Seer: Thrall (30 page)

"You'll be fine. So, going to invite me to lunch?"

I smiled.

* * * *

I'm going to jump ahead in my story a bit and let you know how this turned out, at least for the next few weeks.

I worked half days, typically mornings. Dolores and her boss were very pleased with the programming work I did for them, and I did two more modest projects before I began to fully take over from Devon.

I felt pretty good about all of it.

Once I was sure I could still program a computer, I called Ed Frank. Solange had already talked to him about me, so he was expecting my call. He told me, "Sidney, I have all the programming you can do. Stop by." I quoted a modest bill rate for the next six months.

I also called a few of my old clients. Most of them had found other people to rely on, but a few were pleased to hear from me, and over the next several months, I found myself taking more and more of the sort of work I'd done in the past.

I stayed to half time. I had other commitments, after all, and they took priority.

But at least I was back at work, and I was doing a good job besides. That's what mattered.

In the morning the Wednesday after I'd met Amanda, two days after my first meeting with Dolores and Devon, Amanda called me. I didn't recognize the number.

"Sidney Welsh."

"It's Amanda," she said. "How are you, Sidney?"

"Amanda," I said with warmth. "I'm good. You?"

"I'm great," she replied. "I am heading to Casper and Associates in about an hour. I need to see Solange's office so I am able to frame her drawing properly, and then Cadence is taking me to lunch. We would like you and Solange to come. I would pick you up. Our home is only about ten minutes from you."

"Does Solange know you're inviting me?"

"She knows I'm coming, but I thought it would be fun to surprise her. If she's not free, you can still come to lunch with Cadence and me."

"I'd love to go, Amanda." I looked down. I was dressed very informally. "Are you dressing up?"

"I'm in my sloppy painting clothes," she said. "But I'm about to shower and change. I'll be in a casual dress, not lawyer clothes."

I nodded to myself. "I'll be ready." I felt myself smiling. "Thank you, Amanda."

"You're welcome," she replied, "but there's nothing to thank me for." She paused, and I thought she had more to say. "We'll talk on the way."

"Should I be worried?"

She laughed. "No. See you soon."

We clicked off. I turned back to my computer, worked for a few more minutes until I was at a good stopping point, then saved everything and noted the time. I would need it for billing purposes. I'd already showered, so I headed back to my bedroom to change clothing.

I didn't really have a lot of the right clothing for this. I had a few casual spring and summer dresses. I had business clothing, both formal and business casual. I had evening wear and athletic wear and lounging around wear. But I didn't see anything that looked like a good casual fall dress.

I ended up with a simple wrap around skirt, white blouse and a pair of flats. I eyed myself in the mirror and wasn't satisfied, but it would have to do.

I didn't have the right kind of coat, either, and it was chilly out today. I added a pashmina and checked my appearance again.

I wasn't a visual person. Well, that wasn't true. I appreciated good art, and I appreciated a well-dressed woman. Or a well-undressed woman. I knew what I should look like in business attire. But for things like this, I just didn't have a clue.

"Why do you care, Sidney?" I asked. "It's not a date. Amanda isn't going to care, and you couldn't care less what Solange thinks."

I knew I was lying to myself about the last part, but I wasn't willing to admit it.

I sighed and headed downstairs.

Ten minutes later, my phone rang. I didn't recognize this number, either.

"Sidney Welsh."

"Ms. Welsh, it is Thomas."

"Hello, Thomas," I said. "What can I do for you?"

"Ms. Jaynes is here to pick you up."

Just then, I saw her car pull up under the portico. "I see her, Thomas. Thank you."

"She wasn't on the list, Ms. Welsh," Thomas said. There was disapproval in his tone.

"Oh Thomas, I'm sorry," I said. "I forgot to tell you." I knew I was supposed to. "I'm sorry."

"Quite all right, Ms. Welsh. I only wanted to remind you. We trust Ms. Jaynes, but if this had been Ms. Weiss, I would have left her waiting at the gate." He meant Dolores.

