Read Online Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris - Free Book Online

smiling. “I don’t think he’ll kick up a fuss over me remarrying, but I do want to break it to him gentle.” Michele still worked for her former father-in-law, who seemed to have more regard for Michele than he had for his lazy son.
    “So it’ll be soon. I hope that it’s okay if I come?”
    “Oh, sure, Sook,” Jason said, and hugged me. “We ain’t eloping or anything. We just don’t want a big church thing. We’ll have a party out at the house afterward. Right, honey?” He deferred to Michele.
    “Sure,” she said. “We’ll fire up our grill, maybe Hoyt can bring his over, too, and we’ll cook whatever anybody brings. And other guests can bring drinks or whatever, vegetables and desserts. That way no one will worry and we’ll all have a good time.”
    A potluck wedding. That was very practical and low-key. I asked them to let me know what I could bring that would be most helpful. After lots of mutual goodwill had been exchanged, they left, still holding hands and smiling.
    India said, “Another one bites the dust. How you feeling about this, Sookie?”
    “I like Michele real well. I’m so happy!”
    Sam called, “They engaged?”
    “Yeah,” I called back, a few happy tears in my eyes. Sam was making an effort to sound upbeat, though he was still a little worried about his own romantic situation. Any irritation I’d felt about the Jannalynn episode simply melted away. Sam had been my friend for years, while significant others came and went. I went up to the bar and leaned against it. “Second time around for both of ’em. They’re real good together.”
    He nodded, accepting my tacit reassurance that I wasn’t going to bring up Jannalynn’s little outburst of jealousy. “Crystal was all wrong for your brother; Michele is all right.”
    “In a nutshell,” I agreed.
    Since Holly called in to say her car wouldn’t start but Hoyt was working on it, I was still at Merlotte’s when JB came in about ten minutes later. My friend, the secret stripper, was looking handsome and hearty as always. There’s something about JB, something warm and simple that’s really appealing, especially when added to his nonthreatening good looks. He’s like a great loaf of homemade bread.
    “Hey, friend,” I said. “What can I get for you?”
    “Sookie, I saw you last night.” He waited for my big reaction.
    “I saw you, too.” Just about every inch of him.
    “Tara was there,” JB told me, as though that would be news. “I saw her as she was leaving.”
    “Uh-huh,” I agreed. “She was.”
    “Was she mad?”
    “She was real surprised,” I said cautiously. “Are you seriously telling me you-all have not talked about last night?”
    “I got in pretty late,” he said. “I slept out on the couch. When I got up this morning, she’d already gone to the store.”
    “Oh, JB.” I shook my head. “Honey, you got to talk to her.”
    “What can I say? I know I should have told her.” He made a hopeless gesture with his hands. “I just couldn’t think of any other way to earn some extra money. Her shop’s not doing so great right now, and I don’t make a lot. We don’t have good insurance. Twins! That’s gonna be a big hospital bill. What if one of ’em’s sick?”
    It was so tempting to tell him not to worry about it—but there was every reason for him to be concerned, and it would be patronizing to tell him he didn’t need to be. JB had made a clever move, for JB; he had found a way to use his assets to make extra money. His downfall had been in not informing his wife he was taking off his clothes in front of many other women on a weekly basis.
    We talked off and on while JB nursed a beer at the bar. Tactfully, Sam pretended to be so busy that he was deaf to our intermittent conversation. I urged JB to cook something special for Tara that night or to stop off at Wal-Mart and buy her a little bouquet. Maybe he could give her a foot rub and a back massage, anything to make her feel loved