by Ever Coming
“No! Yes. I don’t know. He doesn’t want me to feed anyone else, but then wanted to wait to feed from me, so I have no idea.” Martha was the closest thing I had to a confidant and I so needed to work this all out in my head. It was so difficult with Finn around because he set my body on edge with feelings I hadn’t had in years. Who was I fooling—in ever! My body never responded to a man the way mine responded to his.
“Did you ask?” Martha knew me too well. I was normally a keep my head down and sally forth kind of person.
“Sort of. I mean I tried and he started talking in code.” I held my hands up in exasperation.
“Vamps seem to do that.” Martha shrugged and meandered to the sink where she rinsed out her cup.
“I know, right? So one thing led to another and …”
“You more than kissed him.” She was practically sing-songing the words. She wasn’t only not judging me, she was happy for me.
“No, but I kissed him … a lot.”
“Go and get some sleep, leave Rose here.” She yanked at my chair, fostering her plan. “Maybe tonight I’ll stay at your place so she can sleep in her own bed.”
“You’re too good to us.” I gave her a hug before getting ready to leave.
“Humor an old lady, will ya? You are the closest thing I have to family.” She squeezed me tight before shooing me away.
“As you are to us. Night.”
“Good night, dear.”
The apartment wasn’t pleasant on a good day, between the stained walls, ripped carpets, and an odor I didn’t even want to begin to identify, but somehow when I was alone it was a thousand times worse. Daisy brought sunshine and joy wherever she was. Even the nights we spent in a homeless shelter when we first arrived in town were filled with hope when she was by my side.
I was still wearing the gorgeous clothes Arabella lent me, which was an issue. Mostly because my only pair of jeans was still at Madame Victoria’s. I slipped out of the dress and took a peek at the tag. Of course it was dry clean only. I hung it on a hanger before placing it on the hook behind the bedroom door. Maybe if I was lucky I could get a second day out of it. It had been a long time since I had anything professionally cleaned, but I remember it hurting my pocketbook back then and I had all kinds of spare money at the time. Now I had none, so I would need to make it stretch.
I plugged in my phone and grabbed a shower. My body and mind were racing over the wonderful and wonderfully confusing night I had just spent with Finn. Oh, Finn, why did he have to be a vampire—more precisely, my job? If he was some random guy I met, I would be planning our next date in my mind a hundred different ways. Instead I was a ball of confusion.
The shower was shorter than I would have liked, but welcome. As I slipped into bed, my phone began to ding repeatedly. It tended to do that when it finally charged enough.
Just as I had assumed, there were five push notifications I had no idea how to shut off and all related to the weather. There were two missed calls from the diner, followed by a message and a text. That was two calls and one text more than a normal day.
I went for the voice mail first since it was work, or had been work. In any case, it was the diner.
Paige, this is Cook. I have some tips from the tables you started before little miss too good for this place showed up. She tried to say they were all hers. I have them, so stop by anytime tomorrow to grab them. I feel bad about how things went down. If it were up to me, you would still be working.
Good old Cook. He ran a tight ship, but his heart was made of gold. I would grab them when I woke up. I planned to take Daisy to the thrift store around the corner from the diner to see if I could find a dress for work and some new pants for her to replace the two she had worn holes in the knees of this past week anyway. They really didn’t make clothing the way they used to. His call was a nice ending to the day. I’d been sure all of that money ended up in the woman’s hands. Anyone that rude and entitled didn’t deserve other people’s earnings.
I climbed into bed, slightly chilled from getting out of the shower into an apartment with barely functioning heat. Opening up my text messages, I smiled wider than I thought possible. It was Finn. I should’ve known he had my number from work.
Have a pleasant sleep, butterfly. I hope you will grace me with your presence tonight. Will eight work for you? I know you said Rose goes to sleep early and I’d hate for you to lose time with her.
