The Pepper in the Gumbo (Men of Cane River #1)(90)

Paul opened the door and angled out. “Bix is fine. I just thought it would be better if I drove back from the fishing spot.” He stepped closer and whispered, “People kept running to get out of the way when they saw us coming. He’s blind as a bat and shouldn’t be driving.”

“He’s fine,” Alice hissed back. It was true Bix was unfit to drive, but she didn’t want Paul to be the one to make that decision.

Paul frowned down at her. He wore a wide-brimmed straw hat like her uncle used to wear when he spent the day out on the boat. He wore jeans and a T-shirt with Pac-Man on the front. There was a smear of dirt on one shoulder and he smelled like the river. Alice thought of how well he seemed to fit in here, and what an illusion it all was. Paul reached up and swiped the hat from his head, but said nothing more.

“Oooh, the fish are bedding ‘cause it’s near the full moon. The shellcracker and bluegill were there, too. Three cane poles, a can of wigglers, and we got us a whole bucket of sunfish.” Bix made his way up to her on the sidewalk. He reached over and kissed her cheek. “I had a great afternoon, sha. I haven’t been fishing since my cousin Petey passed on. Just not as fun by myself.”

Alice managed a smile. It was if Bix thought she was going to be mad that he was out fishing with Paul. Well, she wasn’t happy. Paul was obviously focused on damage control. But she hadn’t told Bix anything about Paul buying her building. Now she wished she had. “I’m glad. I know how much you love fishing.” Just like he loved reading. Two things Paul had done for Bix that she couldn’t. He was good at finding a person’s weak spot.

Andy came up behind them. “Hi, Alice.” He sounded cautious, as if she might bite his head off.

Alice smiled sweetly at him. “Hey, Andy. How’ve you been? Probably nice to have the place to yourself.”

He frowned, looking from her to Paul and back again.

“I mean, since Paul’s staying with Holly.” That woman was a terror. She and Paul fit well together. Crazy and crazy made a good team.

“Oh, no.” Paul shifted his feet. “She’s not… I didn’t invite her here.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. But girlfriends have a habit of showing up at the worst times.” Alice turned to Bix. “I’m going to go lock up. I’m glad you had a good afternoon.”

Bix tipped his hat up on his head. “See ya tomorrow.” He seemed amused. It was probably pretty funny from the outside. But from Alice’s perspective, love triangles were rotten no matter which angle you occupied.

Seconds later she was safely in her store and all her anger slowly evaporated. Even though Paul had schemed and lied, seeing him still made her heart feel as if it was stuck in a vise.

***

“Don’t say anything,” Paul muttered as Alice walked back into By the Book.

“Bust-ed,” Andy said, drawing the word out in a long whisper.

“I heard Louis talking down at The Red Hen this morning. Your girlfriend has made quite a stir in town. Alice is right to be jealous,” Bix said.

“No, Holly and I aren’t―” Paul started.

“Oh, I figured that. I ain’t seen you two together and when a man’s in love with a woman, he ends up in her general vicinity whether he wants to be or not.” Bix winked.

Paul stared down at his shoes. He’d done his best to get out of town for a while and it wasn’t his fault she’d run out to see what happened to Bix. But he couldn’t argue there was some truth to Bix’s statement. He had found himself talking to Alice over and over in the past few weeks, and usually directly after deciding he should stay away.

Paul sighed. They’d managed to get through a whole afternoon of fishing without approaching the topic of Alice and her misunderstanding.

Bix went on. “Now, sir. Alice just has the wrong end of the stick. As soon as she comes around, you’ll see how sweet she can be,”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it should be this hard.”

Andy put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the green Caddy. The expression on his face said it all. Nothing good came from a start like this. No matter how much Paul wanted it to be otherwise.

“You know Ruby is my second wife? My first one passed away ten years ago. Took me a long time to get over her,” Bix said.

Paul nodded that he understood, but inside he was thinking that nothing Bix could say would touch what was happening in Paul’s life.

“What you probably don’t know, is that my Ruby is my first wife’s sister.”

“Whoa,” Andy said quietly.

“Yep. We had thirty years of Thanksgiving dinners all together, with her husband and my wife. He was a good buddy of mine, too, God rest his soul.” Bix sighed, brown eyes misting over for a moment. “You can imagine the ruckus that got kicked up when we announced we was fixin’ to get married. Her kids worried she’d lost her marbles and my son was convinced she’d seduced me. It was a right mess.”

Paul couldn’t hold back a laugh. He’d thought Bix was going to tell him some story about being late on a first date. The smile faded from his face. “But you knew you wanted to be together. We can’t even get to that point.”

Bix clapped a hand to his shoulder. “Don’t give up, son. I’ve known Alice a long time. There’s not another woman like her. People like Alice, we say they put the pepper in the gumbo. Life just ain’t the same without them. Whatever you have to do to untangle this mess, she’s worth it.” He walked to the Caddy, opened the door, handed Andy a bucket full of fish, and got behind the wheel. Andy jumped away from the car as he started driving, tires squealing alongside the curb until the end of the block.