you've made it yo' personal mission in life to see to,"
"And just how do you suggest I do that?"
Lou got that crafty look on his face, the one Neil realized meant he'd played right into Lou's hands.
"Since you be askin' my advice for a change, I'll give it, no charge. Seems to me you got a chance to rewrite history. I see a good woman over there, looking like she's wishing you'd get your butt closer to hers. Judging from the way her butt's built, I cain't understand why you'd rather sit here and get yours gnawed on by me."
"What's the big idea talking about the way her butt's built? Liza wouldn't appreciate it, and I don't neither."
The flash of pearly white teeth between generous lips let him know he'd been suckered in.
"That a fact? Like I said, you been actin' real strange here lately. Never heard you talk like you got owner's rights to a woman some other man, with more smarts that you've shown since you got here, might take up in yo' absence. Why not make Liza feel better by asking her for two bowls of gumbo? And once you're done, get that old sax out from the room you ain't slept in for way too long. Liza washed the sheets this mawnin' in case you and your lady decided to stay the night."
"Forget that, Lou. She's got some fool idea that if I really love her, I'll sleep over at her place."
"Only a fool'd have to think twice about that."
"I ain't nobody's fool, and I got a set of rules to prove it. Where she lives, Lou, it's nasty, and I hate it. Just like going back over twenty years and living in the squalor I saw Mama die in. Cain't do it, even with the smell of Lysol and fresh paint instead of Daddy's vomit, Mama's dyin' breath, and a troupe of whores and cheap perfume taking her place."
"Sho' you can, if you love Andrea more than you do your pride and hate for what cain't be changed. And I do suspect that you do, or soon will. It'd be good for you, Slick. Finding out for yo'self that it don't matter where your head rests, so long as it's next to the right person."
"You sound like Andrea."
"I'll take that as a compliment. She be good for you, boy. Now be good to her, and just maybe you'll be invitin' me and Liza to your home come next summer. It's way past due. For us. But mostly for you. Gawd's seen fit to give you a second chance. Take it, and don't blow it this time around."
Lou grabbed the bottle of Dixie in Neil's hand, took a long gulp, and gave it back to him. "Catch you later, Slick? Maybe some the wiser if any of this sank past that thick skull of yours."
"You know you love me, Lou."
"That I do, and only Gawd knows why."
Neil got up and embraced his Big Daddy before slapping a high-five and striding toward the wharf. "Lou, tell Liza her gumbo's the best in all of Louisiana if it's half as good as the last batch, and I'd like two bowls, thank you. And as for my old bed, I'm sleeping elsewhere tonight."
* * *
From the corner of her eye Andrea saw Neil step onto the pier. She gripped her bottle tighter and made some innocuous comment to the man standing beside her. She'd already sent several others on their way. But Neil didn't know that, and she wasn't inclined to tell him after their latest contest of wills and his subsequent silent treatment.
An icy glass was pressed between her shoulder blades. When she ignored it and the yank on her ponytail, Neil slid his hand around her waist and placed his legs on either side of hers. The posture was unmistakably of a male staking his territory.
Her latest companion stepped back. "This lady with you, Neil?"
"Uh-huh." Neil's other hand, which held the bottle, came around to pull her closer against him. He pressed the cold bottle between her breasts, and she gasped less from the chill than from his action.
"Sorry, I didn't know."
Andrea bit back the retort that she didn't know it either, since he'd been ignoring her.
"Now you do." The arm he'd all but wrapped around her tightened, and she felt the urge to throw him over her shoulder into the muddy
"And just how do you suggest I do that?"
Lou got that crafty look on his face, the one Neil realized meant he'd played right into Lou's hands.
"Since you be askin' my advice for a change, I'll give it, no charge. Seems to me you got a chance to rewrite history. I see a good woman over there, looking like she's wishing you'd get your butt closer to hers. Judging from the way her butt's built, I cain't understand why you'd rather sit here and get yours gnawed on by me."
"What's the big idea talking about the way her butt's built? Liza wouldn't appreciate it, and I don't neither."
The flash of pearly white teeth between generous lips let him know he'd been suckered in.
"That a fact? Like I said, you been actin' real strange here lately. Never heard you talk like you got owner's rights to a woman some other man, with more smarts that you've shown since you got here, might take up in yo' absence. Why not make Liza feel better by asking her for two bowls of gumbo? And once you're done, get that old sax out from the room you ain't slept in for way too long. Liza washed the sheets this mawnin' in case you and your lady decided to stay the night."
"Forget that, Lou. She's got some fool idea that if I really love her, I'll sleep over at her place."
"Only a fool'd have to think twice about that."
"I ain't nobody's fool, and I got a set of rules to prove it. Where she lives, Lou, it's nasty, and I hate it. Just like going back over twenty years and living in the squalor I saw Mama die in. Cain't do it, even with the smell of Lysol and fresh paint instead of Daddy's vomit, Mama's dyin' breath, and a troupe of whores and cheap perfume taking her place."
"Sho' you can, if you love Andrea more than you do your pride and hate for what cain't be changed. And I do suspect that you do, or soon will. It'd be good for you, Slick. Finding out for yo'self that it don't matter where your head rests, so long as it's next to the right person."
"You sound like Andrea."
"I'll take that as a compliment. She be good for you, boy. Now be good to her, and just maybe you'll be invitin' me and Liza to your home come next summer. It's way past due. For us. But mostly for you. Gawd's seen fit to give you a second chance. Take it, and don't blow it this time around."
Lou grabbed the bottle of Dixie in Neil's hand, took a long gulp, and gave it back to him. "Catch you later, Slick? Maybe some the wiser if any of this sank past that thick skull of yours."
"You know you love me, Lou."
"That I do, and only Gawd knows why."
Neil got up and embraced his Big Daddy before slapping a high-five and striding toward the wharf. "Lou, tell Liza her gumbo's the best in all of Louisiana if it's half as good as the last batch, and I'd like two bowls, thank you. And as for my old bed, I'm sleeping elsewhere tonight."
* * *
From the corner of her eye Andrea saw Neil step onto the pier. She gripped her bottle tighter and made some innocuous comment to the man standing beside her. She'd already sent several others on their way. But Neil didn't know that, and she wasn't inclined to tell him after their latest contest of wills and his subsequent silent treatment.
An icy glass was pressed between her shoulder blades. When she ignored it and the yank on her ponytail, Neil slid his hand around her waist and placed his legs on either side of hers. The posture was unmistakably of a male staking his territory.
Her latest companion stepped back. "This lady with you, Neil?"
"Uh-huh." Neil's other hand, which held the bottle, came around to pull her closer against him. He pressed the cold bottle between her breasts, and she gasped less from the chill than from his action.
"Sorry, I didn't know."
Andrea bit back the retort that she didn't know it either, since he'd been ignoring her.
"Now you do." The arm he'd all but wrapped around her tightened, and she felt the urge to throw him over her shoulder into the muddy
Similar Books