I fell back, my head flopping on my pillow with a thud. There was no way this was happening. He not only asked me on a date, not to work, but a date and then he had to go all sweet and thoughtful by putting my family’s needs first.
I’m supposed to check in first.
I hated to bring up the whole work thing again, even if it was sitting so heavily on my shoulders, but I was told to call in at four. I closed my eyes and counted the moments until his reply, which was crazy since he sent the message over a half hour earlier and he could easily be busy or asleep. Each moment that passed, I envisioned him getting more and more flustered by me. A sense of relief hit me as the phone beeped.
I already did. They know you aren’t available.
Of course he did. When we had discussed me becoming his personal courtesan, he had mentioned not feeding anyone else, and after last night, I was on the same page. Even though feeding Jasper felt not at all personal, I sensed that it very easily could be. That was not something I was comfortable with, not that feeling comfortable was a goal. Supporting my daughter and keeping her safe was.
I do need to work, you know.
I rolled to my side, watching the screen intently, waiting for it to bing again. I hated texting. You could never sense someone’s emotions via a short message. For all I knew he was livid or laughing or not even watching the phone. Argggg, the wait was a killer even though it probably was no more than thirty seconds, tops.
Let me worry about that.
Arabella. Her name flashed before my now closed eyes. That was what I needed to do. Talk to Arabella. She knew about work, and from our conversation, she also knew about Jameson and his wife. She could help me figure this all out, or at least wouldn’t think I was crazy when I vented to her.
I opened my eyes and quickly responded.
We will talk about this tonight.
I read my message back as I waited for his response. It sounded bitchy which was far from my intent. Next time I was responding with a phone call because this was just far too stressful.
Is that a yes?
That’s a yes. Night.
Night, my butterfly.
Placing my phone on the nightstand, I closed my eyes, sleep finding me remarkably quickly. It was only noon when my eyes found themselves open again, my body shockingly ready for the day. A quick change and I was back at Martha’s grabbing Daisy and off to our adventure.
Our first stop at a thrift store that was far from fancy, but still held a few treasures from time to time. I was able to snag a few pairs of pants and a couple of shirts for Daisy off of their clearance rack. She was in a popular size, so it was generally hit or miss. Thankfully today was a hit. My luck wasn’t as great, but I did manage to find a better blouse to go with Martha’s skirt and a cute little hat that completed the retro look. All in all, I was only out ten dollars, which was amazing, and since I was picking up some tip money I wasn’t expecting, it felt almost free.
The diner was practically empty when we arrived, and Cook saw me immediately, waving me to the back.
“Paige, I’m glad to see you.” His smile was genuine. I couldn’t imagine working with Mariah was any too fun. He bent down, toward my daughter. “Hello, Rose, would you like a pancake?”
Her little face lit up. It might be lunch time, but Cook’s “guess the animal” pancakes were far from exclusively for breakfast if you asked Daisy. She would eat them all day, every day, if given the opportunity.
“Yes, please.” She was practically bouncing up and down, and I was pleasantly surprised she even remembered her please. She was such a
great kid.
“Excellent. Go sit at that table,” he pointed to the booth easily in view of where we were standing, “and I’ll bring it out to you in a few minutes.”
“Can I, Mama?”
“Sure, dear.” She almost knocked me over as she ran into me to give me a hug before dancing off to the table. “You spoil her,” I faux reprimanded Cook. He always had spoiled her. His own grandchildren were far away, and while he was a brute if you messed up anything in his kitchen, he had a heart of gold when it came to children.
“As it should be.” He reached up behind me and grabbed an envelope off the shelf before handing it to me. “Here’s your money. It’s not as much as if you had served them completely, but it is something. Now go and I’ll make you lunch. On me, of course.”
“You spoil me too.” I looked in the envelope and saw the truth in my words. There was more money here than those tables would have brought in. The older man had padded my tips. For all I knew, none of these were actually from the tables. I reached forward and hugged him, mumbling my thanks.
