Author's Note: Thanks to Ms. Harris for this crazy sandbox to play in. Thanks to Merry for her help too.
Three and a half months ago – Moving to NOLA…
I couldn't seem to shake the luck, but I decided not to think on it too much. I guess not living in Bon Temps is what the universe wanted for me; I'd never had such an easy time reorganizing my pantry, much less moving. Smooth sailing never made me nervous before – after I thought about it for a while, I decided to view the loss of Alcide as the aberration in my destiny – rather than the windfall I seemed to be having now.
Tara dragged me out for a few drinks the night before we left – she of course was stuck with mocktails – she claimed that name was accurate because they mocked her and her belly. I was still in bed by ten o'clock – note to self, pregnant women make an easy escape option. I woke up at four am when Jason came roaring up the drive honking. He pulled up in front of the trailer we finished loading yesterday afternoon and got out to hook up the trailer hitch.
By the time I'd washed my face, brushed my teeth and put my shoes on the correct feet, Gran had coffee brewing in the kitchen. I could hear Gran fussing at him, asking if he was trying to wake the dead. I snickered at that – imagining the cemetery next door springing to life with Zombies, a la Shaun of the Dead. I poured us each a travel mug of coffee. Gran and I had debated frying up bacon one last time for a last breakfast in the house. We reasoned that it would create too much mess and leftover packing. Opting instead for a grease-a-polooza for all meals yesterday and then packing her old, well seasoned cast iron frying pan along with the rest of the kitchen after dinner. We hit the road at dark o'clock (five am) – stopping for an unhealthy, but so satisfying fast food breakfast. And just like that, I was a resident of New Orleans.
Three years ago – A strange first date…
I waited in my room for a slow count to five and a deep breath. When I walked into the living room, Alcide was coming into the door. He smiled – his face lighting up, then turning back to Gran to answer her question. Being a waitress might not be a glamorous or prestigious, but it does make you learn a lot about human nature. I had been worried that I was reading in too many DATE! signals, but as I took in Alcide's demeanor, I realized he was definitely in date mode.
He'd showered and shaved within the previous hour – on a weekday afternoon no less. Maybe he had a dirty job this morning, but I found myself unworried and not second guessing myself. At work, I'm a smiling, sassy, confident barmaid – those traits rarely bleed over into my home life, but I wasn't questioning my instincts. As I smiled and watched him talk with Gran, he wiped his palms with his handkerchief and tucked it back into his jeans pocket – sweaty palms – definitely first date nervous. I was soon broken out of my reverie.
"I'll be down at Caroline Bellefleur's for the evening." Gran said, gathering her own purse and keys. I looked at her, about to ask…
"It's Miss Doreen's night off and her granddaughter – you remember Portia? – has a deposition to take in Shreveport. I can sit with Caroline and make sure she doesn't aggravate her hip, probably easier than most." She turned and looked at Alcide, "Old folks take a telling off much better from their contemporaries, rather than a cheeky youngster, you know?"
"Yes, ma'am." His deep voice boomed out. He looked down at me. "Are you ready? I'll be on the lookout for midgets with skewers."
I laughed. "Sure, let's go. See you later Gran!" I waved back to her as we walked out the door. She had paused, smiling at me through the window in the front door. I turned back as Alcide unlocked and opened my door. He offered me a steady hand as I boosted myself up into the high cab of his pickup. I was glad again that I had gone with this dress – it was cute and comfortable, but kept me modest on the climb up. He smiled and closed the door, jogging around the front of the truck and stepping into the truck, just as easy as I'd step onto the curb.
