Page 44 of How a Vampire Falls

Some questions didn’t get answered. She’d known this since…since she was very small.

Thirteen

Hannah Farthering was without a doubt the greatest best friend in the universe. Exhibit A: her kitchen bar, laden with burger fixings and butter buns.

“You didn’t have to feed me,” Leslie said.

“I know how hard you work. And I know when you’re tired, you don’t bother eating even though you enjoy it.”

“You work hard too.”

Hannah shook her head. “Not saying I don’t. But I’m the part-time supplemental income in a two-person childfree household. You, on the other hand, work two jobs.”

Not many people other than Dad and Mom acknowledged Leslie’s art as a second job. Every time Hannah said the words, they meant as much as they ever had. Despite the momentary sensory overwhelm, Leslie hugged her friend. She stepped back quickly, but Hannah’s gray eyes shone. As a hugger, she sometimes lamented the physical distance needed between her and Leslie.

“Thanks,” Leslie said. “You’re right, I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning.”

She had slaked, of course. Until she’d met Ryker, she’d taken for granted that all vampires slaked with the same regularity that she did. Funny how easily Ryker had found a place in her thoughts—and in her daily life, despite the physical distance between them.

Nope. Not thinking about the distance.

Tonight was for her and Hannah.

“Question, though,” Hannah said. “Could I ask a favor while you’re here? Before we eat?”

“Of course.”

Hannah led her to the lower-level extra bedroom down the hallway and gestured to a large framed painting leaning against one wall.

“So, we bought this at the art fair.”

“Isn’t this Brooke Lewis?”

Hannah nodded. How good to know that a fellow local artist had made it into her home. The painting featured a blossoming cherry tree, petals falling all around and sun shining from one upper corner. A stone wall stretched into the background, ending at the far left of the painting and hinting at an unseen path to unseen places.

“I love it,” Leslie said. “It’s so you, Hannah.”

“I knew it was the thing I’d been waiting for to complete this room,” Hannah said. “Jake wasn’t sure the brightness and the pink petals would work in here, but once he saw it with the dark furniture he let me say ‘I told you so.’”

“It brightens the room just like you wanted.”

“Exactly.”

“And the favor is…?”

“I misplaced the hammer.”

Leslie laughed.

“That, or Jake used it and left it somewhere only he knows. And I’m super excited to get this beautiful thing up on the wall.”

“No problem, unless you also misplaced the nails.”

Hannah scampered out of the room, rummaged loudly in the kitchen junk drawer, and came back with a thin sturdy nail. “Centered over the desk, please.”

Leslie hefted the painting in her hands, gauging the exact weight. Then she hopped from the floor onto the heavy mahogany desk, which was L-shaped and jutted out into the room. She positioned the painting against the wall. “Here?”

“Perfect.”

---