"Yeah, well you're pretty terrific yourself.
If you ever want to be dinner again sometime ..." He popped out of the office without saying good-bye.
"Better collect your purse," said Adam.
"We don't want to be late." Adam was taking me to Richland, where the local light opera company was performing The Pirates of Penzance.
Gilbert and Sullivan, pirates and no vampires, he'd promised me.
It was a great production.
I laughed until I was hoarse and came out humming the final number.
"Yes," I told him.
"I think the guy playing the Pirate King was awesome." He stopped where he was.
"What?" I asked, frowning at the big smile on his face.
"I didn't say I liked the Pirate King," he told me.
"Oh." I closed my eyes--and there he was.
A warm, edgy presence right on the edge of my perception.
When I opened my eyes, he was standing right in front of me.
"Cool," I told him.
"You're back." He kissed me leisurely.
When he was finished, I was more than ready to head home.
Fast.
"You make me laugh," he told me seriously.
I WENT BACK TO MY HOUSE TO SLEEP SAMUEL WAS working until the early-morning hours, and I wanted to be there when he got home.
I stopped before I went in because something was different.
I took a deep breath but didn't smell any vampires lurking at my door.
But there was an oak tree next to my bedroom window.
It hadn't been there when I'd left this morning to go paint.
But there it was, with a trunk nearly two inches around and branches that were a couple of feet taller than my trailer.
There was no sign of freshly turned earth, just the tree.
Its leaves were starting to change color for the autumn.
"You're welcome," I said.
When I started back to go into the house, I tripped over the walking stick.
"Hey.