“Okay.” I gestured to the chair beside me. “That takes care of one problem. The other is your need for a car, so you’re not left vulnerable to stalkers.”
Meri nodded. “I’m getting close. I saved the money I made working at the Bubble Lounge too.”
“Clive and I want to help. We’re going to loan you the money you need to buy a good, safe car now and you can pay us back a little every month.”
Meri was already shaking her head. “I couldn’t. I don’t want?—”
“So you know,” I interrupted, “I opened The Slaughtered Lamb when I was your age. I’d lost my mom. I’d been attacked and was covered in scars. I had no family and no place to go. I was dumped in this city to stay with a woman I’d never met before but who they told me was a friend of my mom’s. Clive loaned me the money to build this place, giving me a safe space to heal and a life I grew to love. We all need help sometimes. There’s no shame in letting someone lend a hand.”
After a long pause, she nodded, her lavender eyes beginning to sparkle. “I can get my own car soon?”
“Absolutely. You said you were close. How much do you need?”
She scrunched her nose. “Is seven thousand too much? That should cover it and be enough to pay the tax and license stuff they add on.”
I patted her hand. “When Dave comes in, I’ll have him transfer money from my account to yours. He does the payroll around here. He’ll do it faster than me.”
Meri’s grin was so wide, I felt the last dregs of my outrage draining away.
Leaning back in the chair, I watched the ocean swirl against the window. “I know I’m—what—eight years older than you, but I just got my driver’s license too. Clive, of course, bought me some ridiculously expensive vehicle I’m too scared to drive, so instead I use a small, safe sedan that doesn’t make me feel too overwhelmed.”
Meri nodded quickly. “I’ve been researching cars for a while. It needs to be small, so I can find parking. I don’t want a manual. I had to drive one in driver’s training, and I about had a heart attack when I had to stop on Bradford Street and then start again. Even the instructor was white knuckling it.”
I swallowed. “I’ve never driven that one myself, but I was in the car when Clive drove it in one of his manual sports cars.” I rubbed my forehead. “I’ve had nightmares about that one. It’s like a forty-five-degree angle.” I shook my head, not wanting the thought to become lodged in there. I didn’t want another nightmare where the street got steeper and steeper while the car I was in tumbled backward to the bottom.
She held up her hands. “Never again. Anyway, there are car dealerships with used cars in Colma. Maybe my mom can take me this weekend to look.”
“I don’t know how you feel about this,” I began. “You’ve never met Clive, since you usually leave before nightfall, but if hanging with a vampire doesn’t bother you, I can ask him to car shop with you. The man knows everything there is to know about them and he’ll help you find a good one.”
She bit her lip. “Will you be there too?”
“Of course. If that wigs you out at all, Dave could do it too. You’ll just need to brace for snarly cussing.”
She rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t scare me.”
“Nor should he.” My relationship with Dave was complicated, but that had only happened recently. For the last seven and a half years, he’s been my red-skinned, black-eyed, grumpy uncle who hated everyone else but tolerated me. It still hurt to know things I wish I didn’t, but I’d trust him to protect Meri. “If Dave goes with you, you’re going to end up with a very loud muscle car. He can’t help himself.”
She laughed.
“Okay, and the last thing on the Meri agenda is to ask if I can have you speak with my cousin Arwyn. She’s half water fae and half wicche. Like you, she’s gorgeous and has had to deal with predators since she was little. Can I call her and have you talk with her? She might have suggestions that will help.”
Meri sat up straight. “Really? I’ve talked with my Aunt Nerissa and my cousins at the Bubble Lounge.” She stared down at her hands in her lap for a moment. “None of them have the same problem I do. I mean, some humans are interested and hit on them, but it’s not…”
“It’s not obsessive violence masquerading as devotion?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. Do you really think your cousin could help me?”
“Only one way to find out.” I pulled out my phone and dialed. Once I’d explained to Arwyn what was going on, I handed Meri my phone and went out to the bar.
Owen slid a cup of tea to me. “Everything all right, boss?”
I took a sip. “Mostly. Meri can tell you why I sprinted out of here, if she wants.”
While he brewed a fresh pot of tea for the wicches, I drew a flagon of mead for Grim, my dwarf regular who’d been sitting on the last stool at the bar since the first day I opened. I heard his very distinctive thump-slide footsteps on the stairs. My human-sized stairs were too tall for dwarfs. Now that I was thinking about it, that might have been why he was always so snarly.
“Good afternoon, Grim. I hope you’re having a good day.” I slid the flagon to the last stool as he stomped across the bar and then hopped up on his seat. He grunted his acknowledgement and took a big swig.
I went back to the kitchen, got the rest of the cookies, and came out to offer him one. His bushy eyebrows crashed down, appearing offended by the question. He ignored me and took another drink. I strolled back to the other end of the bar as Owen was returning and offered one to him.
