A Perfect Mistake

by Zoe Dawson

  Feeling as if I would float off like a balloon, I watched as he pushed off the truck and made his slow, sexy way towards me.

  Then all that painstaking primping paid off. His eyes went over me. That grin kicked up a notch, his gaze shifting from my face, my body, my hair. His eyes were like a warm midnight. But beneath that midnight warmth there was a glint of the devil, that bad-boy unholy trinity vibe.

  “Pretty.”

  “Thank you.”

  He reached for the potato salad and then took my hand. I tightened my fingers around his, too much emotion in me to put into words. I leaned against his shoulder as he led me to his truck, slipped his hand out of mine and opened the door for me.

  “At least this time you’re not cave-manning it by hoisting me over your shoulder and chucking me inside.”

  He stared at me for a moment and his eyes got warm and intimate. He chuckled. “Don’t tempt me.”

  By the time we got to Booker’s house, I was closer to wrapping my heart and mind around the revelation. As we walked around back, I heard splashing. River Pearl and Aubree were on the raft out in the lake, and Booker was flexing his muscles until they both pushed him in the water. He came up sputtering and all three of them waved to us.

  Braxton was at the barbeque on the deck, already grilling chicken, burgers and frog legs. I walked up to him and he eyed the bowl in my hand, trying not to look eager.

  “So let’s taste this masterpiece,” he mocked. But I was starting to figure out the way he interacted with people he liked, and that tone was it. I relaxed a bit.

  I reached for a spoon on the table not far from the barbeque and scooped up a generous bite. He slipped it into his mouth and then closed his eyes—and seconds later they popped open.

  “Verity, you’re not leaving here tonight until you write this down for me. Every ingredient. I just got a new lunch item on my menu.”

  “You’re kidding me!”

  He laughed and winked at me. “Ah, Boone, she needs to be enlightened. I’m calling it Preacher’s Daughter Potato Salad.”

  “Is he being serious?”

  “Darlin’ my brother never jokes about food.”

  I shoved the bowl in his hands and laughed, feeling so lighthearted. These boys had a way—such a way about them that I had simply fallen for them all. I see why Aubree was so besotted with them. I tilted up my chin and looked him square in his striking blue eyes. “Then ‘Preacher’s Daughter Potato Salad’ it is. Why don’t you put this in the fridge, Brax? Try not to steal another bite.” With a grin over my shoulder at his surprised look, I slipped my arm around Boone’s waist.

  “Okay, Verity.”

  The way he made it a point to say my name, I knew that the menu item was just a cool way to list the dish and had nothing to do with thinking of me as the preacher’s daughter. I grinned again as he turned to go into the house.

  “You tryin’ to win over my brother?” he whispered, kissing my temple.

  “Both of them, actually. I’ll have to see what I can do to impress Booker.”

  Boone rolled his eyes. “Talk about his books. That will impress him.”

  “Well, as a matter of fact, I have read all his books. I love them.”

  “Oh, man. Ego on the rise.”

  I laughed as I stopped and slipped out of my sweater and dress. My daring New York City one-piece black halter suit with the racy cutouts on the sides put that appreciative look back on Boone’s face. He ran into the house to change into his suit.

  I jumped in and swam out to them.

  “So, Booker,” I said as I climbed onto the raft, “Why don’t we talk about the symbolism in your latest novel, Gabriel’s Fall?”

  He looked at me and smiled. “Oh, yeah? What’s your take on it?”

  “Well, the title for one. Nice play on words. Gabriel falls from grace, but finds grace in Nell, then falls for her. That’s the real fall. She gives him back his innocence and his ability to believe again in the good of the world.” I gave him a smug look.

  He stared at me for a moment.

  “Even better yet, Booker, the genius of that novel is that he has to go into Hell to get it back. I love that he goes through Hell, literally. Nell is the symbol for grace and the reason he has to go into and through Hell to get it back.”

  Aubree smiled when Booker looked at her. “She’s pretty smart and perceptive.”

  “Apparently she wasn’t salutatorian for nothing.”