"I understand. I'll remember in the future."

"Enjoy your afternoon, Ms. Welsh."

"Thank you, Thomas. I will."

Amanda was just about to knock at the door as I opened it and stepped out. I startled her for a moment, and we laughed nervously at each other. Her hand was up, frozen, and I took the opportunity to turn it into an offer of a hug. We wrapped arms around each other and exchanged, "Hello."

"Thank you, Amanda," I said a few minutes later. "I didn't realize it, but I was lonely. I've gotten used to Solange being around, but she's been at the office all week."

"It was Cadence's idea," Amanda replied. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"All right," I said. "Shoot."

"I need to preface this," she went on. "I know about the war. That's what they're calling it, anyway."

"Right. Otherwise the drawings you did wouldn't make sense."

"Right. And I know that you have a dispute with Solange and that it has to do with how you learned she is a vampire."

"I guess you could say that."

"I don't have the details, and I am supposed to make sure
you know
I don't have the details. I don't think you're supposed to share them with me."

"All right," I said slowly.

"But I do know that everyone at the law firm is a vampire, and that Solange is the closest we have to a queen here in Minnesota."

"Right."

"And I know quite a lot about living with a vampire."

I smiled. "After forty years, you must." I shook my head. "That's just hard to understand."

"I know." She glanced over and returned my smile. "I want us to be friends. I want us to feel free to talk to each other. I want you to know you can talk to me." She paused and glanced at me again. "I'd really like having a human friend who I could let my hair down around, if you know what I mean. You don't know how much I enjoyed the other day."

"I'm not the only human who knows about them. There's the staff."

"Cadence once warned me of something," Amanda said. "Solange is very old fashioned. Friends aren't staff, and staff aren't friends."

"Oh. Don't get too close to them?"

"That was Cadence's advice to me. It may not apply as much to you. But I've been careful."

"I think I understand," I replied. I thought about it. "Well, I'd like to be friends, and I think it would be good to have someone I can talk to."

She flashed a smile at me. "It was hard for me at first. Nowadays, we have a cavalier attitude about vampires and werewolves. The books and movies don't get them right, but they are painted in romantic terms. Everyone is far more open to the idea. When I met Cadence, fictional vampires were almost strictly portrayed as evil."

"They didn't sparkle."

She laughed. "No. They didn't sparkle."

"How did you find out?"

"I caught her with her fangs out. At first, I completely freaked, but then I calmed down. She told me over and over she was the same person I always knew."

"She didn't try to cloud your mind?"

"At that time, she couldn't. She called Solange, but by the time she arrived, I was handling things better."

"So that was that?"

"Oh no. They whisked me away, and I was watched exceedingly carefully for several years. I might have been angry, but with the cat out of the bag, Cadence taught me what making love to a vampire can be." She sighed happily. "Oh my, I'm going to make myself horny just thinking about it."

I laughed. "Solange and I haven't..."

She glanced over. "Seriously? No wonder you're so uptight."

"I'm not uptight."

"Sure you are. I don't blame you. It's a lot to process. You're still trying to figure out whether she's a monster. You're mad about how you found out, and you feel betrayed."

"I thought you said you didn't know how I found out."

"I presume you dreamed about her and then discovered the dreams were real. I don't know more than that."

"Yeah, something like that." I admitted.

We pulled into the parking lot at the law firm. Once we were parked, Amanda turned to me. "Do you want some advice?"

"Sure."

"Ignore labels. You have to decide this for yourself, but Solange is a good person, and she'll treat you very well."

"I think I know that already," I said. "But she did something bad, and I haven't gotten past it yet." I paused. "I have to find out from her if we can talk more about it."

Amanda nodded. She climbed from the car, collecting an artist's portfolio case from the back seat. On the way to the building she asked, "Are we friends? Am I allowed to call you?"

"Of course," I replied.

