“I almost did,” I confessed.
“Sook,” he said seriously, “I appreciate your caring about my family so much.”
“But it’s not my family or my business, and I should back off and let you handle it? I know,” I said, turning away and brushing my hair forcefully.
“I was going to say I’m glad I brought you.” Pause. “Jannalynn’s got her good points, or I wouldn’t be going out with her—but she has no restraint, and she’d have gone batshit crazy this morning. The good thing about Jannalynn is that she’s fully into her animal nature, and the bad thing is, it seems like she likes it more.”
Without revealing how close I had come to going batshit crazy myself, I turned to face him, brush in hand. “I get what you’re saying. Eric loves being a vampire. He loves it more than anything.” Maybe more than he loves me, I thought, surprising myself. “You remember that black Focus we thought might be following us? Well, it was Quinn. Trish and Togo are his local contacts. He came here to talk to me.”
Sam said, “Didn’t you tell me that Eric had banned Quinn from Area Five?”
“Yeah, but he found out I was coming here from some kind of website. Isn’t that crazy? Quinn flew from wherever he was working, and he got Togo and Trish to pick him up at the airport and bring him here.”
“You and he . . .”
“Yeah, we had a thing, but I kind of told him to take a hike—I didn’t put it that mean—because his family is . . . well, complicated. His mom’s not really sane, and his little sister is a real piece of work, though I guess I never really had a chance to get to know her. I didn’t break up with him well,” I admitted. “He wants to have some kind of conversation about it. I sure don’t need that, though I guess I owe him. I just don’t understand how my being here got on the Internet.”
Sam looked embarrassed. “That might be my fault,” he said. “We keep track of each other now, all of us who change. Since the announcement, we never know what people are going to do. Humans don’t always react in predictable ways. You know that better than anyone.”
“So you put it on the Web that you and I were coming here to this wedding?”
“No! No! But I did mention it when I was talking to Travis.” Travis, a trucker who was a Were not affiliated with a pack, stopped in at Merlotte’s about once every two weeks.
“But why would you have mentioned me?”
Sam closed his eyes briefly. “You’re kind of famous in the supe community, Sookie.”
“What?” This made no sense at all.
“You’re unique. Weres like something different as much as anyone else. You’re a friend of the Shreveport pack. You’ve done a lot for twoeys.”
“Okay, several thoughts. I haven’t seen a computer around here, or I’d ask you to check Jim Collins’s website. I want to know what he’s saying about what’s happening in Wright. And here’s my second thought—I’ve been assuming that Jannalynn knows I came with you . . . right?”
“Sookie, of course Jannalynn knows I brought you to this wedding. I explained that I’d asked you before we’d started dating.” Sam looked even more embarrassed, which I didn’t think was possible. He’d already more or less admitted that that wasn’t the only reason he’d left Jannalynn at home.
Plus, Jannalynn would realize that anyone who saw on the Web that I was going with Sam to his family home would know that she was not the only woman in Sam’s life. Even though Sam and I had a platonic relationship, I knew I would have been pretty jealous if I’d been in her shoes. Or on her paws.
“Jannalynn’s going to want to kill you,” I said flatly. “Or me. And I guess I wouldn’t really blame her.”
Sam flushed, but his gaze was unwavering. “She’s a big girl. She knows better than anyone else that . . .”
“That you’ve lost your frickin’ mind? Well, it’s done now.” I sighed and regrouped, realizing that worrying about Sam’s indiscretion would have to wait until later. We needed to focus on getting Craig and Deidra married without any violence disrupting the ceremony.
“Have you thought about how Quinn and Togo and Trish can be useful? I’ve got Quinn’s cell phone number. They’re probably at the pound . . . cleaning up. Of course, I’ll help however I can.” I handed Sam the scrap of paper with Quinn’s number.
“What I’m going to ask them to do,” Sam said, “is stand guard. When we get to the church for the rehearsal, I hope you four will set up a perimeter outside. That way we’ll have plenty of warning if Collins and his buddies try something. The time of the rehearsal isn’t public knowledge, not like the wedding time. That was in the paper because the whole community was invited.”
That was a common practice in Bon Temps, too, so I wasn’t surprised. Many engagement announcements included the particulars of the marriage ceremony with the invitation, “All friends of the couple are welcome.”
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll be a lookout.” I’d feel better standing watch with a shotgun in my hands, but I figured that if I had the Benelli, (a) I might actually shoot someone, and (b) I might get arrested. I didn’t know Texas gun laws, and there was no telling how stringently they’d be enforced on a local level.
“You look too pretty to be standing out in the churchyard. I’m sorry,” Sam said, shaking his head. “This isn’t how I thought we’d be spending this time.”
“Sam, it’s not your fault. I’m glad I can help out. I only regret it’s necessary.” There was a chance that planting the sign and killing the dogs was the end of the protest against the marriage. But that was a remote possibility.
“I’m sorry you had to see the dogs; I guess . . . Well, that’s just sad. No one should have to see something like that.” Sam stared down at his feet.
“I agree,” I said, my voice as steady as I could manage.
From the flurry of voices in the living room, I could tell that Doke and Mindy and the kids had arrived. Sam and I went out to join them. We told them all the news. After some quiet discussion, they decided they’d stay at the house with the kids until it was time for the wedding. Mindy said, “All we’d do at the rehearsal is find out when to come down the aisle and sit in a pew, and I think Doke and I can manage that, right?” They were worried about Mason and Bonnie, and I didn’t blame them.
When it was time to leave the house, I walked out with the others to find that a car was parked in front that didn’t belong to anyone in the family.
“Hey,” called a short brunette who was leaning on the hood of the Saturn. She straightened and came forward to hug Sam.
“Hey, yourself,” he said, and hugged her back.
“That’s Sister Mendoza,” Craig explained. “They’ve been friends a long time.” Craig was afraid I’d get mad at Sam touching another woman.
“She’s a nun?”
“What?” Craig stared for a second. “Oh. Oh, no! Sister is her name.” He laughed. “She and Sam have been friends ever since we moved here. She’s a deputy at the sheriff’s department.”
“Why is she here?”
“I have no idea. Hey, Sister! Did you come because of that parking ticket I forgot to pay?”
“Hell, no,” Sister Mendoza said, letting go of Sam. “I come here to be a watchman. Me and Rafe.” A short, thick-bodied man got out of the car. He was as pale-haired as Sister was brunette.
“Rafe played football with Sam,” Craig told me, but I think I would have figured it out by the way they were thumping each other.
Sam beckoned me over. “Sookie, these are some old friends of mine, Sister and Rafe,” he said. “You two, you be nice to this woman.” Sam was in no doubt that they would be. His brain was practically rolling with pleasure at seeing his old buddies.
The two friends gave me a quick once-over, seemed okay with what they saw. Rafe gave Sam a fist to the shoulder. “She’s way too pretty for you, you old dog,” Rafe said, and they laughed together.