  After Boone swam out to us, we played a very fun bout of King of the Hill, and I ended up winning, much to everyone’s surprise, including my own.

  I noticed that Brax just sat on the deck and nursed a drink while cooking, but he watched River Pearl, not even concerned that she knew it. And she did. She kept looking over at him and then giving me and Aubree meaningful looks. There wasn’t anything that rattled that girl, but if it was me, and Braxton was looking at me with that kind of intensity, I would be jangling with nerves.

  Right before the food was ready, we all took turns showering and changing. On the screened in deck I settled next to Boone at the table. The meat was cooked to perfection with Brax’s signature barbeque sauce, and the rest of the food was delicious, the fried okra, corn on the cob, cole-slaw and plenty of chips. And, of course, my potato salad.

  We were all fat and happy when we were done eating.

  Boone and I settled into the pillow area as Aubree and Booker sat together on a bench not far from us. Brax went outside to take care of the trash and I saw River Pearl slip out after him.

  “I’m sorry I missed Booker’s party. Aubree said the food was really good.”

  “It was,” he said, giving me a knowing look. “I was the reason you didn’t attend the party, right?”

  “Yes, you were.”

  He took my hand and played with my fingers. “I was disappointed. Now I know why you didn’t show up.”

  I nodded and snuggled my head up to his chest, tucking in just below his chin, and he kissed the top of my head.

  “I’m glad we cleared everything up,” he said, and my heart squeezed, knowing that there was still this…secret that lay like an unexploded bomb between us.

  “Tell me about your day, the racetrack and this koi pond.”

  He laughed and I tilted my head to look at him, memorizing his face in that moment, this first intimate time between us after I’d fallen in love with him. I had no idea where these feelings would lead, but I wouldn’t deny to myself that I felt them. I’d lied enough in the last year to last me a lifetime. I held back from telling Boone, thinking about Aubree’s warning. I didn’t want to hurt him any more than I was already going to do if I decided to leave.

  My heart squeezed painfully at the thought, but I pushed the pain away. I would let things take their natural course. The feelings were too new, too sensitive, to be walked on by something as heavy as practicality.

  “I got the racetrack job.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful news!”

  He smiled and nodded with pleasure. “And the koi pond—this old lady over on Bayou Martinique wants one in her back yard.”

  I pressed my face into his neck, breathing in his scent, and wondered how I had gotten so lost in him so fast. We were opposites in many ways, too alike in others. An unlikely match drawn together by pain, bound by something he didn’t know and I couldn’t quite tell him just yet.

  “Why is that funny?”

  “She has about a million cats.”

  I laughed softly. “Oh, that seems counterproductive.”

  “Exactly, unless you wanna feed your cats expensive koi.”

  “But you came up with a design?”

  “Yes, and with a way to protect the fish from cats.”

  “Of course you did. You are so clever.”

  Suddenly we heard, “Geezus, River.”

  The next instant she stormed through the screen door and it almost slammed right into Braxton’s face.

  She snatched up her purse, and I’ve seen her m
ad before, but this was different. This was a mad with misery mixed in with that anger that snapped in her eyes. “I’ve got to go.”

  Brax pushed through the screen door, looking both hard and dangerous, his eyes narrowed at her as he watched her gather her things.

  “River…”

  “Hush up, Braxton. You’ve said more than enough. I got the message loud and clear.”

  We all could see the angry sheen of unshed tears in her eyes and sympathy tightened my heart.

  She grabbed the handle to the sliding glass door, but before she could pull, Brax said, “It is the way it is.”

  She whipped around and I saw that reckless look in her eyes and I knew some shit was going to go down. “Is it?!”

  She dropped everything on the deck and strode up to him. Without a word, she reached out and grabbed a handful of his shirt, pulled him against her and planted a kiss on him. I mean a passionate, no-holds-barred kiss. I heard Braxton’s grunt of surprise, then his indrawn breath. While he was still recovering from that, she snatched up her stuff. “Why don’t you think about that, smartass?” Then she was gone.

