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On his side, Marcel just grins at me with mock innocence until Martha comes over.
“Can I get another rabbit shake, please?” he asks before turning to me. “You want something else?”
I shake my head. I seem to have lost my appetite.
“Saving yourself for a different kind of snack?” Marcel teases as Martha heads back to the kitchen.
All I can do is groan, too annoyed to even retort this time. Knowing Marcel, it’ll only encourage him anyway. Instead, I try to change the subject, shifting the conversation to the boat, or another house-flipping project, or the weather, or pretty much anything except Clarissa.
Marcel’s not having it, though, and he continues to tease me about Clarissa all through his next shake and even back to my house. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about having to redo some botched work because it’s only when I start talking about cleats that Marcel finally heads back to his own home.
7
CLARISSA
Leaving the diner, I feel a mixture of high emotions. Emile is an interesting man. Handsome and mysterious. Plus, he works with his hands! I can respect any man who isn’t afraid to get calloused hands in his job.
I think about our short conversation while walking down the sidewalk. The trees here are beautiful and give me some much-needed shade against the beating hot sun. I can’t imagine how much sunscreen a vampire needs in order to live out here. I wonder if he has any skincare tips he could share. His face was certainly smooth and soft-looking.
Oh, I think.I may be really into my new neighbor.
“That’s a little unfortunate,” I mutter to myself. Not least of all because I have to lie to him any time we have a conversation! I cringe, remembering how awkwardly I flubbed my introduction back there. And I’d practiced so much!
Not that they seemed to notice at all. ButInoticed. And maybe next time, I’ll say it to the wrong person, and they will, too. I need to get it down until even I believe the lie. My life is on the line, after all!
“Nice to meet you. My name is Clarissa,” I say under my breath. “Nice to meet you! I’m Clarissa. Hello! I’m Clarissa. What’s your name?”
I can’t stop thinking about Emile. How badly I wanted to tell him my real name, my whole story, and ask if he had any plans for dinner tonight. I can’t let myself slip up like that. Even thinking it is dangerous. But still, lying to him made me feel horrible. I sigh, staring at the uneven sidewalk as I walk the final block to my house.
“Howdy, y’all, the name’s Clarissa. Hey there, I’m Clarissa. Pleased to meet you.”
“Who are you talking to? Ants?”
I look up quickly, startled by the sudden intrusion into my thoughts. Standing next to my door is the Marshal. His dark aviator sunglasses reflect my embarrassed face back at me.
“Oh. Hey, Todd. I didn’t think you’d start visiting this soon.”
Todd points at my door and grimaces. “I’ve been here for forty-five minutes. Do you know what could happen in forty-five minutes?”
“Whoa, okay, sorry! Here, I’ll let you in, and you can use my bathroom.” I fumble my keys out of my pocket, dropping them on the ground before picking them back up and opening the door.
“Unbelievable.” Todd sighs. “Get a lighter keyring. And grease the lock so you don’t have to waste an extra half second getting inside.”
“Seriously?” I ask while closing the door behind him. “An entire half a second?”
“It’s the difference between a bullet in the door and one in your skull,” Todd replies harshly. He takes off his glasses and stares me down. Somehow, I feel like a child again. Like my dad just found out I stuffed his slippers down the toilet. “It’s my job to keep you safe, but by God, lady, you have to at least try to help me out here.”
I put my hands up in surprise. “Okay, first of all, I’m 29. Not a kid. Secondly, I’m not sure what I even did wrong to get you worked up like this.”
“You were gone! For who knows how long! I thought we went over this.”
“I went on a jog and got lunch. It’s not like I hitchhiked out of town to catch the waves or something,” I reply defensively. “If you would just give me a schedule of when you plan to visit, I can make sure I’m home.”
“That’s not the problem, Clarissa. The problem is you being out of the house for that long. Period. Whether I’m going to stop in or not.” Todd puts his hands in his pockets and shakes his head.
“You know, we were following this one woman. Nice gal. Saw stuff she never should have. We had an entire crime family ready to go behind bars so long as we could keep her alive long enough to testify. Everything was going great until she just had to go to the movie theater. Some superhero flick she’d been dying to see. She was told no. She didn’t listen. Not even halfway through the trailers and blam!”
I jump backward as Todd makes a finger gun pointed directly at my forehead. I swallow down the sudden adrenaline spike and exhale hard.
