Sookie POV
The next few days passed by in a blur. Tara had decided to take me up on my offer to move in, so I had to clean out my Gran's room and get ready to move my things in. I hadn't realized that it was going to be so hard to get rid of all of her things. What should have taken me a couple of hours to do, ended up taking a couple of days. Everything in her room reminded me of her, and I had to struggle with myself to get rid of anything that had belonged to her.
I taped together several cardboard boxes to organize everything in. One was for the things I wanted to keep, one for things that I thought Jason might want, one for things that I thought Tara might like and the final box was for things to give to the town's charity shop. Tara came over when I was about halfway through my sorting and helped me finish things up. I was glad for her company. As we sorted and packed, we told stories about Gran. Certain items would bring up memories for us, and we spent much of the day either laughing or crying in remembrance. Tara was one of the few people who understood just how much I missed Gran, because she had loved her too.
We had all spent so much time together in this house that it only seemed natural for Tara to move in with me. We had been inseparable as children, and we were still close. She is my best friend and I love her like a sister.
When we were finished, we taped up the boxes from Gran's room and took the one for Jason and the one for the charity shop and put them into the entryway off of the living room. Tara took her box to her new room. I had ended up keeping two boxes for myself, and we stowed those up in the farm house's little attic.
I asked Tara if she wanted a late lunch and then we set about making a couple of sandwiches for ourselves. We sat around the kitchen table gossiping like little old ladies and once again I thought about how glad I was that she was going to be here all the time now.
I had just picked our plates up to take them over to the sink when I heard a knock on the front door. I quickly deposited the plates in the sink and walked over to see who was there. Opening it up, I see that there is a man there holding a large bouquet of flowers.
"Are you Miss Stackhouse?" The delivery man asked.
"Yep, that's me." I respond as he hands me a little clipboard for me to sign. I sign my name and hand the clipboard back. He then hands me the flowers and turns to leave.
"Have a nice day, Ma'am." He calls over his shoulder on his way back to his florist van.
"You too." I reply as I step back and close the front door.
"Who was at the door?" Tara asks as she walks into the entryway.
"Florist. Apparently someone sent me flowers." I respond, walking back into the dining room, sitting the flowers on the table. They really were lovely. There a couple dozen flowers in all styles and colors. I notice a note card on a little plastic stick in the front and take it into my hand.
"Who are they from?" Tara asks excitedly, trying to look over my shoulder at the note card.
"Give me a second to read the card, Tara!" I laugh.
Opening the envelope, I take out the little card and start reading,
To new beginnings.
I hope these brighten your day
and put a smile upon your lovely face.
Until we next meet,
-E
"E? Who's that?" Tara asks.
"That's Eric." I reply to her. "He even wrote the card out himself." I say aloud, mostly to myself.
"Eric, you mean vampire Eric?" She asks, a shocked sound to her voice.
"The one and only. We have become sort of friends since everything that happened in Dallas." I tell her.
"Friends, huh? Looks like you two are a little more than that, Sook. I know I don't send my friends gorgeous bouquets of flowers." She said with a smile.
"Well I don't know exactly what we are, Tara. But it's easier to just think of us as friends, for now. It's still too soon after Bill to think of anything more than that."
As I said this, she wrapped her arm around my shoulder, pulling me into a half hug. "I know, Sook. But Bill is an asshole and I think you are better off without him."
"After what's happened recently, I have to agree with you. But that still doesn't make it hurt any less." I tell her.
She nods at me and then leans down to smell the flowers. She looks up at me, "These sure do smell nice."
I lean down and smell them myself, and I have to agree with her. They smelled wonderful, plus they are beautiful. I've never had a florist deliver flowers for me before. In fact I've only gotten flowers once in my life.. and that was when Bill brought me a couple of roses before we went to Fangtasia the night that Longshadow had attacked me.
That night seemed so far away, when in reality it had only been a few short months. But I'm not going to think about Bill or Longshadow. I don't want to be sad anymore today.
I ask Tara if she wants to go with me to the charity shop to take the box of things I'm going to donate and she agrees. She also asks if I would mind looking around the store with her for a few minutes while we are there. I tell her that I think it would be fun. I've always love going to yard sales and charity shops. Sometimes you can find the most wonderful things that cost next to nothing.
Within a few minutes we have packed the box in the trunk of my car and are on our way. She tells me that Lafayette is going to come over with most of her things later in the afternoon. I'm surprised that he is in any shape to help someone move, and I tell her so.
