“Now, Josette says she’s going to sue, but I think that’s complete bunk because she doesn’t have the money to afford a lawyer and we all know her family’s reputation,” Seraphina was saying two days later as they sat together in the dining room of Guidry’s Pub House, established 1957.

Of course it was an odd bar, or maybe Lisa simply hadn’t been around many family-friendly bars. Sera had marched in, gone to one of the storage closets, and hauled out a playpen. She’d set it up in the middle of the bar and before long little Luc was playing with a friend, a girl who looked to be roughly his age and whose momma was enjoying a burger and fries with a friend nearby.

“She’s suing me? But I just got here. I can’t already have a lawsuit.” Was Mitch licensed in Louisiana? He was the only lawyer she knew. “And I sent her hair back along with a very nice note.”

Seraphina and Delphine had shown up around one in the afternoon, clearly needing to talk to someone, and that someone was Lisa. They’d pounced the minute she’d walked out of the kitchen. She was spending the day getting in touch with some of the main processes. Not that anyone who worked at Guidry’s understood what they did was a process. She’d spent the past few days meeting the five employees on the payroll. And dealing with the one who wasn’t. Zep was awfully good at flirting with the women. Not as great at actually fulfilling orders.

She woke up at the crack of dawn and Remy was already out of bed. She fell into bed after midnight and Remy was still hard at work. After that first night, she’d convinced him he didn’t have to stay on the couch. She would wake up and there would be a mug of coffee sitting on her nightstand and a warm pillow to her other side, but no Remy rocking her world.

He’d told her he would give her time. Oh, when she saw him, he would hug her and kiss the top of her head, but she was kind of going crazy because being close to the man made her hormones explode.

Sera grinned. “She’s claiming you’ve given her PTSD. Now, I’ve seen actual PTSD and it doesn’t involve sitting around and crying over that piss-poor wig of hers.”

Delphine waved a hand through the air with dramatic flair. “I can cure her of it if she would only let me. There’s a demon attached to that girl. Only I can convince that demon to flee. But she says twenty-five dollars is too expensive. Do you think I’m pricing myself out of the market, Lisa? Remy tells me you’re a business guru.”

Oh, she was not going to be the business advisor to a psychic. “I think that sounds perfectly reasonable. I know if I had a demon attached to me, I would fork that twenty-five over pretty quickly.”

“She doesn’t have a demon attached. She’s got FOMO,” Sera said.

“FOMO?” Delphine got that look in her eyes that Lisa already knew meant she was scheming. “I think I can cure that, too.”

Sera’s eyes rolled, but she reached out and patted her momma’s hand. “It stands for fear of missing out. It means she didn’t want Remy back then, but she doesn’t want anyone else to get him.”

“I told Remy it would never work out. He’s seen his promised bride and it certainly wasn’t Josette.” Delphine lifted her iced tea glass. “He’s got a touch of the sight, you see. Comes from my side of the family. The Dellacourts have always had a way with the sight. Now, everyone will tell you it comes from the Guidry line, but the Dellacourts are much more in touch with the other side, if you know what I mean. I’ve got a nephew who made something of himself. Now I am almost one-hundred percent certain he did it by making a deal with a demon. I’ve offered my services to him as well.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason we’re the black sheep of that particular family,” Sera explained.

“But to get back to my original point. Josette was never the bride the universe selected for my Remy. Not that anyone would listen.”

“They had to listen. You talked about it at their wedding,” Sera complained. “She actually stood up in the middle. You know when the preacher asks if anyone has just cause? Yeah, that was when Momma struck.”

Wow, she never thought she’d feel for Josette. She knew she shouldn’t ask the next question, but she couldn’t help herself. “The sight?”

Delphine leaned in, her voice going low. “The sight, child. He gets visions of the future. He’s seen his promised bride since he was a teenaged boy, but he never saw her face.”

His sight needed an adjustment. And for a psychic he kind of sucked at figuring out cause and effect. A psychic should have seen that not telling his lady love he was being paid a shit ton of money to sleep with her would have a chilling effect on their relationship. Okay, anyone should have seen that coming from a mile away.

