Page 24 of Shift in the Blood
“Nowhere near that bad.”
“Good. It would really suck to find out you’re a complete weirdo now. I mean, now that I’m wearing your jewelry and all.” Her eyes laughed at me.
Was she flirting? If there was ever a god in the heavens, I hoped that she was. “I want you to be able to see the gallery at its best. When you have time, and aren’t keeping to a schedule like we are today. Can you stand to wait?”
“I suppose if I must. Which means there’s only one thing left to do.”
“What’s that?”
Clara sighed. “I need to go home, now. Pack the things I need. Talk with Carina.”
“I think that’s a good idea. While we were touring the house, it made me aware of how much my house is not set up for guests. I have some things to take care of as well.” I wanted her to feel that this was not a big deal, having to speak with her sister.
It didn’t work. Her entire being drooped. “Okay. Let me get my things from upstairs, and then if your guy could give me a ride, that would be great.” Her face said it would be anything but great.
“Are you sure this is what you want? You don’t seem very happy.”
She sighed again. “I’m just not looking forward to arguing with Carina. We’re usually on the same wavelength about things but it’s clear we’re anything but right now.”
“You’ll work it out.” I resisted the urge to tell her not to worry, that I’d take care of it.
She needed to manage this on her own.
I might not have a great deal of experience with relationships, human or vampire. But I knew good and well that no one liked to be managed, to be told what to do. “Maybe offer her a choice?”
“What?”
“Instead of telling her this is what the two of you are doing, tell her you’ve made this choice. So that you can work on your art. That you’ve made the decision for you. That you’d love her to be here, that she’s welcome—but leave the choice of what she does up to her.”
Kind of brilliant, if I do say so myself. I wanted to pat myself on the back for my realization.
“I don’t know.” Clara’s face let me know what she thought of my suggestion.
Apparently, I was the only one who saw the brilliant simplicity in my idea. How could she not see it? I was puzzling over the idea from a logical standpoint when Clara straightened, throwing back her shoulders.
“I’ll be down in a minute.”
I watched her go back upstairs to the room she’d been in.
“Neville!” I yelled as I strode toward the office. We had a lot to do before tonight.
Chapter Nine
Clara
Ilooked out the window without speaking as Neville Stanford, Didier’s right and left hand man, as he’d introduced himself, drove me back to the apartment.
“You don’t have to wait.” I wasn’t sure how long this would take. Carina hadn’t sounded very conciliatory in the brief call we’d had earlier. Anything but, in fact.
“Are you kidding? Didier would have my ass if I left you.” Neville glanced at me and then back at the road. “It’s no trouble. If I’m back at the house, he’ll drag me into discussions with Mrs. B. And I’ll take almost anything to avoid that.”
“Mrs. B.?”
“Mrs. Boudreaux. She’s the housekeeper. Been with him for years. I’ve only been with him for ten years, and she was there before I started working for him. She’s a drill sergeant, but she is nothing but good.”
“How did you come to work for a vampire?” Oh, shit. What if he didn’t know? Had I just blown Didier’s secret?
Neville saw my face. “Hey, it’s not a big deal. I know, so does Mrs. B. Sometimes we have more help, and they don’t know. You’ll need to be careful around anyone other than us.”