"I called ahead. The main librarian is off today, but her assistant – or maybe it's a volunteer? – will give us the grand tour." I laughed, wondering who would be leading this tour. Some of the Friends of the Library – and several of the volunteers were uncommon characters. The quick trip to the new building was over before we really had much chance to talk. We parked in that nice new paved parking lot and walked to the main doors side by side. I had my library books with me to return. I had called in the renewal because I'd missed the chance to recheck them. The library was really smart about the move – they encouraged people to check out lots of books so they wouldn't have to pay to move them and they gave you an extra week before the due date checkout. You just had to agree to bring them back to the new library. I was glad I was currently having a love affair with non-fiction. It may have been gauche to be turning in a stack of romance novels on a first date.
We walked in the door and were greeted on sight by Elmer Claire Vaudry. Well, I guess I'd see how easy it was to embarrass Alcide. Elmer Claire was one of the bawdiest septuagenarians on the planet. I ended up being the one surprised. "Hello Sookie! So good to see you and with such delightfully delicious company," She winked – never one to miss a chance at little sally. "Marcia said you were coming for your tour today and left me a whole heap of stuff for you."
"What sort of stuff? I didn't have anything on reserve did I?" I was just plain lost – looking at Alcide, who looked just as bewildered as I felt.
"No – she said you had talked about maybe starting community college online this fall. She put all this information together for you. Also, she got a grant to buy refurbished laptops – you'd be able to check one out when you had to do extra class work when the library is closed. You're a great barmaid Sookie, but you won't want to wait those tables at Merlotte's forever." While Elmer Claire was a retired schoolteacher, she also had some parts of her past that were a bit more checkered. She was one of the few people who could say that without getting my back up – she was just stating facts as she saw them plainly, not judging me or my job. She could see me pause, thinking it over. "Come on, let me show you one of the laptops – you don't even have to have your own internet to send things – their programmed to use the wireless server here at the library – you can sit in your car in the parking lot if you need to send something out online."
"How do you maintain a secure server?" I'd forgotten Alcide was there until he'd piped up with that question – nice date behavior Sookie.
"I don't know – something about anti-tampering chips with gps and some number type of encryption – I'm too old to know that kind of stuff." Elmer Claire threw up her hands. Then she narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at Alcide, "but I got an email and a facebook so I can see my grandbabies and my great-grandbabies."
She led us into a computer room – mostly empty given the time. She opened up a laptop that looked brand new to me – I thought of refurbished as a slip-covered couch, apparently there was more to it with technological items. "Now – do you have an email address?" I shook my head no. "Well, we'll start there and see where we end up. So sit down and go to Google dot com." I looked up at Alcide – really not a first date activity. He smiled. "Go ahead chere – you can send me your first email." He got his fancy cell phone out of his pocket. We spent the next hour and a half with Ms. Vaudry showing me how to operate the computer enough to sign up for an admissions appointment – I arranged it far enough out that Sam could work around it on the schedule. I also made a list of the paperwork I would have to collect to apply as well as several printouts about financial aid and grant applications. After that, I got more information about testing out of class. I hoped I would be able to save some time and money there too. All through this, Alcide was calm and smiling – encouraging me and sending obnoxious emails that made me laugh. Not those dumb – forward this to people that like whatever – just stupid stuff, but it was the most fun I'd had filling out paperwork and making lists I'd ever had. We finally headed out the door with all my information, and a shiny red laptop to boot. We strolled around the new grounds, admiring the landscaping for a few minutes before climbing back into his truck.
"You want to go get something to eat?" Alcide asked me after we got back in the truck. I was surprised he was willing to wait so long while I filled out those forms and made one heck of a to do list.
"Don't you have work early? I don't want to keep you up and ruin tomorrow for you." I really didn't want an awkward precollege-pep-talk/let-her-down-easy meal. I'd rather just give him an out.
"I don't have work in the morning. I got to drive to Jackson tomorrow afternoon. I have to be there to present a bid from our company. My brother in law was going to do it, but he's home with the chicken pox. Whoever heard of a grown ass man getting chicken pox?"
"Don't they vaccinate for it now? Lots of people won't get it anymore." I responded to the comment rather than the dinner offer.