Which was why maybe he was exactly what Laurel had said he was—a dumbass.

“So he thought it was Josette? The vision he had?” She had been wondering why that hard-working man would fall for someone like Josette. Besides the perfect face and long legs and big boobs. Besides that stuff.

“Since we were kids he always says he sees his future wife here.” Sera smiled over at her boy. Luc seemed fascinated with a toy truck, running it over the bottom of the playpen. “But the sun is too much and he can only see her outline. Of course he also said he could feel how warm she was, so that disqualifies Josette right there.”

“Hello, lovely ladies,” a masculine voice crooned. “Can I get you anything this fine afternoon?”

Sera frowned. “Yes, a damn waiter who doesn’t take thirty minutes to take my order. I saw you over there with the Savoie sisters. Elva has a husband and Minnie is barely eighteen.”

Zep shook his head. “I’m not trying to sleep with them, sister. I’m trying to get tips. I’m using my masculine wiles to try to pay off those damn parking tickets before Roxie throws me in jail.”

Sera faced off with her younger brother. “I’ve got a tip for you. Stop using your masculine wiles. You’ve got none. You’ve got a pretty face and nice abs. No wiles whatsoever. Develop some serving skills, like table management and customer service, and the tips might follow.”

Delphine stood up, putting a hand on her youngest child’s back. “Don’t you worry about her, Zep. You’re doing a fine job. Your sister is merely hangry. I heard that word used and it fits Seraphina to a T. Come on. I’ll make her a croque-monsieur and she’ll perk right up. I’ll make one for my new baby, too.” She reached out and patted Lisa’s head. “You like ham and cheese, right, child?”

“Sure.” She was just happy Delphine wasn’t offering her a cleansing. Food she could handle.

Delphine led Zep away, but not before he stopped by the playpen and picked up his nephew. He smiled in a way that had every woman who wasn’t related to him panting. He said some words that made the boy smile and then he kissed Luc and put him back down before following his mother into the kitchen.

Sure enough, the Savoie sisters both sighed as he walked past them.

Sera shook her head. “Now, see, those are masculine wiles. My brother isn’t the most self-aware of men and he can be righteously obnoxious, but one of these days, he’s going to be a good husband. One day a long time from now.” She looked back at Lisa. “Though I think my older brother would make a good one right now. Don’t listen to Momma about the sight stuff. And her Dellacourt relatives certainly didn’t sell their souls. My second cousin Dante is simply very good with computers. And Remy is just plain good.”

“Sera, I don’t know that we should talk about this,” she began.

“I think we should because I bet Remy isn’t doing a lot of talking right now.” Sera turned and it was easy to see the conviction in her eyes. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but Zep says you’re not sleeping together. There isn’t a woman in the world who Remy can’t charm into bed, so I have to think you’re either lying to the town for some reason and my brother isn’t your type, or he did something wrong. If you and Remy are nothing more than friends, you should know no one here is going to care. I know small towns have bad reputations for being intolerant, but that’s honestly not who we are. If you like women, you don’t have to hide it. Now, Momma will try to set you up with a woman named Christine. This would be a mistake. She’s been trying to set up that crazed harpy for years. She made a bet with my cousin, Susan.”

Wow, Seraphina could talk. “I’m not a lesbian.”

Sera nodded slowly, as though thinking the problem through. “So Remy did something stupid.”

“We’re kind of taking a break. From the physical.” Not that she wanted to. It seemed like Remy had become a bit prudish. Or he knew how much she craved his hot bod and he was manipulating her with it.

“Then he did something really stupid.”

It didn’t look like she was getting out of this one, but then this family seemed very nosy. Perhaps it was foolish to think they could sell this story to them. “He lied to me about something important.”

“That doesn’t sound like my brother. He tends to be incredibly honest.”

She shrugged. And then told the damn truth anyway. “I think he thought he was doing what was best for me. But what he did hurt me a lot. I need some time to think about it and honestly, I have a family in Texas I should probably get back to. I came down here with him because I promised I would help him get Guidry’s running smoothly.”

Not exactly a lie, but Remy had instructed her she wasn’t to tell anyone about the trouble back in Dallas.

