Beauty and the Bayou

by Erin Nicholas

  “There are lots of creepy stories from down here,” Mitch said. “Hell, there was a supposed serial killer for a while in the thirties or something.”

  “And there are the legends about the rougarou,” Kennedy said with a little gleam in her eye.

  The rougarou were fabled werewolf-type creatures that prowled through the small towns and rural areas of Louisiana.

  Maddie sat up a little straighter, clearly excited. “If we specifically tell them that’s what’s going to happen, rather than, you know, Stan and Betty from North Dakota coming down to see cypress trees romantically draped in Spanish moss, learning about how they could find a brown recluse in her purse when they get back to the Hilton Garden Inn, then it could be great.”

  Sawyer grinned at her. That was pretty funny. “We might not sign a lot of Stan and Bettys up.” He looked over at Chase. “But dumb college kids down on vacation might eat that up.”

  Chase grinned back. “Sounds like fun.”

  “I’ll start working on it,” Maddie said. “But,” she added. “We’re not there yet, and you don’t need any practice scaring people, so why don’t you work on the motor and Owen will take the tours.”

  Sawyer nodded. “Fine by me.” He even shrugged. Just for good measure.

  Again there was an exchange of surprised looks around the table, but no one said anything like “what the hell have you done with Sawyer Landry?”

  “I’ve gotten a lot done these last few days,” he said. “I’m feeling very relaxed.”

  “That’s fantastic,” Maddie said.

  “Things with the dock look great, too,” he said to Chase. “You guys are doing a good job.” It was a slow job, but it was good.

  “Uh, thanks.” Chase gave a little grimace.

  “What?” Sawyer asked.

  “He’s not building the dock,” Kennedy said, jumping in readily to tell on Chase. “He’s been messing around with Mitch. Juliet’s doin’ that all by herself.”

  Sawyer looked at Chase. “Oh yeah?” What the hell was this?

  “Hey, Juliet is cool with it,” Mitch said quickly. “Chase helped me with some stuff for Ellie, we checked Leo’s transmission, he did a couple of hotel pickups with me, and then Ellie sent us out with some boxes for Otis.”

  Otis was an old guy who lived in a cabin on the bayou and was essentially a hermit. Ellie knew him from back in the days when he’d been a shrimp boat captain, but after his wife had died he’d retired to his cabin and was rarely seen now. Ellie sent the boys out about once a month with supplies and, in her words, to make sure Otis was still alive and even needed the supplies.

  “And then you went fishing,” Kennedy said.

  “Juliet thought that was great,” Mitch protested.

  “You took Chase fishing?” Sawyer asked. “While Juliet worked?”

  “Well, it started out with me showing him how to drive the airboat,” Mitch said. He shoved Chase in the shoulder. “Obviously, he doesn’t know how or he and Juliet wouldn’t be here building us a new dock in the first place.”

  Chase nodded. “Mitch was helping us cut some of the boards and we were talking about it and he said he could easily show me, and Juliet encouraged it.”

  Sawyer frowned. He wasn’t shocked. He knew that Juliet thought Chase was looking for some new adventures and that she liked the idea of him doing it down here instead of on the ski slopes with his fraternity brothers. But she was also all for Chase getting his hands dirty with good male role models who were working, not cruising around, fishing and goofing off.

  Fixing Leo’s truck and the hotel pickups and God knew what they’d done at Ellie’s could all be considered work, he supposed, and the trip to check on Otis was nice and definitely representative of the culture and lifestyle down here, where they took care of their neighbors, even when it required a boat ride down the bayou to enable a guy in remaining a recluse.

  “And look.” Chase held his hand up, palm toward Sawyer. “Blisters.”

  Sawyer nodded. “Nice.”

  “Even got a sliver in there yesterday. Ellie dug it out for me.”

  Everyone at the table winced at that.

  “Man, always have Cora do that stuff—stitches, slivers, relocating stuff—she’s way gentler than Ellie,” Owen said.

  Chase looked at him. “Cora puts in stitches and relocates stuff? As in dislocated joints?”

