Dead in the Family

whining. He’ll tell people about it when he’s ready.”
    Jason and Michele were just startling me all over the place. “I haven’t ever said anything to anyone,” I assured him.
    “I never thought you would. Calvin says Eric is like a chief vampire,” Jason said, hopping into a different topic.
    I don’t talk about vampire politics at any length with nonvamps. Just not a good idea. But Jason and Michele had shared with me, and I wanted to share a little back. “Eric’s got some power. But he’s got a new boss, and things are touchy.”
    “You want to talk about that?” I could tell Jason was uncertain about hearing whatever I chose to tell them, but he was trying hard to be a good brother.
    “I better not,” I said, and saw his relief. Even Michele was glad to turn back to her steak. “But apart from dealing with other vampires, Eric and I are doing okay. There’s always some give and take in relationships, right?” Though Jason had had scores of relationships over the years, he’d learned about give and take only recently.
    “I been talking to Hoyt again,” Jason said, and I understood the pertinence. Hoyt, Jason’s shadow for years, had dropped off my brother’s radar for a while. Hoyt’s fiancée, Holly, who worked at Merlotte’s with me, wasn’t a big Jason fan. I was surprised Jason had his best buddy back, and I was even more surprised Holly had consented to this renewal.
    “I’ve changed a lot, Sookie,” my brother said, as if (for once) he’d been reading my mind. “I want to be a good friend to Hoyt. I want to be a good boyfriend to Michele.” He looked at Michele seriously, putting his hand over hers. “And I want to be a better brother. We’re all we got left. Except for the fairy relations, and I’d just as soon forget about them.” He looked down at his plate, embarrassed. “I can’t hardly believe that Gran cheated on Grandpa.”
    “I had an idea about that,” I said. I’d been struggling with the same disbelief. “Gran really wanted children, and that wasn’t going to happen for her and Grandpa. I was thinking maybe she was enchanted by Fintan. Fairies can mess with your mind, like the vamps can. And you know how beautiful they are.”
    “Claudine sure was. And I guess if you’re a woman, Claude looks pretty good.”
    “Claudine really toned it down since she was passing for human.” Claudine, Claude’s triplet, had been a stunning six-foot-tall beauty.
    Jason said, “Grandpa wasn’t any picture in the looks department.”
    “Yeah, I know.” We looked at each other, silently acknowledging the power of physical attraction. Then we said, simultaneously, “But Gran ?” And we couldn’t help but laugh. Michele tried hard to keep a straight face, but finally she couldn’t help grinning at us. It was hard enough thinking about your parents having sex, but your grandparents? Totally wrong.
    “Now that I’m thinking about Gran, I’ve been meaning to ask you if I could have that table she put up in the attic,” Jason said. “The pie-crust table that used to sit by the armchair in the living room?”
    “Sure, swing by and pick it up sometime,” I said. “It’s probably sitting right where you put it the day she asked you to take it up to the attic.”
    I left soon after with my almost-empty casserole dish, some leftover steak, and a cheerful heart.
    I certainly hadn’t thought having dinner with my brother and his girlfriend was any big deal, but when I got home that night I slept all the way through until morning, for the first time in weeks.

MARCH
    THE FOURTH WEEK
    “There,” said Sam. I had to strain to hear him. Someone had put Jace Everett’s “Bad Things” on, and just about everyone in the bar was singing along. “You’ve smiled three times tonight.”
    “You counting my facial expressions?” I put down my tray and gave him a look. Sam, my boss and friend, is a true shapeshifter; he can change into anything warm-blooded, I guess. I haven’t asked him about lizards and snakes and bugs.
    “Well, it’s good to see that smile again,” he said. He rearranged some bottles on the shelf, just to look busy. “I missed it.”
    “It’s good to feel like smiling,” I told him. “I like the haircut, by the way.”
    Sam ran a self-conscious hand across his head. His hair was short, and it hugged his scalp like a red gold cap. “Summer’s coming up. I thought it might feel good.”
    “Probably will.”
    “You already started