“The day I won’t keep a pretty girl like you company is the day they seal me in my tomb. Need anything outta there?” He jerks a thumb at Lucille, and I reach in to grabmy duffle and hoodie, my lips repeating his words silently and then aloud.
“Seal you in your tomb? What, are you a vampire or something?”
His lips kick up at the corners and he takes the duffle from me.
“I can carry that?—”
“Not when I’m around. And no, not a vampire, although I wouldn’t say no to sucking on your neck.”
I’m horrified to feel myself blushing. I haven’t blushed since I was ten years old, for Chrissake. “So what’s this business about a tomb, Mr. Non-Vampire?”
He opens the back door of his truck on the passenger side and tosses the bag in, then opens the front door to the cab and gestures. “Up you go.”
I haven’t had a dude open a door for me since…ever…but I decide to let it go, and climb into the truck, settling myself in the plush interior and strapping in as he walks around and then climbs in, himself.
What a day. What a year.
What a fucking life, only to end up here.
“Down here near the Gulf, our water table is so high that in-ground graves are not a good idea. Results in flooding and messed-up remains,you see.”
Ah.
“Got it. Thank you.”
With a quick over-the-shoulder check of traffic, Shiloh pulls out onto the highway and places a hands-free call.
“’Lo, you got Murray.”
“Murray, it’s Shiloh. Got a pick up for you, out on Highway…”
Listening with half an ear, I peer out the window as the scenery flashes by in a blur of green that seems so out of place given the winter gray of Chicago. It’s a different world down here, one populated by an eternal summer and people who speak with nothing but vowels.
I glance over at Shiloh, who’s disconnecting his call.
I’d like to buy a vowel, Alex.
“Thanks,” I say softly.
“Sure.”
“Not that I couldn’t have made a call myself.”
“Hey, Yank.”
I just look at him.
“It was my pleasure. Now, what do you like to eat?” Shiloh continues. “They have this café that serves good sandwiches and burgers and stuff, and…”
I wait.
He side-eyes me.
“And?”
“And they have this café that serves great sandwiches and burgers and stuff.”
“Ha. You’re a funny one, Shiloh. The café sounds good.”