  Owen shrugged. “A couple guys here have shoulders that need put in once in a while. And she’s relocated at least three fingers that I can think of.”

  “She splinted up Jerry’s broken leg that time, too,” Mitch said of Sawyer’s dad. “I’ll never forget the way he yelled.”

  Chase frowned. “Holy shit. She shouldn’t just be splinting broken legs. Did she send him to the hospital after?”

  “What for?” Mitch asked.

  “To x-ray his leg,” Chase said.

  “He didn’t need an X-ray. It was obviously broken,” Owen said. “Anyone could see that.”

  “What if he needed pins or something placed? He definitely needed to have the bone set. And casted.” Chase was looking at them all with disbelief.

  “She did set it,” Josh said. “Moved the bones back where they were supposed to be before she splinted it. Geez.”

  Chase looked at them as if he couldn’t tell if they were kidding or not.

  They weren’t.

  He looked down at his hand. “Ellie put some ointment on my hand after she got the sliver out. She wouldn’t tell me what was in it. She said it’s because I’m going off to med school and I might give the recipe to some big pharma company and they’d sell if for a hundred bucks a bottle when it only costs her three seventy-two to make it.”

  “She’s completely serious about that,” Kennedy told him.

  “It’s safe, though, right?” Chase asked.

  “She’s been putting shit like that on us all our lives and we’re…basically okay,” Owen said with a smirk.

  “She’s used this same stuff on you?” Chase clarified.

  “Well…” Owen looked around and they all shrugged. “She doesn’t tell us what’s in it, either. I guess we wouldn’t really know.”

  “Might be nothin’ but good old mud or something, honestly,” Josh said.

  “Though, makes sense to experiment on the new guy,” Kennedy said thoughtfully. “I mean, it’s possible the side effects won’t kick in until you’re long gone and can’t prove it happened here.”

  “Ah, good point,” Josh said with a nod.

  Sawyer watched Chase. He wondered if the kid realized they were fucking with him. And that them fucking with him meant that they liked him and that he was an adopted part of the family now.

  “And I suppose that Ellie has about a dozen alibis in case I would try to turn her in?” Chase asked.

  Sawyer grinned. Yeah, the kid knew they were messing with him. That was good.

  “Who ya gonna turn her in to?” Josh asked.

  “The cops? The health department? The FDA?” Chase asked. But he was smiling.

  Maddie snorted. “They’re gonna believe that little old lady held you down and smeared you with some strange potion against your will?”

  “Well, she didn’t really ask if it was okay,” Chase said.

  They all laughed.

  “Just fyi,” Maddie said. “Don’t waste your time ‘turning her in’ to the local cop. George swears by Cora’s homemade face masks.”

  “The local cop uses face masks?” Chase asked.

  “Oh, sure,” Owen said. “But he really loves her foot soaks.”

  “What’s in those?” Chase asked.

  “So you’ve been off messing around with Mitch, and Juliet’s been working by herself?” Sawyer broke in, bringing the conversation back to the original subject. Or at least the one he was most interested in. These tangents could go on for hours and hours. And hours. He knew that for a fact.

  “Well, yeah,” Chase said, a little sheepishly, letting Sawyer change the s
ubject. “But I promise you, she’s fine with it. She’s glad I’m having some fun and learning some new things.”

  Chase obviously knew Juliet better than Sawyer did and he’d been here with her every day. It was entirely possible that she was completely fine with it. Still, it seemed wrong that she was out there doing it alone.

  No, she wasn’t alone. Kennedy was right inside the office, Ellie and Cora were just across the street, and Maddie, Owen, and Josh were coming and going on the docks all day. It was also possible Juliet liked the alone-ish time. It was actually damned difficult to be alone here. It was one of the things he loved best about Autre and his family. None of them knew much about being alone, and Sawyer, for one, preferred it that way.

  Still, it bugged him to think of Juliet out there working by herself.

  But he had to be cool here. No overreacting. No worrying. No hovering. She was a grown woman with a hard hat who, from what he could tell, was doing a great—if slow—job cutting boards. What the hell did he have to worry about anyway?

