Chapter 5

 Lessons

               Morning came round in a blink.  I staggered into the kitchen, nearly weeping when I caught sight of the full coffee pot.  I was on cup three before my brain fired, and even then I almost put the milk in the cabinet with the cereal box.

 “You alright this morning, Sookie?” Gran asked, giving me a funny look.  She had come in just as I was taking the milk out of the cabinet.

“Sure,” I said sheepishly.  “Just sleepy, is all.”

I probably deserved a lecture, but Gran was too used to Jason.  More to the point, she was so thrilled I’d actually had a night out, she probably wouldn’t even have batted an eyelash if I flashed some risqué ink.

“Well, you just drink that coffee on up and I’ll brew you a fresh pot.”

She dropped a passing kiss on my forehead just as I was yawning out my thanks.  How in the world did Jason manage to keep a regular job considering his overactive nightlife?  His boss, Catfish Hennessey, wasn’t known for putting up with much.  I guess I hadn’t inherited Jason’s stamina.  Just as soon as I thought that, I imagined Eric putting me to the test, and I nearly dropped the creamer.

How about that? I mused.  It seemed Eric Northman was intent on becoming a round-the-clock part of my life, despite the daylight restrictions.  First as Hadley’s boss, and now mine, and he obviously had strong hopes in the romance department.  I had to talk to Gran about all this.

I watched her putt around making coffee and thought hard about what to say.  There was a lot.  Hadley first off, but somehow explaining about my new job seemed easier.  If Gran could see that vampires were regular enough, it might soften the news of Hadley being a vampire.  As she settled down at the table and picked up her novel, I read the title and got a quick slap of Fate.

It was an Anita Blake vampire hunter novel.  I’d read a book or two in the series, and when Anita wasn’t slaughtering the vampires, she was, uh, loving them.  I wondered which visceral part appealed to Gran the most.

Only one way to find out.

               “Hey Gran, can I talk to you ‘bout something?” I asked in my sweetest voice, and Gran looked up from her paperback.

               “Yes dear?”  Her voice was as sweet as mine, but her eyes were eagle sharp behind her half-moon readers.  I squirmed a bit as I gave her a sunny smile.

               “So last night when I went out-“

               “You met a man!” she exclaimed, and I laughed.

               “Well, not a man exactly.  A vampire.  His name’s Eric Northman.”  As I said this, I did something I normally never, ever did: I deliberately spied on my Gran’s thoughts.

               Gran was thinking a vampire had probably seen enough of the world’s strangeness that my mind reading wasn’t such a big deal.  She was thinking what idiots Bon Temps’ men were, that they scared too easy, and that I’d probably never be happy with a normal man anyway.  I smiled hard at the ‘normal’ and slammed my mind shut.  I guess that’s what I got for listening where I shouldn’t.

               “Tell me about him!  What was he like?”

“Oh, he’s super tall, and beyond handsome.  He used to be a Viking.”  Her eyes widened at that.

“Like the opera singers with the helmets and the braids?”  I tried imagining Eric with two long braids and a horned helmet and started giggling like a drunk.  I was real, real tired.

“Sorta, but he seems real modern.  He even has a cell phone.”

“Certainly has us beat there,” she said with a twinkle.

“He owns a bar called Fangtasia where my friend works now.”  I wondered idly if you got extra licks in hell for lying to your grandmother.  “And he’s a vampire sheriff.”

“How fascinating!  But that does make sense, I guess.  They’d have to have government of some kind living together as they do for all those years.”

“That’s what I thought!  And, well…  I overheard a bit of trouble while we were talking-“ –flirting– “-and I gave him a heads up.”

I hesitated.  This is where it got complicated.  I’d already taken the job, and Gran sure didn’t need to know how dangerous it was.  It was my responsibility, and I didn’t want her worrying.  I knew from reading that vampires couldn’t come inside without an invitation, so I’d leave any trouble that came up right outside with them.  And I wanted this chance to do something with what I’d been given, so….

“Thing is, Gran…  He offered me a job reading people’s thoughts for, uh, government purposes and all.  And well… I took it.”

“I see,” she said carefully.  Even though I was tempted, I didn’t try and read her mind again.

“It’s a good job,” I added hurriedly, as she seemed to be puzzling it over.  “No one’s gonna get hurt or nothing, I made sure of that.  It pays real well, and they’ve got a group health plan.  And I did think about it first.  I knew before I warned him that Mr. Northman would be interested in what I can do.”

A few twitchy minutes went by while she mulled this over.

“If all that’s true, then I think it’ll be wonderful,” she said finally.  Her tone was firm.