“So you were with him but now you’re not, and you nearly murdered Josette over a man you’re not involved with,” Seraphina summed up.

“Pretty much. I was drunk the other night. I lost control.”

“Or your inhibitions were lowered and you showed us all what you want deep down.” The pretty blonde leaned in, looking thoughtful. “The last time my brother was in town I didn’t treat him properly. It was a bad time for me. I blamed him for walking away because once Remy’s steady hand wasn’t guiding me, I got very lost. I was an adult and he’s only five years older than me. He’s not my father. Our daddy died when we were in our teens. But I still blamed him for leaving me and Zep behind.”

“My brother raised me.” And he’d been the one who asked Remy to keep the secret. Will was the most important man in her life. Had been the most important man in her life before she’d fallen for that Cajun. What would she have done in his place? Had it started one way and turned out another? She hadn’t gone into the relationship thinking she would fall madly for him. Why should he have done that?

Should he have held his hand out and stated that he couldn’t sleep with her because he had more than one reason to do so? Or had he looked at her and all that mattered was that they both wanted it?

Still, there was that voice in the back of her head telling her she couldn’t be that girl who simply forgave. That girl was a doormat. That girl was the one everyone rolled their eyes over and talked about how she was setting back every woman in the world.

“Then you understand how I feel about Remy,” Seraphina said. “I want him to be happy. I think you make him happy. Oh, not lately. Lately you make him miserable, but the only reason he would be sad is that he loves you and he screwed up. Because if you were the one who’d screwed up and you’d done it honestly, he would have forgiven you. It’s who he is.”

She didn’t like the idea that Remy was some kind of saint. “Like I said, he hurt me. Quite a lot.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been on the other side.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been the person who hurt someone.” Her gaze went to where Luc was smiling at his playtime friend. He was heartbreakingly cute. His hair was darker, but those eyes were pure Guidry. What would Remy’s son look like? His baby girl? Her heart clenched at the thought of Remy having kids with someone else. Seraphina continued talking, her voice wistful. “I hurt the hell out of Luc’s daddy and I would do anything to make that up to him. I lie awake at night thinking about how good it would be to stand in front of him and drop to my knees and beg him to forgive me. Isn’t that funny? Getting to my knees and begging, oh that’s my sweet dream. Even when he doesn’t forgive me. Even when he turns me away, I wake up smiling.”

Tears blurred her eyes because there was only one reason Seraphina would smile at the thought of her lover rejecting her. “How did he die?”

Her nose had gone red, emotion taking over. “He joined the military after I broke his heart. He came from the richest family in town, so I know he definitely didn’t do it for money. It was to get away from me. I didn’t know I was pregnant when he left town. I didn’t try to call him when I figured out I was pregnant. I got angry with everyone. I told myself I was going to give myself time to figure out what I wanted to do, and that meant staying angry with him because he left me. Yes, I was at fault, but he walked away. He didn’t stay around, didn’t call to see how I was. He left and didn’t look back, and I thought love meant more than that. And then the soldiers came to his momma’s house. Not mine. I wasn’t his next of kin. I gave birth to his son and I still wasn’t Wesley’s kin.”

The young man who’d died in combat. He was Luc’s father. “Does his family know about Luc?”

Seraphina shook her head. “They don’t care. They didn’t even let me go to Wesley’s funeral. I’m not from the right people. Because I’m his momma, neither is Luc. They’ve never asked about him, never come to see him. It’s okay. I want it that way. I can’t imagine life without my baby, and they would definitely not want me around him if they accepted him as a legitimate Beaumont. Wesley’s got a brother so I’m sure they’ll pass everything on to his kids. I don’t need them.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” She couldn’t imagine it. She’d never had to lose someone like that. She’d gone through a lot, but she hadn’t lost someone she couldn’t talk to again, didn’t have hopes of making things better with. Lila. God, her sister made her insane, and she had the sudden and deep desire to talk to her.

Forgiveness is the gift we give ourselves.

