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I was more worried about JB than I was Tara For the past teeks, he’d been co in to parade his worries toin the delivery room, especially if Tara had to have a C-section He hadn’t been sure he could reood he was presenting a strong face to his wife and saving the worries for a friend, buthis qualms with Tara or her doctor

Maybe he was passed out on the hospital floor Tarashe was er stuff

Alcide and Roy ate with the hearty appetites of -men who also happen to be olves-and they drank the whole pitcher of tea They both looked happier when they were full, and Alcideas I could, but he nailed et you-all anything else? Soht as a tick," Roy said "Those were great haers"

"I’ll tell Antoine you said so," I assured him

"Sam not here today?" Alcide said

I almost asked him if he saw Sam anywhere in the room, but I realized that would just be rude It was not a real question He was trying to segue into another topic

"No, Kennedy is on the bar today"

"I bet Sanificantly at ed, tried to look politely indifferent

Alcide was looking off into the distance as if he were thinking about so about ed to clinch our relationship, because he figured there was so on between Jannalynn and me Alcide didn’t consider that he himself could be the bone of contention, since Jannalynn had told hiirlfriend But omen clearly had issues, and he had to wonder how that would affect the pack, which had beco in the world to Alcide

He was thinking this all so clearly that I wondered if he was trying to letthem on purpose

"Apparently we do have issues," I told him "At least, she does" Alcide looked startled, and half turned Before Roy could begin asking questions I said, "How’s the bar doing?" Hair of the Dog, the only Were bar in Shreveport, wasn’t a tourist bar like Fangtasia It was not exclusively for Weres, but for all the twoeys in the Shreveport area "We seeood Jannalynn is doing a great job ofit," Alcide said He hesitated for aoff souy opened"

"Yeah, I heard that, too," I said, trying not to sound too suy?" Alcide said, keeping his words guarded "That Victor?" Though the world knew about the existence of vampires and the two-natured, their infrastructure was not coe It would remain a secret if the supes had their way Alcide took an elaborately casual sip of the re tea "I haven’t seen hiave Alcide a very direct look "Maybe he went back to Nevada" Roy’s lad that Palo out in a Were bar Now ITrueBlood at Hair of the Dogit was for Palo the Were bar, too?

"Your boyfriend doing well?" Alcide asked

I came back to the here and now "Eric’s alell"

"Find out how that girl got into the house? The gal that got killed?"

"You-all don’t want any dessert? Let et your check" Of course I had it ready, but I needed to create a little bustle in the air, get theh, Alcide had pulled his wallet out of his pocket by the tione to the bar to talk to one of the one to high school together

When I bent over to put the check by Alcide, I inhaled his scent It was a little sad to remember how attractive I’d found him when I first met him, how I’d allowed ht be my soul mate

But it hadn’t worked out then, and now it never would Too e Alcide was getting deeper and deeper into his Were culture, and further and further away froed to live until his father’s disastrous atte me, too Our eyesto hiful, but under the circuine what to say

And the moment slid by He handed e, and Roy slapped his buddy on the back and returned to the table, and they prepared to go back out into the heat of the day to drive to another job in Minden on their way back to the hoan to bus their table because I didn’t have anything else to do There were hardly any custo the opportunity to slip out back to have a smoke or listen to his iPod

My cell phone vibrated inthat it was news about Tara But it was Sa fro’s fine, here"

"Good to know, but not why I called," he said "Sookie, thisJannalynn and I went down to Splendide to " Sam had been the one who’d recommended Splendide to e toJannalynn was an antiques fan

"Okay," I said when Sa on at Splendide?" That I need to know?

"It got broken into last night," he said, sounding oddly hesitant

"Sorry to hear that," I said, still not getting the importance to s you sold to Brenda and Donaldthose things were dismantled on the spot, or taken"

I pulled out a chair and sat down in it abruptly

It was lucky no one aiting for service for the next fewhe knew about the break-in Nothing he toldA few little iterabbed, too "I don’t know if you sold the small or not," Sam said

"Was other stuff taken? Or just e that the targeted stuff had come from your attic," he said, very quietly I knew other people were around him "I just noticed because Brenda and Donald pointed out your pieces to showme know," I said, strictly on autopilot "I’ll talk to you later, Sa furiously

Danny was talking so earnestly to Kennedy that I could tell he’d finally told her why he’d been out of her sight lately She leaned across the bar and kissed hiet up to carry the bin of dirty dishes back to the kitchen Behindopen I looked over ot yet another unpleasant surprise

Bellenos was standing in the doorway I glanced around quickly, but no one-not that there werethe elf any attention They were not seeing the sae in regular hu himself, I’d seen him in a sort of kilt and a one-shouldered T-shirt), looked around Merlotte’s, slowly and warily When he didn’t spot anything threatening, he glided over todark eyes full of mischief "Sister," he said "How are you today?" He showed his needle teeth in a big sood," I said I had to be very wary "How’re you?"

"Happy to be out of that building in Monroe," he said "I see you are not busy Can we sit and talk?"