Free Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris Page A

they say."
    "Come by the house tomorrow night—if you're off work?"
    "Yes," I said. I was still trying to gather myself.
    "See you then. Thanks, Sookie." And he turned away to walk through the woods back over to his place. Once he reached the darkness, he was invisible.
    I stood staring like a fool, until I shook myself and went inside to go to bed. I spent an indecent amount of time lying awake in bed wondering if the undead could actually do—it. Also, I won-dered if it would be possible to have a frank discussion with Bill about that. Sometimes he seemed very old-fashioned, sometimes he seemed as normal as the guy next door. Well, not really, but pretty normal.
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    It seemed both wonderful and pathetic to me that the one creature I'd met in years that I'd want to have sex with was actually not human. My telepathy limited my options se-verely. I could have had sex just to have it, sure; but I had waited to have sex I could actually enjoy.
    What if we did it, and after all these years I discovered I had no talent for it? Or maybe it wouldn't feel good. Maybe all the books and movies exaggerated. Arlene, too, who never seemed to understand that her sex life was not something I wanted to hear about.
    I finally got to sleep, to have long, dark dreams.
    The next morning, between fielding Gran's questions about my walk with Bill and our future plans, I made some phone calls. I found two electricians, a plumber, and some other service people who gave me phone numbers where they could be reached at night and made sure they understood that a phone call from Bill Compton was not a prank.
    Finally, I was lying out in the sun turning toasty when Gran carried the phone out to me.
    "It's your boss," she said. Gran liked Sam, and he musthave said something to make her happy because she was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
    "Hi, Sam," I said, maybe not sounding too glad because I knew something had gone wrong at work.
    "Dawn didn't make it in, cher," he said.
    "Oh... hell," I said, knowing I'd have to go in. "I kind of have plans, Sam." That was a first. "When do you need me?"
    "Could you just come in from five to nine? That would help out a lot."
    "Am I gonna get another full day off?"
    "What about Dawn splitting a shift with you another night?"
    I made a rude noise, and Gran stood there with a stern face. I knew I'd get a lecture later. "Oh, all right," I said grudgingly. "See you at five."
    "Thanks, Sookie," he said. "I knew I could count on you." I tried to feel good about that. It seemed like a boring virtue. You can always count on Sookie to step in and help because she doesn't have a life!
    Of course, it would be fine to get to Bill's after nine. He'd be up all night, anyway. Work had never seemed so slow. I had trouble concen-trating enough to keep my guard intact because I was always thinking about Bill. It was lucky there weren't many custom-ers, or I would have heard unwanted thoughts galore. As it was, I found out Arlene's period was late, and she was scared she was pregnant, and before I could stop myself I gave her a hug. She stared at me searchingly and then turned red in the face.
    "Did you read my mind, Sookie?" she asked, warning written in her voice. Arlene was one of the few Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    people who simply acknowledged my ability without trying to explain it or categorizing me as a freak for possessing such an ability. She also didn't talk about it often or in any normal voice, I'd noticed.
    "Sorry, I didn't mean to," I apologized. "I'm just not fo-cused today."
    "All right, then. You stay out from now on, though." AndArlene, her naming curls bobbing around her cheeks, shook her finger in my face.
    I felt like crying. "Sorry," I said again and strode off into the storeroom to collect myself. I had to pull my face straight and hold in those tears.
    I heard the door open behind