Page 15 of Help Wanted, Vampires Inquire Within
“If you’re sure,” Zan said, giving her a relieved smile. “I’ll bring some drinks right over!”
There was only one table left so there was no question where they’d sit. They weren’t sitting long before Zan came over with a tray. He set a wineglass in front of Jack, a beer in front of Mason, and finally her signature sweet drink.
Jack gave the drink a suspicious look and didn’t touch it. “I didn’t order anything.”
“Zan has some kind of bartender magic and knows the perfect drink for everyone,” Skyler said. “I’m sure you’ll love whatever he poured for you.”
“The first round is free for new customers,” Zan said with a grin, then went back behind the bar to fix more drinks for the lively crowd.
Skyler noticed Jack didn’t touch his drink, but didn’t judge him. She heard stories all the time of humans being drugged, so it was probably good that Jack was cautious.
“You should get one of those cars with the parking assist feature,” Mason said, searching for something on his phone, then holding it out to Jack. “Some of the newer cars can park for you. Parallel parking is still a good skill to have, but this way you won’t get caught in a bad situation.”
Jack didn’t look convinced. “Did you hear about the car that parked too close to a wall and another car and trapped the driver?”
Mason nodded his head. “Is that the one where the car bricked? You know, when the computer stops working. That’s rare, I’m sure.”
Jack gave a little shrug. “Maybe, but I don’t trust the tech yet.”
Not surprising, they went from talking about cars to computers. Skyler watched Mason and Jack light up as they talked about solid state storage, CPU speeds, and all sorts of other things Skyler didn’t understand.
She had a phone, that was the extent of her tech possessions. It was adorable how excited both Mason and Jack were to talk about all things computer. Far from feeling excluded or ignored, she sipped her drink and enjoyed that Mason had someone who understood his career and passion.
“This isn’t fair,” Jack said abruptly, looking at her with a smile. “Skyler’s not part of this conversation. We should change the subject.”
Mason gave a little frown and nodded at her. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
Skyler shook her head. “You guys keep talking. I’m fine sitting here.”
“Nope,” Jack said. “We all get to be part of the conversation. If my friends saw me ignoring you, they’d never forgive me. It’s a cardinal sin to leave someone out.”
“You keep talking about these friends,” Skyler said. “Who are these people to you? It sounds like you all live together like a big family.”
“We’re family in all ways except blood,” Jack agreed. “We all started a company together back in Illinois about ten years ago. We look out for each other. Right now, we’re even sharing a house.”
“How many iswe?” Mason asked.
“Ten years ago?” Skyler said. “How old were you, twelve?"
Jack laughed and answered Skyler first. “Don’t let this baby face fool you, I’m older than I look.” Then he turned his gaze to Mason. “There are fourteen of us including me.”
“Fourteen, in the same house?” Mason said with a shake of his head.
Jack grimaced. “Yeah, it’s crowded. We really need to get a bigger place, but we have to be picky because it needs to fulfill a lot of requirements. Back in Illinois, we lived on several acres where we had our office building and several houses. It was backed up against a little lake and beyond that was all woods. I miss that place.”
“Why’d you move?” Skyler asked.
“Money,” Jack said with a shrug. “We got an amazing contract with a company down here for three years. We all talked and decided that instead of breaking everyone up and half of us moving here and half staying in Illinois, we’d all move. Our work back there was slowing down so it was a good time to relocate. Besides, I’d heard a lot of good things about San Diego.”
“It’s a nice place, but I understand missing your homeland,” Skyler said, thinking about the land she grew up on that rejectedher once she started puberty. It was a natural process for a nymph, but that didn’t make it any less painful.
She missed those carefree days. It almost made her tear up to think that she’d never know a true bond to land. Her only experience would be the one she had through her mother as a child.
“I didn’t mean to cause that sad face,” Jack said. “I might miss the old place, but the winters here are amazing. No ice to skid on. No snow to shovel. It’s January and the most I’ve seen people wearing are light coats. The man over there walked in wearing flip flops! You can’t do that in January back in Illinois.”
Jack’s banter helped lift Skyler’s mood. “That’s true. It didn't snow where I grew up, but there would be awful heatwaves every summer.”
“It gets hot here too,” Mason warned her.
