Bayou Corruption by Robin Caroll Page B

bothers you so much, I’ll change into a skirt.”
    â€œThank you.” The last bite of biscuit stuck in her throat. Alyssa gulped down the rest of her coffee, thankfully now warm and not scalding. She shoved back her chair and lifted her plate. “I’ll do the dishes while you change.”
    She finished the dishes before CoCo met her at the front door.
    â€œLuc’s meeting us there.” CoCo grabbed her keys from the hook.
    Great. Now she’d get to see the happy couple up close and personal. Just something else she’d managed to fail to do—have a decent love life. Who was she kidding? She didn’t even have a love life, decent or otherwise. Dismay tugged against her heart.
    â€œTara called earlier,” CoCo said as she headed to the Jeep. “Grandmere will be released early this afternoon.”
    Alyssa slipped into the passenger’s seat. “Do you think she’s well enough to come home so soon?”
    â€œHer doctors think so.” CoCo put the Jeep in gear and gunned the engine.
    â€œI don’t know. I think I’d feel better if we got a second opinion.”
    â€œI trust them.” CoCo steered the Jeep down the dirt road. “Besides, Grandmere’s chomping at the bit to get out.”
    â€œI bet. Probably wants to concoct some potion or something.”
    CoCo laughed. “More than likely.”
    â€œYou know, we could clean out her shed before she gets home, and she wouldn’t be able to do that voodoo business.”
    â€œThat would only upset her, and she’d simply go out and get more herbs.”
    â€œWhy haven’t you put a stop to all this nonsense?”
    â€œI’d like to, Al. I really would, but I can’t just put my foot down. This is all Grandmere has ever known, and breaking her of it takes time. And finesse.”
    â€œIt’s a disgrace.”
    â€œIt may be, but I’m praying the Holy Spirit will continue to work on Grandmere.”
    Alyssa swallowed a snort.
    â€œYou know you were asking me about that island in the bayou?” CoCo asked, then continued without a response. “That’s Milo Point Road right there. You’d follow the pavement until it dead-ends, then walk out to the outlying point.”
    Interesting. She should go check that out.
    CoCo whipped into the parking lot of a small white church. Paint peeled off the worn wood. The steeple leaned to the side just a tad. Lovely. Worshipping in a broken-down, skimpy church. No velvet-padded pews would await them. No state-of-the-art sound system would saturate the sanctuary with music. Alyssa pressed her lips together and followed her sister up the rickety wood steps.
    A young man in jeans and a T-shirt extended his hand. “Good morning. I’m Pastor Spencer Bertrand, but everyone calls me Spence.” He shook her hand with a firm grip. “Welcome.”
    This young man was the preacher? With his dark hair all shaggy, he looked more like a hippie than a pastor. Mercy, what could he know about preaching? “Uh, thank you.”
    At the second pew from the front, CoCo slipped in beside her boyfriend, who stood as they approached.
    â€œMorning, Alyssa. Nice to see you again.” Luc Trahan’s smile danced in his eyes.
    â€œYou, too.”
    Luc’s arm was draped behind her sister’s shoulders. Alyssa studied them from the corner of her eye. They made a handsome couple. Luc, with his tall form and broad shoulders, not to mention his extraordinary good looks, complemented CoCo’s small features. Next to him, CoCo looked delicate and fragile.
    Why couldn’t Alyssa find someone who accepted her for who she was like Luc did CoCo?
    The first chords from the organ filled the church. The congregation rose to its feet and followed along in the hymnal.
    Never had worship music sounded so beautiful. She closed her eyes, letting the words wash over her. How long had it been since she felt like this?