She’d heard the homily a million times. Sometimes forgiveness was easy. It was almost an afterthought. After she’d gotten away from her father and he’d died a few years down the road, she hadn’t given him another thought. Oh, some of the things he’d done still lived deep in her subconscious, but she didn’t think about the man himself. She’d moved on in her head.

Could she move on from Remy, her love for him only surfacing in those deep moments when everything else fell away and she was left with nothing but primal emotion? When she shed the society version of Lisa, would she mourn her choices? That she didn’t give him another chance? So much was made of perfection. Men couldn’t make mistakes because women couldn’t be doormats. Any flaw was to be culled until the perfect mate was found.

There was no such thing as perfection. None.

Seraphina looked back at her, tears in her eyes. “I wish I had another chance. I wish he’d known he had a son. I kept that from him because I was angry. Isn’t it funny how little that anger means now when I’m confronted with my son’s grace? Luc doesn’t care. He doesn’t care that I screwed up. He loves me and it’s pure and unconditional, and we can’t have that from each other as lovers. I know that. There’s always conditions on love between lovers, but shouldn’t we try for something better? Shouldn’t we hope we can love each other the way we were born to love?”

“It’s not the same.” She wasn’t naïve. Seraphina wasn’t telling her this story out of a need to share. This was about Remy. This was a sister’s plea for her brother.

“I know, but I have to ask you—for me, for my brother—if you hold on to the wrong that was done to you, how do you have hands ready to reach out for what’s right? I think I have to let go of Wesley and all my anger so when I get another chance, I can grab it with both hands, and this time I won’t let go. If I get one more shot at really loving someone, at being a wife and a lover and a best friend, I’ll let go of everything that went wrong before and I’ll hold on for dear life. That’s what I’ll hold close to my heart. Love and not pain. I wish the same for my brother, but that choice has to be yours.”

A red basket of French fries dropped between her and Seraphina. Zep stared down at them. “There. Those are hand-cut fries to go with the sandwiches. And I remember what both of you like to drink. Sweet tea and if it’s a shitty afternoon, vodka tonic for Sera, and a super-buttery Chardonnay for you, Lisa. Because I do listen.” He turned and then swiveled again on his heels. “And don’t you dare give me tips. I don’t take tips from family. I live to serve my family.”

He walked away so primly she couldn’t help but laugh.

Sera smiled, too, though tears slipped from her eyes. “A long time. Like years from now he’s going to be a great husband to someone. Maybe it’s someone who isn’t born yet.”

Lisa laughed and then sobered as Remy walked in. His eyes moved over the dining room until he found her. There was no denying how he smiled her way, how his whole body seemed to relax now that he saw she was here and okay. He winked her way and then headed for the bar.

And she wished he’d walked down and taken her into his arms and kissed her until she couldn’t breathe.

“Think about what I said.” Seraphina lifted her glass. “Until then, welcome to Papillon, Lisa. I hope you enjoy your time here, and don’t sweat the lawsuit thing. The only lawyer who’ll take her is terrible. Of course he’s the only lawyer in town, and he mostly spends his time bailing Zep out of jail. We’ll have Momma put the gris-gris on him.”

“And then she can heal him.” It was a pretty good business now that she thought about it. She clinked glasses with Seraphina and then turned at the sound of the door to the kitchen being thrown open.

Remy walked toward the patio, his hand on his brother’s neck. “You wanted a job, brother. This is part of the job.”

“I wanted to serve pretty ladies drinks and get tipped, Remy,” Zep argued, his handsome face a bit pale. “I did not sign on to deal with stinky reptiles who don’t know where their damn place in the world is.”

Seraphina stood up and nodded. “Oh, Otis is visiting.”

Lisa felt her eyes go wide as she followed Sera’s gaze. A massive gator was strolling down the pier, out for a leisurely walk. He didn’t seem to mind that one of the tourists damn near jumped out of his skin running the other way. “Holy shit.”

Sera’s hand waved. “It’s okay. Otis is a sweetheart. He’s only eaten a couple of tourists. As long as he’s well fed, he’s harmless.”

Lisa watched in perfect horror as Remy obviously gave up on his brother and took that gator by the tail, hauling him back.

Damn that man was fine.

And she had a big decision to make.

