I set my pencil aside and looked beyond the window pane in my office. Rain, cold, and lots of wetness surfaced on that October day. Bitter had become a tempest, a victim of Mother Nature. I had no plans for the day, staying in from the weather. After writing, a hardback Ruth Ware mystery called for me, needed my attention. The sofa in the sitting room begged for company. I had just settled down with the tome when Toby arrived, smelling of eggs and bacon, a blood-filled human and mortal I had fallen in love with, perhaps haphazardly throughout time.
He sat across from me, beaming. How diligent he was to serve me. How greedy of my attention. Always there when I needed him. My true confidant.
“Toby,” I whispered his name, closing the Ware book and also setting it aside. “What brings you her