  Braxton dropped his head as if he needed a moment to compose himself. He looked even more taut and intense.

  “What the fuck was that about?” Booker said.

  Brax scowled. “None of your goddamned business!” Then he strode out the sliding glass door. We all heard the front door slam and the roar as he revved up his bike and disappeared into the distance.

  All four of us sat there in silence. Aubree looked at me like, oh no, the shit has hit the fan, and I gave her an uneasy look right back.

  “Serves him right,” Booker said. “He needs to recognize that he has a hard-on for River Pearl and just deal with it.”

  “Booker,” Aubree said, hitting his shoulder.

  “It’s true,” Boone said. “Ever since high school. He’s been making himself miserable over her and he should just do something about it.”

  “Isn’t he with someone else?” Aubree said.

  “Yeah, but that’s just fucking. That’s what Brax does. Fuck,” Boone said.

  Booker snorted. “Look up emotionally unavailable and you’ll find Brax’s face right next to it.”

  “Poor River Pearl.”

  “She’s better off heading back out of Suttontowne. Brax is a stubborn son of a bitch. When he makes up his mind about something, it’s hard to change it,” Booker said. “But if any gal can, my money would be on her.”

  After that, Boone and I went back to his place. The mood was kinda subdued. I tried calling River Pearl, but she didn’t answer. I decided Aubree and I would have to pay her a visit tomorrow whether she liked it or not.

  Before I could go into his house, he took my hand and nodded toward that sleek black motorcycle. “You wanna go for a ride?”

  I was already on a wild ride, but the thought of getting on that machine and wrapping my arms around Boone’s hard waist gave me a thrill like no other.

  I just stared at him like he already knew that answer and he laughed. “Okay, then.” He walked over and lifted a helmet off a peg and handed it to me, grabbing the second one. Fitting it over his head, he straddled the bike and backed it out of the garage.

  He turned to look at me. “Get on, darlin’.”

  He didn’t have to tell me twice.

  We rode through the warmth of the late afternoon as the sun began to dip to the horizon. I pressed myself against Boone’s back while we wound our way further into the bayou. I thought he must be out of his mind. The mosquitoes would haul us away if we stopped anywhere here.

  We pulled up to a dock with several moored boats and a beautiful, well-built house on stilts. A crude sign said, “Bait and Tackle. Fresh Seafood” underneath.

  “What is this place?”

  “It’s Chase Sutton’s.”

  “River Pearl’s brother. I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

  “Looks like he’s here. He rents out boats to fishermen and tourists.” He took my hand and we walked up the sturdy stairs to his shop. Looked like he’d combined his home and his business. Inside, it was really modern and carried all the latest and greatest fishing gear. I walked over to a rack. “Oh, man, my daddy would be crazy about these flies.”

  “Hey, Boone.”

  “Hey, Chase. This is…”

  “I know who it is. You’ve grown quite a bit, short stuff.”

  My heart caught a bit at his childhood nickname for me. “Hi, Chase. How are you?”

  “I get by. Whatcha need?”

  “Well for one thing, a few of these flies.”

  “Pick out the ones you want.”

  River Pearl’s wayward brother hadn’t changed much. He was still six feet of pure hunk, even with his hawk-like gaze, chiseled cheekbones, the lean angle of his jaw, and the nose that gave the clean lines of his face an unexpected boyish appeal. He had crystal blue eyes, the same color as his sister’s, but where her natural hair color was honey brown, Chase’s was more a burnished bronze.

  The heir to the Sutton fortune was eking out a living in the bayou. What could have set him off and sent him away from his family like that? I’d always wondered, but River Pearl never said, and the gossip was that it was over a girl. But I didn’t think so. If it had been about a girl, Chase would have stood up to his family. I knew him, and he wasn’t one to back down, ever.

  Who was I to say that what he was doing was strange or bad? He looked happy and healthy.

  Chase had been good friends with Ethan, but when he’d lost it, he’d lost touch with my brother, and Ethan had felt the loss. He might not admit it, but it was clear to me. Now Chase had been out here in the bayou for three years.