“You do?” I said with joyful relief.

               “Yes.  I know it hasn’t been easy on you, Sookie.  You had mind enough to go on to college and make something of your life.”  I looked at her with surprise and a little bit of pain.

               “I’m happy, Gran,” I said, taking her hand.

               “I know you are,” she said gently, moving her other hand on top of mine.  “You’ve always been happy just as you are, and as far as I’m concerned that’s your real gift.  But…”  She trailed off and studied my face with enough seriousness to have me squirming.

               “But?” I prodded gently.

“But you’ve got wistful eyes, Sookie-“

My heart cracked on hearing this.

“-and some days I’ve a mind to turn the whole world on its head for putting such years on you.  All those secrets you’re keeping, and not a soul willing to respect yours.  Fools, the whole damn lot of them.”

“I can handle it, Gran.”  She scowled at that, and I was duly reminded where my own temper got its roots.

“’Course you can!  God couldn’t have chosen better, and damn the devil for spoiling the rest of them.”

This was quite the curse for Gran, and my lips went wide on hearing it.  I smile all the time because of my nerves, but Gran’s just about the only one who can earn a happy one.  She smiled at me, softer this time.

               “Do you like him, Sookie?”

               There was no doubting the meaning to her words.  I hesitated, even though I’d lost a precious sleeping hour to wondering just that.

               “I want to,” I said finally.  “And there’s stuff I like about him.  But I think I need some time with him before I figure things out.”

               “I think it’ll be good for you,” she said mischievously.

               “You do?  Not, well, dangerous, or anything?”  She scoffed at that.

               “Folks are always going on about vamps being monsters and such, but they managed all those years ‘cept for a story or two, didn’t they?  They might very well be dangerous, but there’s humans that are just as scary.  I call them as I see them, and your Mr. Northman won’t be an exception just ‘cause he’s a bit long in the tooth.”

               I had been planning on waiting until after Gran met Eric to ease her into the new dead until dark Hadley, but if God had hand delivered a conversational road map, his directions couldn’t have been anymore plain.  This was Adele Stackhouse, after all, and she has the best listening ears in all of Renard Parish.

               “There’s even more, Gran,” I confessed, heart speeding up with what I was about to say.

               “You know you can tell me anything, Sookie.”  My reluctance seemed all the more ridiculous for those words, but I was still glad we were both sitting down.  I took her wrinkled hand in mine and gave it a light squeeze.

               “You know that friend from high school I met at Fangtasia?  It was Hadley, Gran.”  Gran went stiff as a board at Hadley’s name, but I pushed on.  “She’s a vampire now.”

Her hand flexed in mine, her blue eyes clouded with sorrow.  When fat tears started rolling down her cheeks, I hurried up to tell her some good news.

               “I’ve never seen her look so healthy, Gran.  She works for Eric, too, and she’s in a relationship.”

               “She’s happy?” Gran asked as I was handing her a paper napkin.

               “I really think she is.  She just glows.”  Literally, I thought wryly.  “She showed up while you were at your club looking for you, and, well, honestly I thought I’d check things out first before y’all reconnected.”

               “But vampires can’t- I mean I thought they couldn’t-“  She couldn’t seem to bring herself to talk about Hadley’s addiction problems, even though she’d been more than willing to pay for her rehab.

               “Nope, they sure can’t,” I confirmed.  “Hadley won’t ever be going back to that.”

“Lord be praised,” she whispered tearfully, head dipping down as she continued her prayer.  I held her hand and prayed right along with her.  For all the stress Hadley had brought to the family, I knew Gran and I both still loved her.  She’d been my good friend when we were kids, kind to me when others hadn’t been.  I could remember her thoughts from before the drugs had taken over, and she’d always had a sweetness to her that I rarely hear.  I prayed with everything in me that we’d be close again.  When I was finished praying I raised my head to look at Gran.

The joy in her was so beautiful she looked like she’d gotten a face lift.

               “Every night I prayed for that child.  Every night wondering if I’d be burying another one too soon, or if I’d even get the chance to.”

               “Oh, Gran, why didn’t you ever say anything?”

               “Some things you feel too much to speak of.”

I knew this, of course, but from second hand thoughts only.  The truth was I’d never felt anything so deeply that I couldn’t share it at least with the woman in front of me, but for all our love and all my abilities, she’d kept her own confidences.  I glanced down into my fourth cup of coffee as I considered this, and felt a pang as I realized I’d never in all my 25 years had a partner.  I’d had family, co-workers, classmates, and the rare friend, but never a partner, and I wanted one.  I wanted one something fierce.  Something must have showed on my face, because Gran was looking at me funny again.  Time to refocus.