"Cadence takes me to lunch once a week or so," she said. "But as a rule, she works late most nights."

"Solange is a taskmaster?"

She laughed. "No. Cadence is her own taskmaster. But the effect is the same."

I realized Amanda was telling me something, and the message wasn't that different from one Dolores shared with me two years ago. She was lonely, and she wanted a friend. I thought it was ironic people were turning to me for that. I was the geek, after all.

As we moved closer to the front door, I stepped to her side and put an arm around her. "It's going to be nice to have someone to talk to."

In the year Solange and I had dated BBB (Before Blood Bank), I'd been by her law office a few times, usually to take her to lunch and a few times when we were going to dinner near her office. I hadn't been here ABB (After Blood Bank) yet, and it felt a little weird to step through the front door.

Cadence greeted the receptionist, barely slowing down. We both received a "Hello, Ms. Jaynes" and "Hello, Ms. Welsh" on our way past.

"What do people here think of me?" I asked.

"You're the boss's girlfriend," Amanda replied. "So although I've been around since before the firm existed, your status is higher than mine."

I wondered if they knew I'd spent seven months in the blood bank.

"Do they know we're sort of on the outs?"

"You're sharing a house. You're not that far on the outs." She paused. "Solange may not appreciate it if you pick a fight with her here."

"I'll do my best to behave."

She led us straight to Solange's office, knocking on the doorframe when we arrived. Solange looked up from her computer, saw us, and began to smile.

"Look who I found," Amanda said.

"Sidney," Solange said warmly. She rose to her feet and came around her desk. She was going to hug and kiss me, but then she stopped a few inches from me. So I stepped forward and accepted a hug. I think I surprised her.

"Free for lunch?" I whispered.

"Absolutely," she replied. We parted, and she offered a brief hug to Amanda as well. "I'm pleased to see the two of you together."

"I brought your sketch," Amanda said. "It's framed cheaply just so I could see what it looks like. Do you know where you want it?"

I took a seat at Solange's small conference table while the two of them worked out the details. I was actually a little self-conscious that she was going to put a sketch of me on her wall. But at the same time, I was touched.

The two spent a few minutes discussing what Solange wanted. Then Amanda used her phone to take pictures of the existing art, focusing closely on the frames. When she was done, she told us, "I'll go find Cadence, and we'll come get you in fifteen minutes or so, if that works."

"Perfect," Solange said. She saw Amanda out of her office then turned to me and smiled. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm good. Can you close the door?"

Her face turned serious. She nodded and closed the door then crossed the room to take a seat at the table with me. "What's up?"

"Does Amanda know about your blood bank?"

"No."

"Does Cadence?"

"Yes. This isn't something you should talk about with anyone, Sidney."

"She knows the stress in our relationship is related to how I found out you were a vampire. She's trying to counsel me on forgiving you, but she doesn't know what needs forgiving. I wanted to know if I could talk to her about it, but of course, I won't."

Solange frowned. "I'm sorry. I'd rather not spread the word any further."

"It's fine. I wanted to know. I'm going to start inviting her to dinners some of the nights Cadence is working late, unless you would rather I didn't."

"That's fine, Sidney."

"Do you mind if I introduce her to Dolores?"

"No. Sidney, you've lived with people before. What have you done about things like this?"

"Either it was my house or an apartment we picked out together. I've never felt like a guest in someone else's house."

"I wish you would consider it our house, at least for things like this. You know I don't do any entertaining myself, but I enjoy having guests. I might feel put out if I came home to a large party or if I don't feel welcome."

I thought about it. "I would always warn you if I was inviting more than one or two, and you would always be welcome, unless someone specifically came over to talk to me. That's no different than when Aubree comes to talk to you. Well, except it's not my house."

"I'd rather you felt like it is, Sidney."

"We'll see," I said.

It seems like such a trivial conversation, such a normal moment between two people sharing a house. But in a way, it was important for the simple fact that it was such a normal moment. We hadn't had many of those lately.