Joan put a mug in front of the new coffeemaker and pushed a button. “I want you to look at how fast this coffee brews,” she practically yelled. “I can brew another cup after this one in half the time it would take your brewer, and we don’t even have to drink the same flavor coffee!”
“Why are you screaming?” Stevie asked slowly.
“Because I became a Sealy when I married your father, and his fight is mine. That’s what you do when you pledge your life to someone, you become one. You were born a Sealy, and you’re supposed to be on our side! Do you want to try the chocolate peppermint coffee? It’s delicious!”
“I love and support my family, but I’m not in this fight,” Stevie said calmly. “I’d still love you if you robbed banks, but I’m not gonna be your accomplice, and yes, I would like to try that coffee.”
“Why do you always have to test me? You’ve always done that. If I told you not to do something, you would do it just to spite me.”
Stevie threw up her hands and let them drop at her sides. “I was a kid, that’s what they do. Now I’m a grown woman trying to make sense of something that seems so childish. I’m not testing you.”
“Then do as I tell you,” Joan said, breathing heavy as she put in a new flavor cup and set another mug in front of the coffeemaker. “It makes hot chocolate, too,” she said angrily.
“Why are you so upset?”
“I ran into Walt McLin at a store in Belle Chasse, and he called me a…” Joan lowered her voice to a whisper. “He said, ‘Move, cow.’”
“That was very rude of him, and that makes me mad,” Stevie conceded with a sigh.
“That’s why I don’t want you going through McLin because I don’t want him to ever have the opportunity to say something like that to you. I would tear that old man’s head off if he ever spoke to one of my children that way.”
*******
Kellen’s hand hovered over her desk phone after Laina told her who was on the line. “Do you want me to take a message?”
“No,” Kellen said. “Thanks, Laina, I’ll handle it today.” She exhaled loudly as she picked up the handset and pressed a button. “Hello, Dave, this is Kellen.”
“Color me shocked,” Dave Sealy said with a laugh. “I finally get to hear your voice. I don’t sound so scary now, do I?”
“I have work to do, and I’m not going to spend valuable time exchanging barbs like you and Walt do, so tell me what you want.”
“I like people who get down to business,” Dave said cheerfully. “Everything is set for the Mardi Gras season, but I’d like to talk to you about the spring festivals. It doesn’t do either of us any good to have them on the same weekend because it splits the crowd. Why don’t you tell me what dates you have planned, so I can work around them?”
“Kyle did that, then you announced your festivals for the exact same weekends.”
“That was a communication mistake, he got his dates mixed up,” Dave said with a chuckle. “All a big misunderstanding. Look, it’s out with the old guard and in with the new. We have a mayor beginning his first term, too, and I think it’s time for us to all sit down and talk.”
“About?” Kellen asked.
“We can work together, Kellen, on a lot more than just festivals. I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt, and I can help you turn McLin into a place where people want to live and visit.”
“How would that help you?” Kellen asked as her jaw tensed.
“People are leaving the larger cities in droves. They want a safe place to raise their children and roads that aren’t choked with traffic. I can help you to turn your little marsh town into a thriving community that produces revenue for growth.”
“You still didn’t answer my question. What’s in it for you?”
“Well, it’s like this, the town of Sealy wants to continue to grow, but we have one little problem, and that’s McLin. Let me put it to you this way, when you’re house hunting, you don’t want to buy one next to a dump. Do you understand what I mean?” Dave asked, and his cheerful tone never faltered.
“Your meaning is quite clear. I’ll jot the meeting with you and your mayor down on my schedule in the never category. Dave, I’m gonna hang up now. Call Walt, I know you have his number, he’ll be more than happy to play with you.”
*******
“I told you not to take his calls,” Kyle said angrily when he met Kellen at the diner. “I thought you didn’t have time for lunch.”
“He pissed me off so bad with that dump comment I couldn’t think. I shelved some of the things I wanted to work on today and met Chance early about the tree. It was dead, and I could’ve chewed a hole through it because I was still mad after the drive.”