"I guess – so what are you in the mood for: Italian? Thai? Barbeque?" I guess he was stepping around my out and avoiding giving me one. He already knew I worked the late shift tomorrow.
"Barbeque actually sounds great – I've been craving some good brisket. The place down off highway forty one has great ribs, but their brisket is awful. Do you know a place around here?" Might as well let him know now that I wasn't a side salad without dressing kind of girl.
He smiled and put the truck in gear. "I know just the place."
We rode to a hole to what looked like a ramshackle old shack. The Hair of the Dog was a counter style, eat-out-back type of place. When we walked in, we ordered at the counter – sides were family style, white bread was in a bag on the table. Several different sauces were in squeeze bottles in an old six pack container. We went through the back doors where you could watch the men cooking the meats. Alcide had opted for pork ribs, while I went for my beloved brisket. The grill master came over – Alcide introduced him as John Flood. After a while, he pulled the meat from the meats from the smoke and brought them over. We sat and ate and drank ice cold long necks – laughing about Elmer Claire's pick up lines and zingers. John came over after awhile, introducing his wife who promptly talked us into peach cobbler and coffee. Alcide did slip in a few encouraging precollege words, but this was definitely not a let-her-down-easy meal. We just sat and joked and laughed until they shooed us out at eleven p.m.
"I can't believe how late it is! Where did the time go?" I sighed as I leaned back into the passenger seat of the truck.
"They say time flies you know?"
"I just wish it flew like this at work. I can't believe we kept them there so late! I know better than to camp out at a table like that."
"Don't worry about it Sookie – I went to school with their oldest son – they're like family to me." I didn't know what to say then. Sure he'd met my family – Jason had introduced us, but he voluntarily brought me around people he liked and cared about. I got happy-nervous-excited rabbles of butterflies in my belly and smiled a shy smile out the window the whole way home.
When we pulled up to the farmhouse, almost all the lights were off. Gran had left the kitchen light on and the porch lights, but that was it. I was fairly sure she was still awake in her room, but she would give me time to say goodnight. Alcide got out of the truck, he helped me out by steadying my hand and when I was back on terra firma he didn't let go – opting instead to walk me to the door hand in hand. I didn't rush the walk, but all too soon we were there. I turned and faced him. I'm no waif, but he made me look and feel like one, he was so tall and broad. As I looked up into his eyes, he smiled.
"Sookie, did you have a good time today?"
"Of course I did – I'm sorry about taking all that time at the library…" He silenced me with a finger on my lips. He slowly traced them back and forth.
"I've never had a better first date. Would you see me again?" I nodded yes slightly. I didn't want to lose the contact of his fingers on my lips. "How about next week when you go to the school? We could have lunch after." I nodded again, and smiled – he was still touching my face. He slid his hand to my hair, around my neck slightly. He pulled me forward a little as he bent and delicately kissed me. We just stood there in an almost chaste kiss for a moment, my hands sliding up his strong arms. As my heart started to pound, his arm went around my back and pulled me close to him, his mouth opening and his tongue coaxing its way in between my lips. Time seemed to stand still and fly by at the same time until he pulled away panting, his arms still around me. "Good night chère. Would it be alright if I called you? I'm going to be out of town for a few days, but I'd like to hear your voice." I panted a breathy yes. He smiled, "Good night, I'll let you get your rest." He let go then. I pulled my keys from my bag and let myself in.
"Thanks again, I had a wonderful time."
"The pleasure was mine Sookie. Now make sure you lock up. I'll see you soon." He waited by the door until he heard the lock click. He leaped down the porch stairs and went around to the driver's side of the truck. I could see his grin lighting up his face. He looked once more at the house, climbed in the truck, and drove away. I turned and put a hand to my lips and smiled as I leaned against the door. I may have stood there for hours grinning.
Author's Note: Is there anything more exciting than falling in love? Do you change your wallet when you change bags?
Coming soon – the rest of interview day, it's a monster, and an old friend is coming by - any guesses who?
