My Roommate Is a Vampire(15)

Of course it was.

God. Customers who ordered expensive coffee they didn’t even drink were so annoying and wasteful. I brought “Todd’s” mug to the blue plastic tub where we bussed the dishes, scowling and irritated.

There weren’t many of us scheduled to work that night. Loading the dishwasher would probably end up being my job. But I could do that later. I still had a few minutes before my shift started, and my hummus and red pepper sandwich wasn’t going to eat itself.



* * *





Thankfully, Katie showed up a few minutes after “Todd” left, and then Jocelyn—another barista—showed up at seven-thirty. With the three of us working it ended up being a slow night. A few more customers trickled in, mostly students looking for a relatively quiet spot to study and socialize over homework and lattes. Thankfully, there were no more leering oddballs in trench coats and fedoras.

Shortly after Jocelyn showed up, I was wiping down a table that had just been vacated when my phone buzzed in my pocket with a new text.

I pulled it out and glanced down at the screen.

    Hello Cassie. This is Frederick.

I have a question for you.



I looked over my shoulder to where Katie was waiting on a customer and Jocelyn was making a drink behind the counter. They seemed to have things well enough in hand that I could reply to him now.

    Sure! I’m at work but I have a minute.

What’s up?

Do you eat sauce?



I stared at my phone. Sauce?

    Yes. Do you enjoy eating it?

Why

I am presently at a store that sells cooking implements. An entire section of the store is dedicated to “saucepans.”

Other customers seem quite enamored with them but before I purchase one for the apartment I wanted to confirm that sauce is something you eat.



A bark of unexpected laughter escaped me before I could stop it.

Who would have thought Frederick had such a dry sense of humor?

    you’re hilarious

I am?

Yes, I just lol’d in public ;)

I do not know what “lol’d” means.

OMG, I’m going to get in trouble here at work if I keep laughing.

Oh. I apologize.

I didn’t intend to get you in trouble with your employer.

It’s fine.

My manager is cool.

Though I should probably get to work.

Of course. I will see you at home eventually.

With saucepans.



By this point I was smiling so broadly my cheeks hurt.

Maybe this new living situation would work out after all.



* * *





By the time I got back to Frederick’s brownstone it was nearly midnight.

I was exhausted. I usually was after a shift spent making drinks and cleaning tables, but it was made worse by having spent the first part of the day lugging heavy boxes around and moving into Frederick’s apartment. I felt all but dead on my feet as I trudged up the stairs to the third floor.

As I unlocked the front door to the apartment and let myself in, I decided that first, I would take a shower to wash off the grime from all the running around I did that day. Then I would collapse into bed. I didn’t have anywhere to be in the morning—Gossamer’s didn’t need me to come in, and neither did the library—so the next day I would sleep in as long as I could.

I was all set to embark on the first part of my plan when the enormous number of boxes stacked in neat piles on the kitchen counters caught my eye. Those hadn’t been there when I’d left for work that evening.

Curious, I made my way into the kitchen—and stopped short when I realized what all these boxes were.

Frederick had made good on his promise to find me cookware.

And not just any cookware.

He’d gotten five Le Creuset saucepans, six Le Creuset frying pans of varying sizes, two of the largest woks I had ever seen, a waffle maker, a Crockpot, and a toaster oven. When I turned, thunderstruck, to see the boxes stacked on the kitchen table, I realized he’d also purchased ten place settings’ worth of silverware from Crate & Barrel.

Stunned, I picked up the note with my name on it that lay beside the place settings. As with Frederick’s previous notes to me, he’d written my name on the outside of the envelope in cursive so fancy it was nearly calligraphy.

    Dear Miss Greenberg,

Please let me know if these cooking implements will suffice. You never answered my questions vis-à-vis your feelings on sauce, so if the saucepans are not of use I can return them to the establishment where I purchased them.

Regarding your questions concerning redecorating your bedroom, as I told you when you moved in you are welcome to redecorate your bedroom however you like. I ask only that you not destroy anything currently in the room. Many items in my home are heirlooms that have been in my family for a great many years. My mother in particular would become cross should harm come to them.

When you said you were an art teacher I admit it had not occurred to me that you also created art of your own. In hindsight, that was foolish of me. Do let me know when you have redecorated. I would very much like to see some of your work.

Yours in good health,

Frederick J. Fitzwilliam