bellefleur, had died just weeks before.
“I’m glad she knew before she passed,” he said. “Hey, did you know my sister’s pregnant, too?”
I tried not to look too astonished. Andy and Portia had had a double wedding in their grandmother’s garden, and though it hadn’t been a surprise to hear that Andy’s wife was pregnant, somehow the older Portia had never struck me as someone who’d welcome motherhood. I told Andy how glad I was, and that was the truth.
“Would you tell Bill?” Andy asked, a little shyly. “I still feel a little weird about calling him.”
My neighbor and former flame, Bill Compton, who happened to be a vampire, had finally told the Bellefleurs that he was their ancestor right before Miss Caroline died. Miss Caroline had reacted beautifully to the startling news, but it had been a little harder for Andy, who was both proud and not too fond of the undead. Portia had actually gone out with Bill a few times before he’d figured out the relationship — awkward, huh? She and her husband had sucked up their reservations about their newly acquired living ancestor, and they’d surprised me with their dignity in acknowledging Bill.
“I’m always glad to pass along good news, but he’d be glad to hear from you.”
“I, ah, I hear he’s got a vampire girlfriend?”
I made myself look cheerful. “Yeah, she’s been there for a few weeks,” I said. “I haven’t talked to him much about it.” Like, not ever.
“You’ve met her.”
“Yeah, she seems nice.” In fact, I’d been responsible for their reunion, but that wasn’t something I wanted to share. “If I see him, I’ll tell him for you, Andy. I know he’ll want to know when the baby’s born. Do you know what you and Halleigh are having?”
“It’s a girl,” he said, and his smile almost split his face in two. “We’re gonna name her Caroline Compton Bellefleur.”
“Oh, Andy! That’s so nice!” I was ridiculously pleased, because I knew Bill would be.
Andy looked embarrassed. I could tell he was relieved when his cell phone chirped.
“Hey, honey,” he said, having glanced at the caller number before he flipped his phone open. “What’s up?” He smiled as he listened. “Okay, I’ll bring you a milkshake,” he said. “See you in a few.”
Bud was coming back to the table, and Andy glanced at the check and slapped a ten down. “There’s my part,” he said. “Keep the change. Bud, I got to go run by the house. Halleigh needs me to put up the curtain rod in the baby’s room, and she’s dying for a butterscotch milkshake. I won’t be but ten minutes.” He grinned at us and was out the door.
Bud resumed his seat while he slowly got his own money out of his worn old wallet.
“Halleigh’s having one, Portia’s having one, Tara’s having two, I hear. Sookie, you need to get you one of those little ’uns,” he said, and took a drink. “Good iced tea.” He set his empty glass down with a little thump.
“I don’t need to have a baby just because other women are doing it,” I said. “I’ll have one when I’m ready.”
“Well, you ain’t having one at all if you keep dating that deader,” Bud said bluntly. “What do you think your gran would say?”
I took the money, turned on my heel, and walked away. I asked Danielle if she’d take Bud his change. I didn’t want to talk to Bud anymore.
Stupid, I know. I had to be thicker-skinned than that. And Bud had only spoken the truth. Of course, he had the perspective that all young women wanted to have children, and he was pointing out to me that I was on the wrong track. As if I didn’t know that! What would Gran have said?
I would have answered without a pause a few days ago. Now, I wasn’t so sure. There’d been so much I hadn’t known about her. But my best guess was that she would have told me to go with my heart. And I loved Eric. As I picked up a burger basket and took it to Maxine Fortenberry’s table (she was having lunch with Elmer Claire Vaudry), I found myself anticipating the moment of dark when he would wake. I looked forward to seeing him with a kind of desperation. I needed the reassurance of his presence, the assurance that he loved me, too, the passionate connection we felt when we touched each other.
As I waited for an order at the hatch, I watched Sam pull a draft. I wondered if he felt the same way about Jannalynn as I felt about Eric. He’d dated her longer than he’d dated anyone since I’d known him. Maybe I figured he was more serious because he was arranging for nights off so he could see her more often, something he’d never done before. Sam smiled at me when his eyes caught mine. It was sure nice to see him happy.
Though Jannalynn was not good enough for him.
I almost clapped a hand over my mouth. I felt as guilty as though I’d said that out loud. Their relationship wasn’t any of my business, I told myself sternly. But a softer voice inside me said that Sam was my friend and that Jannalynn was too ruthless and violent to make him happy in the long run.
Jannalynn had killed people, but I had, too. Maybe I judged her as violent because she sometimes seemed to enjoy the killing. The idea that I might be like Jannalynn at heart — how many people did I want dead? — was another downer. Surely the day had to get better?
Pretty much always a fatal thought.
Sandra Pelt strode into the bar. It had been a long time since I’d seen her — and she’d been trying to kill me then, too. She’d been a teenager then, and she still had yet to turn twenty, I figured; but she looked a little older, her body more mature, and she had a cute shag hairdo that contrasted oddly with the snarl on her face. She brought with her an aura of rage. Though her slim body was appropriately dressed in jeans and a tank top, a loose shirt open and flapping, you could see the crazy in her face. She enjoyed dealing out the damage. You couldn’t see into her head and miss that. Her movements were jerky with tension, and her eyes roved from one person to another until they found mine. They lit up like Fourth of July fireworks. I could see right inside her brain, and I saw she had a gun tucked in the back of her jeans.
“Uh-oh,” I said, very quietly.
“What more do I have to do?” Sandra screamed.
Conversations all over the bar dwindled to silence. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sam reach down under the bar. He wouldn’t make it in time.
“I try to burn you up, and the fire goes out.” She was still at full volume. “I give those jerks free drugs and sex, and send them to grab you, and they bungle it. I try your house, and the magic won’t let me enter. I’ve tried to kill you over and over, and you just won’t die!”