“I invited Hadley to dinner sometime this week.  I’ll have to check at work for my night off, and then I’ll call her and set it up.  Okay?”

Gran flustered at that, eyes roaming around the kitchen in pre-cleaning mode.  There’d be a rash of it, I knew.

“Good Lord!  What will I make?”  I laughed at that.

“You don’t have to make anything, Gran.  They drink their meals.  Speaking of, you think you’ve got time to stop by and grab some True Blood for tonight?  Mr. Northman said he was gonna stop by with my paperwork.”  I hesitated.

“If that’s alright?”

“Of course it is, Sookie!  It’s the least I can do, seeing as he had a hand in Hadley settling down, and giving you a chance to use what God’s given you.  I aim to thank the man!”  I beamed at her and jumped up to give her a smacking kiss.

“Thanks Gran!  I got to get to work.”

“Have a good day, honey.  I just can’t wait for tonight.”  Her eyes gleamed at the prospect.

               Yup, that’s my Gran.  Just full of surprises.

               By the time I got to Merlotte’s, I was a cheerful zombie.  I did my prep work as quickly and as carefully as I could, but still managed to spill iced tea all over the bar.  Sam looked at me as funnily as Gran had earlier that morning.

               “Sorry,” I apologized, reaching for a spare rag to clean up the rapidly spreading tea.

               “Late night, Sook?” he asked as I mopped at the edges with a sluggish hand.

               My boss Sam is a good looking man, with wiry reddish blond hair that always seems to run away from him.  But he’s quick to kindness, quicker to laugh, and most of the time I can’t hear his thoughts.  Those are just some of the reasons I love working for him.  But this morning as I was cleaning, one of his thoughts practically jumped at me.

Sam was thinking that if he didn’t know me better he’d think I was seeing someone.  I slammed down my shields and offered him a perky smile.  Late night or not, I had better do better than this if I wanted to last the shift.

               “Sure was.  I went out with an old girlfriend from high school,” I said, hedging.  Hadley’s new life style was hers to share with Bon Temps, not mine.

“It was fun, but a little more excitement than I’m used to, I guess.”  Guess nothing.  Last night had dumped my definition of excitement upside down on its boring little head.

               “Sounds great.  You definitely need to get out more.”  I gave him a grateful smile that didn’t quite hide my wistfulness.

“So where’d y’all go?” he asked as I rinsed the dripping rag in the sink.

               “Well, we went to Shreveport, to the bar where she works.”  He grabbed another rag from a bucket of sanitizer, giving the bar a once over for me.

“Which bar?” asked my fellow waitress, Dawn Green, sliding into the conversation like she’d been the one to start it.  I used the few seconds wringing and hanging the rag on the sink gave me to think furiously.  What difference did it make if I’d been to a vampire bar?  I’d been with my cousin, and even if that hadn’t been the case, I hadn’t done anything wrong, had I?  I had successfully resisted the wicked vampire.

Sure Sookie.  Tell yourself another one.

“Fangtasia,” I said with more confidence than I felt.  “She’s a vampire now, so I was perfectly safe in her company,” I added at Sam’s dark look.

“Who wants safe?” Dawn said coyly.  “Speaking of, Sookie, did you see the big blond on the throne?”

My lips twitched at the remembered lust in her thoughts, and I struggled with a blush as they collided with my own memories.  Apparently, Eric’s confidence was as solidly grounded as his ego was not.  Well it just figured, didn’t it?  Dawn was tall and gorgeous, if perhaps a tad malicious.  Why wouldn’t Eric want her?

“Mr. Northman?” I asked hesitantly, trying to make it look like I was searching my memories.  When I opened my eyes I noticed Sam was watching me strangely, nostrils flaring much as Eric’s had last night.  I frowned at that thought, but Dawn quickly regained my attention.

“Yeah, Eric Northman!  Isn’t he something?”

I took another peek at her memories and got a flash of his pale, perfectly sculpted butt and had to steady my lusty hand on the bar.

“I guess so,” I managed nonchalantly.  Fortunately I have years in practice in faking it.

“But it was kinda crazy in there last night.  My friend introduced us, and then I…  overheard a policeman talking ‘bout a raid, so we all had to get out of there fast.”

Sam’s dark look had turned black.

“Hey Dawn, you think you can run to the cooler and grab some more lemons?” he said, staring at me hard.

“But Sam, you just sliced up three whole batches.”

“Can’t ever have enough lemon,” he said, and she reluctantly sauntered off.

