18)

The two girls were waiting for me outside of my room, Ami immediately gave me a dubious look. “Don’t you have any other shoes?”

Sara seemed more interested in peeking around me to get a look at the master suite.

I looked down at my slightly scuffed old work boots. “What? They’re only a few years old, I even polished them just a few months ago.”

She rolled her eyes. “One of the laces is broken and tied back together.”

Sara nudged her sister with her elbow. “He looks fine, and he can buy new laces when he gets food.”

Well, at least she’s practical. “I’ll add it to the list, is Aran young enough to still need a child seat?”

They looked at each other before Sara spoke up. “It’s not just his age, he needs a five point harness seat because he’s small, but I don’t think that town is big enough to have big enough of a store, can’t you just order one.”

I rubbed my chin, “I’m a little hesitant to order anything online that hints I got you kids here, but I can get James to order it and just send it to here. Think it over tonight if there’s anything else you need so I can put in an order when I get back.”

They followed me downstairs which gave me the chance to tell them to lock up behind me when I headed out the door.

I was only running late in terms of me doing a drive through of Quinne township’s main drag and the whole getting a good look at the Peachtree Cafe. No sign of the Sheriff or anyone else lurking, at least as far as I could tell.

I made sure to park in the lot in the island parking lot between the divided street so no one could jump me from an alley on my way back to the car and got myself a seat outside the cafe. A moment later I was asking the waitress whose name tag read Emily to leave two menus and asked for a bottle of water.

A bottle would be sealed when I got it, so if the plan was to drug me, at least I would get to eat first.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Hi, glad you made it.” The Sheriff was making a point of calling to me and waving from about twenty feet away to let me know she was approaching me before she walked up, hesitating for a moment when I stood up to pull out her chair.

Wait… polite is good, but that’s something you do for a date.

She gave me a pleased if hesitant smile before she sat down, turning her back to me as she did so “Well, haven't had somebody do that in a while, not exactly the current fashion.”

I stepped back and around to take my own seat. “Just how I was raised, don’t mean nothing.”

The Sheriff was till wearing the same faded, but not torn blue jeans and boots from before, but with a white tank top and an over sized blue shirt made of something light that she was wearing like a loose jacket.

She gave me a raised eyebrow, “I hope you didn’t go and order for me”

I gave her a shrug as I lean back in my chair, taking the chance to give myself a good look around as I did so. “Don’t tell me there are guys who do that.”

She shook her head with a grin. “No, or at least not in a while, so tell me, what made you move out here in the boonies?”

“Read a web page talking about that house once, though it was a shame for so much work and money to be put into a place then have it just left to rot, almost finished. After I won the lotto it seems like a nice place to live, didn’t even really think too much about where it was.”

She made a little more small talk and gave the waitress a signal to give her some more time before she got around to asking me about family.

Yeah, let’s change the subject.

“I think we should get to the main topic, what’s the set up around here.”

She leaned back. “Nothing bad, but maybe we should order first, you’re the first newcomer we’ve had since I was told I was in charge and I’d like to have a little bit more to think on how I want to do this.”

I nodded in agreement, pondering about that “told” she was in charge.

I put in an order with Emily for the meatloaf dinner with fries and a garden salad, with french dressing, I figured I’d try the meatloaf since you can always drown it in ketchup if it isn’t good, and noted to myself that the waitress smelled plain old human.

In fact everyone but me and the Sheriff smell like normal humans, at least as far as I could tell just by breathing in through my nose, it wasn’t like I was sniffing at anyone.

The Sheriff had added something to herself with floral scent, something light, since she had been by my place. So was she being social or hiding something… or maybe just as worried as me about what using or not using anything might be saying?

She got a burger, semi rare, with a salad on the side, I wasn’t sure if there was anything to read into that.

After a few bites she leaned forward and gave me the low down.

“Me and my husband moved here after the war, his family and a few others had been here for generations and between him and his cousin being in the service they ran into quite a few others over in Europe from all over the US who liked the idea of being part of a community and ended up visiting on and off, some stayed and even got together with some of the locals.”

I gave her a nod and “Mm-hmm” sound to go on.

Good meatloaf, plenty of onions in it and in the sauce on top, fries were a bit limp, but nobody gets everything right.

Hang on, Europe, which war was she talking about?

How long do werewolves live?