The Best Laid Plans (Brothers of the Bayou) (6 page)

Sara laughed. “I wish I could say I am sorry about that, but I’m not.  I just knew deep down you two would hit it off given the chance, so I turned a blind eye to the friction.”

“All things considered, I suppose I am obligated to forgive you anyway.”

“So just how did you two go from barely speaking to sex in a twenty-four hour period?”

Lacy gave her the g-rated version of events. “By the way he’s coming over at eleven for lunch before we head out for the day.”

“You really like him don’t you?” Sara asked solemnly.

“Do you believe in love at first kiss?” she answered Sara’s question with her own.

“Yes. I very much believe in it.  I knew the second I saw Justin he was the one I would marry. Did you know Beaux introduced me to him? I’ve actually known Beaux since we were fifteen years old and have been friends forever.”

“I didn’t know that.  All he has said was you were like a sister to him and that Justin and him went way back.”

“I could tell you some stories of those two and their brothers.” Sara laughed at some story she was remembering
.

“Come on Sara.  Let’s paint our nails and you can tell me the stories.  I need something to tease Beaux about. That man is too sexy and perfect for his own good.”

“I told you he was a hottie.”

“Hot, sexy, gorgeous, fine. None of those words even come close to describing him.”

And with that the cousins fell into girl talk and stories of a younger Beaux and Justin.  They were still rolling with laughter when Beaux knocked on the door a few hours later.  Lacy ran to answer the door, trying to catch her breath, but burst into laughter again when she saw him.

“Uh, hi to you too?” Beaux greeted
her; ignorant he was the cause of her laughter.

Lacy gave him a kiss on the cheek and whispered something into his ear. 

“Sara!!” he bellowed. “You’re going to pay for that!”

Sara’s laughter filled the house. “Give it up Beaux. She was bound to find out you have a Tweety bird tattoo on your ass once she see it in day light anyway.”

“At least it’s not a New Kids on the Block tattoo.”

“No way. You don’t really, do you Sara?”

“I’m afraid so.” She lowered her pants leg to show off the NKOTB permanently etched into her.  The laughter rolled again and the three collapsed into chairs until they could regain their composure.

Sara was the first to calm down.  “I have to admit, this is much more fun than dinner Sunday night. Too bad Justin’s not here to rat out his tattoo.”

Beaux and Lacy continued to drive down the back roads of Acadiana.  So far, she had seen the school Sara and him attended as teens, more cows than she knew existed in Louisiana, and striking scenery.  Beaux gave her history lessons of the area as he pointed
out areas of interest, thrilled at her enthusiasm for embracing this culture. Looking out at the cane fields, she tried to picture life here as it would be one hundred years ago. Life in Southern Louisiana was different than what she knew in Charleston. Both had rich histories rooted in fights for survival and preservation of tradition, but as Beaux told her the history of the early Acadians she felt herself connecting with them.  Though centuries apart and a different set of circumstances, she could empathize with their plight.

Breaking from her reverie she looked out in time to see the strangest looking creature crossing the road.

“What is that?” she asked her eyes full of delight at seeing this unique animal.

“That is an armadillo.”

“Really? I’ve heard of them, but I had no idea what they looked like. I thought they were found mainly in Texas?”

Beaux laughed, not mockingly, but out of merriment. “Ma chère, you know we are not even a two hour drive from Texas right?  I
doubt armadillos can tell where the state line ends.” 

She smiled back at him.  “They are so ugly they are adorable.”

“Is that what you thought about me?” he teased.

“You’re incorrigible,” she replied, but snuggled in closer to him.  Inhaling, she breath
ed his scent that she could not get enough of; pure man, earthy, musky and completely sexy.

The light rain that had been falling all afternoon turned into a heavy rain that made seeing out the windows near impossible.

“Do you want to go want to go back to my place and we’ll watch a movie or something?”

“Or something,” she answered.

“And I’m incorrigible?”

Rain was still pouring when they got to Beaux’s house.  Making a quick dash into the house, they still couldn’t escape getting soaked. 

“We really must stop meeting like this,” Beaux joked as he handed Lacy the robe from yesterday and stuck her clothes in the dryer.

“Does it ever stop raining here?” she asked?

“Sometimes. It doesn’t always rain like this, but I wasn’t joking when I said it rains everyday in the summer at some point.”

Desperately trying to distract himself from last night’s dance in the rain, he offered her a drink.

“Just some water would be good.”

He grabbed two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and led her to the living room.  Lacy took a seat on his worn, brown leather sofa while Beaux opened a cabinet revealing a slim collection of DVD’s.

“What are you in the mood for?  I don’t watch many movies, so I’m afraid I don’t have a lot to choose from.”

Lacy walked over to the cabinet purveying her choices.  Her mind and body were too distracted to focus on a movie, so she absently picked one and handed it to Beaux.  He was feeling the same distraction, fumbling over getting the movie started then settled
down, wrapping an arm around Lacy’s shoulder pulling her in close to him.

