Deadlocked

I went back to talk to Ms. Osiecki after taking a deep breath.

A woman of about thirty stood up from her broad desk. She had well-cut short red-streaked brown hair, blue eyes, and brown glasses. She was wearing a nice white blouse and a wildly flowered skirt and high-heeled sandals. She was smiling.

"I'm Beth Osiecki," she said, in case I'd gotten lost between the reception area and her office.

"Sookie Stackhouse," I said, shaking the outstretched hand.

She glanced down at the pad, and I could see she was going over the notes she'd scribbled the day before when I'd called her. She looked over at the big Scenic Louisiana poster by her desk. "Well," she said, shooting me a quizzical look. "It really is a special day for you, isn't it? It's your birthday, and you're going to make your will."

I felt a little strange after I left the lawyers' office. I guess there's nothing to make you think about your own demise like making your will. It's also a literally do-or-die moment. When your will is read, it will be the last time people will hear your voice: the last expression of your will and your wishes, the last statement from your heart. It had been a strangely revelatory hour.

Beth Osiecki was going to put everything in legalese, and I had to come in day after tomorrow and sign it. Just in case, I told her, I'd like to sign a list of the points I'd made. The list was in my own handwriting. I asked her if that would make it legal.

"Sure," she'd said. She'd smiled. I could tell that she was adding to her meager store of "strange client" stories, and that was okay with me.

When I left Beth Osiecki's office, I was pretty proud of myself. I'd made a will.

I couldn't quite figure out what to do next. It was three in the afternoon. I'd had a late breakfast, and a full lunch was out of the question. I didn't need to go to the library; I had several library books I hadn't read yet. I could go home and sunbathe, which was always a pleasant pastime, but then I'd sweat all over my good makeup and my clean hair. I was in danger of doing that now, standing here on the sidewalk. The sun was glaring down ferociously. I figured it was at least a hundred degrees. My cell phone rang as I hesitated to touch the handle of my car door.

"Hello?" I fished a tissue out of my purse and used it to cover my fingers as I opened the door. The heat rolled out.

"Sookie? How are you?"

"Quinn?" I couldn't believe it. "I'm so glad to hear from you."

"Happy birthday," he said.

I could feel my lips curve up in an involuntary smile. "You remembered!" I said. "Thanks!" I was absurdly pleased. I hadn't exactly thought Tara would be thinking about my birthday, since she'd just brought twins home from the hospital, but maybe I'd been a tiny bit flattened when she hadn't mentioned it this morning.

"Hey, a birthday is an important day," the weretiger said. I hadn't seen him since Sam's brother's wedding. It was good to hear his deep voice.

"How are you?" I hesitated for a moment before adding, "How's Tijgerin?" The last time I'd seen Quinn, he'd just met the beautiful and single and one-of-the-last-of-her-kind weretigress. I don't think I have to draw you a picture.

"I'm ... ah ... going to be a father."

Wow. "Way to go!" I said. "So you guys have moved in together? Where are you living?"

"That's not exactly the way we do it, Sookie."

"Um. Okay. What's the tiger procedure?"

"Tiger men don't bring up their young. Only the tiger mom."

"Gosh, that seems kind of old-fashioned." And kind of wrong.

"To me, too. But Tij's real traditional. She says that when she has the baby, she'll go into hiding until he's weaned. Her mom told her that if it's a boy I might see him as a threat." I couldn't read Quinn's mind over the phone, but he sounded plenty exasperated and not a little resentful.

As far as I knew-and I'd done a little reading on tigers when I was Quinn's girlfriend-only males who were not the actual dads were apt to kill tiger cubs. But since this was totally none of my business, I choked back the indignation I felt on Quinn's behalf. At least, I tried to.

So she'd used him to get pregnant with a weretiger baby and now she didn't want to see him anymore?

I told myself sternly, Not my battle. (Werewolves were much more modern in their thinking. Even werepanthers!)

Since my silence had lasted too long, I leaped in with both feet. "Well, I'm so happy that you'll have a cub, since there aren't many of you-all left. I guess your mama and your sister are excited?"

