Sookie Stackhouse Boxed Set (Books 1-8) - Charlaine Harris [576]
When Quinn was one of the few people left in the bar—besides the other barmaids and Sam—he stood and looked at me expectantly. I went over, smiling brightly, as I do when I’m tense. I was interested to find that Quinn was almost equally tense. I could feel the tightness in his brain pattern.
“I’ll see you at your house, if that’s agreeable to you.” He looked down at me seriously. “If that makes you nervous, we can meet somewhere else. But I want to talk to you tonight, unless you’re exhausted.”
That had been put politely enough. Arlene and Danielle were trying hard not to stare—well, they were trying hard to stare when Quinn wouldn’t catch them—but Sam had turned his back to fiddle around with something behind the bar, ignoring the other shifter. He was behaving very badly.
Quickly I processed Quinn’s request. If he came out to my house, I’d be at his mercy. I live in a remote place. My nearest neighbor is my ex, Bill, and he lives clear across the cemetery. On the other hand, if Quinn had been a regular date of mine, I’d let him take me home without a second thought. From what I could catch from his thoughts, he meant me no harm.
“All right,” I said, finally. He relaxed, and smiled his big smile at me again.
I whisked his empty glass away and became aware that three pairs of eyes were watching me disapprovingly. Sam was disgruntled, and Danielle and Arlene couldn’t understand why anyone would prefer me to them, though Quinn gave even those two experienced barmaids pause. Quinn gave off a whiff of otherness that must be perceptible to even the most prosaic human. “I’ll be through in just a minute,” I said.
“Take your time.”
I finished filling the little china rectangle on each table with packages of sugar and sweetener. I made sure the napkin holders were full and checked the salt and pepper shakers. I was soon through. I gathered my purse from Sam’s office and called good-bye to him.
Quinn pulled out to follow me in a dark green pickup truck. Under the parking lot lights, the truck looked brand spanking new, with gleaming tires and hubcaps, an extended cab, and a covered bed. I’d bet good money it was loaded with options. Quinn’s truck was the fanciest vehicle I’d seen in a long time. My brother, Jason, would have drooled, and he’s got pink and aqua swirls painted on the side of his truck.
I drove south on Hummingbird Road and turned left into my driveway. After following the drive through two acres of woods, I reached the clearing where our old family home stood. I’d turned the outside lights on before I left, and there was a security light on the electric pole that was automatic, so the clearing was well lit. I pulled around back to park behind the house, and Quinn parked right beside me.
He got out of his truck and looked around him. The security light showed him a tidy yard. The driveway was in excellent repair, and I’d recently repainted the tool shed in the back. There was a propane tank, which no amount of landscaping could disguise, but my grandmother had planted plenty of flower beds to add to the ones my family had established over the hundred-and-fifty-odd years the family had lived here. I’d lived on this land, in this house, from age seven, and I loved it.
There’s nothing grand about my home. It started out as a family farmhouse and it’s been enlarged and remodeled over the years. I keep it clean, and I try to keep the yard in good trim. Big repairs are beyond my skills, but Jason sometimes helps me out. He hadn’t been happy when Gran left me the house and land, but he’d moved to our parents’ house when he’d turned twenty-one, and I’d never made him pay me for my half of that property. Gran’s will had seemed fair to me. It had taken Jason a while to admit that had been the right thing for her to do.
We’d become closer in the past few months.
I unlocked the back door and led Quinn into the kitchen. He looked around him