  “Learnin’ some new things like what? You’ve never heard the word fuck used so eloquently? Or you’ve never been fishing before?” Sawyer asked.

  “No to the fishing thing,” Chase told him.

  “Seriously?” Josh asked. “You were never on a boat before you stole ours?”

  Chase looked around as if he wasn’t sure he should admit what he was about to say. “I’ve been on boats.”

  “Just not fishing? Waterskiing or something?” Josh asked.

  Sawyer could tell his brother thought he knew what Chase was going to say. At least, pretty close. But he was going to make the kid say it out loud.

  Chase sighed. As if he knew what was coming. “Just…boats. Big boats.”

  “Like pontoons?” Josh asked, grinning.

  “Like…yachts,” Chase finally admitted.

  Everyone at the table laughed. Clearly they’d been expecting the answer.

  “Yeah, guessing the airboat ride was a little different than drinking mimosas on the deck of your daddy’s yacht,” Kennedy said with an eye roll.

  “I prefer Bloody Marys, actually,” Chase said, with a feigned haughty air.

  Kennedy laughed.

  Obviously, no one else was all that concerned about Juliet feeling left out or working while Chase was playing. Sawyer shouldn’t be, either. She was actually getting exactly what she wanted—Chase spending time with guys who were very different from his brothers and college friends. She wasn’t here for her. She was here for her brother and the dock.

  She was probably thrilled with Chase going off with Mitch and spending time up at Ellie’s. Besides, surely she knew she could ask for an airboat ride or a tour or to go fishing or any other damned thing she thought sounded fun.

  “Did you at least invite her along?” Sawyer heard himself ask.

  “Invite who?” Mitch asked.

  “Juliet,” Sawyer said with a sigh.

  “Oh. Of course I told her she could come,” Mitch said.

  “She said no?”

  “She did. Pretty adamantly actually.”

  Sawyer looked at Chase. “Adamantly? She doesn’t like boats?”

  Chase shook his head. “Not at all.”

  “Even the yachts?” Sawyer asked dryly.

  “The yachts are better.”

  Juliet was a snob? She didn’t seem like a snob. “Because of the mimosas?”

  He could get her mimosas on the airboats if that would make her like them more.

  Sawyer frowned at that thought. Why did he care if Juliet liked the airboats? It didn’t matter to him if she wanted an airboat ride or not. Hell, she’d be one less person he’d have to lecture about staying safe out there.

  Then again, she was one less person he needed to lecture about safety in the first place. It was one of his favorite things about her. He knew she’d freaking sit where she was supposed to and wouldn’t try to stand up or reach out for a snapping turtle or some dumb thing.

  “Nah, she’d like the yacht better than the airboat because on the yacht she’s farther away from the water,” Chase said, picking up his beer. “Those airboats are right there.” He took a drink.

  Sawyer frowned. “Right there? You mean down on the water?”

  Chase swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. She’s scared of the water.”

  Sawyer sat up straight and everyone around the table seemed to pause. “What?” Sawyer asked.

  Chase nodded again. “Yeah. She’s scared of the water. Being in it. She almost drowned when she was ten and ever since—”

  Sawyer was out of his chair and on his feet.

  “—she’s nervous around water,” Chase finished, his eyebrows up.

  “She’s scared of the water because she almost drowned?” Sawyer repeated. “But she’s here building a fucking boat dock?” He stared at the younger man but was picturing Juliet.

  Working down by the water. Alone.

  In her life jacket.

  Jesus.

  “Yeah.” Chase shrugged. “That’s what she does. She just…pushes through.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then Tori said, “Wow.”

  “So that’s the deal with the life jacket and everything,” Kennedy said, for once not being a smart-ass.

  “She’s just a really careful person,” Chase said. “It’s not just water.” He looked up at Sawyer. “You’ve seen it. The gloves and the boots and everything. My mom used to freak out about all the bad things that could happen, and Juliet learned to counter all of that by being overly prepared and taking every precaution.”

