Winkler didn't let me have a day off for two solid weeks and I figured Tony was probably getting ready to go home soon, if he hadn't already. Tony left me voicemail right at the two-week mark.
"Hi, this is Tony," he said. "I, uh, was waiting on you to call, this time. C'mon. Throw me a lifesaver or something. I'm drowning, here. I have to go home soon and I really wanted to see you before I left."
I'd just gotten up and showered before going to work when Davis shoved his head inside my bedroom door. "Winkler says you guys have the day off tomorrow," he said.
"Thanks," I sighed. Davis waited to see if I had anything else to say and when I didn't, he left. Gavin was still in silent movie mode; I heard Davis telling him the same thing out in the hall. Gavin mumbled something and I ignored it, tapping Tony's number on my phone instead.
"Thank God," Tony said the minute he answered his phone.
"Tony, I've worked two weeks straight without a day off. There wasn't any way I could come out with you."
"I'm sorry. I've just been going crazy here. Please tell me you have tonight off."
"I don't, but I have tomorrow night."
"That'll have to do. Can I pick you up?"
"It's better if I meet you in the usual place," I sighed. "What time?"
"Seven?" He sounded hopeful.
"No. Eight," I said. "That's as quick as I can get there."
"All right, eight then," he grumbled. "I'll be there early, just in case."
"Honey, didn't anybody ever tell you to play hard to get?" I asked.
"No, but they did tell me that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I'm counting on that one."
"I'll bring you a life saver and hatched chickens," I said, hanging up.
"Going out, again?" Gavin growled at me as I walked to the fridge to get my blood.
"What's it to you? Or is Winkler paying you by the piece? I'm sure you'll go running right to him with this bit of information." I bit the top off the unit of blood and started drinking. "You know what?" I stopped sipping for a moment, "Just send him to me and I'll tell him myself." I went back to my bedroom, drinking my dinner.
* * *
"I have to leave in two days." Tony was depressed.
"And you're the guy who didn't want to take a vacation," I said, teasing him a little.
"Please tell me you'll see me before I go."
"Tony, I can't. I have work to do."
"What's so important that you can't call in sick?" he demanded. "Everybody gets sick leave."
"I don't," I said.
"Who the hell do you work for? I'll call them up and tell them I'm from the IRS or something."
"You will not, now stop that right now."
"Come on. Tell me who you work for." He took my hand across the table.
"Do you really work for the government? Is that card for real that you gave me?" I asked. Tony's thumb was making slow circles on my hand. It felt nice, actually.
"It's for real," he said. "Why? You working for drug smugglers or something?"
"No. I work for Winkler Security," I said. "I work as a bodyguard for William Winkler. I don't get days off unless he says so."
Tony drew in a breath when I said that. "Holy shit," he muttered. "Were you in Dallas when those terrorists hit? Jesus Christ, Lissa." His gray eyes were actually concerned. I appreciated that.
"Yeah, I was there," I said. "Tonight is all we have, Tony." I put my best compulsion on him. "You won't go searching into my background. You'll just remember that we had a good time and leave it at that." I got up and leaned down to kiss him. "You're a great kisser, Tony. Thanks for dinner." I walked out of the restaurant. It was an Italian place not far from the bookstore so I didn't have any trouble getting back to the car. My sniffles had almost cleared up by that time. We had no future, Tony and I. Either he'd go looking into my background and start asking questions or ask me to come visit or something, and neither of those things were good things. Winkler wouldn't let me go. We were joined at the hip, he and I, and Tony had no place in any of that. It was a real shame. I would have enjoyed spending a lot of my time with someone who could make me laugh. In a perfect world, maybe I could have been the person to convince Tony to take a vacation now and then. With me. My world had never been perfect, but now it was as far from perfect as it could possibly get.
"Well?" Gavin was growling again.
"He leaves in two days, so I broke it off. He doesn't need to remember me or anything about me. I can't have a relationship, Gavin. You already figured that out, didn't you? Once was enough, wasn't it? Not worth it, was it, Gavin?" I walked down the hall to my bedroom and slipped inside. I intended to read, if I could see through my tears.
Things settled into a routine after that. May rolled around and Whitney and Sam got out of school for the summer. Sam was going to help his dad with the farming, so Whitney spent a lot of time at his dad's place. They'd come up for the day now and then, mostly on Sundays, and I'd cook for them. Winkler showed me an e-mail I'd gotten from Martin Walters, saying I was welcome in Fresno any time. That was nice, I thought. A written note came from Thomas Williams, Jr.
"Thank you for your kind words," it read. "I don't believe I have ever heard of any werewolf receiving condolences from a vampire before and that has made them all the more special to my family and me. The Grand Master has explained that my father wasn't the only one who went down that night. I am grateful for your life and for my father's as well. He lived a good, happy life for the most part and died with honor. That is all that any of us can hope for.
Sincerely,
Thomas Williams, Jr."
Well, maybe I was the first vampire to get a note like that from a werewolf. It was nice either way and I stuffed it in my underwear drawer. Isn't that where things like that go? Special notes, maybe a photograph or two? I thought of Tony, and wondered if I should have taken a photograph of him. He had such nice eyes and a wonderful smile. It probably wasn't a good idea to torture myself with that sort of thing anyway.
Winkler knew, whether Gavin told him or not, that the man I'd dated a whole three times was a thing of the past—he'd only been there on vacation, after all. Winkler tried to hug me a time or two, but I'd just slip out of his embrace. There were three words I was waiting to hear from him and they weren't the three words most women wanted to hear from a man. Oh, no. I was waiting for you can go, and not I love you. The three I waited for wouldn't be coming. Who knows, I'd probably stay for a while if I knew I was free to go if I wanted. Winkler wasn't going to take that chance. He had somebody willing to fight for him and he wasn't giving it up.