I shake my head. “Seems to be the talk of town, though.”
Alice looks like she wants to say something to me but addresses Micah first. “Since Everett isn’t back yet, you can come keep me company for the day. Why don’t you go next door and grab a movie from my collection? Jon is in there on a work call. He won’t mind.”
Micah’s worries seem to melt away for a moment. He looks to me first, though, and smiles. “It was nice to meet you, Beau. I hope you get a horse soon.”
I laugh. “Good to meet you too, Micah.”
He’s off in a flash, leaving me and Mrs. Dean together.
Her worries definitely don’t melt away. “I heard about what happened to Kissy last night.” She shakes her head. “Is she doing alright? I was going to stop by later on this week to thank her for what she did for me and to check on her.”
There’s a weird swelling in my chest at being seen as a temporary authority on Kissy’s wellbeing. I just met the woman, and here I am, dropping her kid off and answering for her with the locals.
None of it bothers me.
“She’s recovering,” I hedge. I don’t want to feed any fodder to the gossip mill, so I keep it simple. “I’m sure she’d like to see you’re doing the same.”
“Well, you let her know when you see her next that I’m praying for her. For us all. Especially for our dear Everett.” She sucks in an emotional breath. “Lord knows that man hasn’t had an easy day of rest since he showed up here.”
I nod to the sentiment and let Alice walk me slowly out to the back.
Before I’m completely out of earshot, I turn around to Alice and ask a something that’s been bothering me for a week. “Hey, Alice, what’s the last thing you remember before you were attacked?”
Her answer is apologetic as she motions to the house next door. It’s not as nice as Guidry’s, but it’s in much better and cleaner condition than the rest. “Eating breakfast at home, working on a crossword puzzle.”
There isn’t much to say past that.
I leave right after.
The group of dogs are gone, andLa Lumiereis eerily quiet.
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
Kissy
I’m done.I really am, and I think that with such ferocity at Mimi’s that she asks if I need more pain medicine.
I do, but I don’t.
I’m fed up to every dang thing in the world about my situation—about Guidry—that I’m itching for a fight.
Or itching for something.
Deputy McLennan certainly didn’t help matters when he drove me to Mimi’s and spent the ride wondering out loud how a woman like me has so many guys going for her, and yet I don’t have a boyfriend. McLennan is an older fellah, but he isn’t old enough for me to put him in the arena of respecting my elders. I tell him flatly before I shut the door behind me that if he can’t manage to find Guidry or Alice’s shooter or the man who attacked me, then he shouldn’t be wondering a damn thing else.
I left out the “damn” part, but my words came across pretty pointed, I think, given how he drove off in a stint.
After that, Mimi and Wyatt saw to me, made me breakfast, and tried to talk about anything but the elephant of Guidry in the room. That only lasted long enough until another flash from years past drove up and parked curbside.
Benny Senior sat in his towing truck, and my Jeep came up and parked behind him. Benny Junior jumped out of it smiling and gladly tossed my keys to me when I walked outside.
Bless Benny Senior, but Benny Junior can eat dirt.
The first thing he says to me, after exclaiming that I look awful, is the question that seems to be spreading like fungus around town. “Do you have any idea where Guidry is?”
Now, I’m a pretty patient lady, and after Wyatt shoos the Bennys off—polite to Senior, darting death glares at Junior—I sit in Mimi’s kitchen thinking that patience has done me good so far in life. But good isn’t what’s been on my plate lately, so what’s the point of staying still and waiting out the rest?
I hit my fist down on the tablecloth Mimi got on sale at the Target in the city and finally say, “Where the heckisGuidry?”