  Sawyer pushed a hand through his hair. Juliet was here, rebuilding the dock, to help the Boys of the Bayou and her brother, in spite of being scared enough to wear the life jacket nearly twenty-four-seven. He shoved his chair up against the table.

  “Where is she right now?” When he’d stopped in the last couple of nights and she hadn’t been here, he’d been relieved. It was easier to act nonchalant about her presence in Autre if he didn’t see her.

  That was over now.

  “She’s just been going back to Cora’s at night,” Chase said. “She’s pretty sore and tired at the end of the day. Cora told her to help herself to whatever.”

  Sawyer paused. “You guys are staying at Cora’s?”

  How had he not known that?

  Because he’d been nonchalant. He’d been not hovering. Not needing constant updates. Not asking how things were going.

  And this is what he got. He hadn’t known Juliet was fucking scared of the water she was working right next to every day. He hadn’t even known that she—they—were staying at Cora’s.

  “Yeah. We were going to go over to the motel, but as soon as Ellie and Cora heard that, they insisted we stay with Cora.”

  Sawyer nodded. That was no surprise, but he liked it. He looked at Maddie. “Where are you staying?” Maddie had been staying with her grandmother since she’d come home.

  Maddie sighed dramatically. “I was homeless until Owen swept in and saved the day.” She leaned into Owen who kissed the top of her head. “I’m staying with him for the next two weeks.”

  “You’re a freaking hero,” Sawyer told Owen.

  “I always step up,” Owen agreed.

  Sawyer watched Maddie grin up at Owen and felt warmth fill his chest. Damn, he loved these people. He was so fucking glad Josh had found Tori and that Owen and Maddie had found their way back together.

  “So Juliet hasn’t even been coming over here to eat?” he clarified.

  Which meant she also hadn’t been over here socializing or, more accurately, showing up so that everyone could check on her, make sure she got some of Cora’s muscle cream for her soreness, feed her, and to just generally see if she needed anything.

  Dammit.

  What was wrong with everyone? They were involved to a fault at times. But with Juliet? They were just letting her work alone every day and then go back to Cora’s, also alone, at night?

  W
hat the fuck?

  He frowned at the people around the table, but they weren’t the only problems. What were Cora, Ellie, and Leo doing? Taking care of people even when they didn’t need it—or didn’t think they needed it—was their freaking specialty.

  “Cora’s stocked the fridge,” Maddie said, giving Sawyer a look that said clearly that he was definitely not acting nonchalant now. “And Juliet said that she wants to be sure she doesn’t get over-tired so that she can’t do as much the next day.”

  “Cora gave her some of her muscle cream, too,” Tori said. “I took it over last night.”

  “Is that what’s in the jar that says Sprains, strains, and automobiles?” Chase asked. “I saw it sitting on the kitchen table.”

  “Yep,” Tori told him. “Amazing stuff.”

  That name was the kind of thing that happened when his grandparents and their friends drank together. Which happened often. They were hilarious. Or thought they were anyway.

  “Ignore the automobiles part,” Sawyer said. “That’s just a joke.”

  “No, it’s not,” Kennedy said. “Leo put it on the hinge of my car door. Lubed it up and it hasn’t squeaked since.”

  “Yep, we used it on the window track of an old Chevy to get the windows down,” Owen said. “Worked like a charm.”

  Sawyer shook his head as everyone laughed.

  “What is it?” Chase asked.

  “Some kind of balm Cora and Ellie make. They have all kinds of homemade creams and potions for stuff,” Josh said.

  “Good lord,” Chase said. “Maybe I need to come back here after med school and show you all how real medicine works.”

  “Or maybe you need to come back here after med school and use Cora and Ellie’s stuff in your practice and actually help people,” Maddie tossed back.

  Chase grinned. “Maybe.”

  The new guy seemed to be fitting right in. His plate had clearly held red beans and rice and fried catfish. He was drinking the local beer, laughing and giving everyone crap, as if he was one of them. And even talking about coming back.

  That made Sawyer feel good.

  Chase wasn’t his problem, he reminded himself. But seeing him like this would make Juliet happy.