“As it should be.” Emotion laced his voice and he turned me by my shoulders before commanding, “Now scoot.”
Daisy loved her pancake, and after four guesses, even knew it was a cat. Cook always tried to be fun and creative with her, but he had honestly only mastered the mouse and the smiley face. All the rest were the equivalent of looking in the clouds and hoping you saw something. My meal was far easier to identify, his famous grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. There was something so comforting in the simple meal.
“Want some more water, baby?” I asked as I slipped out of the booth. She nodded as she shoveled another syrup-filled bite into her mouth. Snatching her cup, I made my way back to the kitchen.
“What are you doing here?” Mariah entered the kitchen through the back door. She was still wearing clothing far too expensive for either her income or her position, her face plastered with make-up. She probably looked gorgeous in photos, but this close, she looked almost plastic. Not that her personality was adding to her beauty.
“No worries, Mariah, I only came here to grab some lunch and be on my merry way. The job is still yours.” The last thing I needed was to fight with her. I’d seen first-hand how ugly her anger was and with Daisy close enough to hear it, I planned to take a pass.
“Because you stole my real one, bitch.”
Mariah was seething, now standing close enough to me that bits of her spit hit my face. I needed to squash this before Daisy got curious and wandered in.
“You had already been denied the position when I was walking into interview, you know this.” I crossed my fingers that facts would work. I should have known better. Her eyes bore through me with hatred.
“How did a fatty like you get the job anyway?” She was pointing to my stomach as if I didn’t know where I had extra padding. It was sad that Mariah actually thought beauty was a size.
“I guess some vampires like us fatties?” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to sound like what she said was true. Maybe if I gave her a little agreement she’d calm down, since facts didn’t work. And then once again, she proved me wrong.
“There has to be a real reason, and I will find it and expose you for what you are, a whore.”
“ENOUGH,” Cook boomed from the walk-in freezer doorway, obviously having heard the tail end of our conversation. He had a temper. I had seen it numerous times, once even directed to me, but I had never seen him this mad. The way Mariah’s shoulders slouched, she hadn’t either. “Now get to work or don’t, Mariah, I don’t care which, but you will leave my guests alone.” She faced him and whatever he saw on her expression pissed him off more. “If you have a problem with that, take it up with your father. I’m sure he would love to come and fill in for me while I take an extended vacation. He adores cooking so.”
And by adore, he meant loathe. The time Cook had to go to a family member’s funeral a few states over, the owner had to cook, and he was miserable and swore he was going to find five more cooks so it never happened again. He pays spit though, so that never happened and Cook pretty much maintained power over the place, including Mariah.
Mariah swallowed loud enough for me to hear before stalking into the back room, presumably to work.
“Sorry, Cook,” I mumbled, hating to be the catalyst for any drama.
“No need to be sorry. She’s a bitch.” He wasn’t wrong, but hearing it out of his mouth made my jaw drop. “Now go finish your food and enjoy the afternoon with your daughter.”
8
“Hello?” a deep voice answered.
I nearly dropped the phone. Daisy was napping, and I wanted to use the time to call Arabella and somehow got a very wrong number.
“Sorry. I must’ve dialed incorrectly.”
“Paige?”
“Yeah?”
“Oh sweetness, you are too precious for words. You do know Arabella is a man some of the time, right?”
Holy cow, Arabella answered as not Arabella and his voice was so, not at all what I would have expected even with the little slip the first time we met. I guess I simply assumed drag queen meant her non-show voice was also effeminate. How wrong I was. He sounded hot and downright sexy.
“I guess so. Yes?” I was still swimming in the knowledge that Arabella could sound so sexy when not being Arabella that I had no idea how to reply.
“Well, this is Bob. So what can I do for you or would you prefer to call back and have me reanswer?”
“This is fine.” The last thing I needed was to start again with this super awkward and beyond unusual conversation. “I just … well I’m confused is all.”
