by Hill Sandra
“You’re still here,” she said as if that wasn’t obvious. What wasn’t said, but she had to be thinking was “Why?”
“Addie woke up the same time as me, and she conned me into making breakfast, and then I had to color at least one picture, and I don’t have to work until this afternoon, and…” He let his words trail off.
“Where’s your car? I didn’t see it in the driveway when I looked out. That’s why I was surprised when I came in here and saw you sitting at my kitchen table.”
“I parked the car in your back yard. Wasn’t that smart of me?”
“What?” She rushed over and looked out the living room window. The big car was parked parallel to her back porch, filling a good portion of her lawn. “You ran over my St. Jude statue and the bed of impatiens around his shrine.” Her jaw dropped at his nerve.
“Oops,” he said. “Guess I miscalculated a little bit.” Good thing she doesn’t know that I almost plowed her fig tree down.
Adèle looked up at him and giggled. Apparently “oops” was an odd-sounding word. Then Adèle admonished her aunt when she returned to the kitchen. “Doan be mad at Justin, Tante Lulu. He’s my friend.”
“Oh, really?” Louise put her hands on her hips and frowned at him. She was wearing the sleeveless, pink nightgown she’d had on last night. It wasn’t very revealing, but now that he knew what she hid underneath, well…
He stifled a grin, and said, with an exaggerated flutter of his eyelashes, “Are you hungry, darlin’?” In case she didn’t get his double meaning, he added another, “I’ll fix your shrine later.”
* * *
When saints go falling down…
Louise was falling a little bit in love. Yes, it was too soon. And there was no future in it. But what woman wouldn’t fall for a man who sat coloring a purple elephant with her child? Who cooked breakfast, for heaven’s sake, and didn’t consider it unmanly? Who made her bones melt and her inhibitions fly away with his lovemaking? She blushed to think of the things she’d done last night.
Justin went outside to move the car back to the driveway while she dressed Adèle in a violet top and white shorts with blue sneakers, forcing her to take the time to brush her hair and teeth before skittering off. The whole time the little girl babbled about something Justin had said or done. “Justin said milk makes the bones grow strong.” “Justin’s daddy has a store that sells candy. He’s gonna get me some licorice whips.” “Justin kin sing ‘Old MacDonald’ with all the voices real good, even the horse.”
Once Louise had dressed herself in black pedal pushers and a sleeveless, stretchy pink top and white sandals, her hair pulled back into a simple ponytail, no make-up, she went out to discover Justin fixing the shrine with his little helper, the two of them chatting away like longtime pals. For some reason, she was surprised that Justin could deal so well with a child, sort of bring himself to child level. Maybe it was a skill taught in medical school. Adèle didn’t usually take to strangers so easily.
“How’s it going?” she asked, stepping onto the porch.
“Pretty good,” Justin said. “Not much damage, except for a few toes that I can glue back on later after I get some waterproof adhesive.”
The statue was about four feet tall and sat on a concrete slab. Jude wore a brown robe with a rope belt and his bare feet peeping out of the hem, minus three toes on his right foot. The blue eyes of the statue seemed to be staring at her in disapproval…for the damage or for her activity of the previous night, she wasn’t sure. She would find out soon enough.
“We have to clean off Jude’s hiney,” Adèle told her.
“What?”
Justin grinned. “The statue fell backward into the mulch. We’re going to hose it off.”
“What’re you going to do about the flowers?” There were crushed impatiens and spreading vinca vines everywhere.
“Dontcha be worryin’ none, chère,” Justin said. “Me and Adèle are gonna fix everything. Right, short stuff?”
Adèle beamed.
Oh, this is not good, Louise thought. This is just what she’d always avoided, letting her little girl get attached to some man who would eventually ride off into the sunset. It was one thing for her to settle for a short-term affair, but quite another to involve her daughter. She had obviously not thought this thing through.
