All characters belong to the lovely Charlaine Harris. No copyright infringement is intended with this fanfiction.

I am assuming that anyone reading this story is familiar with The Sookie Stackhouse series; therefore, I do not introduce the characters.

"Sookie, we have a problem," Sam called to me from his office as I was filling the last of the salt shakers at the bar. We had locked the door for the night just moments before.

"What is it?" Jane Bodehouse slurred from her perch on her usual stool.

I reached over and patted her arm. "I probably ordered too many wings or something. I'll go see what's up."

Jane thoughts were a montage of regrets tonight. It was like she was hashing over every bad decision, conversation, event – everything that had ever happened in her life. I wanted to tell her that we all carry with us things that we wish we had done differently or things we wish we could change. Fortunately, I didn't have the magnitude of some of the regrets that I saw floating around in her head, but I had my own just the same.

I had tried, early in the evening, to bait her into talking to me. She didn't bite. Being Saturday night, we were too busy for me to spend a great deal of time with her. All I could do was show her what kindness I could and do my best to not let her thoughts drag me down. At least there had been plenty of other thoughts bouncing around the room to distract me.

"What is it Sam?" I asked, once inside the tiny office.

"I finally got hold of Jane's son," Sam said running his hand through his unruly reddish curls. "He is at home with the flu. He picked up the phone after I called the third time, but he sounds absolutely awful. I told him we would take care of getting her home."

My first instinct was to tell Sam he was on his own. He had no business volunteering me for something like this. I forced myself to take a deep breath, because when I thought about it, I would have told her son the same thing.

"I'm sorry Cher, I know it's late. If you will drive her home in her car, I'll follow along behind."

I painted on my Sookie smile. "Sure. Just let me grab my purse."

Jane's thought processes went hazy before we were even out of the parking lot and she was snoring a mile down the street. Fortunately, I knew where she lived, so I didn't need to wake her for directions. Unfortunately, her house was quite the trek from town.

I wasn't particularly tired. Having worked the closing shift for three days in a row now, Gran had let me sleep in. I felt guilty when I woke up at noon and she had already been cleaning for hours. I quickly whipped up some lunch for us (brunch for me). Afterward, I made sure Gran relaxed a little while I scrubbed down the tub, but then we proceeded to tackle the windows together.

With Jane safely on her couch and her car parked in the garage, Sam and I climbed into his truck. Sam's mind was its usual jumble of noises rather than discernable thoughts. I leaned my head against the cool window. It felt wonderful after the bustle of the busy bar earlier in the night. I let out a contented sigh, feeling completely relaxed.

"Are you hungry, Cher?" Sam asked, startling me from my reverie.

"Um," my stomach growled as if on cue. "I guess I am."

"We're halfway to Renard Parish out here. Do you want to go get some breakfast at Denny's?"

I knew Gran would be sound asleep after the intense cleaning session this morning. My plan after work had been to heat up whatever leftovers I could find in the fridge and curl up with my latest library book. If it had been a good book, I may have been tempted to tell Sam no. But I actuality, I was having a lot of trouble getting into that story. "That sounds nice," I said.

"Great, cause I'm starving," Sam said. "It seemed like every time I tried to get away from the bar for a few minutes to grab a bite to eat tonight, something needed my attention. Denny's with you sounds a lot better than mac and cheese with reruns back at my trailer."

I had to laugh. "Mac and cheese? What are you, 5?"

"Hey, don't knock the goodness of a box of Kraft."

"I can't remember the last time I had boxed macaroni and cheese," I said, straining my brain to go back that far.

"I'll fix you some sometime."

"I can't wait!" I wrinkled my nose. "Hey, who was the guy you were talking to so intently in the corner tonight?" I asked, ready to steer the conversation in a new direction.

"His name is Calvin Norris. He lives out in Hotshot."

"I've seen him in the bar from time to time," I said, more as an observation than anything else.

"He's a good friend."

"Is everything OK? You guys had your heads together for quite a while."

Sam gripped the steering wheel. "We have similar interests," he said bluntly. "Who was Jason's new girl?"

I could tell Sam was changing the subject. I knew enough not to push the issue. We launched into a full discussion of Jason's latest. I got the feeling from some of Sam's comments about my brother's escapades that Sam's sex life bared more of a resemblance to mine than Jason's. Although, I was fairly certain that at some point in his life, he probably had had a sex life.

When the subject of Jason had been exhausted, we moved on to my Gran. Talking about her always made me smile. And if I wasn't mistaken, Sam seemed to smile when I did. Next we discussed the plans for the bachelor party scheduled at the bar the following week; then the latest in other town gossip. The conversation flowed easily from one topic to the next – through the meal and the drive home.

By the time I climbed into my own car back at the bar, it was nearly 5am. I couldn't help but appreciate how much better the night had been than I had originally planned.

10am came very quickly. I smacked my alarm clock in disgust and dragged myself to the bathroom for a shower. Gran and I had made plans to go to the late service since I had to work the closing shift. If I had come home, I would have had plenty of sleep. But, I had had a good time with Sam. By the time my shower was done, I decided it had been a good trade off. The extra sleep I got yesterday should make up for the lack of it today. I would survive.

Soon I was clad in my favorite dress with a swirled pattern of blue, green and black and black one inch heels. I twisted my hair into a loose bun with a few strands pulled out and curled to frame my face, and I brushed on a light layer of makeup. Gran had poured my morning coffee into a bright orange travel mug that I had won as a door prize at the last church bizarre, and we were ready to go.

We chatted about the previous night on the short trip. "Good," was Gran's only response when I told her about the breakfast with Sam. I wasn't quite sure what to make of her comment so I chose to politely ignore it. Sam was my boss. I did not wish to consider the previous night a date. I had told Gran before how I felt about approaching any kind of a relationship with my boss.

That very boss was waiting for Gran and me at the door of the Lutheran church. "Do you mind if I join you ladies?"

"Why of course not, Sam," Gran said taking his arm once we had stepped into the foyer.

I had to smile. Because as much as I usually insisted that I not think of my boss in that way, that way is precisely how I had been thinking of him all morning. I fell in line behind them and meandered toward our favorite pew.