Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11)(53)
Author: Charlaine Harris

Also, there was the summit meeting here at the house. "Dermot, is there any friend you can hang around with tonight?" I asked cautiously. "Eric, Pam, and two humans are coming over after I get off work. We’re kind of a planning committee, and we have some work to do. You know how it is with you and vampires."

"I don’t have to go anywhere with other people," Dermot said, surprised. "I can be in the woods. That’s a happy place for me. The night sky is as good as the day sky, as far as I’m concerned."

I thought about Bubba. "It’s possible Eric may have stationed a vampire in the woods to watch the house at night," I explained. "So could you be in some other woods kind of away from here?" I felt awful about putting so many strictures on him, but he was the one who’d wanted to stay.

"I suppose so," he said, in the voice of one trying hard to be tolerant and helpful. "I love this house," he added. "There’s something amazingly homelike about it."

And seeing him smile as he looked around the old place, I was more than ever sure that the unseen presence of the cluviel dor was the reason my two fairy kinsmen had come to stay with me, rather than my own little dash of fairy blood. I was willing to concede that Claude believed that my fairy blood was the attraction. Though I knew he had a mellower side, I was also sure that if he realized I held a valuable fairy artifact, one that could grant his most ardent wish–to be allowed passage into Faery–he’d tear the house apart looking for it. I felt instinctively that I would not like to stand between Claude and the cluviel dor. And though I sensed something warmer and more genuine in Dermot, I wasn’t about to confide in him.

"I’m glad you’re happy here," I said to my great-uncle. "And good luck with the attic project." I didn’t actually need another bedroom up there now that Claude was gone, but I’d made a snap decision to keep Dermot on task. "If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get ready for work. You can sand away on the floor." He’d told me that would be his starting point. I had no idea if that was the right order or not, but I was content to leave it to him. After all, considering the state of the attic before he and Claude had helped me clean it out, any work he did would be an improvement. I did check to make sure Dermot had a face mask to wear while he used the sander. I knew that much from home improvement shows.

Jason dropped by on his lunch break while I was putting on my makeup. I came out of my room to find him surveying all of Dermot’s Home Depot loot. "What you doing?" he asked his near twin. Jason obviously had very mixed feelings about Dermot, but I’d observed that he was much more relaxed around our great-uncle when Claude wasn’t there. Interesting. They clattered up the stairs together to look at the empty attic, Dermot talking all the way.

Though I was running seriously late, I fixed Jason and Dermot some sandwiches, putting the plate on the kitchen table with two glasses of ice and two Cokes while I hurried into my Merlotte’s uniform. When I emerged, they were at the table having a lively conversation. I hadn’t had enough sleep, I’d had to sweep my house clean of visitors, and I hadn’t gotten very far with Mustapha or his buddy. But seeing Jason and Dermot chattering away about grout, spray painters, and weatherproof windows somehow made me feel that the world was on some kind of even keel.

Chapter 11

Because Merlotte’s was almost empty, my lateness wasn’t an issue. In fact, Sam was so preoccupied I wasn’t sure he noticed. His abstraction made me feel a little better. I’d wondered if Jannalynn had spun Sam some kind of tale to cover her malice, in case I complained to him about her shoving another man into my bed. Sam didn’t seem to have any idea that Jannalynn had done her best to embarrass me by advising her boss to play peek-a-boo with my bedsheets.

Though it was easy to be angry at Jannalynn because I didn’t like her, when I thought about it, Alcide should have known better than to take such bad advice. If Alcide had been stupid for giving her idea credence, Jannalynn had been mean for thinking of it in the first place. I understood now that we were enemies. It was my day for unpleasant realizations.

Sam was absorbed in going over the books. When I discerned from his thoughts that he was trying to figure out how he could manage to pay his bill with our beer distributor, I decided that today he had more problems than he could handle. He didn’t need to hear that his girlfriend had embarrassed me.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was between Jannalynn and me, no matter how tempted I might be to inform Sam about his girlfriend’s true character. I felt like a smarter and better person after getting my head straight on that, and I hustled food and drinks with a smile and a pleasant word the whole shift. I had some good tip money in consequence.

I worked late to make up my time, and that was okay because Holly was late in turn. It was after six when I went into the office to fetch my purse. Sam was slumped at his desk, looking pretty bleak. "You need to talk about something?" I offered.

"With you? I figure you already know whatever I’m thinking about," he said, but not as if that bothered him. "The bar’s in a slump, Sook. This is the worst patch I’ve ever been through."

I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t be completely stale or practically untrue. Something always turns up. It always seems darkest before the dawn. When God closes a door, he opens a window All things happen for a reason. Into every life a little rain must fall. What doesn’t

. kill us makes us stronger. In the end, I just bent and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You call me if you need me," I said, and went out to the car feeling troubled. I put my subconscious to work on a plan to help Sam.

I loved summer, but sometimes I hated daylight saving time. Though I’d worked late and was going home, it was still glaring sunlight and would be for maybe another hour and a half. Even after darkfall, when Eric and Pam could come to the house, we’d still have to wait for Colton to get off work.

As I got into my car, I noticed there was a chance it would be dark earlier than usual. An ominous mass of dark clouds seethed to the west . . . really dark clouds, moving fast. The day would not end as beautifully and brightly as it had begun. I’d just been remembering my gran saying, "Into every life a little rain must fall." I wondered if I’d been prophetic.

I’m not scared of storms. Jason once had a dog that’d dashed upstairs to hide under Jason’s bed every time he heard a crack of thunder. I smiled at the memory. My grandmother hadn’t approved of dogs in the house, but she hadn’t been able to keep Rocky out. He’d always found a way when the weather turned bad, though that way had less to do with the dog’s cleverness than with Jason’s soft heart. That was one good thing about my brother; he’d always been kind to animals. And now he is one, I thought. At least once a month. I didn’t know what to think about that. While I’d been looking up at the sky, the clouds had been moving in closer, and I needed to get home and make sure my departed guests had left all the windows closed.