In Shining Whatever (Three Magic Words Trilogy #2)(38)

She picked up her purse from the rocking chair in the living room and looked back in the kitchen. She shook her finger at Kate. "You take care of the sheets before you go fishing. Mon dieu, I won't have you sleeping in the same room with Hart Ducaine."

"We will, Maw Maw. When you return, the sheets will be up," Kate said.

The screen door slammed, and the old rusted truck engine purred to life. Kate looked across the table at Hart, still unable to believe that he was there.

"I was going to call, but I didn't have it together enough to talk to you," she said.

"You got it together now?"

She shook her head.

"When you do, let me know. Now, what's this about sheets? Honest, I can stay in a hotel. I didn't come down here to impose," Hart said.

"You'll offend her if you do, and no one in their right mind would offend Maw Maw. She'll put a gris-gris bag somewhere you won't ever find it, full of things that will bring you bad luck. She's full-blood Cajun. You ever heard that song about being country when country wasn't cool?"

Hart nodded.

"Well, that's Maw Maw with the Cajun. When it wasn't socially acceptable to be considered Cajun, she was one, and she didn't give a rat's hiney if it was never acceptable. She was who she was, and what anyone thought of her couldn't change it a bit."

"What's that got to do with a gr ... gr ... whatever you said ... bag?"

"She believes in the old ways. Voodoo. Bad luck. Good luck. And she'll help it along if she sees fit. So don't offend her." "The sheets?"

He wanted to reach across the table and touch Kate's hand, run the edge of his palm down her cheekbone or kiss her long and passionately. But something was drastically different. What if he'd waited too long, and someone else had already claimed her heart?

"House is big for a bayou home, but it's only got two bedrooms, and one of those belongs to Maw Maw. The other one has four full-sized beds in it. When more than one family is here at the same time, or when members of the opposite sex stay in the room, sheets are hung from the ceiling to create walls."

"That's supposed to keep me away from you?"

"You want to suffer the wrath of Maw Maw Miller? If not, you'll stay on your side of the sheets, darlin'."

"Was that an endearment or a sarcastic remark?"

"You decide. You're big and tall. Grab a kitchen chair. I'll get the sheets and then we'll go fishing. You'll be amazed what you can learn with a bamboo pole in your hands," she told him.

He pushed the chair back and washed the sugar from his fingers at the kitchen sink.

"This is awkward," he said.

When he said that, her breath caught in her chest. She was sure he was going to tell her that it was over.

"Maybe we'd better talk before we put up the sheets," she said. "You don't want me here?" he asked.

"Do you want to be here?"

"I am sick of worrying about what to say or not say. I'm scared to death that you are going to tell me there's already someone new in your life and you're just being nice to a friend from Texas. That's what is awkward."

She smiled. "I was worried that you'd come to Louisiana to tell me to stay here and not bother coming back, that there was someone new in your life. Is there?"

"There could have been. There was a party a couple of days ago."

"The big St. Patrick's barn dance. I had dreams about you inviting me to go to that dance, but it was always Stephanie who was looking for a pretty green dress to wear to it," she said.

"That's in the past. You could have gone this year if you'd come home," he said.

"I had a party to attend here," she said.

"Darlene-you remember her from high school? Had the worst reputation of any girl in school. She's been chasing me for years. She's between husbands number three and four."

Kate's heart turned bullfrog green. She'd snatch that hussy baldheaded and then slap her for having no hair as soon as she got back to Texas.

"What happened?" she asked between clenched teeth.

"She rented a room at the America's Best and invited me to come spend a little time with her. I actually pulled into the parking lot and sat there staring at the room for ten minutes. I thought about knocking on the door, but I figured it would take more than Darlene to erase you from my mind."

Kate let out a lungful of pent-up air. She didn't even realize she'd been holding her breath until it gushed out. "And?"

"I went on home. Made arrangements to come down here and have it out with you. One way or the other, I've got to find some peace. You are driving me crazy."

A smile tickled the edges of Kate's full mouth. At least she wasn't alone in her misery, but she wasn't ready to lay all her cards on the table just yet. She was still weighing the pros and cons of taking her old job back and hadn't made up her mind yet.

"What if when you find your peace, you figure out I'm not in it?" she asked.

"Then at least I'll know I've been dreaming about a ghost for all these years," he said.

"Fair enough. Let's get our job done so we can go to the bayou. Tomorrow will be very busy, since Maw Maw has called for a hog. That means everyone is invited to come and look at you, cowboy. You'd better watch your step. I've got a whole beaucoup of gorgeous cousins that won't care if you've got a scar on your head."