But she had no time to ponder the situation now because her first client of the day had just shown up. It was Mrs. Benoit, the retired postmistress from Houma. She pulled her ancient roadster into the driveway beside the DeSoto, walked around to the back porch, and called out, as if his appearance were nothing remarkable, “Hey, Justin! How’s yer mama?”
“Doin’ poorly last night. Her feet get all swelled up when she’s standin’ in the store all day.”
“She should soak ’em in Epsom Salts,” Mrs. Benoit advised.
“That’s just what she was doing.”
“And how are you today, Adèle?”
“Jus’ fine. Me and Justin are gonna hose off St. Jude’s hiney.”
Mrs. Benoit’s jaw dropped but then she seemed to notice the tire tracks in the grass, the crushed flowers, and the tilted statue. “Looks lak someone had a little acci-dent,” she remarked with a laugh.
She took Mrs. Benoit inside where they discussed the ongoing arthritic pain in her shoulder which had been aggravated by a recent bout of labor-intensive gardening. Louise prescribed willow bark tea for her, along with a salve that helped the swelling.
No sooner had Mrs. Benoit left than Clive Delacroix showed up. “Whoa, Justin! What happened to ol’ Jude there?” Clive also didn’t seem surprised at Justin’s presence. “I might have some paint samples back at the store to touch up those flaky spots.”
Clive was the owner of a small hardware store down the bayou. You could find almost everything there for a home, from roofing tiles to turpentine.
“Thanks, Mister Delacroix. I’ll stop by tomorrow and see what you got.”
What? Justin is planning on coming back here tomorrow? To paint my statue?
After giving Clive some witch hazel salve for his hemorrhoids, she had a small break in which she prepared some lemonade for Justin and Adèle which she placed on a low porch table. They’d already set the statue straight on its concrete pedestal and removed all the damaged flowers and greenery. They were planting new ones which they’d transplanted from flower beds on the other side of the yard. It was actually looking better than it had before.
She was in the kitchen trying to decide what to make for lunch when Justin came in and went over to the sink to wash his hands. “I’ve gotta hit the road. I’ll just have time to shower back at the apartment and make my shift at the hospital by two.”
She nodded. “Where’s Adèle?
“Went into her bedroom to get some paper dolls.”
“That’s what she does when she’s overtired. She arranges all her dolls into families all over her floor to play with.”
“Did I overtire her?” he asked with alarm. “I mean, she looked like she having fun, so, I—”
“No, no. She was having a ball.”
He dried his hands on a towel and leaned back against the counter, watching as she put some leftover gumbo and rice into several pots to warm up for lunch.
“Do you have time?” she asked, motioning toward the food.
“It looks good, but nope. No time.” He still watched her, though. “You had a busy morning.”
“I did, and actually it helped to have Adèle out of the way. So, thanks.”
He nodded.
“I had four clients come here, and six phone calls,” she told him. “That is a busy morning.” It was obvious to her, and to him, that she was making conversation to fill the silence. The big elephant in the room was what had happened between them last night.
“Come here, Louise,” he said, motioning with the fingertips of both hands for her to approach. He was still leaning back against the countertop.
“What? No.”
&
nbsp; More beckoning with his fingertips. “Are you afraid?”
“Of course not. Why would I be afraid?”
He arched his brows.
“Okay, what?” she asked, moving over to him.
He put his arms around her and pulled her flush against his body, between his spread legs. “I’ve been waiting to do this all morning,” he murmured against her ear, then moved to her lips.
Then he kissed her.
And kissed her.
And kissed her.
Until her knees started to buckle and he lifted her up and, with a quick turn, had her sitting on the counter and him standing between her legs.
Oh, my!
He smiled.
“Are my eyes rolling back in my head?”
He laughed. “That good, huh?”
“You know it is, you rascal.” She pretended to slap his shoulder.
“It is for me, too, darlin’,” he said with a sudden serious expression on his face. “Can I can come back tonight?”
