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I cocked my head to the side. “I’m not about dictatin’ who’s at fault or not but if you look at the facts, if anyone is going to shoulder that responsibility, I’d say it’s you.”
“Then you know about me an’ Arnie?”
“I do,” I nodded simply. “An’ I know about the other affairs.” She nodded as she glanced down to her fidgeting hands. “You might not be in love with Ethan any longer. Maybe you never were, but this is no way to treat the father of your children.”
She didn’t say anything but simply nodded again.
“I recognize the error in my ways,” she said softly.
“Ethan’s a good father, Jeanie. He was willin’ to do anything to get you back, and I don’t want to see you repayin’ him with more pain. He deserves better than that. You can break the cycle. Divorce him and become friendly, amicable co-parents. It’ll be better for both of you.”
Jeanie quivered on the other side of the table. At first, I assumed maybe she was angry that I was putting my nose where it didn’t belong, but then I spotted tears streaming down her face. My heart went out to her. It really did. Arnie had been awful to her. She had to have been scared to death for herself and her children, and here I was, shoving her mistakes in her face. But the fact was, Arnie wouldn’t have come for her if she hadn’t cheated on her husband. And Ethan did deserve more than she was giving him.
“I don’t care what you think of me,” she said in a strained whisper. “I know I’m a good mother.”
“You are. I heard what your kids said. You protected them when Arnie came after you, but you can still be a good mother without Ethan in the picture. Please do what’s right for them, Jeanie, and what’s right for Ethan. It’s better for them to have parents who are separated and happy than together and miserable.” She looked up at me and frowned but a second later, she nodded again. “Just tell me you’ll think about it, okay?”
I stood up, cleaning rag in hand. I had tables to bus. Trust Dorcas to get peeved that I’d missed a shift while I was out saving lives. Jeanie called after me before I could get to table nine.
“Miss Twila?”
I half-turned. “Yes?”
“Thank you for everything you did. I won’t forget it.”
I smiled. “As crazy as this is, it’s my job. Full-time waitress, part-time monster hunter.” And maybe I could add ‘therapist’ to that list.
Epilogue
“Never a dull moment in Windy Ridge,” Dean said, taking a swig of his beer.
I was drinking a bottle as well, but more for politeness’ sake than anything else. Alcohol didn’t taste like much these days.
“Amen to that.”
He looked at me and nodded. “If you’d told me I’d be hunting monsters, rehabilitating bat-men, and babysitting mice-children before I moved back here, I’d have laughed myself sick.”
Ol’ Ned, Bud, and Boone had finally caught the bat-man the week after we’d sprung Jeanie and the kids. The man was confused and tried to fly off every now and then, but Boone assured me they were making progress. He was speaking English again, which was a win.
I smiled over the rim of my bottle. “Is it sad that I’ve gotten used to it?”
“You’d have to,” Dean said, slumping lower in his chair. “If you couldn’t cope, you’d be one of the ones running around in the woods, gibbering and eating squirrels.”
I didn’t mention that squirrels were one of my sources of blood. Instead, we lapsed into a companionable silence and watched Ethan’s kids run around the yard. Ethan had come to pay us a visit, bearing with him a basket full of thank-you items.
I rubbed my neck self-consciously as an image of Arnie dropped into my head like a bomb. Arnie had done his best to drain me and would have succeeded if I hadn’t kneed him in the groin. The wound was healed, but I swore I could feel his teeth now and then like phantom pains. If he hadn’t been such a prick, I’d have liked to have shared notes. Even now, I couldn’t help but wonder: how had his vampirism been different than mine? Was there any difference at all? If so, what did that mean for the rest of us? And why in the world was he so convinced of his own immortality?
Ethan and his kids were staying in one of the unclaimed trailers just next door (I didn’t think Mrs. Hanson was ever coming back so it might well become Ethan’s pretty soon). Sicily was the children’s unofficial babysitter. As to my daughter, she’d finally decided to call her dad. I had a feeling all this Ethan business had struck a nerve with her and she’d thought about her own strained relationship with her pa. When she phoned him, I could have listened in on the conversation with my vampire hearing but didn’t, even if part of me wanted to. But the truth was: it wasn’t my business. I just hoped she’d taken my advice and set up a meeting outside Windy Ridge. Alton deserved to be a part of her life.
And speaking of lives, Jeanie was officially out of Ethan’s. It had broken his heart when she’d announced she’d be leaving him for Frankie the gnome, but I was sure it was for the best. It gave everyone time to heal without reopening old wounds. They’d agreed that she and Ethan would split custody weekly. They were still negotiating holidays the last I’d heard.
I hummed thoughtfully. I definitely had kids on the brain, which brought me back to the conversation I’d been having with Dean before everything went south.
“Are we going to address the big pink elephant in the room?”
“You mean Ms. Parker? I’m pretty sure she’s at the diner right now.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course, he’d try to deflect by taking my comment literally. Ms. Parker’s metamorphosis wasn’t an easy one—becoming an elephant woman was no simple matter. She had to sit on the floor when she ate and she had to be extra careful not to squash anyone around her.
