AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t do tricks. I don’t play games. You know that,” he said, squeezing my arm gently. “We may not have a spark, but what we have is the real thing. We’re friends, Iris. I can’t think of any better way to start a life together.”
He was right, of course. He didn’t play games. He was always very up-front with me, even when he knew it would hurt me. “No, Paul, thank you, but no. I don’t want to try again … with or without trying.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go out to dinner some night?” he asked. “Just as friends? I just—I miss talking to you, Iris. I miss you.”
I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I honestly missed my old friend. I missed the simplicity of being with him. No drama. No danger. Pulses all around. I hadn’t been involved in a life-or-death struggle once while dating Paul.
He was there at the Dairy Freeze because he knew me. He knew my habits, my routine, my likes and dislikes, because he knew me. Not some dossier in a file that declared that I was a pruned-up spinster, ear-deep in debt, but the real me. Why couldn’t I make something relatively easy work? Why did I have to be such a personal train wreck?
Height jokes aside, Paul was a good-looking man in a small town, where the dating pool was limited. And there were a lot of reasons he was a viable candidate.
1. He had a steady job.
2. He didn’t expect me to cook for him, clean for him, or be his mommy.
3. He had no problematic tendencies such as drinking, drug abuse, or spending all waking hours playing World of Warcraft.
4. He was generally considerate and remembered my birthday every year without prompting.
5. I could count on him not to take inappropriate pictures of me while I was sleeping and post them on Facebook, which was more than I could say for one of the guys Andrea dated.
I didn’t want to play at relationships anymore. I wanted something I could hold on to, something that held on to me. Even if that thing was sort of dangerous and occasionally, and quite literally, bit me on the butt.
“It’s just not a good idea, Paul. I’m sorry. I miss you, too. But we can’t go on like this. This constant push-and-pull. It’s not healthy. We’re never going to meet the people we can have actual relationships with if we’re pseudo-dating.”
“But we can be friends, right? And friends go out to dinner all the time.”
“Yes, but friends don’t have sex afterward,” I deadpanned.
“Good friends do.”
“Paul.”
“It was worth a shot. But you’re OK, right?” he asked. “You’re not mad at me? Or dating some vampire to try to get over me?”
“I think you should try to get over you,” I shot back.
“That did sound a little douchey, didn’t it?” He chuckled. I nodded emphatically. “OK, go home before your cheeseburgers get cold. Tell Gigi I said hi.”
I bade Paul good night. He shut the door behind me as I started the car. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I watched him in my rearview. In the three years I’d known him, this was the first time Paul had mentioned Gigi without being prompted. Was he growing up or just hoping to convince me that we could still “work”? Why did he only decide to miss me after seeing me with someone else? And why did his hints of jealousy brighten my day?
I sighed, turning the car away from town. “Having feelings for a living ex while wrestling with the romantic stupidity of a potential vampire beau. You’ve got a real wacky sitcom of a life going, Scanlon.”
13
Vampires, particularly older vampires, do not enjoy reminiscing about their pasts. It reminds them of what they have lost over the years. If a vampire voluntarily shares this history with you, you should treat the disclosure with the respect it deserves.
—The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires
I did not mention Paul’s visit to Cal when I returned home and spread the cheeseburgers out on the table. He was sitting there surrounded by research, frowning at his laptop. I warmed up a bottle of blood to serve him while Gigi and I ate the burgers, because it seemed rude to do otherwise.
“Gigi!” I called upstairs. “It’s cheeseburger night! Come and get it!”
“She’s not here,” Cal said. “She said she had to study with that Ben boy again. She said she called you and left you a message.”
I made an indignant little noise.
His plump bottom lip twitched, and he added, “If we’d taken the boy out of the equation when I suggested it, this wouldn’t be a problem.”