 

* * * *

 

After he handled their reptilian interloper, Remy strode back toward the bar. Otis was an old visitor. He dealt with that gator the same way his pop-pop had.

“You are going to wash your hands, right?” Zep asked, falling in line beside him. “Because all the signs say you have to wash your hands before you go back to work after using the bathroom, and I think that should also apply to after you’ve handled dangerous reptiles. You don’t know where that damn thing has been, Remy.”

His brother had been no help at all. Zep had mostly looked like he was going to be sick. “I know where he was going. He was headed up to the parking lot. Having a massive gator in the parking lot tends to scare off customers, and then where would you get your tips? He likes to sun himself out there. The rocks are reflective.”

“I’m only saying you should be more careful.” Zep opened the door for him. “I know Pop-Pop used to do that all the time, but I think gators are meaner now.”

“It was Otis.” Otis was damn near a pet in some ways, and he was seriously getting on up there in years, but every now and again he got it in his lizard brain to make friends with the tourists. Tossing him back in the bayou usually worked because Otis was also pretty damn lazy, and the walk in was almost always a one-way trip. “I’m not a poodle, therefore I’m fairly safe around Otis.”

But he would definitely wash his hands. He pressed through the kitchen, forcing himself not to look into the dining room where Lisa was sitting with his sister. He hoped she was passing a good time in there, but the image was too sweet for him. If he stared too long, he would find himself trying to sit down with them, to run his hand over hers, and he didn’t have the right. But that in there—it was everything he wanted—Lisa taking her place with his family.

No, it was better he got back to work. It was hard to sleep next to her and not roll her over and take her. He thought she would welcome him, but he knew it wasn’t forever, and suddenly sex wasn’t enough for him. He needed to make love to her, needed to know she wanted him for more than an orgasm. Every night he worked later than he needed to, trying to ensure she was asleep before he came to bed and got in beside her.

He wasn’t sure how long he was going to be able to hold out. And he knew every time he slept with her would make it exponentially harder to leave her.

He stopped at the sight of his momma holding a cigarette and stirring a pot of gumbo. God, he needed Lisa to take control of his damn family. He had forgotten exactly how crazy they were. Beyond crazy.

He washed his hands in the sink while trying to get a leash on his temper. “Momma, you can’t smoke in here.”

She simply smiled his way. “I’m just holding it for Michel. Apparently he heard that Otis was out there and that someone had called the sheriff. Michel’s papers aren’t exactly up to date. Now I tried to tell him ICE wouldn’t come out for an Otis sighting, but he ran anyway. He’ll be back soon. I suspect he’s hiding in the bushes by the mechanic shop.”

And now he needed a lawyer for his chef. And maybe a shrink, definitely someone who could help him stop smoking. He’d inherited a big old mess. Inherited? No. It was way worse. He’d paid for this sucker. Paid handsomely, and with maybe more than mere money since Lisa didn’t seem to be coming around.

He might have come home only to lose the one woman who could have made it all worthwhile, because he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that she was the only woman in the world for him. How had he ever thought Josette could make him happy? He hadn’t been thinking at all. He’d been certain it was time to settle down and she’d been pretty and willing.

Now he knew that wasn’t nearly enough.

He looked at the kitchen. Someone was serious about salad. There were roughly twenty bowls of perfectly done salads ready to be delivered. Who the hell thought they would need that many salads?

His cell phone trilled. He pulled it out and sighed. It wasn’t someone he could put off or drag by the tail back to the swamp. “I have to take this. Momma, put that cigarette out and go find Chef. Zep, stir the gumbo. You know how pissy he’ll be if the bottom scorches.”

Zep grumbled, but he was stirring when Remy stepped into his office.

Here he could see Lisa’s handiwork. She’d already left an indelible impression on Guidry’s. Everything in the office was neat and in its place. Jean-Claude hadn’t been very organized, so making file folders and cleaning up in here had been Lisa’s first task. She’d brought in nice curtains to frame the window and found him a much more comfortable chair. She’d even found some old framed pictures of his mom-mom and pop-pop, and photos of what Guidry’s looked like decade by decade, and had made something she called a memorial wall.

