A/N: Another short one; divorce is coming in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: everything belongs to Charlaine Harris.
After some badly needed sleep, I woke and got started on my loose plan for the day. It was a relatively normal one, aside from waiting to be summoned for my own divorce. I made coffee and scrambled eggs for breakfast. After that, I did some much-needed weeding and pruning in my ridiculously overgrown yard, dropped some fresh-cut flowers on Gran's and my parents' graves, and took two boxes of tomatoes over to the church soup kitchen. Like most other "gifts" I'd received from supernaturals, Niall's blessing of my garden seemed to be working out to be just as much curse.
After getting back and cleaning up the house a little, I checked my email and found a new message from Mr. Cataliades, letting me know he'd heard I had some trouble and would be coming to visit soon. I looked forward to seeing him, and hoped he'd bring Diantha with him as well.
Finally, there was nothing left to do but get ready for work. In the bathroom, I examined my face, which was now unmistakably bruised. I took a long shower, dressed in my Merlotte's uniform, dried my hair, and pulled it up into a smooth ponytail before grabbing my keys and heading out. As I neared Hummingbird Road in my old car, I wondered how long it would be before I could travel my gravel driveway without thinking of Eric.
The bar was buzzing with activity, as it usually was when something interesting had happened in our small town. Today, my confrontation with Arlene was the topic of discussion, and of many unspoken thoughts. Kennedy kept a bag of ice handy for me behind the bar, and India helped out with my tables a few times to give me a break.
Kenya Jones came in for a chicken basket and fries, and I caught from her that she and her partner Kevin Pryor were still getting along really well. The two police officers had moved in together recently, although Kevin's rather racist mom still didn't know, officially. She smiled at me when I brought her food, and tried her best to keep her mind blank from thoughts about me and Arlene - I'd let her off easy last night as far as Kenya was concerned, even though the officer was usually a peace keeper.
I was almost starting to feel better when Karin glided into the bar, turning the heads of everyone in the room. The citizens of Bon Temps might be used to the idea of vampires, but new ones turning up - especially pretty blonde ones - were still remarkable. Sam had actually come to work tonight, and he slid in beside me to size up Karin and check on me.
"Karin, this is Sam, my partner in the bar. Sam, this is Karin, Eric's other progeny."
"Ah, so you're the much beloved friend," Karin said frostily.
Karin and I were not getting off to the best start. Maybe it didn't really matter. I shook my head. "Sam, I suspect Karin is here to drag me to some undisclosed location for my involuntary divorce, and I bet she's not meant to wait for my shift to end." She confirmed with a nod. I tried to look at Sam apologetically, although I didn't have a lot of room left for other people's feelings at the moment.
"Don't worry, Sookie. We're plenty staffed since I came in, and it's almost all beers tonight anyway." Sam glanced around at the crowd, which was mostly still watching me and Karin.
"Thanks, Sam. See you." I gave him a quick hug, and walked toward the back to grab my things, Karin's cold hand guiding me by the arm. That caused a whole different stream of thoughts around the bar, and I was glad when we passed out of sight of most of the customers.
I didn't know how Karin had arrived, but we took my car to Shreveport. I gripped the steering wheel tightly, wondering if it would be better to drive faster and get this over with just a tiny bit sooner. Didn't the Band-Aid actually always hurt either way?
As we neared Fangtasia, I finally spoke. "Karin, listen. I don't know if I'll ever be allowed to see or speak to Eric again after this. I need you to tell him when you can that the cluviel dor working on Sam did not, does not mean I'm in love with Sam. And I really didn't understand that Eric was out of options when I used it. I also didn't have it with me because I planned to use it that way. I'd started carrying it with me just in case. I don't want him to misunderstand. No matter what you think of me, I do love Eric." A tear leaked down my bruised cheek.
I glanced at Karin once then kept my eyes straight ahead while she regarded me. "I will." She apparently had no further questions or commentary, and then we pulled into the Fangtasia parking lot.