Trulee’s brow rose while she served them each a glass of iced tea. “Why did you take a call from Dave?”
“I had this foolish notion we might negotiate a cease-fire. That’s never gonna happen with that condescending prick,” Kellen said with disgust.
“You know what, since we built the marina, his spring festivals can’t compete,” Kyle remarked. “That’s just a burr in his soul. That’s why he has to make his digs.”
“I’m sure that’s part of it,” Trulee said with a sigh. “Most of it is just two old men trying to get the best of each other by whatever means. Walt talks about how much he misses the days when he and his friends would gather in the bar and everyone in there would gripe about the Sealys and come up with entertaining insults. Nowadays, everyone wants to talk about football, and that depresses him. Kellen honey, I hope you’re not hanging your hopes on those two old dogs learning new tricks.”
“If it works out with Stevie, and I believe it will, they’ll have to learn to at least live with that,” Kellen said and took a drink of her tea.
Kyle said through gritted teeth, “Don’t wanna buy a house next to a dump. At least McLin has character. Sealy looks like every other small town with its strip malls.”
“You’re sounding a lot like Walt.” Trulee grinned. “Funny how fast roles change because that’s how Kellen used to sound before she became smitten with a Sealy.”
Kellen shrugged. “That’s true, but I won’t lose sight of the fact that I’m a McLin. I won’t hand Dave the keys to our town if that’s what anyone is worried about.”
“You don’t worry me,” Trulee said with a smile. “You will scare the shit out of your uncle, though, when he finds out about—shhh. Walter McLin, what’re you doing in my diner?”
Walt walked over to the counter and leaned against it. “What I need to know is where you’re hiding my truck keys.”
Trulee shook her head. “You’re not getting behind the wheel until you get those eyes fixed, I already told you that.”
“I just need to move the truck, so I can get my four-wheeler out of the garage. I need to change the oil in it,” Walt said testily.
“Can you even see the plug and the filter?” Kyle asked.
Walt glared at Kellen. “I can see all I need to see, boy.”
“Then look at Kyle when you say boy,” Kellen said.
“I’m looking at both of you because you’re giving me shit,” Walt said lowly.
Kyle held up a spoon. “What’s this?”
“It’s a utensil, you jackass, quit messing with me,” Walt snapped. “I can see shapes.”
Trulee sighed. “Walt, you are basically blind.”
“Yeah, how else would you explain wearing Trulee’s pajama pants?” Kellen asked.
“These are mine, they’re blue. Y’all stop messing with me and tell me where my keys are,” Walt said wearily.
“I put those pants in Trulee’s Christmas stocking this year. Feel along the front of them and see if they have a fly,” Kellen suggested.
Walt shook his head. “No, I ain’t falling for one of your pranks that’ll have me groping myself in public.”
“I will give Kyle your keys and he can move the truck.” Trulee pulled her purse from beneath the counter. “I had the surgery, Wal
t, and I survived. You will too.”
“You gotta man up,” Kyle added.
Walt glared at Kellen again. “You wanna shut up, boy?”
“You want me to move so you can actually look at Kyle when you talk to him?” Kellen grimaced when Walt grabbed her ponytail.
“Aha!” Walt exclaimed. “You got your hair slicked back, and that’s why it looks short.”
“Kyle, would you take this half-blind jackass on home and move his truck for him?” Trulee handed him the keys. “You may wanna hang around and make sure he doesn’t try to stick the oil filter on the handlebars.”
“I can see well enough, woman!” Walt waved a hand. “I walked over here without getting run over, didn’t I?”
“I hear Paw Paw Walt,” Ambria said as she burst through the kitchen doors.
Walt held out his arms. “There’s my baby, the only one who’s sweet to me.”
“What they been doing to you, Paw Paw?” Ambria asked as she hugged Walt.
“They’re making fun of me and teasing me about my eyes.”
“Y’all oughta be ashamed.” Ambria glared at Trulee and the twins. “Hey, Paw Paw, you like my new glasses?”
