the name.
“That’s very generous of them,” Claire said, wondering idly if Pietro knew about the effort or not.
“Not generous enough,” Gayle said quietly. “I mean, it is, since it’s privately funded. I just mean that it’s not enough.”
“What do you mean?” Claire asked. “This place is huge.”
“I know,” Gayle said, sighing. “But there are more people out there in need of our help than we have the funding to supply on a weekly basis. So many people who arrived came with nothing.”
“But why?” Claire asked. “I don’t understand that. I mean, I know we have tent cities popping up, but I don’t understand why they think spotting a dragon is going to help?”
“Many seem to think that dragons are like angels,” Gayle said quietly. “That they will be blessed if they see or touch one, and all their problems will be solved.”
Claire sighed. “So petty things like drinking water and food or shelter just don’t matter. Great.”
Gayle nodded. “Exactly.”
She then proceeded to show Claire the most efficient way to unpack, organize, sort, and then re-pack the various items into the bag, supervising as Claire did it a dozen times to show she had it down.
“Good. You’ve got it,” Gayle said. “Now do it for the next eight hours.”
Claire threw back her head and laughed. It was an easy, comforting sound. She’d not laughed much lately, and it felt good.
Being out of the house felt good too. Simply doing something felt good. With the vampires still out there, she’d spent the past two days inside as soon as the sun set. With nothing else really going on, she’d also lacked a good reason to go out.
Now, she was out, during the day, doing something that would help others. It wasn’t a fun job, but it would benefit those in need. She was giving back, instead of taking from, society, and that made Claire’s heart beat with all the right vibes.
This was her second chance, and she wasn’t going to mess it up. It was time for her to grow up and start looking at the long-game in life. Not just today, tomorrow, or the next weekend, but months and years down the line. Those were the things she needed to make her priorities, and her decisions in life needed to reflect them.
The biggest of those decisions that loomed was the burgeoning closeness between her and Pietro. She couldn’t deny that he was quickly becoming a happy part of her life. What she needed, however, was more information. More understanding of what it would be like if she chose him. If she opened herself fully.
Normally, that would only be feasible by simply jumping in and finding out. Life had provided Claire with another option, however, and one she decided it was time she took. Lilly could provide her with an insight into things that Claire could never hope to get from anyone else.
Time to give her a call about life with Trent.
It was time she and Lilly talked about boys, about dragons, and perhaps, about forever.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Claire
A key sounded in the door, and a moment later, Lilly poked her head through.
“Hey, it’s me!”
“Hey!” Claire said, getting up from where she was sprawled out on the couch and going to greet her friend. “Thanks for coming!”
“It was something to do,” Lilly said. “I was getting bored up there every night with Trent leaving to come search for the vamps. The people are nice, but none of them are my friends yet. You know?”
“Absolutely,” Claire said, understanding well the sentiment.
“Where’s Pie?” Lilly asked as she made herself at home in the kitchen, unpacking some things from her bag onto the counter.
Which shouldn’t be surprising, it was her home after all. Claire was just a guest in it.
“This is so weird,” she said. “I feel like the host having a guest over, when really it’s the opposite.”
Lilly laughed. “I know, I was thinking the same thing!”
“Also…Pie?” Claire laughed as Lilly’s laughter subsided.
She was doing a lot more laughing lately, even with the threat of the vampires still looming large. That was completely out of her control, besides staying safe indoors once the sun went down. Her own life, her own decisions, those were no longer weighing on her like they had in the past, and she simply felt lighter because of it. Happier.
“You can’t always call him Pi-et-ro, every time, now can you?” Lilly asked, exaggerating the syllables of his name, pronouncing the first part as ‘pee’. “And you certainly can’t call him Pee. I