"Uh ... well, my mom is pretty sick. She brightened up a lot when I told her, but it was just temporary. She's back in that nursing home. Frannie found a guy, and she took off with him last month. I'm not really sure where she is."

"Quinn, that's so tough. I'm really sorry."

"But I'm raining on your birthday, and I didn't mean to. I really did call you to tell you to have a great day, Sookie. No one deserves it more." He hesitated, and I could tell there were more words that he wanted to say. "Maybe you could call me sometime?" he asked. "Tell me what you ended up doing to celebrate?"

I tried to do some concentrated thinking in a very short time, but I just wasn't up to figuring out all the cracks and crevices in this tentative overture. "Maybe," I said. "I hope I do something worth talking about. So far, all I've done is make my will."

There was a long moment of silence. "You're kidding," he said.

"You know I'm not."

There was a serious silence.

"You need me to come?"

"Oh, gosh, no," I said, putting a smile in my voice. "I've got the house, the car, a little money saved up. It just seemed like time." I hoped I wasn't lying. "Well, I gotta go, Quinn. I'm so glad you called. It made the day special for me." I snapped the phone shut and dropped it into my purse.

I got in the slightly less-hot car and tried to think of somewhere fun to go, something fun to do. I'd picked up the newspaper and checked my mailbox on my way to town, and hadn't pulled out anything but my auto insurance bill and a Wal-Mart ad leaflet.

I decided I was just hungry enough to treat myself to something special. I went to Dairy Queen and got an Oreo Blizzard. I ate it inside since it was way too hot to sit in the car. I said hello to a couple of people and had a brief chat with India, who came in with one of her little nieces in tow.

My cell phone rang again. Sam. "Sook," he said, "can you come by the bar? We're short a case of Heineken and two of Michelob, and I need to know what happened." He sounded pretty snappish. Damn.

"It's my day off."

"Hey, you pretty much bought into the business. You gotta pull your share of the weight."

I mouthed a very bad word at the phone. "Okay," I said, sounding just as irritated as I felt. "I'm coming. But I'm not staying."

I strode through the employee entrance as if I were on my way into a bullfight ring. The hell we were short three cases of beer. "Sam," I called, "you in your office?"

"Yeah, come here," he called back. "I think I found the problem."

I flung open his office door and everybody in the world shrieked in my face. "Oh my God!" I said, shocked to the core.

After a throbbing moment, I understood that I was having a surprise birthday party.

JB was there, and Terry and his girlfriend, Jimmie. Sam, Hoyt and Holly, Jason and Michele, Halleigh Bellefleur, Danny and Kennedy. Even Jane Bodehouse.

"Tara had to stay with the babies," JB said, handing me a little package.

Terry said, "We thought about giving you a puppy, but Jimmie said we better check with you first." Jimmie winked at me over his shoulder.

Sam held me so tight I thought I'd quit breathing, and I thumped him on his shoulder. "You creep," I said in his ear. "Missing cases of beer! I like that!"

"You should have heard your voice," he said, laughing. "Jannalynn said to tell you she was sorry she couldn't make it. She had to open at Hair of the Dog."

Sure, I believed she was really unhappy at not being here. I turned away so Sam wouldn't see my face.

Halleigh apologized for Andy's absence, too; he was on duty. Danny and Kennedy gave me a kind of group hug, and Jane Bodehouse gave me a highly alcoholic kiss on the cheek. Michele held my hand for a moment and said, "I hope you have a wonderful year this year. Will you be my bridesmaid?" I grinned wide enough to split my face and told her I'd be proud to stand up with her. Jason wrapped one arm around me and handed me a beribboned box.

"I didn't expect presents. I'm too old for a present party," I protested.

"Never too old for presents," Sam said.

My eyes were so full of tears I had a hard time unwrapping Jason's gift. He'd given me a bracelet my grandmother used to wear, a little gold chain with pearls set at intervals. I was shocked to see it. "Where was this?" I asked.