Walt gazed at Ambria. “I sure do.”
“Well, I ain’t wearing any.” Ambria patted Walt on the chest. “I love you, get your shit fixed.”
Chapter 12
That evening was cloudy, which blotted out the light of the moon as Kellen headed into the woods on her ATV. Her new lightbar and headlights gave her plenty of light to see by, but there was no trail to follow. She figured she’d soon make one, though, with what she hoped would be many trips to collect Stevie. Kellen knew every inch of her woods, but it was still slow going as she made her way happily to her destination. The idea of sneaking around gave her a little rush just like it did when she was a kid and she and Kyle sneaked out of the house to pull their pranks on the Sealys. She was going to the town of Sealy again, and this time, she would swipe an actual Sealy.
As she grew close to the Sealy family property, she gave Stevie a call. “This is Foxglove, is that you, Night Flower?”
“I appreciate the compliment, but I want a cool code name like yours,” Stevie whispered.
“Okay, how about Bat?”
“Just Bat?” Stevie asked after a moment of silence. “Seriously?”
“Grisly Bat?” Kellen asked with a smile. “Hey, I’m cutting my lights off because I’m getting really close.”
“I know. If you go another twenty feet, you’ll run over me.” Stevie switched on a flashlight and aimed the beam at Kellen for only a second or two and switched it off. “Wait there, I’ll come to you. See how stealthy I am?”
“I’ve got your name—Stealth Bat.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about. You can be Speed Bat,” Stevie suggested.
“No, I like my name. I’m poisonous, foxglove is a—oh, shit!” Kellen yelled when a light switched on, and there was a face right in front of hers wearing a black ski mask.
“I just demonstrated how stealth this bat really is,” Stevie said with her voice low.
“Uh-huh, I just demonstrated how to piss the seat of my four-wheeler. Get on if you dare.”
“I wanted to dress the part, that’s why I went with all black and the ski mask,” Stevie said with a chuckle as she climbed onto the seat behind Kellen.
Once Stevie had her arms wrapped around Kellen tightly, Kellen turned the ATV around and switched on her lights before she made the slow trek back to her house. “Are you warm enough?” she asked over her shoulder.
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine, your body’s blocking most of the wind. I feel like we should go rob a bank or something since we’re dressed for the part.”
Kellen laughed. “I’ve already stolen a Sealy, and I’m very happy with my take.”
“What’re you gonna do with me? Don’t you dare say you’re gonna hide me in a closet with the last Sealy you stole.”
“That never crossed my mind,” Kellen said as she sped up a bit.
“What did?” Stevie asked against Kellen’s ear and caused chill bumps to rise up all over her body.
“Oh,” Kellen said with a growl. “You’re making it hard for me to act respectable.”
“Good.”
Arousal struck Kellen like a lightning bolt, and she unconsciously cranked down on the throttle.
*******
“I can’t believe you’d rather be a pirate than a ninja,” Kellen said as she and Stevie ate dinner.
“They have the ship, a parrot, and a cool eye patch.”
“Yeah, because they’re missing an eye.” Kellen shook her head. “I don’t see that as a bonus, and a ninja could have a ship and a parrot if they wanted.”
Stevie held up a finger. “They’re not always missing an eye, sometimes they do that to fake people out.”
“One word: scurvy. You never hear of a ninja getting scurvy.”
“Okay, I can’t argue that.” Stevie shook her head. “What’s your favorite movie genre?”
“Sci-fi.”
Stevie looked surprised. “Really? With your romantic nature, I figured you’d say romance.”
“There’s romance in science fiction. There’s a romantic subplot in most movies. Name one that doesn’t have any romance in it.”
“The Hunt for Red October,” Stevie replied immediately.
Kellen stared at her for a moment. “Shit.”
“It was on TV today.” Stevie took a bite of her chicken potpie and nodded as she chewed. “This is a good cold day meal. Another one is breakfast for dinner.”
