Sam was relieved to see Peggy arriving for work the next morning, looking sound and unharmed as far as he could tell. She flashed him a brilliant, wistful smile as she and Sookie got to work preparing for the breakfast crowd. Sam had his paperwork all caught up, so he decided to help out in the restaurant – there wasn't much call for the bar, so he filled up his customers' coffee and juice, and made sure they were enjoying their food. Terry had taken to cooking in the morning and he made one hell of an omelette, so after a bit Sam helped himself to a plate and ate behind the bar.
"Everything going okay?" he asked as Peggy swept by, looking frazzled.
"I only broke one plate today," she said.
"She's improving," Sookie added, but then hurried over to Maxine Fortenberry, who was waving a napkin at her.
Sam reached out and grabbed Peggy's hand, stopping her. Her fingers felt very cold. "Is everything okay at home?" he asked in a low voice.
Peggy hesitated. "He was disappointed."
"He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No," she said. "He just…he…went out for a long time."
Sam didn't know what to make of that, or the tone of longing in her voice. "You don't have to stay with him, Peggy."
"Yes, Sam, I do. But if it makes you feel better, I think I want to. He makes me furious sometimes, he's stubborn as a mule, but he can also be very charming and very…tender."
That didn't sound like the Eric Northman that Sam knew, but he nodded. He hadn't let go of Peggy's hand and she didn't try to pull away from him. "I just don't want to see you get hurt, or worse," said Sam.
"You don't like vampires much, do you, Sam?"
"No, I guess I don't."
"Some of them are quite enlightened."
"And some of them are soulless murderers." Sam's eyes met hers and Peggy looked at him frankly.
"So are some humans," she said. "And some…" she trailed off. "Others," she finished lamely.
Sam knew then that she knew what he was, that Eric had probably told her. He also knew that she wouldn't out him. His instinct told him that he could trust her. "Did he happen to mention if he trashed my trailer?" he asked, slightly bitter.
"Sam, unless you invited him in, he couldn't go inside your trailer. And believe me, he'd like to know who did it as much as you would, because that person has that pendant he wants so badly."
"I don't suppose he told you why he wants it so badly."
"No," Peggy said, frowning. "I really wish he had. Maybe it would help me to figure out who else could have taken it." She looked into Sam's eyes and smiled. "I want to thank you, Sam. You've been very kind to me, all things considered."
Before Sam could reply, Terry hollered that a big order was ready in the kitchen, and Peggy scurried off to deliver it. Sipping his coffee, Sam watched her. He'd had that pendant since he was seventeen, tossed into a drawer. He had tried to sell it back when he was a kid and had fenced some of the items he'd taken from Maryann, but had been told it had almost no value.
For some reason, he'd held onto it, but he'd never worn it, or even put it around his neck. If it had any supernatural powers, it hadn't shown Sam any evidence of them. He'd never shown it to anyone or told anyone he had it, so who could have known? Who could have taken it?
Before the end of breakfast, Dean the dog was once more barking at the damned orange cat in the parking lot. Sam called Bon Temps Animal Control, which turned out to be a very annoyed Andy Bellefleur, but the cat ran away before Andy showed up and was too smart to walk into any of the traps he laid for it.
"I can get rid of the dog for you," Andy sneered. "That would solve the problem, too."
Sam locked Dean in his trailer for the rest of the lunch shift and let him out again once he was sure the cat wasn't coming back. With Lafayette and Arlene promising that the bar would be fine without him for the evening, Sam went to get ready for his date with Anne Marie. As he was unsuccessfully attempting to tame his hair, Sam realized that he wasn't sure where he was supposed to pick her up. Setting down his brush and grabbing his cell phone, he dialed her number.
"Lo?" asked a very deep voice.
"Is…Anne Marie there?" Sam asked.
"Hol' on. ANNE MARIE! You gots a phone call, cher!"
Sam had to hold his cell away from his ear as the male Cajun voice roared through the phone. It also took all his control not to ask who had answered the phone when Anne Marie came on the line, and she didn't volunteer the information.
"I jest meet you in Merlotte's parkin' lot, and we ride on up to Shreveport from there," she told him and would brook no argument from Sam.
Why didn't she want him to know where she lived? He had her address on her work papers. It wouldn't take him but fifteen minutes to find her place. Shrugging, Sam decided that it wasn't that important, not right now.
He was in the parking lot five minutes early. Clutching a handful of red and yellow tulips that he had picked from back behind his trailer, he smoothed down his hair and told himself that he wasn't nervous. He knew it was a lie when Anne Marie's beat-up light blue car pulled into the parking lot.
The door to the car opened and a slender leg in a high heeled alligator pump slid out, causing Sam's heart to beat a frenzied tattoo against his ribs. Anne Marie slid all the way out and Sam found he had trouble trying to breathe. She was in a loose, lovely pale green dress that made her eyes pop and sparkle in the dim light. It was cut fairly low over her chest and Sam couldn't help but admire the pale flesh so perfectly displayed. Sam forced his eyes up to her face.
Anne Marie's red hair was in perfect ringlets that framed her cheeks, the light sprinkle of freckles across her nose so delectable that Sam wanted to lick them off. On one arm she wore a mix of bracelets – a wooden one painted glossy green that matched her dress and several silver bangles. Her purse was also made of alligator hide, to match her shoes.
