Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1)(31)
Author: Charlaine Harris

"Sookie, I’m sorry," Sam said.

"Not your fault."

"Do you want to take some time off? We’re not so busy today."

"Nope. I’ll finish my shift." Charlsie Tooten was getting into the swing of things, but I wouldn’t feel good about leaving. It was Arlene’s day off.

We went back into the bar, and though several people looked at us curiously as we entered, no one asked us what had happened. There was only one couple sitting in my area, and they were busy eating and had glasses full of liquid, so they wouldn’t be needing me. I began putting up wine-glasses. Sam leaned against the workspace beside me.

"Is it true that Bill Compton is going to speak to the Descendants of the Glorious Dead tonight?"

"According to my grandmother."

"Are you going?"

"I hadn’t planned on it." I didn’t want to see Bill until he called me and made an appointment to see me.

Sam didn’t say anything else then, but later in the afternoon, as I was retrieving my purse from his office, he came in and fiddled with some papers on his desk. I’d pulled out my brush and was trying to get a tangle out of my ponytail. From the way Sam dithered around, it seemed apparent that he wanted to talk to me, and I felt a wave of exasperation at the indirection men seemed to take.

Like Andy Bellefleur. He could just have asked me about my disability, instead of playing games with me.

Like Bill. He could just have stated his intentions, instead of this strange hot-cold thing.

"So?" I said, more sharply than I’d intended.

He flushed under my gaze.

"I wondered if you’d like to go to the Descendants meeting with me and have a cup of coffee afterward."

I was flabbergasted. My brush stopped in midswoop. A number of things ran through my mind, the feel of his hand when I’d held it in front of Dawn Green’s duplex, the wall I’d met in his mind, the unwisdom of dating your boss.

"Sure," I said, after a notable pause.

He seemed to exhale. "Good. Then I’ll pick you up at your house at seven-twenty or so. The meeting starts at seven-thirty."

"Okay. I’ll see you then."

Afraid I’d do something peculiar if I stayed longer, I grabbed my purse and strode out to my car. I couldn’t decide whether to giggle with glee or groan at my own idiocy.

It was five-forty-five by the time I got home. Gran already had supper on the table since she had to leave early to carry refreshments to the Descendants meeting, which was held at the Community Building.

"Wonder if he could have come if we’d had it in the fellowship hall of Good Faith Baptist?" Gran said out of the blue. But I didn’t have a problem latching on to her train of thought.

"Oh, I think so," I said. "I think that idea about vampires being scared of religious items isn’t true. But I haven’t asked him."

"They do have a big cross hung up in there," Gran went on.

"I’ll be at the meeting after all," I said. "I’m going with Sam Merlotte."

"Your boss, Sam?" Gran was very surprised.

"Yes, ma’am."

"Hmmm. Well, well." Gran began smiling while she put the plates on the table. I was trying to think of what to wear while we ate our sandwiches and fruit salad. Gran was excited about the meeting, about listening to Bill and introducing him to her friends, and now she was in outer space somewhere (probably around Venus) since I actually had a date. With a human.

"We’ll be going out afterward," I said, "so I guess I’ll get home maybe an hour after the meeting’s over." There weren’t that many places to have coffee in Bon Temps. And those restaurants weren’t exactly places you’d want to linger.

"Okay, honey. You just take your time." Gran was already dressed, and after supper I helped her load up the cookie trays and the big coffee urn she’d bought for just such events. Gran had pulled her car around to the back door, which saved us a lot of steps. She was happy as she could be and fussed and chattered the whole time we were loading. This was her kind of night.

I shed my waitress clothes and got into the shower lickety-split. While I soaped up, I tried to think of what to wear. Nothing black and white, that was for sure; I had gotten pretty sick of the Merlotte’s waitress colors. I shaved my legs again, didn’t have time to wash my hair and dry it, but I’d done it the night before. I flung open my closet and stared. Sam had seen the white flowered dress. The denim jumper wasn’t nice enough for Gran’s friends. Finally I yanked out some khaki slacks and a bronze silk blouse with short sleeves. I had brown leather sandals and a brown leather belt that would look good. I hung a chain around my neck, stuck in some big gold earrings, and I was ready. As if he’d timed it, Sam rang the doorbell.

There was a moment of awkwardness as I opened the door.

"You’re welcome to come in, but I think we just have time – "

"I’d like to sit and visit, but I think we just have time – "

We both laughed.

I locked the door and pulled it to, and Sam hurried to open the door of his pickup. I was glad I’d worn pants, as I pictured trying to get up in the high cab in one of my shorter skirts.

"Need a boost?" he asked hopefully.

"I think I got it," I said, trying not to smile.

We were silent on the way to the Community Building, which was in the older part of Bon Temps; the part that predated the War. The structure was not antebellum, but there had actually been a building on that site that had gotten destroyed during the War, though no one seemed to have a record of what it had been.

The Descendants of the Glorious Dead were a mixed bunch. There were some very old, very fragile members, and some not quite so old and very lively members, and there were even a scattering of middle-aged men and women. But there were no young members, which Gran had often lamented, with many significant glances at me.

Mr. Sterling Norris, a longtime friend of my grandmother’s and the mayor of Bon Temps, was the greeter that night, and he stood at the door shaking hands and having a little conversation with everyone who entered.

"Miss Sookie, you look prettier every day," Mr. Norris said. "And Sam, we haven’t seen you in a coon’s age! Sookie, is it true this vampire is a friend of yours?"

"Yes, sir."

"Can you say for sure that we’re all safe?"

"Yes, I’m sure you are. He’s a very nice … person." Being? Entity? If you like the living dead, he’s pretty neat?

"If you say so," Mr. Norris said dubiously. "In my time, such a thing was just a fairy tale."

"Oh, Mr. Norris, it’s still your time," I said with the cheerful smile expected of me, and he laughed and motioned us on in, which was what was expected of him. Sam took my hand and sort of steered me to the next to last row of metal chairs, and I waved at my grandmother as we took our seats. It was just time for the meeting to start, and the room held maybe forty people, quite a gathering for Bon Temps. But Bill wasn’t there.