Mischief in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #2)(18)

“Yuck!”

Maryse sobered. “Seriously, I don’t want to hear any talk like that, okay? You start the chemo soon and that will probably be the end of it. With any luck, I’ll be able to help you out on that part of things.”

“You’re right. I’m sure within no time at all I’ll be back to my exciting life.”

Maryse cocked her head to one side and stared at her friend. “You sound like that’s a bad thing. I thought you were happy with your life.”

Sabine sighed. “I am. I was. Oh, I don’t know. I guess my life seemed fine before I found out it might end prematurely. Then I guess I started thinking about it and well…there’s a whole lot I haven’t done.”

“Okay, like what?”

Sabine frowned, not exactly ready with an itemized list. “Oh, I don’t know—see a live play, scuba dive, leave this state, have an entire day at the spa…”

“Sounds easy enough. “

“You’re kidding me.”

“Not at all. Today, I want you to get a notebook and start jotting down all the things you want to do. Anything you can think of. Then we’ll start tackling them. I can’t guarantee we can do them all, depending on what you come up with, but I’m game to try.” Maryse cast her friend a nervous look. “Unless you’re still wanting to be abducted by aliens. That’s sorta not on my list of things to do ever.”

Sabine laughed. “I was ten years old when I said that. And believe me, Helena has been enough of a journey into the unexplained to last me a lifetime. I was actually thinking about giving up the shop and becoming a bank teller or something.”

“Helena tends to have that effect on people.”

“You have no idea,” Sabine muttered and lowered her eyes to the table.

“Oh, no. I know that look. I wore it too many times over the last month. What have you let Helena talk you into?”

“Well, she said it was just an errand in New Orleans, and technically all I did was drive…”

Maryse groaned. “What did she do?”

“She stole the police file on my parents’ wreck and a bunch of others from the station. The barcodes tripped the alarm, and half the cops in downtown came running out after her.”

“Oh, God. Why didn’t you call me for bail?”

“Oh, we didn’t get caught. Helena caused a runaway hotdog stand accident and used the diversion to hop in the car with the stolen files and at least five hotdogs. I’m never going to get that smell out of my car.”

“Helena is enjoying death way too much. It’s really not fair at all.” Maryse shook her head. “Okay, so I get the police file thing…in a Helena thinking sort of way, but what’s up with the hotdogs?”

“Apparently, Helena is hungry. Don’t even ask. I have no idea.”

Maryse raised her eyebrows and stared at Sabine for a couple of seconds. “Alrighty then. So what did you do with the files?”

“I made a copy of my parents’ file—wearing gloves, of course—then mailed them all back to the police. Then I called that detective Raissa found to let him know about the file.”

“Bet that went over well. How did you explain having a copy?”

“I just said a well-meaning friend thought she’d help me out. And since she’d already broken the law, I figured he might as well take a look at the spoils.” Sabine felt a blush creep up her face as she recalled her earlier conversation with Beau.

Maryse studied her for a moment. “So you never actually told me about this detective. What’s he like?”

Sabine felt her face heat up even more. “He’s nice. Seems very competent.”

“Uh huh.”

Sabine looked down at her coffee, concentrating on stirring the already mixed sugar. “He’s got experience in this sort of detective work.”

“Uh huh.”

“And he seems nice.”

“You already said that.”

Sabine sighed and looked up at her grinning friend. “So what do you want me to say—that he’s hot? Well, he is. The hottest guy I’ve ever seen in person, okay? Are you satisfied?”

“Not yet. But I’m getting there. And what do you propose to do with this hot detective?”

“I don’t propose to do anything with him, except give him information to help me. Jeez, just because I find some guy hot doesn’t mean I should jump on him like some floozy.”

Maryse laughed. “You are the furthest thing from a floozy that I could locate in Mudbug. You know, for all your fussing at me to get out of the bayou and into society, you’re not exactly the pinnacle of the social scene, either. When was the last time you got any?”

“Maryse! What a question.”

“That long, huh? Well, I can’t really bitch at you as I was on a two-year draught myself after Hank left, and Mudbug doesn’t exactly have the best to pick from. But you’ve had some dates off and on. Nothing came of those?”

“No. A couple were buttheads. A couple were nice, but there just wasn’t any spark.”

“I get you. And this Beau…there’s a spark there?”

“More like a volcano waiting to erupt.”

Maryse whistled. “I know that feeling. Do yourself a favor and don’t put it off. That eruption is something out of your wildest imagination.”