"I was cleaning the pie-crust table I got out of the attic, and it was pushed way in the back of that shallow drawer, caught on a splinter," he said. "All I could think of was Gran, and I knew you'd wear it."

I let the tears run out, then. "That's the sweetest thing," I said. "The nicest thing you've ever done."

"Here," said Jane, as eagerly as a child. She put a little gift bag in my hand. I smiled and dug my hand in. Jane had given me five "get a free car wash" coupons from the place her son worked. I was able to thank her sincerely. "I'll use every one," I promised her.

Hoyt and Holly had gotten me a bottle of wine, Danny and Kennedy had gotten me an electric knife sharpener, and JB and Tara had regifted me with one of the five slow cookers they'd gotten when they got married. I was glad to get it.

Sam handed me a heavy envelope. "You open that later," he said gruffly. I gave him a narrow-eyed look. "All right," I said. "If that's what you want."

"Yeah," he said. "It's what I want."

Halleigh had made her version of Caroline Bellefleur's chocolate cake, and I cut it so everyone could have a piece, Dairy Queen Blizzard be damned. It was marvelous. "I think that's better than Miss Caroline's," I said, which was close to heresy in Bon Temps.

"I put a pinch of cinnamon in," she whispered.

After the party I went out the front to get birthday hugs from India, now on duty, and Danielle, who was working in my place.

Halleigh wanted me to come over to her house to see the nursery, which was completely ready for its expected occupant. I was so glad to be with a happy person who had no agenda. The visit was a real treat.

After that, I had a quick supper with my grandmother's friend. Maxine, Hoyt's mom, had been a couple of decades younger than Gran, but they'd been tight. Maxine was so happy about Hoyt's wedding that I was feeling really cheerful after this visit; plus, Maxine had told me some funny stories about Gran. It was nice to remember that side of Gran, the familiar side, instead of thinking of her affair with Fintan. Dang, that had knocked me for a loop. Thanks to Maxine, I had a nice hour remembering the Gran I'd always thought I knew.

It grew dark as I drove home. Today was so much better than yesterday. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have such good friends. The warm night seemed benevolent instead of scorching. I had a good time singing along with the radio since there was no one to hear my awful voice.

I'd hoped to at least get some phone messages from my vampire friends-of course, I'd been hoping to hear from Eric most of all. But my cell phone didn't chirp on the drive back to my place. I stopped briefly at the end of the driveway to collect my local newspaper, and then I drove up to the house.

It wasn't a total surprise-but it was a total relief-to find that they were waiting for me. Pam's car was parked at the back of the house, and Bill, Eric, and Pam were sitting in lawn chairs in my backyard. Pam was wearing a low-cut flowered T-shirt and white cropped pants as a nod to the season-not that the temperature made any difference to her. Her high cork sandals were a great finishing touch.

"Hi, you-all!" I said, gathering all my gifts up out of the backseat. I gave Pam a special nod to acknowledge her ensemble. "What's up at Fangtasia?"

"We came to wish you a happy day," Eric said. "And I suppose, as usual, Bill will want to express his undying love that surpasses my love, as he'll tell you-and Pam will want to say something sarcastic and nearly painful, while reminding you that she loves you, too."

Bill and Pam looked decidedly miffed at Eric's preemptive strike, but I wasn't going to let anything dim my mood.

"And what about you, Eric?" I asked on counterattack. "Are you going to tell me that you love me just as much as Bill, but in a practical way, while finding some way to subtly threaten me and simultaneously remind me that you may be leaving with Freyda?" I bared my teeth at him in a ferocious smile as I trotted by the trio on my way up my back steps. I unlocked the screen door, crossed the porch, unlocked the kitchen door, and went inside with my armful.

After dumping the presents on the kitchen table, I stepped back out onto the porch and opened the screen door. "Any of you have anything new to say?" I looked from one to the other. "Or shall I just consider all this as said?" Pam was looking away to hide her grin.

"Just that he was right," Bill said, smiling openly. "I do love you more than Eric does. Have a great night, Sookie. Here is a gift for you." He held out a little box with a bow on it, and I extended my arm to take it.