“Good evening. Welcome to Dough. How many?” The perky twenty-something immediately rubbed Coleen the wrong way, and she willed herself not to roll her eyes at the young woman.
“I’m meeting the Esparza party.” Coleen said flatly.
“Wonderful. I’ll take you to your table.”
Coleen followed the woman toward the back of the restaurant, and spotted Julian first as she rounded the bar. “I see them.” Coleen dismissively waved the woman away, and walked the rest of the way to the table.
“Hi!” Julian leapt from his chair, and threw his arms around Coleen. Though Coleen had always made a point never to feed on children, she did register that Julian’s body temperature was slightly higher than an adult’s, and his blood smelled of licorice and molasses.
Coleen awkwardly patted the boy on top of his head. “Hello. Where is your sister?” Scanning the restaurant, Coleen didn’t see the woman anywhere.
With his arms still firmly around Coleen’s waist, Julian leaned back. “She went to the restroom.”
Coleen nodded. “I see. May I sit down with you?”
“Yes!” Julian finally released his hold on Coleen, and grabbed the chair next to his. “Sit next to me.” He slid the chair out for Coleen.
Staring down at the boy, Coleen’s brow arched. “Who taught you to do that?”
Julian’s smile evaporated. “I – my father said it was the polite thing to do for women and old people.”
Coleen had meant to be even and indifferent with the child, but couldn’t help the smile that found her lips. “You’ve pegged me on both counts, Julian.”
“Hello.” Isla’s voice came from behind Coleen, and the vampire quickly turned.
Extending her hand, Coleen smiled. “Isla, it’s nice to meet you.”
The woman in front of her bore little resemblance to the one Coleen had seen in the overturned car nearly two months ago. Isla was in her mid to late twenties, had shoulder length brown hair, and was about 5’4” tall with an hourglass shape. Her skin was tan, and her manicured eyebrows and long lashes accentuated the light brown color of her eyes.
“You too. Thank you for agreeing to dinner.” Isla glanced down at Coleen’s hand as she shook it.
Coleen assumed the human had taken note of how cold her hand was, but there was little Coleen could do to hide the fact she gave off little to no heat. Over the years she found it was best to put the awkwardness of asking about the anomaly on the human. Most found it uncomfortable to mention, for fear they would come across as offensive.
“Your hand is like ice.” Isla put her other hand over Coleen’s.
Surprised by Isla’s forwardness, Coleen quickly retracted her hand. “Runs in the family.”
“It could be a circulation issue. Have you had it checked?” Isla asked as she sat down at the table.
Coleen glanced at Julian who watched the exchange with interest while still holding Coleen’s chair. “I have, and it can’t be helped.” Coleen said flatly.
Isla cringed. “I’m sorry. We’ve just met, and I’m like a bulldozer.”
Coleen sat down in her chair, and Julian happily slid into the chair next to her. “It’s fine.”
“Let me start over.” Isla managed through a forced smile. “I’m Isla, and thank you for saving our lives.”
Coleen found the combination of Isla’s nervousness over how they met, and her clearly natural tendency to be forward, endearing.
A heavy set man appeared at their table, dressed in black slacks and a black button-up shirt. “Good evening. Looks like we’re all here. What can I get everyone to drink?”
“An unsweetened iced tea, no lemon.” Isla smiled at the waiter.
“Can I have a Coke?” Julian directed the question to Isla rather than the waiter.
“Nope. It’s too late, and you will be wired.” Isla insisted.
“But I haven’t had one today.” Julian’s tone verged on a whine.
“I said no. Get a water, or a tea. At least it doesn’t have all the sugar.” Isla’s eyes widened as she spoke.
“Tea tastes gross.” Julian scrunched up his face in disgust.
Coleen watched the back-and-forth in both amusement and horror. It never ceased to amaze her how mundane a human’s life truly was, and how they managed to focus on the most innocuous details. Coleen had always suspected they did this to avoid thinking about the fact that every second of their lives, no matter how wonderful, brought them ever closer to their last.