His heart did a little flip-flop every time he looked at those pictures of his family over the years. He wanted a new picture up there on that wall. One of him and Lisa. Later, some of their kiddos.

He slid his finger across the screen. “Hello, Maia. Thanks for getting back to me.”

“Hello, hot stuff,” she replied, her voice low. “Heard from Big Tag you’re back in the bayou.”

“I am back home. Did you find anything out for me?”

He could practically hear her pouting over the line. “What, no flirting? You know you should buy me a drink before we get down and dirty, Guidry.”

“I have a whole bar waiting for you if you ever decide to come down this way, but if this is good enough, you could be drinking at Sanctum tonight and making Big Tag crazy. So why don’t you spill?”

“Fine,” she said, satisfaction clear in her voice. “I’m sending you a couple of files that I’ll forward to McKay-Taggart, too. I have some contacts on DPD who did some digging. Did you know the officer wasn’t reprimanded for breaking the chain of custody?”

That was surprising. He knew it wasn’t exactly her fault, but there should still be some kind of remark on her record. “She wasn’t punished at all?”

“The incident wasn’t even noted on her file. More, no one can now find record of the break-in. They’re calling it a computer glitch. I’m calling bullshit,” Maia said. “This is starting to feel like a setup to me, and I’m turning it over to Ian. I think you should hide your girl while he sorts this out, but I don’t think it’s going to take too long. If she’s there with you, I think you’re well set.”

“What kind of setup are you thinking?” He was willing to listen to her.

“Did you know a young woman was shot outside Vallon’s office building the day Lisa Daley called in her tip to the police?”

“No. I did not know that.” A chill crept across his skin. “Was she a brunette?”

“She was, and roughly the same age and general description as Lisa,” Maia replied. “I had one of our more intelligent investigators look into it. He said it was raining that day. The young woman actually worked two floors above Lisa, but she left that day at roughly the same time Lisa usually left. She was shot in the parking lot behind the building. She lived but it was a close thing. The police theory was a mugging gone wrong, but I have another one.”

“They thought they were shutting Lisa up.”

“I believe so. I think someone realized what she’d done. The feds arrested Vallon the next day, but obviously that was botched, and I’m not entirely sure that was an honest mistake. Someone is trying to tank this case.”

“Why haven’t they come after her again?”

“I don’t know. I do know that the next day she was brought into the prosecutor’s office, and she didn’t go alone. She went with a little entourage, as it was described to me.”

He could imagine who she took with her. “Her brother-in-law is a lawyer.”

“Her brother-in-law is Mitch Bradford. He’s not merely a lawyer. He’s a pit bull. Her brother was with her, and Ian Taggart was, too. I think Mitch requested his presence, or likely someone from McKay-Taggart, to go in with them as background muscle. It’s a smart play. It lets the feds know you’ve got money and power to protect the witness. Likely they’d already talked about protection for her. Taggart would have been there to assure them he could handle it.”

“And them, if someone came after her.” What a lucky play Mitch had made. The rumors would have gotten back to Vallon that she was protected by Taggart. “If Vallon has half a brain, he knows who Taggart is connected to.”

“Yes, I suspect someone in his organization does, and they do not want to cross the Denisovitch Syndicate,” Maia practically purred. “I think that’s why they chose to go after the evidence and not your girl.”

“Until the Italian showed up.” But Lisa swore that Biondo had said he wasn’t going to kill her. Wouldn’t it have been easier to kill her there at the restaurant? Why take her somewhere else? He’d certainly been close enough. Why had he told her he wanted to talk? What did they have to talk about?

“Big Tag has way better contacts in that world than I do,” she admitted. “I’m better with the crooks in suits who pretend they’re not criminals. Anyway, I actually think you find yourself in a standoff. It’s obvious they don’t want to rock the boat with Taggart. They’ve managed to get the case shut down for now. I would let Taggart figure out what’s happening with Biondo, but I think once they figure him out, your girl is probably okay to come home. She’s in a cushy place because no one on Vallon’s side wants to piss off Taggart’s Russian in-laws.”

