It was so tempting to tel him not to worry about it—but there was every reason for him to be concerned, and it would be patronizing to tel him he didn’t need to be. JB had made a clever move, for JB; he had found a way to use his assets to make extra money. His downfal had been in not informing his wife he was taking off his clothes in front of many other women on a weekly basis.
We talked off and on while JB nursed a beer at the bar. Tactful y, Sam pretended to be so busy that he was deaf to our intermittent conversation. I urged JB to cook something special for Tara that night or to stop off at Wal-Mart and buy her a little bouquet. Maybe he could give her a foot rub and a back massage, anything to make her feel loved and special. “And don’t tel her how big she is!” I said, poking a finger into his chest. “Don’t you dare! You tel her she’s more beautiful than ever now that she’s carrying your children!”
JB looked exactly as though he were going to say, “But that’s not true.” He was sure thinking it. He met my eyes and clamped his lips shut.
“Doesn’t make any difference what the truth is, you say she looks great!” I told him. “I know you love her.”
JB looked sideways for a minute, testing that statement for its truth value, and then he nodded. “I do love her,” he said. Then he smiled. “She completes me,” he said proudly. JB loved movies.
“Wel , you just complete her right back,” I said. “She needs to feel pretty and adored, because she feels big and clumsy and uncomfortable. It’s not easy being pregnant, I hear.”
“I’l try, Sookie. Can I cal you if she doesn’t soften up?”
“Yeah, but I know you can work this out, JB. Just be loving and sincere, and she’l come around.”
“I like stripping,” he said suddenly, as I was turning away.
“Yeah, I know,” I said.
“I knew you would understand.” He took a last sip of beer, left Sam a tip, and went to work at the gym in Clarice.
“This must be couples day,” India said. “Sam and Jannalynn, Jason and Michele, JB and Tara.” The thought didn’t seem to make her particularly happy.
“You stil dating Lola?” Though I knew the answer, it was always better to ask.
“Naw. It didn’t work out.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Maybe some day soon the right woman wil just walk in the door of the bar, and you’l be al fixed up.”
“I hope so.” India looked depressed. “I’m not a fan of the wedding industry, but I sure would like a steady someone. Dating makes me al confused.”
“I never was any good at dating.”
“That why you go with the vamp? To scare off everyone else?”
“I love him,” I said steadily. “That’s why I go with him.” I didn’t point out that human guys were simply impossible for me. You can imagine reading your date’s mind every minute. No, it real y wouldn’t be any fun, would it?
“No need to get al defensive,” India said.
I thought I’d been matter-of-fact. “He’s fun,” I said mildly, “and he treats me nice.”
“They’re … I don’t know how to ask this, but they’re cold, right?”
India wasn’t the first person who’d tried to find a delicate way to ask me that. There wasn’t any delicate way.
“Not room temperature,” I said. I left it at that, because any more was none of anyone else’s business.
“Damn,” she said, after a moment. After a longer moment, she said, “Ew.”
I shrugged. She opened her mouth, looked as though she wanted to ask me something else, and then she closed it.
Fortunately for both of us, her table gestured that they wanted their bil , and one of Jane Bodehouse’s buddies came in drunk off her ass, so we both had things to do. Hol y final y arrived to relieve me, complaining about her no-good car. India was working a double shift, so she kept her apron on. I waved a casual good-bye to Sam, glad to be walking out the door.
I just made it to the library before it closed, and then I stopped by the post office to buy some stamps from the machine in the lobby. Hal eigh Bel efleur was there on the same errand, and we greeted each other with real pleasure. You know how sometimes you just like someone, though you don’t hang around with them? Hal eigh and I don’t have much of anything in common, from our background to our educational level to our interests, but we like each other, anyway. Hal eigh’s baby bump was pronounced, and she looked as rosy as Tara looked wrecked.
“How’s Andy doing?” I asked.
“He’s not sleeping wel , he’s so excited about this baby,” she said. “He cal s me from work to ask how I am and to find out how many times the baby kicked.”
“Sticking with ‘Caroline’?”
“Yeah, he was real pleased when I suggested that. His grandma brought him up, and she was a fine woman, if a little on the scary side.” Hal eigh smiled.
Caroline Bel efleur had been more than a little on the scary side. She’d been the last great lady of Bon Temps. She had also been my friend Bil Compton’s great- granddaughter. Hal eigh’s baby would be three more greats away.
I told Hal eigh about Jason’s engagement, and she said al the right things. She was as polite as Andy’s grandmother—and a hel of a lot warmer.
Though it was good to see Hal eigh, when I got back into the car with my stamps I was feeling a little blue. I
