Beau doesn’t respond, so I keep going, feeling the sudden urge to prove we’re in good hands by not going to the hospital in the city. “Like I said earlier, she used to manage the ER in New Orleans before coming back to Robin’s Tree when I was a kid. I’m in better hands here than the city.”
“And I bet the bill here is also better.”
Beau’s smiling. He’s teasing me.
He’s not wrong.
“There is that,” I admit.
We can’t say much more until Mimi is back and down to business. She’s quick but thorough and washes my cut like I’m a child. When she’s satisfied that I don’t need stitches, or a CAT scan, she ushers us out of the office and into the kitchen.
It’s a small space with uppers that are bulky and lowers covered in trinkets, but it’s the coziest place in the house if you ask me. I relax against the blue tile top next to the sink while Mimi busies herself with getting coffee for Beau.
He hasn’t asked for it, or said much really in the past five minutes, but he stands next to the refrigerator opposite us with a sense of stillness that’s impressive. It doesn’t belong in the house that always looks two steps close to chaos. I’m reminded he isn’t supposed to be here, stillness or not.
“This isn’t exactly how I wanted the tour to end today, but thank you for helping me,” I say as Mimi is searching through her mug collection. She won’t give him any of her favorites; it’s not her way. Beau could’ve lifted me over the edge of a cliff, saving me from a slew of jagged rocks, and she’d still never let him use the one that saysOvaries before Broveriesor the one shaped like a chili pepper that she got from her last trip to New Orleans. Whatever she thinks him worthy of, I don’t want him to think he’s beholden to the drink. Or to stay. “Sorry it derailed your plans.”
“I don’t mind, and I didn’t mind,” he says, assurance in his voice. “Missing a trip to Walmart isn’t the end of the world.”
I think about the state of Big House on Lolita.
I look at the clock. It’s seven-thirty somehow.
I’m about to tell him that the Walmart is one of the twenty-four-seven kind, which almost makes the half-hour drive to it worth it, but there’s a commotion in the next room. I watch Beau tense but my eye draws to the source as he bustles in.
“Kissy, where’s the Jeep now?”
Wyatt Lively matches his surname with startling accuracy. He’s a lively individual and doesn’t enter a room in anything less than a blanket of noise. He’s been with Mimi since I was I was a kid, and because of that, has become a fixture in my life that means more to me than he probably knows. While Mimi is shorter, curvy, and has long, thick hair like mine—or I should sayIhave long, thick hair likehers—Wyatt is a tall beanpole of a man. His dark brown eyebrows are the only indication of his hair color since the silver overtook it circa his fiftieth birthday, yet his hair itself hasn’t changed shape or form since I first met him. It’s wild and short, and when he gets to running around like he is now, it waves along with him.
Even when the rest of him is trying to focus on the task at hand.
“It’s out on Callers Drive right before it turns into Winn Parish Road 22,” I answer. “You know where lightning struck that one tree and blew it to bits? I’d say about five minutes from that heading toward Winn 22.”
Wyatt has a pen and pad of paper, and he hurriedly writes it down. He goes for his phone next. “I’ll call Benny and see if he can’t get us set up tomorrow when he opens. He likes working the scenic roads, so I’m sure going up a little ways isn’t going to make him gripe.”
“Is this the tow company?” Beau goes from stillness to curiosity.
Mimi finally selects a mug she must think is okay for the newcomer. She pours black coffee into one with a funny saying on it, though I can’t tell if it’s theRise, Shine, and Drinkone or theNo Talkie Until Coffeeone.
“Yeah, they’re in the city but the closest tow. Robin’s Tree only uses Benny.” Wyatt, never a man to hold his tongue, points his pen at me. “But we only grab Benny Senior for jobs now. Benny Junior is a mouth first, a man second.”
Mimi turns to that with a shake of the head. “Benny Jr. is a fine young man,” she explains to Beau. “He’s wanted to marry Kissy here since he was twelve, and it makes things a bit awkward sometimes.”
I groan. I suddenly feel like I’m that twelve-year-old again.
Wyatt makes a similar noise. “I don’t think he’s stopped talking since then either,” he says. “He went from a blundering boy to a man who’ll make your ears bleed if you give him the time of day.”
Mimi waves a hand through the air at him. “Hepinesfor Kissy, and that becomes nervous energy. I seem to remember you jabbering my dang ear off the first time I shared a meal with you.”
Wyatt ignores the last part. “Pining or not, I’m making sure we get Senior tomorrow, don’t you worry, Kissy. I’m not about to make a bad run of luck run right into him too.”
He dials the number and walks away before Mimi can give him any more guff. If I’d known Beau better, I might’ve been embarrassed by the whole exchange. Instead, I motion to the front of the house.
“Why don’t I walk you out?” I ask.
Mimi is already asking something too. “Why don’t I make you two something to eat?”
We share a look with each other then turn to Beau.