She could go home soon? Would she rush off the first moment she could? Would she hop on a plane and never look back?

He felt his hand tighten around the phone as though he could crush the fucker and not have to listen to another moment. “Yes, we’ll reevaluate after Taggart finds Biondo. Thanks, Maia. I’ll let Big Tag know he owes you.”

She was quiet for a moment. “And I’ll be better behaved this time. Remy, if you want that girl, tie her up and don’t let her go. She’ll get used to it. If you let her come back, she’ll get used to that, too, and you’ll lose her. Sometimes you have to take the bold path to get what you want. That’s my two cents. And I’ll keep my eyes open here. If I can prove someone’s messing with cases at the feds, I’m a shoo-in for a federal judgeship. Once I get there, I’ll start using all those secrets I have because I’m going to be the hottest Supreme Court justice in history. I will rock that robe. They think RBG was notorious. Wait until they meet me.”

He feared for a world where Maia had all the power, but for now he had other things to worry about. “Thanks, and give me a heads-up if you hear anything else.”

She hung up and Remy wondered how long he had with Lisa. It wouldn’t be enough. She’d just started fitting in. No one in Dallas knew where she was, but if Maia was right, she might be willing to risk it if Will could be convinced they were at a standoff. She would want to go home to her family.

He felt heavier as he walked back out into the kitchen. At least Michel was back, though he was sporting leaves all over his clothes. His mother was trying to tell if he’d gotten into poison ivy.

“I can cure it, of course. I’ve got a lotion that will fix you up,” his mother was saying.

Zep was stirring the hell out of that gumbo. “You should get to the dining room, Remy. We had a bus pull up ten minutes ago. They’re on a swamp tour. Seraphina said it was thirty hungry, ancient people. Like really old. I bet it looks like the walking dead out there.”

Somehow he didn’t think that was what Seraphina had said. “Jean-Claude told me he’d started taking tour buses. Damn it. I shouldn’t have given the other server the day off.”

He hustled, ready to find the place in complete chaos, but it was quiet in the dining room. There were still ten tables occupied, and Mindy St. Clair was covering them. The college student was far better at table management than Zep.

“I heard we had a busload,” he said.

Mindy smiled. “Yeah, Sera and Lisa handled it. They’re on the patio explaining the food choices.”

“She’s passing out the menus?”

Mindy shook her head. “No. She talked to Michel yesterday and they’re doing a prix fixe luncheon. They get one of two choices for three courses. Everything’s ready. Michel only has to plate it. She’s got the whole group on the patio and she’s giving everyone who wants one a complimentary hurricane. I’m going to serve the appetizer in ten minutes, and I set the bus driver up with a private table. Lisa organized it all when she realized we had a bus coming in. It’s okay, right?”

Of course she did. She’d been prepared and now this lunch was going to make money and run smoothly. “It sounds perfect.”

“And tell Zep that he’s got to actually spend time on the floor if he wants tips.” She turned, her ponytail swinging.

“Unca. Unca.”

He looked down and he was standing in front of the big playpen. Guidry’s had always had one. He’d played in one when he was a kid, the work of the wharf going on all around him. Patrons would come in and drop their own toddlers in. When he was big enough, he would hang out on the playground off the parking lot, the same one that had been fenced in after Otis had started making his appearances.

Of course the best times were when his pop-pop would lift him up and walk him around. He reached down and hauled Luc up. “Hey, buddy. You getting bored in there? We’ll put you to work. We can go see what Lisa is doing. Look real cute now. You’re one of my best weapons in this war. You have to balance out Otis and your other uncle.”

He started toward the patio but stopped. The sun was coming in at just the right angle and he held his breath. This was it. This was what he saw when he had the vision of his woman, of the life he could have. He’d never seen her face before, but it was her. He knew it deep down in his soul.

She came through the door, her sweet, sexy form backlit by the sun. His heart nearly stopped as she cleared the shadows and he watched her smile up at him.

“You looked awfully manly handling that gator.” She ruffled Luc’s hair. “Gotta go and get the drinks ready. I think that’s going to be a rowdy crowd.”

He watched her walk away.

And wondered how he could ever let her go.