Louisiana Sky (Love in Belle Pont #2) by Ashleigh Zavarelli Page A

darlin’.” Amy grinned.
    “You’ll be alright for an hour, Reagan?”
    “I got this.” She smiled and waved me off.
    I nodded and walked out the front door, satisfied that the store was in Reagan’s capable hands. She was my younger sister, and even though I worried about her, she could pretty much always take care of herself. A product of being raised with a mom like ours, I guess.
    Amy and I walked down the sidewalk, soaking up the fresh Spring air. Now that the weather was nice, everybody in town was out here enjoying it.
    We sat down in the grass in Belle Pont’s local park, which wasn’t much of a park if you asked me. A couple of swing sets and picnic benches, yet the square patch of grass was packed with locals tryin’ to make the most of it.
    Amy opened up her messenger bag and pulled out a couple sandwiches from Jollys, shoving one in my direction.
    “Turkey on Rye,” she said.
    “You know me too well.” I teased.
    Amy and I had been lifelong friends, which meant a lot to me, especially in this town. A lot of the folks here had their own opinions about me, and I let them think what they wanted to. At the end of the day, it was people like Amy who had my back.
    “Soooo….” she drawled, munching on a pickle from her sandwich. “I was thinkin’ we could head on down to the Bodega in Lafayette tonight when I get off work.”
    I saw the strange expression on her face and frowned. “But tonight’s Saturday,” I protested. “We always do karaoke at Murphy’s.”
    “I know.” She shrugged. “I just thought it’d be fun to mix things up a bit.”
    I knew Amy well enough to know that she was hiding somethin’, but I didn’t want to call her out on it yet. Whatever it was, I was sure she had her reasons. She’d recently broken up with her boyfriend Kyle, and I knew he’d been hanging round Murphy’s tryin’ to win her back.
    “Okay,” I agreed. “We’ll go to the Bodega then. Seven sound good?”
    “Sounds…” she trailed off, her brow furrowing as she glanced across the park.
    I looked up, tryin’ to see what she was lookin’ at, and it didn’t take too long. There was Bentley, just staring at me from across the way with that damn sad expression of his that tore my heart out.
    I jerked my eyes away and brushed the crumbs off my clothing as I stood abruptly.
    “You wanna’ get out of here?” Amy asked.
    “Definitely.”

 
    Chapter Two
    Bentley
     
    “Hey stranger.” Annabeth sidled up to me, clutching her growing belly beneath her sundress. She was working her way through baby number three already, and she looked happy as a clam.
    “Hey AB,” I said, distracted. “How’s that baby treatin’ you?”
    “Can’t complain.” She smiled.
    My eyes darted across the park, to where Roxy was walkin’ away. I wanted to chase after her, just like I always did, but I knew nothin’ good would come of it. I’d seen more of her back in the last two years than I had my entire life, and not in a good way. Whenever I entered a room, she was sure to be leavin’ it real soon after.
    Annabeth’s gaze followed me, and she glanced at me with a sad smile.
    “You ever gonna’ tell me what you did to earn yourself a permanent mark in the bad books?” she asked.
    “Just bein’ a dumb shit.” I shrugged. “As usual. Making stupid decisions like I always do.”
    “That ain’t true,” she said softly. “I know you’ve turned a new leaf, Bentley. Archer and I are real proud of you.  You’re daddy too. Hell the whole town is. You’ve come a long way in two years.”
    I just shrugged and shook my head. That might be true, but the only person who didn’t seem to care was Roxy. The one person that I needed to.
    Annabeth seemed to sense my reluctance to agree on that subject, and changed it real quick.
    “Charlotte’s birthday is on Sunday,” she said. “We’re puttin’ on a barbeque if you want to come.”
    I took in her hopeful expression and nodded. Things weren’t nearly