“Oh, Justin! We were lucky this time, but I can’t have people knowing you’re here all night.”
“How about if I promise to leave before morning?”
She hesitated, and he kissed her again, accompanied by a grinding of his erection against her lady parts. Her eyes were definitely rolling back in her head now. He left soon after that. She hadn’t told him that he could return. But she hadn’t said no, either.
Louise couldn’t explain her actions. It wasn’t like her to take such chances. Maybe she had more Cajun Sass in her than she’d imagined.
Chapter 7
Can’t help falling in love…
Louise had been seeing Justin for two weeks, and, despite her best intentions, she was definitely falling in love.
She loved how he looked…what woman wouldn’t? She loved the way he made love, as caring about her needs as his own. She loved how smart he was and dedicated to a noble profession, even if he did raise an eyebrow on occasion at some of her more far-fetched, but effective, herbal potions. She loved how sensitive he was in dealing with Adèle; he’d spent one whole afternoon with her, teaching her how to catch crawfish with a leafy branch while Louise was busy preserving two dozen jars of fig jam to be sold at the general store.
Yes, he was arrogant and aggressive. When he wanted something, he went after it, whether it be a medical career or a woman. She couldn’t exactly criticize him for that.
And, yes, it was crazy to fall for a guy who wouldn’t be around for much longer. Deep down, she was hoping he might choose to come back here to practice. A far-off dream. Maybe she should call on St. Jude for a little help, but he had been oddly silent of late.
She hadn’t said those three magic words to Justin, not out loud, and might not ever do so, because she had no idea if Justin reciprocated her feelings. And the clock was ticking down on the time left before he had to return north.
Oh, he cared about her. She was sure of that. Why else would he show up almost every night and leave before dawn? For the sex, of course. But he came during the day, as well, when he was able. Every spare minute he got, he spent with her, even when he had to share her with Adèle.
She noticed the way he looked at her sometimes when he thought she wasn’t looking. Confused and besotted would be her description. Not that she wasn’t gazing at him in the same way.
There was a kind of awareness between them whenever they were in the same room or vicinity, almost like an invisible bond, or magnetic field. Crazy, that’s what it was. All they could do was smile at each other whenever it happened. It happened a lot.
And he couldn’t stop touching her, even outside the bedroom. Holding her hand. Grazing her shoulder as he passed by. Trailing his fingertips over her bare arm. And quick kisses whenever anyone, including Adèle, was around; longer ones when he could get away with it.
Bottom line: There was no accounting for love. She might have locked the doors of her heart after her Big Grief, but she should have known that love had a way of sneaking in through a window left open accidentally, even when the doors were closed.
She sighed and finished up her make-up. She was going out with Justin on their first real date, as in out in public, accompanying him to his brother’s wedding. Well, not the wedding ceremony itself at Our Lady of the Bayou Church. She’d opted out of that since Justin would be so busy with his best man duties. But she had agreed to go with him to the reception at the Pelican Country Club, which was as highbrow as you got here on the bayou. The bride’s family was paying for the affair, and apparently they could afford it, the mother coming from old Louisiana money.
The bayou grapevine, aka gossip network, must be working overtime with news of Justin and Louise “seeing” each other, even as discreet as they’d been. Surely, customers of Louise’s had seen Justin here during the day. Adèle had probably mentioned Justin’s name when visiting her friends. Justin’s parents and brother had to wonder where he was spending so much time on his days off work. But so far, no one had said anything to either of them.
As nervous as she was about tonight, she was also excited. There would be music and dancing, and Louise loved to dance, although she hadn’t done much since the days of the USO in New Orleans. Justin promised that he could do a wicked Cajun two-step, which she didn’t doubt. If he danced as well as he did other things, well, ooh la la!