"He looked pretty bad when I first saw him after he got back, but I saw him again a few days later and he seemed completely normal. Even the wound on his leg was healed. I can't explain it!" She tells me.
I think about what she said and what kind of shape Lafayette had been in the last time I had seen him, the night when Bill and I took him home from Fangtasia. He was in rough shape, but had told me that he was going to get his uncle, the Vet to stitch him up. But even if he had done that, the wound would still be there now.
Thinking about how vampire blood heals human injuries very quickly, I wonder if Eric may have given him his blood to help him heal. I hope that was the case, it was the least Eric could do after what he had done to him. It still makes me mad to think about what Lafayette had had to endure, but at least he was alive. After what I had seen of some of the Dallas vampires, I doubt that would have been the case if he had been caught selling V in their area. I make a mental note to ask him how he had healed so fast when I saw him later in the day.
We pull up at the charity shop and go in, leaving our donations at the bin just inside the door. We spend a bit of time walking through the aisles. I decide to purchase a few knick knacks that I don't need, but that I like... and Tara gets a few things as well. As I'm up at the counter waiting my turn I look inside the glass case in front of me. The one that the store uses as a counter. There are several items in there, but one thing catches my eye. It's a small wooden boat, about a foot in length. It's intricately carved and very beautiful. When the cashier comes up to me, I ask her about it. She pulls it out of the case and sits it in front of me.
"It's a replica of a Viking Longship. I'm not sure of it's age. The previous owner found it in their attic when they were cleaning things out." she tells me.
I run my fingers over the smooth, carved wood and think about how perfect this would be for Eric. I knew that he would love it. Instantly making up my mind, I ask the cashier how much it costs. She tells me that it's twenty-seven dollars and I ask her to please add it to my order. She grabs a small cardboard box from under the counter and takes some tissue paper out, wrapping the boat up and placing it inside the box. She then sticks the box into the bag with my other purchases. I pay for the items and Tara and I walk out of the store.
If Tara thinks that it's odd that I'm buying a gift for Eric, she doesn't mention it. I ask her if she minds us stopping by the post office on the way home and she agrees. The post office is less than a mile from the charity shop, so we are there in no time. I reach into my purse and pull out the little notepad with an attached pen that I keep in there. I quickly jot down a note and rip the page from the pad. I put the note into the little cardboard box and walk into the post office. Luckily I already knew the address to Fangtasia, since it was on the back of the red shirt I had put on after I was attacked a couple of weeks ago.
I fill out the address card and pay the postage to the guy behind the counter. He gives me my receipt and sticks the package in the pile of outgoing mail. I thank him and make my way back to the car.
In a few minutes we are pulling back up at home and I notice that Lafayette is already there waiting on us. He is standing outside of his truck, looking like his normal spunky self. There was no indication that he had been in bad health just a week ago.
He calls out a greeting and we get to work unloading his truck and lugging the boxes up the stairs into what is now Tara's room. After we get everything into the room, we help her unpack, laughing and telling silly stories.
By this time it's getting late in the day and we decide to order a pizza to have for dinner. I go back downstairs to call it in, and just as I'm finishing the order Lafayette walks into the room. I am glad to have a moment alone with him, so that I can ask him about his recovery.
He doesn't seem surprised by my questions and he confirms my thoughts that it had been Eric who had healed him. What did surprise me was when he told me that Eric had done it for me, because he knew I cared about Lafayette.
Apparently my face gives away my shock, because he laughs and says. "Those vampires sure do love you, Sook. It's like they are addicted to you or something."
"I don't know why. I'm just a normal barmaid" I reply to him.
"Sook, you may be a lot of things but normal aint one of them honey. Enjoy it. That Eric is straight up sex on a stick. If I wasn't terrified of him, I might try to get him to notice me." He says with a wink.
I laugh along with him, surprised that he can joke about Eric after what he had been through. Thinking that it must have something to do with Eric coming and healing him, I decide to let it go. I knew Eric wasn't perfect, hell he was conniving, cocky and manipulative. But he could also be kind and caring. After a moment I decide that Lafayette was right, I shouldn't think about it all too much.. I should just enjoy it.
The three of us spend the rest of the evening munching on our pizza and watching old re-runs of Friends on the television. The time flies and by the time Lafayette gets up and leaves, I'm surprised that it's after two in the morning. It suddenly hits me how tired I am and after hugging Tara goodnight, I make my way into my room to go to bed. After I brush my teeth and change into my nightgown, I'm swaying on my feet. As I flip off the light and crawl up into my bed, my last thoughts are on how nice this day has been and how happy I am.