The next morning, a Sunday, I woke up to the sun shining brightly through my open curtains. I stretched out in the bed, both enjoying the space and hating the lack of a body in it with me all in the same instant. I glanced at my clock and saw that if I hurried, I would be able to make it to the 11 o'clock mass at church. I showered quickly and threw on one of my nicest Sunday dresses and a pair of pearl earrings I had found in my grandmother's jewellery box after she'd passed away. I slicked my hair back into a ponytail just to avoid having to blow dry it. As I rushed through the kitchen towards the back door, I noticed a note on the table that I hadn't seen last night. I grabbed it and tucked it into my purse, reminding myself to read it after church when I had a moment. I made it to church with just a few moments to spare and was pleasantly surprised to see Sam Merlotte, my boss, sitting in one of the back pews. I grabbed a seat next to him just as the service began. An hour and a bit later, service was over and I was standing back in the beautiful sunshine with Sam. I stood close by while he chatted with a few important people. Eventually, he made his way back over to me.
"What would you say to lunch, Sookie?" he asked. I smiled and nodded. Sam and I got along great. I loved hanging out with him. He drove us over to Crawdad Diner, a place we usually picked when having a meal out away from work. We enjoyed a peaceful lunch where Sam asked me questions about my situation with Eric and I dodged his questions. I, in return, asked him about his relationship with Jannalynn, a werewolf in Alcide's pack, and Sam dodged answering those. It seemed not long ago we confided in each other for almost everything and now we had nothing to talk about for fear of saying something we couldn't or didn't want to talk about.
Eventually, lunch ran down, Sam paid for lunch (after firmly telling me it was a pleasure to treat me to lunch once in a while and no amount of arguing with him would change his mind), I left the tip and we climbed back into Sam's truck. Our conversation was extremely light on the way back to the church where my car was still parked. This was unusual for Sam and I, who sometimes couldn't stop talking even if we tried. He pulled up next to my car and we said our goodbyes, saying we'd see each other for the lunch shift on Tuesday. He waited around until I was in my car and then took off. My drive home was quick and I was surprised to see my cousin Claude's car sitting in the driveway around the back of the house. It hadn't been there when I had left for church and I hadn't seen or heard from him in days. I let myself in the house and headed for my room. I heard the shower going in the hall bathroom as I passed by. I quickly shed my dress and opted for a bikini top and short shorts. No use letting perfectly good sunshine go to waste. I grabbed my gardening gloves again and got to work, tending to the weeds in my Gran's garden. At least I was doing something useful while I was sun tanning. A couple hours later, I felt all sunned out, my body was covered in a thin layer of dirt, the sun was thinking of starting to set and I was dog tired, but the garden was free of weeds for the time being. As I entered the kitchen, I saw Claude and Dermot, my great-uncle, sitting at the kitchen table each eating a quick microwavable dinner.
"Working tonight?" I asked them.
"Yup," Claude said. "We have to be on hand to open one of the clubs and then we're headed over to the new one for the rest of the evening. Got any special plans tonight cousin?" He waggled his eyebrows at me a little. I don't think he had a clue about what was going on between Eric and I. Claude was too self-absorbed for that. I shook my head.
"Nothing special. Just me and a good book, maybe a movie," I told him. I bid them good bye and went to jump into the shower to wash the grime off from my gardening. By the time I got out, my fairy family members were gone and I had the house to myself. I changed into some comfy pyjamas for the evening and turned on the radio. I danced around as I made myself some dinner and ate at the kitchen table that was still dirty from Claude and Dermot's easy dinners. I was going to have to speak to them about cleaning up after themselves if they planned on staying around much longer. After cleaning up my mess and theirs, I turned the music down a little and grabbed the mystery novel I was reading and curled up on the couch to read. I don't know how long I read, but slowly, I became aware of the feeling that someone was watching me. I couldn't feel any brain pattern so I assumed it was a vampire. I glanced out the nearest window only to see a reflection behind me, instead of a face in front of me. I spun around to see Eric standing behind me, simply looking down at me.
"Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea!" I shouted. "Eric! You nearly scared me out of my skin! Why didn't you say anything?" I jumped up, longing to hug him and never let go. But I held my ground. I didn't know why he was here and we had things to discuss. The sadness in his eyes made it almost unbearable. His face was whiter looking than normal, and it looked a little sunken in. He looked sick.
"Did you not get my letter, my love?" he asked quietly. I shook my head.
"Where did you leave it?" He gestured to the kitchen table. The light bulb went on in my head.
"Oh, that was from you! I hadn't read it yet. I assumed it was from Jason from yesterday," I explained. He shrugged. Eric, my Eric, actually just shrugged his shoulders at me. The gesture was extremely human to me and Eric never used it. I suppressed a laugh at him. I suggested we move our conversation outside to the porch, only because the room seemed to be suddenly overwhelming. We took a seat on the swing on the front porch. Eric didn't make a move to start a conversation, so I had to.
"So," I began, "had you been here long?" He simply nodded.
"Are you going to talk to me or not?" I demanded. I hated being the bad guy, but if he wasn't going to talk, what the hell was the point of all this.
"I left you the note on the table last night, after Pam left here, after you went to bed for the night. I didn't want to wake you, but I needed to see you. So I came over and sat in your room, watched you dream. Just before sunrise, I got into the hidey hole. I left you the note so I wouldn't startle when I woke this evening," he explained, almost no emotion in his voice, as if he was defeated.
"Why did you come Eric?" I asked him. He looked up at me, bloody tears forming in his eyes. My heart broke. I shifted over in the swing and let him lay his head on my shoulder. We sat like that for several minutes before either of us said anything.
"I've missed you more than you can begin to imagine," he said. "I longed to call you every night, but I knew you wouldn't take my calls. I knew I needed to sort my life out first. I still haven't been able to figure out why I have been the way I have been since Ocella met his final death. I was feeling empty after he passed on, and it's only gotten worse since you left…" He trailed off and I looked down to see his eyes closed. I wasn't sure if he'd fallen asleep or not, but I didn't want to disturb him.
"Have you figured anything out yet?" I asked softly.
"No," he said after a moment, "I haven't figured out why I'd been so cold and empty. I came here this evening to tell you this, and to ask if you would consider coming back to me or at least allowing me a visit once in a while. I feel drained without you near." I sighed.
"Eric, I meant what I said," I told him, my tears falling onto his arm. "I love you so very, very much, but I don't want to come back until you're sure why you've been so distant with me." The pain of all this was almost unbearable, between my own pain and Eric's pain. We remained sitting on the swing, Eric's head still on my shoulder, for what seemed like hours. I eventually realized I had fallen asleep, because when I awoke I was laying down on the swing with my head in Eric's lap. He was simply staring off into the forest. When I stirred, he looked down at me with pained eyes. He helped me to my feet.
"I should head back to Shreveport. I have some business to attend to before I go to ground for the day," he said. I nodded, finally leaning in for my hug from him. He breathed deeply as he held me.
"You smell amazing," he told me. "Wet dirt, fairy, strawberry shampoo and a strong allure of sunshine." I could feel him smile against my ear.
"I love you," I whispered. He squeezed me tighter.
"My one true love," he said, and then he was gone.