“Oh, yeah, I love that. What’s your favorite summer meal?” Kellen asked.
“Barbecue, that just says summertime to me. Yours?”
“I love barbecue. I also like to eat fruit in the summer. I’ll swap it out for a meal sometimes.” Kellen smiled. “White bread sandwiches always remind me of the beach. Walt and Trulee took us to Destin at least once a summer. They’d rent the same place every time, and you could walk out of the back door and straight onto the beach, but Trulee would always make a picnic basket anyway,” Kellen said with a wistful smile. “At night when Kyle and I were worn out from being in the water all day and we’d actually sit still, Walt and Trulee would try to teach us to sing. We’d learned to sing harmony with them, but when we got into our teen years, we were like ‘this is so not cool.’ A few years later, we thought we were way too cool to go on family trips. We were so dumb.”
Stevie smiled. “You have a lot of good memories.”
“Tell me one of yours from your childhood with your family.”
“Let’s see.” Stevie thought for a moment or two. “We didn’t travel much because Dad stayed so busy with work. One time, we did go to Tennessee, and Grandma came with us. I think I was around eleven, and we stayed in a cabin Dad was thinking about buying from a friend. It had a pool, and at night, Grandma and I would float around on rafts looking at the sky. It was so dark out there, and it made the stars seem as though they were right in front of our faces. It was special to me then because I got to stay up past my bedtime, and since Grandma was with me, I was allowed to be in the pool. Later on when Grandma passed away, it was a mental treasure. She always told my mom sweet memories are the most important thing we can leave behind, and she was right.”
“Tell me about a happy memory you had with your parents. I’m trying to form a mental picture of them that’s not based on what Walt has said about them.”
“Like I said, Dad was always really busy, so we’d see him at dinner and a little on the weekends, and that was pretty much it. My favorite memory with Mom was when she stayed up late to help me work on an art project for school. Normally, I didn’t put those off until the last minute because I enjoyed them. I can’t remember why I didn’t get to it sooner. The assignment was to illustrate your milestones up to your current age, which was fifteen then, so my idea was to make it look like a board game. At the beginning, I had a picture of me when I
was learning to crawl, and I advanced in the game with every milestone. I made little bases for every picture, so they’d stand up like game pieces, but the pictures kept sliding out of them, so I had to glue them. That became Mom’s job. She glued the sleeve of her shirt to the board, and we were so tired we thought that was hilarious. She always takes things so seriously, so to see her delirious and snorting with laughter was just…” Stevie shrugged. “It was a moment. That was when I realized I inherited my horrible laugh from her. Please promise me if I ever do it in public, you’ll choke me until I stop or pass out. This is my second request, please agree.”
“I don’t know if I can promise that,” Kellen said as she got up and collected the dirty dishes.
Stevie got up, as well, and walked over to the sink with Kellen. “Dinner was wonderful. Please give my compliments to Trulee on her chicken potpie.”
“I’m glad you liked it. I got stuck at the office, and I knew I wouldn’t get home in time to cook.” Kellen put the dishes in the sink and stopped Stevie as she began to rinse them. “I don’t want to spend my time with you cleaning.”
“What would you like to do then?” Stevie asked, holding Kellen’s gaze.
“I was gonna suggest watching a movie while cuddling on the couch,” Kellen said, but it sounded more like a question as she noticed the steamy look Stevie was giving her.
Stevie stuck her fingers in the waistband of Kellen’s jeans and pulled her closer. “I’d love to cuddle with you.”
“That’s not the signal you’re send—”
Kellen’s eyes flew open wide when Stevie kissed her hard. The kiss sent shockwaves from her lips to her toes, and she knew then they weren’t going to watch a movie. She wrapped her arms around Stevie and melded their bodies together. Stevie released a moan and gripped Kellen’s backside. Kellen was accustomed to being the seductress, but Stevie was running things at that moment.
Kellen’s head swam when Stevie broke the kiss and started nibbling on her neck. “Bedroom?” she asked in a daze.
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