  “If you want, short stuff, I can make you something custom.”

  “You tied these?”

  His mouth kicked up at the corner. “Yeah. Don’t sound so surprised.”

  “No, it’s just that I didn’t know.”

  “Puts bread on the table.”

  “I want to rent one of your boats. The one with the screen,” Boone said.

  “Ha, wuss. The tourist one?” Chase’s mouth kicked up into a cute grin.

  “Yes, we want to avoid the mosquitoes.”

  “It’s gassed and ready to go.”

  Boone paid while I chose three flies I knew my daddy would love.

  Chase just wrapped them up for me and when I went to pull out my money, he waved it away. “No good here. I hope your daddy enjoys them. Verity…how’s Ethan?”

  “He’s getting out soon. Coming home.”

  “Is he really? Dumbass, going into the Marines. I’m sure glad he got out in one piece. Tell him I said hey, would you?”

  “For sure.”

  He held my gaze for a few minutes, then handed Boone the key. “Have good time.”

  “You ever been on a bayou ride?” Boone asked.

  “No, and I love the bayou.”

  “Well, then, let’s go.” He is head tipped boyishly, that irresistible smile canting his lips. He held his hand out to me.

  I took it and stepped aboard the boat as it wobbled a little, but Boone’s hand was already at my waist steadying me. The boat effectively kept out all the bugs, because it was basically a screened-in area on pontoons. The roof was waterproof canvas with an alligator print that made me smile. Boxes of begonias bloomed between cushy benches that faced each other. He started the engine and moved the boat out into the middle of the stream.

  As the sun dipped further in the sky, I took in the passing scenery, the businesses that backed onto the bayou and the tumble-down boat houses that were tucked along the bank behind them, the houses that lined the bank farther down, many with people in the yard gardening, talking with neighbors or watching children play. Normal scenes of people with normal lives.

  I wanted that. The last year had been such a struggle, just to keep myself from falling into a million tiny broken bits. Since coming home it had been drama and a sudden and strong desire for Boone.r />
  Sighing, I slipped off my sandals and stepped across the opening to snuggle up to Boone. He put his arm around me, and I let go of the tension and eased myself into his embrace. We passed the church, its steeple soaring above the trees, looking majestic among the live oak and magnolia trees.

  I felt a pang, because it had been home for all of my life and now I was moving past that and growing up. Then civilization grew scarce—the occasional plantation house visible in the distance, the odd tarpaper shack hovering above the black water on old pilings.

  The scenery grew lusher, wilder. Trees crowded what land there was, their crowns entangling into thick canopy of green that blotted out the evening sun.

  We passed through a shadowy corridor of trees where no land was visible at all, evidence of the constant battle between water and earth.

  Boone stroked his fingers through my hair absently as we continued on in silence. I could tell he knew this area like the back of his hand, as we branched off, then branched off again. I felt safe and comfortable with him.

  “Ethan and I used to run through the bayou like crazy wild animals,” I said softly. “We would pretend we were scouts or explorers. Of course, we never were allowed to go far, but it felt like we were in another world.”

  “We used to live in one of those tarpaper shacks. The bayou was our playground, too. We hunted and fished and horsed around.”

  “You’re very close to your brothers.”

  “Yes, I love them. Couldn’t imagine my life without them. We’re connected by blood, grew together in my ma, and were born at same time. Sometimes I think we can almost read each other’s minds.”

  Finally, we emerged from the lushness into an area where the bayou grew wide, looking more like a lake than a stream. Boone maneuvered the pontoon into a spot near the south bank, positioning us so we had a panoramic view of the swamp as the sun slid down in the west. He cut the rumbling engine and rose to throw the anchor over the side.

  “The sky. There isn’t anything like a bayou sunset.”

  I shook my head remembering my life in the concrete jungle. “I really enjoyed my work, but had been homesick for this…this beauty. Homesick because my roots were here, in the bayou and this was my home. It feels even more so now, with you, Boone.”