She took one last look at herself in the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door. The new dress she’d bought fit her perfectly; it was a multi-colored greenish-blue chiffon dress with spaghetti straps, fitted on top but full and swirly from the waist to mid-calf hem. Can anyone say dancing? A wide, sparkly silver belt cinched in her waist and was matched with silver peep-toe high heels. Her hair was loose and hung in shiny dark curls down to her shoulders, but was pulled off her face with silver combs, making her look girlish and younger than her twenty-five years. Her only jewelry was a small silver cross on a chain around her neck.
It was a fun outfit.
The icing on the cake, which was her, came with the special care she’d taken with her make-up. Nothing outwardly sluttish. But a little bit wicked…long mascaraed eye lashes, crimson lipstick, a hint of rouge.
Raising her chin, she checked herself out in various poses. Hand on left hip, extended right foot, a Hollywood pin-up pose. A full circle pivot which raised her dress above her knees, like a dance move. Both hands behind her neck with a sultry expression on her face. With her back to the mirror, glancing back over her shoulder.
Cajun Sass, guar-an-teed, she decided.
When Justin arrived ten minutes later, he said “Wow!” on first seeing her all dolled up. He took her hand and raised it, making her do a little swirl so he get the full effect of her dress.
“You approve?” she asked, saucily.
“And then some.” He kissed his fingertips and blew on them to show just how hot she was.
She smiled, returning his full body study, thinking that he was the epitome of Cajun Brass in his white tuxedo with a black bow tie and cummerbund, a pink carnation pinned to the lapel. All that white was a nice contrast to his darkly tanned skin. He’d obviously gotten a haircut that morning and a barber shave; he still smelled of aftershave.
“What are you smilin’ about, chère?” he asked after giving her a hello kiss.
“I was jist thinkin’ before you came that I was going for a Cajun Sass look t’night. And then, here you come, all Cajun Brass.” She repeated his gesture of kissing her fingertips and blowing on them to demonstrate his own steam heat.
He laughed. “Cajun Sass and Cajun Brass. I like that combination.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
She locked up the house then. Adèle was staying overnight with her friend Anna Belle, with a promise that Anna Belle could stay here some night. And they were off to the reception in Houma with Justin driving his mother’s cleaned and polished DeSoto, which had been decorated with crepe paper as part of the wedding party.
Once they were on their w
ay, with Louise sitting real close to Justin, she asked, “How was the wedding so far?”
“Good, I suppose. A little hoity-toity for my taste, but then, nobody asked me.”
“What do you mean by hoity-toity?”
“First of all, there were eight ushers and eight bridesmaids, in addition to the best man, maid of honor, and flower girl and boy. Then, there are these tuxedos which makes us look like a bunch of ice cream men. No priest for the ceremony would do. Had to call in a bishop friend of the family. There were enough flowers that the church smelled like a florist shop. And did I mention the limos? And then—”
“Enough!” She laughed. “I get the message. How many people are going to be at this extravaganza?”
“Two hundred.”
“You’re kidding! I didn’t think there were that many people here on the bayou.”
“Oh, they’re from all over, believe me. Some big shots among them.”
“I’m beginning to think I’m underdressed for this party, which is sure to be swanky. At the least, I should have put on my diamonds.”
“You have diamonds?”
“Of course,” she said. “Rhinestones, but they look real. Only a jeweler would know.”
“You look perfect the way you are. Beautiful, as always. But different somehow.”
“It’s the make-up. I usually don’t wear much. Or I wear enough to look like I’m not wearing any.”
He looked her way and shook his head. “Nope. It’s the dress. Or those killer high heels, which I have plans for later.” He winked at her.
“I wonder if they’re the same plans I have.” She winked back at him.
He laced the fingers of his right hand with her left, and squeezed before laying their closed double fist on his thigh. “You never let me get away with anything, do you?”
She didn’t know about that. It seemed to her as if he was going away soon, no matter what. That was the same as “getting away,” wasn’t it? She didn’t say that, though. Instead, she told him, “That’s the key to Cajun Sass, honey.”
