In Shining Whatever (Three Magic Words Trilogy #2)(34)

"Oh, yes. I even tested him with Corrine"

"You didn't," Kate gasped. Corrine was the most beautiful cousin in the family. Twenty-one last summer just before Kate moved back to Texas, and could run Angelina Jolie a race for oozing beauty out every pore of her slim body.

Minnette nodded.

"She did just that," Maw Maw said. "Poor old Claud didn't know what he'd been hit with when Corrine flirted with him at the engagement dance. But he passed the test just fine."

Kate wasn't sure Hart could endure that kind of harsh testing. It might be worth a try when she was absolutely sure he was what she wanted. The clock ticked loudly inside her head and heart. Three weeks and she had to give Laysard an answer concerning the job. If she came back, would she ever find anyone who made her feel the way that Hart did?

"So Claud proved that he loves you. What makes you love him?" Kate asked.

"It's the way my heart feels when I'm with him. I can't tell it in words. It's just there, and I couldn't outrun it or make it go away"

"Did you try to escape it?"

"You bet I did. After the first couple of dates-and he sent me roses the next day after both of them, by the way-I broke it off and went out with a couple of other guys. They were barbarians compared to Claud. No respect. No roses. And all I could think about the whole time I was with them was that I'd rather be with Claud."

"Why did you break it off if he was so good to you?"

"Because it scared me. I was afraid."

"Why?"

Minnette shrugged. "Who knows? Settling down is scary. One man for the rest of my life. To promise to love him until death, that in the church before God and Maw Maw. Tell me that's not scary and I'll call you a liar. But you already know how scary a commitment that is, or you wouldn't be in Louisiana fishing the bayou every night and trying to think things out that are impossible. I'm going to dance with Claud now. Before long the belly will get in the way."

Kate watched Claud as Minnette approached. He saw an angel floating on a puffy cloud instead of a slightly pregnant lady in a red satin top.

"She's settling down. When the baby comes she'll dress like a mother," Maw Maw said.

"I wouldn't count on it." Kate laughed.

"See that man coming this way? That is Bubba Boudreaux. His granddaddy and my brother were friends. He's a good man. You dance with him and be nice," Maw Maw said.

Bubba held out his hand to Kate. "Like to dance?"

"I'd love to," Kate said.

It was a slow dance, and Bubba was light on his feet. He was well over six feet tall and had arms of steel and not a spare ounce of fat on his large frame. His eyes were green and full of life. He wore his hair short and had a cap line across his tanned forehead. He held her like Zac did Charlene, with respect.

"So what do you do for a living?" she asked.

"I'm a fisherman. Got three boats now and a crew that brings in the best shrimp in the south," he said. "What about you?"

"I was a detective over at New Iberia. Nowadays I'm a waitress."

"What made the change?"

"Thought I was burned out. Now I'm not so sure."

"What're you up to while you're figuring it out?"

"Staying over at Maw Maw's place and fishing."

"Good way to figure it all out. Want to go get some breakfast with me after this is over? I make a mean breakfast gumbo."

"Just breakfast?"

"That's up to you. It can be anything you want it to be. You are a lovely lady. I wouldn't treat you bad"

"Pretty straightforward, though, aren't you?"

"That's me. Old Bubba don't know no way else to be with the ladies. He's not got a way with words like Zac has."

"You know Zac?" Kate asked.

"He's my cousin."

"And what has he said about me?"

"He just smiled when I asked him about the pretty lady he was hugged up to when I got here. He's engaged, you know. I wondered why he was dancing so close to you. You don't look like his kind."

"What's his kind?" she asked.

"Yaw," he answered.

She smiled. She hadn't heard that term used in months. Yaw meant half stupid, not even worthy of a whole stupid.

"Well, thank you for not thinking I'm yaw," she said.

"Breakfast, then?" Bubba asked when the dance ended.

"I'll think about it while we dance again," she said.

Maybe a fisherman by the name of Bubba was just what she needed to get Hart out of her heart and mind. He'd be right at home on the bayou and would like sitting with a cup of cafe au lait in the evenings beside the bayou, just watching the water flowing eternally down the state and to the gulf. They would share the same likes and dislikes; gumbo for late-night breakfast being one of them. Perhaps Kate Miller had just met her Claud.

Hart dressed with care, even if his heart wasn't in a party. It was a regular occurrence in Albany. On the weekend before or after St. Patrick's Day, there was a barn dance at his folks' place. He put on fresh-from-the-laundry starched jeans, a plaid shirt, and his ostrich boots. His stitches had been removed a few days before, but the scar was still pink. He could, however, set his hat where it belonged without too much pain, and it covered the ugly.