Page 45 of How a Vampire Falls

With her fingernail, she marked an X into the dove-gray paint. Then she positioned the nail, tap-tap-tapped to make a small indentation, and pushed it into the drywall at the precise needed angle for the painting’s hanging wire.

“Have I mentioned how cool it is that you don’t need a hammer?” Hannah said.

“You have,” Leslie said.

“Well, it’s still cool.”

Leslie settled the picture in place and hopped down. “There you go.”

“It’s beautiful. Thanks, Leslie.”

Together they went back to the kitchen. Hannah cooked two burger patties while Leslie sat on the kitchen island, not allowed to help.

“We’ve got to catch up on the last month,” Hannah said. “No, wait, it’s been longer than that.”

“Almost two,” Leslie said.

“I hate how time flies, and I’m not even thirty yet. What’s going to happen to me when I’mactuallyold?”

Leslie never quite knew how to answer queries like this from her human bestie, but she took human aging more seriously than Hannah did. Yeah, it was easy to joke about now, because Hannahwasonly twenty-nine. But what would their friendship be like in another thirty years?

“I was kidding,” Hannah said. “Well, not about time flying. But don’t get all philosophical about human life and death, okay?”

“Okay. How’s Jake?”

Hannah grimaced. “Working double shifts at the hospital. He gets home and crashes.”

“Oh, that sounds rough.” She could only imagine needing to spend a third of her life sleeping, but she hated hearing one of her human friends was exhausted.

“I’m not going to lie, he’s got me a little worried. But he says the schedule’s about to get better. In the meantime, I’m taking extra hours at the coffee shop, but…” Hannah shrugged. “I’ve been feeling sort of restless about it. I see you making your art, putting beauty out into the world. And I see Jake going to work every shift to save lives, literally; and I’ve got coworkers taking loans out to go back to school, hopefully to do what they really want to do someday. And I’m just serving coffee.”

“Any job can matter, if you’re kind about it,” Leslie said. She’d seen her best friend brighten the eyes of countless customers with her warm and genuine welcome.

“I know. But…you know that new nonprofit that opened across from the diner?”

Thanks to vampire hearing, Leslie knew more about it than most in town. She wasn’t an intentional eavesdropper; in fact she was the opposite, tuning out most public conversation out of courtesy. But occasionally strangers spoke at normal volume within twenty feet of her, and last week at the grocery store, April Fuller—elementary school teacher and alpha wolf’s mate—had done exactly that while on the phone with Vivian Jones, founder of the new non-profit.

“The concept’s still new,” Leslie said, “but Vivian wants to offer quality clothes at thrift prices. She’s going to upcycle where she can too, and depending on how much business she gets, she might go online and spread the word to nearby towns. But that’sonly if she ends up with more product than people. Harmony Ridge is her focus.”

Hannah’s mouth fell open. “Eagle Ears strikes again.”

Leslie chuckled.

“Anyway, they still have a Help Wanted sign in the window.”

Oh, of course. Leslie’s hands came together in a single clap as the possibilities danced like happy icicles across her shoulders. “Hannah, you’d be amazing. You could upcycle the whole store all by yourself.”

“Maybe not quite. My sewing machine runs only so fast.”

“Do it. Apply now, before Vivian Jones hires someone inferior to you.”

Hannah laughed, and Leslie did too, loving the inspiration in her friend’s brown eyes. Serving coffee and kindness was nothing to minimize, but if Hannah wanted to try something new, something tailored to her talent with fabrics and patterns, then she should go for it as hard as she could.

Wow. Leslie almost sounded like Ryker.

“Okay,” Hannah said, “I’ll do it. And now you’re going to give me a full boyfriend update. I can’t believe the last time we talked, you’d known him for a few days. You could be married by now for all I know.”

“You know me better than that. But…well…”

---