“How about some lemonade?” The waiter interjected. Looking at Isla he smiled. “We make it in house, and it does have some sugar, but no caffeine.”
Isla looked at Julian earnestly. “If you are up late and then won’t get up for school, you’ll get it.”
Julian smiled broadly. “I promise not to stay up.”
“Lemonade, then?” The waiter asked.
“Yes, please.” Julian grinned and turned to Coleen. “Do you want lemonade too?”
Coleen forced a smile. The banter was beginning to wear thin. “No. I prefer grape juice.” She looked up at the waiter.
“We have a very nice house red.” The man smirked.
“Perfect.” Coleen hardly cared what kind of wine it was. Sadly, she couldn’t get drunk no matter how much she drank.
The waiter left, and Coleen watched as Isla and Julian negotiated what kind of pizza they should get. Coleen opted out of the discussion early by assuring the two she would eat anything. After deciding on something called a Pork Lover’s pizza, Julian disappeared to the restroom.
“Julian’s your brother then?” Coleen was taken aback by her question, and even more surprised that she was actually interested in the answer.
Before Isla could answer, the waiter returned with their drinks, and took their pizza order. “Our parents were passengers on the American Airline flight that crashed in 2016.”
Coleen frowned. She remembered reading something about the crash. There had been an electrical fire, and the plane went down in the Rocky Mountains. Everyone on board was killed.
“I’m sorry.” Coleen took a sip of her wine, and was pleasantly surprised it didn’t taste like vinegar.
“We make do.” Isla added two packs of sugar to her iced tea and began stirring it vigorously. “Julian was a change of life baby for my mother.” She laid the spoon down on the table. “I was seventeen when he was born; so he’s always thought of me more like a mother than a sister anyway.”
As if on cue, Julian appeared at the table. “Did you order the pizza?”
“I did.” Isla took a drink of her tea.
An awkward silence fell over the table until Julian attempted to add two sugar packs to his lemonade.
“Don’t.” Isla glared at the boy, and then looked at Coleen as if she wanted to say something, but then thought better of it.
Coleen knew if she was going to be amused at all, she was going to have to do the heavy lifting. “Julian, did you miss your friends while you were in the hospital?”
Sucking his lemonade up like a vacuum through his straw, Julian shrugged. “They came to see me, and I still had to do homework.”
“What were his injuries?” Coleen asked Isla.
“Broken collar bone.” Isla ran her index finger along her own collar bone as she spoke. “The doctor said it looked like his spleen had been damaged at some point, but was already healing.” Isla pursed her lips. “They still don’t know why that happened.”
Coleen knew Julian’s spleen must have been ruptured in the accident, but her blood had clearly begun the healing process. She didn’t dare tell Isla that her brother was technically dead when Coleen found them.
“And you?” Coleen leaned forward, her piercing blue eyes fixed on Isla. She knew the intensity of her stare was disproportional and a little unfair, but she was curious how confident the woman across from her really was.
Isla’s gaze stayed fixed on Coleen as she took a deep breath. “Well – I had a shattered knee that will afford m
e a lovely little limp the rest of my life, and a bruised liver.” She looked down at the table. “We were both very lucky.”
“Do you believe in luck?” Coleen took a drink of her wine.
Isla’s brown eyes moved up, focusing on Coleen. “I do.”
The corner of Coleen’s mouth turned up. “I prefer cause and effect.”
“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” The Emerson quote flowed effortlessly from Isla’s lips.
Coleen’s brow arched. Isla was quicker than she had given her credit for. “Exactly.”
“Are you calling me shallow?” Isla’s tone was challenging, and her eyes sparkled as she leveled them at Coleen.
“No. You’re not a man.” Coleen leaned back in her chair, and turned her attentions to Julian, who was stacking sugar packets in the center of the table.
“What grade are you in, Julian?”
“Fifth.”
“What’s your favorite subject?”