“About Finn?” Bob nailed it in one. But there was so much more to it than that.
“Yes. No.” I was stammering, looking for the words. I had practiced the conversation to myself before I dialed and still, I had no idea how to say what was needed. “Confused about my job. It feels like we’re dating. And he says we are, but then I’m supposed to be working. But he won’t let me work, so now I have no idea what to do because I like him … a lot, but I need to work and—”
“Deep breaths, child, deep breaths. Answer me this, first. Did he feed?”
“No.” I’m not sure if things would have been easier if he had, but admitting out loud to Bob that he hadn’t feed made me feel like a failure.
“Did he say why?” There was no judgement in his voice, and I stopped the pacing I had begun before I even dialed and sat on the kitchen chair—okay, lawn chair I used in the kitchen, but same difference.
“He said because you sent him to me and he didn’t want to rush things.”
“Oh honey, boys, they are so dumb sometimes.” Bob slipped into his Arabella voice as he spoke, probably because he was about to bash himself. I almost chuckled and felt remarkably relieved at such a silly thing as boys being called dumb.
“Truth.” I might not be experienced in the way of men, but even I knew that when it came to love and lust, both genders could be dumb as a stump.
“Well let’s fix this then, shall we?” I nodded as if she could hear me wondering what I could possibly do to make this all better. “Here’s what you need to do …”
Four hours later I was knocking on Arabella’s door, my clothing choices in hand and my confidence soaring. I might not know her well, but I trusted her, especially with this. She had me made up in a flash and was able to alter my new blouse to be so much more than it started out as. I looked like a pin-up girl. A classy pin up girl. If all went well, tonight would be huge for me, or so Arabella insisted.
She believed that once I fed Finn that all would be fabulous in the world of me. I still didn’t understand how that was going to change my predicament, but her confidence was contagious. It also helped that I felt gorgeous. It was difficult to tell by looking at me that I was sleep deprived and stressed. I looked like I walked off the cover of a retro magazine and could take on the world. Arabella even had a small clutch I borrowed that blended in
beautifully with the style.
Initially, Finn came across as upset that I wanted him to pick me up somewhere not my home. I learned my lesson last time and called him instead of texting once I got that nervous pang. His voice brought back all of the feelings from the night before. My memory hadn’t done his voice justice. I was curious why all things seemed sunshine and roses to him once I mentioned where I actually was. What was it about Arabella that had people so … just so? I hoped that one day I would get to meet Bob, but was far too shy to ask.
As the bell rang, I wrung my hands, the nervousness setting in fully. I was going on a date, or work, or both, whatever and it was with the smexiest guy I had ever dreamed of, much less met. And he wanted me.
As the door opened, my heart started beating faster, butterflies turning my stomach into a knot. Maybe that was why he always called me butterfly. It wasn’t as if I hid my emotions when it came to him very well.
“Butterfly, you love absolutely stunning.” In two steps, Finn was in front of me, caressing my cheek with his lips. It was all I could do not to turn my head so our lips met, but I wasn’t home and we weren’t alone, so torture by lip massage it was.
“Thank you.” My voice was far too husky for even Arabella to not know how completely and utterly turned on I was by that one chaste kiss. “It was all Arabella.”
“Psh, you are gorgeous because of you. I simply got to play with the amazing canvas you brought me. And that skirt …. To die for, I tell you.” Arabella swished the compliment I gave her away as if it truly was all me, but we all knew that she added the glitter that had me sparkling for my date.
“I have to agree with Arabella on this one.” Finn’s hand glided down my arm in a slow sensuous journey that ended with his fingers intertwined with mine. “You would be beautiful in a pair of ratty jeans and a faded t-shirt.”
My face was on fire. “Thank you.” I was at a loss for what else to say.
“Thank you for taking care of my gorgeous date, Arabella.” His eyes never left my face. I felt like the most important person in his world in that moment, and while that was in no way reality, I relished in it.