Bayou Justice by Robin Caroll Page B

the drink, giving her an excuse to avoid eye contact.
    â€œLuc Trahan.”
    She crushed the aluminum can in her hand. After everything she’d suffered, she thought the pain couldn’t hurt anymore. It did. Her heart still broke over Tara’s words.
    â€œGood for him.” CoCo tossed the can into the trash and headed down the hall.
    Once again, Tara dogged her. “That doesn’t bother you?”
    Spinning around in her bedroom doorway, she faced her sister. “It’s none of my business.”
    â€œFunny, your expression doesn’t match your tough words.”
    Tears stung the back of her eyes. She couldn’t take much more; she already felt like a big, fat failure, thanks to Alyssa pointing out all her shortcomings. On top of everything else, she didn’t need to be reminded she’d given her heart to the wrong man. A man who didn’t want her—a man she couldn’t trust.
    â€œHey,” Tara reached out and gripped her elbow. “I’m sorry. That was mean of me.”
    â€œIt’s okay. Seriously.” Maybe if she blinked hard enough, the tears wouldn’t fall.
    â€œNo, I’m sorry.” Her sister shifted to put her arm around CoCo’s shoulders. “And he wasn’t really with Sadie. You know how that vixen is, she just draped herself over him. He was probably just sitting there, minding his own business. He’d been playing his sax.”
    The memory of the song he’d written for her—and played so many times to an audience of her and her alone—assaulted her mind. Blinking didn’t work. Tears pushed through and down her cheeks.
    Tara hugged her tighter and moved her into the bedroom. “Oh, CoCo, I’m so sorry.”
    â€œNo.” She swiped away the moisture. “I’m just tired and overwhelmed. Really. I shouldn’t even care what he does anymore.”
    â€œ Shouldn’t being the operative word, right?” Tara eased her to the edge of the bed and gently pushed her to sit.
    CoCo smiled at her sister. “Right.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. You’d think after all this time just the thought of him wouldn’t twist my insides into knots.”
    â€œIt still does, doesn’t it?”
    â€œYeah, as much as I hate to admit it.” As much as she hated part of herself for still loving him.
    Tara sat on the edge of the bed and took CoCo’s hands in her own and squeezed. “I told you, I think there’s still a chance for you two.”
    CoCo opened her mouth, but Tara shushed her. “No, after seeing your reaction, which you normally hide, I know you’re still in love with him.”
    â€œDoesn’t matter.”
    â€œI think he’s still in love with you, too.” Her sister’s tone was soft, as gentle as the breeze rustling through the magnolia leaves outside the window.
    â€œHe isn’t. He left me, remember?”
    Tara flicked her wrists and made a pfft sound. “He was emotional then. He’d just lost his father. Surely you can understand that.”
    â€œHe blamed me, Tara. Me!”
    â€œAnd he’s had time to realize he was wrong.”
    â€œApparently not. He immediately accused me of murdering Beau. Yeah, that’s showing he doesn’t blame me.” CoCo lowered her head and picked at loose threads in her robe. “I realize he’s hurting now, too, over the death of his grandfather, but it’s becoming his pattern—someone in his family dies and I’m somehow to blame.”
    Tara stood and held CoCo’s chin in her hand, tipping it to look into her sister’s eyes. “I see a man in agony because he’s not with the woman he loves—you. And you’re both too stubborn to recognize y’all belong together.”
    CoCo jerked her chin free. “Now, with Beau being murdered, the eviction notice…” She flung herself back