"Well, hello dere, Sam Merlotte," she said, sounding somewhat shy as Sam jogged across the parking lot to her and thrust the tulips into her arms. "Thank you, these my favorites."
"You look beautiful, Anne Marie," Sam said sincerely. A hint of pink highlighted her cheeks and she kissed the corner of his mouth softly.
"You too, cher," she said.
Sam thought about asking her to cancel dinner and dragging her right back to his trailer, but he also remembered her admonitions to Jason that she was a lady, and to ask her to do such wouldn't certainly not be treating her like one. He escorted her to his truck and opened the door for her, helping her settle inside.
Normally Sam found the drive to Shreveport somewhat tedious, but with Anne Marie by his side, it seemed to take no time. She made him laugh in a way he hadn't in a long time. She told him long, drawn out stories about growing up in a big Cajun family and he was glad he didn't have to say much about his own life.
Sam wished he could tell her he was a shape shifter. In fact, if things worked out between them, before anything happened in the bedroom, he would tell her. He promised himself that. He just wanted a chance to know her first, though. She didn't seem like she would bolt, but he couldn't know for certain…
He was going to enjoy the hell out of this time with her first, now, while it was all innocence and flirting, and while she thought he was nothing but a nice, ordinary guy.
They drove past Fangtasia on their way to Gator Bayou, and Sam saw Anne Marie shudder with distaste. Sam had considered stopping in to tell Pam where Eric was – maybe she would drag him back to Shreveport and he'd leave Peggy in peace, but Anne Marie's uncomfortable expression quickly made him change his mind.
"Don't much care for vampires?" Sam asked.
"Dey nothin' but a heap o'trouble," Anne Marie said. "Dey pretend to be civilize, but dey ain't."
"Sookie's engaged to Vampire Bill," Sam said. "Jason's sister."
Anne Marie shook her head. "I won' tell no one what choice to make, but I think we all be better off if they went back where they came from."
"You mean underground?" Sam asked, slightly confused.
"Turn lef' here, cher, we there!"
Sam pulled into a busy parking lot and immediately envied Gator Bayou its busy clientele. The large shack of a restaurant was set out on a dock in the water, and was almost totally surrounded by swamp. Lightning bugs flitted around live oaks hung with Spanish Moss. The parking lot was unpaved but the dirt was well tramped down. This place was clearly busy every night. Sam could hear a zydeco band playing, and the wooden posts along the walkway dock to the restaurant were strung with bright little white lights. It was very cheerful and homey looking and gave Sam a warm feeling in his heart just looking at it.
"I wonder if I should have made a reservation," he said, taking her arm as they strolled towards the building.
"Oh, don' worry. We get a table," said Anne Marie.
Judging from the enthusiastic greeting that the door hostess gave her, Sam knew he needn't worry. The two of them squealed and hugged and talked so fast in a Cajun patois that Sam couldn't understand them.
"This my new beau, Sam Merlotte," Anne Marie said proudly when the two of them had disengaged. "Sam, dis my cousin Pearletta."
"Pleased to meet you," Sam said, shaking Pearletta's hand as she looked him over. She licked her lips and he guessed he passed muster.
"You always do fine dem han-some ones," she said. "Come on, I set you at the bes' table in the house."
"Not dat one near de baff-room," Anne Marie warned.
"Course not. I save dat one fo' Cousin Michel, he always wan' sit dere."
Pearletta's sashay was nothing compared to Anne Marie's but it got Sam's attention as they followed her across the packed room. The promised table was in the corner, over looking the water, with a good view of the band and dance floor, but not so close that the music made talking impossible.
Sam took her hand across the table, only just registering that they hadn't been given any menus, but in moments they had cold beer and a bucket of boiled crawfish. Reluctantly their fingers parted but it was well worth it to watch Anne Marie pinch the tail and suck the head of the crawfish.
"You gonta eat one, Sam, or jest watch me?" she teased.
Every waiter in the place seemed to know or be related to Anne Marie, and they all stopped by the table to chat. She introduced them all to Sam but he couldn't manage to keep them straight. It wasn't exactly a private, romantic meal, but it was relaxing and fun and Sam found that he was having a great time. One of the waiters brought them plates of blackened catfish and it was the best he'd ever tasted.
The zydeco band slowed from a rollicking tune into something almost like a waltz and Anne Marie jumped up. "Let's have us a dance before dessert!"
Sam rose and took her onto the crowded dance floor, where he tucked her into his embrace and they swayed together. Anne Marie looked up at him, her big green eyes shining with sheer pleasure.
"I cain't remember last time I had so much fun wid a gennelmun," she told him. "You a fine dancer, you."
"You ain't so bad yourself," Sam replied.
"I might even let you take me out a second time," Anne Marie sighed, then she leaned her head against his chest as they danced.
Sam smiled, feeling like the luckiest man in the world.
The busy, noisy, bustling kitchen of the restaurant had a wide open door near the edge of the dance floor, and he could see the cooks and waiters inside, dishing up some of the tastiest food in Louisiana. Sam was so full that he wasn't sure he would ever eat again, never mind have dessert. One very big man with short-cropped rusty hair and a huge meat cleaver that was being put to good use caught Sam's eye and frowned at him, and he wondered if it was another of Anne Marie's relatives.
And then Sam saw it.
Around the man's neck was the missing necklace, the one Eric Northman was so eager to get his hands on. Sam would have recognized it anywhere.