“Science. That’s why we were out on the road that night. We went driving so we could watch the meteor shower.” Holding his finger on one end of the straw, Julian lifted the plastic cylinder out of the glass, and let the lemonade run into his mouth from the opposite end. “What did you like in school?”
Coleen glanced at Isla, flashing a quick grin before looking back at Julian. “I liked Women’s Studies.” Coleen caught Isla’s amused expression out of the corner of her eye.
“What’s that?” Julian had returned his straw to its glass, had his elbows on the table, and was leaning toward Coleen.
“Well, Julian, when two women –”
“Here’s your pizza.” The waiter smiled as he placed the large pie in the center of the table.
Coleen stopped breathing as the very sight of the cooked meat put her stomach on edge. She couldn’t imagine it smelled any better. It wasn’t that she hadn’t eaten food since being turned, but it had easily been twenty years since she had so much as eaten a carrot. Cooked meat was almost more than she could stand.
Julian reached for the triangular spatula. “Coleen, can I get you a piece of pizza?”
Coleen assumed the manners were the result of another of his father’s tutorials. “Yes, please.” Julian placed a piece on Coleen’s plate, Isla’s, and then his own.
“What do you do for a living?” Isla asked as she sprinkled red pepper flakes on her pizza.
“I don’t work.” Coleen hadn’t touched her pizza, and had no intention of eating.
“How do you support yourself?” Isla asked casually.
“That’s a very personal question.” Coleen’s tone was harsher than she had intended, but it had been years since she interacted with humans at any length, and even longer since she had concocted a plausible backstory.
“I’m sorry. I was just making conversation.” Isla seemed unfazed as she took a bite of pizza.
Coleen sighed. There was no point in getting antagonistic. She had accepted the invitation, and could at least see the dinner through to the end politely. “You’re right. My family has some money; so I do mostly philanthropic work.”
“What’s piltropics mean?” Julian asked through a mouth full of pizza.
“It means I help raise money for people and places that need it.” Coleen said matter-of-factly. “Right now I am working closely with the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center.”
“What do you do for a living, Isla?” Coleen thought she could at least return the favor, and feign interest.
“I’m working on my master’s in biology, and hope to go on to get my doctorate.” Isla stared at Coleen’s untouched piece of pizza.
“Hope?” Coleen, noticing the woman’s staring at her plate, picked up her knife and fork, and began cutting the piece of pizza.
“Yeah. Things are different now. I have Julian, and work full-time in addition to school.”
“Well, I hope you are able to see it through.” Coleen smiled.
The remainder of the meal went by at a snail’s pace. Coleen moved her pizza around her plate, and Isla finally stopped looking concerned about Coleen’s lack of interest in her food.
“Well, this has been fun.” Coleen reached for her purse, and turning her attention to Julian, smiled. “Thank you for inviting me.”
“Thank you for coming.” Isla interrupted. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable by talking about the accident too much. I hope you don’t think we aren’t grateful.”
It hadn’t occurred to Coleen to be offended. “I didn’t think that.” Coleen took her wallet out.
Isla’s eyes widened. “Oh, absolutely not. We’re paying for this.”
Coleen was amused by Isla’s use of we, and wondered if Julian had a job she hadn’t been made aware of. “Thank you.”
Isla began digging through her purse, which was more akin to a small leather backpack. “Jesus, it’s the least we can do.”
Coleen watched as the attractive woman fumbled for her wallet, and it occurred to her that Isla had been guarded throughout most of their exchange. “Are you nervous?”
Isla stopped, and her gaze shot up. “No. Why do you ask?”
“You seem to be teetering back and forth between interesting and abysmally dull. Those are two spaces most people don’t occupy at the same time.” Coleen drank the last of her wine. “So which is it?”
Isla put her purse on the table, her expression neutral as she considered Coleen. “Julian, here are the car keys. Can you please go see if I’ve left my wallet in the center console?”