“Sookie,” he said as soon as she was out of earshot.  “Tell me you didn’t let Eric Northman know what you can do.”

I stared at him in confusion.  This was unfamiliar ground for me.  Five people in three days wanting to talk all about my “secret.”  After years of everyone ignoring it like it was some kind of unpleasant disease, and all of sudden vampires enter the picture, telling me it matters, that I matter, and now everybody wants to make a fuss?  I could feel my temper starting to rise.

“Actually Sam, I did.”

He started to say something, something nasty from the look on his face, and I cut him off.

“I was saving my friend, alright?  I wasn’t about to let her go to jail.  And Eric Northman was very pleasant about it all.  He didn’t scare me.”  Much.  “And he offered me a job, Sam.”

“God damn it, Sook!”  My temper went to boil in a flash.  “You’re gonna get yourself killed!”

“Don’t you use that language on me, Sam Merlotte!”

 “I’m sorry, Sookie, but I’m telling you, it’s never just a job with vampires!  If you think just because you’ve got this talent of yours that they’re gonna keep you safe, think again.  You need to watch yourself.”

“You’re telling me, Sam?  Or warning me?”  His frustration simmered in his thoughts, but even now I couldn’t get a clear read.  Not for the first time, I wondered at that.

“You take it as you like.”

“It’s just business, Sam.  My business.”

“I care about you, damn it.”  I opened my mouth to snap at him, to apologize, to ask for an explanation, but the possibility was lost.

“Sookie Stackhouse?” interrupted a cheerful Texan girl twang.  Sam and I turned to glare as one.

I made out her face first, browner even than my own healthy tan, and the long mahogany braid she had curving over her left shoulder.  I followed its neat lines down over her blue work polo and ended up with a view full of daisies.

A whole, whole lot of daisies.  It looked like someone had gone out into a ten acre field and went plumb crazy plucking them up.  Looking at them was a strange combination of abundance and sweet.  I heard Sam growl and briefly closed my eyes in silent prayer.

“Just business, huh?” Sam said before stomping back to the store room.  I gave the girl a nervous crazy smile and reached for the flowers.

“Well, these sure are nice,” I said with enough sweet to cower a dentist.

               “Simple maybe, but he’s got great taste.  Brought this in with him.”  She tapped her coral tipped finger on the side of the vase and it sang cheerfully into the air.  “That’s turn-of-the-century Baccarat, darlin’.”

               “That’s nice,” I managed.  I was thinking back to Gran’s favorite Antiques Road Show, trying to get a grip on just how much such a thing was worth.  I was scared even to touch it.

“You enjoy now,” she said, putting the posh white meadow into my arms with a chipper smile.

“Thanks,” I said dimly as she bounced out the door of Merlotte’s.

               I lifted the card with hesitant fingers and opened it to read the message inside.

After meeting you last night, I’m brushing up on my lessons. 

-E 

 

“Oh my,” I murmured, playing a fingertip over a teeny, buttery soft petal.  I stared down at the graceful, loopy cursive and wondered how hard it had been for him to leave off the word ‘riding.’  But he had sent them to me at work, knowing others might see the card, and had been crafty enough to imply without being crass.  The effort raised him in my esteem more than the flowers.

Lessons indeed.

Dawn came back into the room and set the lemons on the bar.

“What in the world did you say to Sam, Sookie?  He looks like someone just kicked him in his shit.”  Serves him right, I thought.

“Nothing.  He’s just mad ‘cause I told him I might be needing some schedule changes.”  And if he kept it up, I just might be juggling his hours around Eric’s.

Then Dawn took notice of my daisies.

“Well, aren’t those sweet.  Someone sent you flowers, Sookie?”

“Yeah.  Eric did,” I said, feeling all befuddled.

 “He’s never sent me flowers,” she said, miffed, and I was more than happy to hear it.

“Well, they’re a thank you, I guess.  For helping out last night.”

“Oh, I gave him more than help,” she said snottily.  “A lot more.”

Once again, I got a flash of pillaging Viking, and my face went hot.  She laughed cattily at that, and I almost gave them to her to spite them both.

Almost.

I set the flowers down gently at the far end of the bar, where I could see them while I worked, but where they wouldn’t be in anybody’s way.  I tucked the card into the white blossoms, ran my finger over it once more than I probably should have.  Eric was something.  Blackmailing me, seducing me, hiring me, teasing me.  What was I gonna do with the man?  I didn’t know, but one thing was for sure I thought as I watched Dawn walk by swinging her hips.

Eric and I were gonna have some serious words.