Without a word, the boy snatched the keys from Isla’s hand, and trotted out of the restaurant. Isla watched as he left, and then turned her attention back to Coleen. “What are you asking me?”
Coleen leaned back in her chair, and crossed her legs. She was pleased to see the conversation was finally taking off. “I’m asking you why you’re not being yourself.”
Isla leaned forward, her eye contact unrelenting. “I have two gears, Coleen.” She held up her index finger. “First gear, is slow and steady. It gets us up and running.” She held up her middle finger. “Second gear is a full on sprint.”
Coleen grinned. “So, are we up and running?”
Isla blushed, and Coleen felt the familiar tickle of heat at the back of her throat. “We are now.”
“Found it!” Julian returned, triumphantly holding a small brown leather wallet over his head.
“Thanks, Jules.” Isla finally broke eye contact with Coleen, and pulling a credit card out of her wallet, held the check up so the waiter could take it.
“Coleen, this was fun. Did you like your pizza?” Julian sat back down, tucking his right leg up under him.
“Mmm, I did. Thank you again for including me.” Coleen glanced at Isla and smiled. “It was lovely meeting the both of you.”
Coleen wasn’t sure what to make of the woman sitting across the table from her. She had misjudged her repeatedly throughout their brief interaction. Now Coleen had to admit she was curious about what other proverbial gears she might have.
The waiter returned the check to Isla to sign, and the three got up and made their way to the parking lot. “Is this your car?!” Julian galloped around Coleen’s red Mercedes, running his hand along the side of the vehicle.
Coleen got her keys out of her purse, and unlocked the doors. “It is. Do you want to start it for me?”
Julian stopped suddenly, his eyes wide. “Really?” He looked at Isla. “Can I?”
“It’s her insurance.” Isla shook her head.
Coleen handed Julian the keys. “When you get in, press on the left pedal, and then push the button near the steering wheel that says start.”
“Got it!” The boy took the keys from Coleen and carefully opened the driver’s door. A second later, the engine roared to life, and laughter accompanied by a series of giggles emanated from the car.
“You’ve made his night.” Isla smiled as she watched her brother pull the steering wheel ba
ck and forth.
“It’s a small thing.” Coleen tucked her hand bag under her arm. “Should you and I see each other again?” She was as interested in Isla as she could imagine being with any human. The fact she was looking for a potential companion didn’t hurt in pushing her toward the beautiful woman.
Isla turned her head so she was facing Coleen. “I don’t have time for anything serious, and casual has never worked well for me.”
Coleen nodded. “Then let’s do a lot of not serious things together – formally.”
Isla blushed. “I’ll call you.” Coleen felt the burning at the back of her throat flare up. Isla grinned, and then turned her attention back to Julian. “Come on, guy. It’s getting late.”
Julian got out of the car, and wrapped his arms around Coleen’s waist. “That – was – awesome.”
Coleen patted the boy’s head. “I’m glad you liked it.” Coleen was surprised she meant it, and quickly took stock of how many times that evening she had been surprised by her own feelings.
“Good night.” Isla and Julian walked toward the opposite end of the parking lot, and Coleen got in her car.
Julian’s licorice and molasses scent lingered, both on her and in the car. Coleen began her drive home wondering if that wasn’t all that was lingering.
Chapter 7
Coleen lounged on a wicker framed daybed with a rounded canopy shading her. She was dressed casually, wearing a navy blue, cotton maxi skirt that covered the entirety of her legs, and peach color tank top. She smiled as she looked around the expanse of the large garden adjacent to her home. She had spent several years getting the space perfect.
Narrow pathways wound throughout the garden, lined with purple Mexican heather, orange honeysuckle, and yellow lantana. Fragrant ash and silverbell trees were placed in three of the four corners of the garden, and in the center of the garden, a fringe tree now resided where a large stone fountain once was. The fountain had nearly become Coleen’s tomb due to a particularly powerful witch, and she had no intention of maintaining what could have been her watery grave.
Coleen: Forever (Waking Forever Series Book 5) Page 7