Neither paid attention to the opening credits as they sat there enjoying the simple pleasure of being together. Lacy found herself wanting to know everything about this man who had stormed into her life unexpectedly.

“Do you have any other siblings beyond Jared?”

“Two. I have a sister, Mary, who lives in New Orleans. She is a junior at Tulane University and a little spitfire. She has a heart of gold, but being the youngest and only girl we always let her get away with anything and she never had to learn discipline. Plus she is naturally smart so she never had to work hard to get good grade which had been a double whammy now that she’s in college. My brother
Rafe is in the Army currently serving overseas. He is the oldest of us and the only one determined to leave this area.  The day he turned eighteen he left for boot camp and has only been back a handful of times. We keep in touch but we’re not all that close.”

Lacy instinctively knew that bothered him.  He was a man who valued family and cherished relationships.  An admirable quality she had never seen before in a man.

“I always wanted a brother or sister, but I’m glad I had Sara.  We were both an only child and only a few months in age separated us.  Losing her was like losing a sister.  Sometimes I wonder what our parents were thinking.  I still can’t believe our parents had an affair.  They hated each other. Sure in public, they put up a good front, but behind closed doors they were vicious to each other.  And not the “I really like you but will express it through hate” kind of hidden attraction, so the affair never made sense to me. There is a lot about the time that confuses me, but I guess as a young teenager I saw just a fraction of the whole picture. Anyway, Dad was livid when I reconnected with Sara, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop it in this age of technology.  He doesn’t know I’m here now and honestly I don’t care. I feel he’s lost all rights to being my father.”

Beaux took in her words, making mental notes to file away for later then leaned over and nibbled on her bottom lip. “I’m glad you found Sara again because we found each other in the process”. 

“Mmhmm” she hummed too aroused by the simple feel of his lips on hers to form any words. She let him tease her before parting her mouth allowing him in.  Their lips danced and hands roamed until a singular need led them to the bedroom.  Lying on his bed, Beaux reached over pulling out protection and they again consummated this burgeoning new love they had found. When they exhausted their energies, they laid facing each other, two new lovers locked in an impassioned gaze full of ardor. Time passed as the immediate heat cooled down returning them back to reality.

“Do you think Sara has told Justin?”

“I guarantee it. They tell each other anything and everything.”

“Did you know she wanted us to be together?”

“I figured it out pretty quick. Justin doesn’t ask for much and never pushes, but he was pretty insistent I play tour guide to you.”

“In that case we should pro
bably send them a thank you note.”

They laughed and rolled into each other’s arms. Their eyes drifted closed as they gave in to
fatigue from their love making combined with lack of sleep.  Beaux was the first to wake up and took advantage of the opportunity to watch Lacy without observation.  Sleep gave her an appearance of innocence and she slept with her lips slightly parted curved upward in a smile.  Reluctant to leave her side, but even more reluctant to disturb her, he quietly stepped out of bed and went in search of his phone.  

First he called Sara letting them know they’d be late for dinner.  He could hear the amusement in her voice as she told him to take their time and just call when they were on their way.

Next he had to make the phone call he was dreading.  Instinct told him something added up to no good. He argued with himself that it wasn’t his place to do this but justified it because he cared deeply for Lacy and wanted to protect her.

His heart raced as he tapped the numbers into his phone.  No answer.  He breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t have to deal with it right now.   No sooner had he sat his phone down on the table did it ring.  The number told him his call was being returned much sooner than he expected.

“What’s up Beaux?” Jared’s voice rang through the phone.

“I need to call in a favor.”

“Anytime, what do you need?”

“Will you be in your office today? I need to see what information you can dig up on someone.”

“Not at the moment.  I’m out taking care of some business, but I can go in first thing tomorrow.”

“Find anything you
can on a Neil Landon from Charleston, South Carolina.”

“Do you have any other information to go off of?” Jared didn’t
question Beaux’s motives. He knew if he was asking for this, he had a good and valid reason, but he would probably need some more information to go off of.

“He has a brother Sam that lives a little north of here.  They had a business together back in South Carolina but Sam sold his share about thirteen years ago.”

“That should be enough to get me started.  Is there any particular information that you are looking for?”

“Just anything you can find.”

“Sure thing. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have something.”

“Thanks Jared, I owe you one.”

“No problem.  I have to get going.  Have a good one.”

Beaux hung up taking a deep breath.  His gut told him he had just opened a poisonous can of worms.

Beaux went to rouse Lacy, but she was already awake, sitting in bed stretching.

“Dios, you’re sexy even when you first wake up,” he growled fighting the desire to jump back in bed with her.

Lacy smiled sleepily. “What time is it?” she asked still in a fog of conscience.

“Time to get back to Sara’s for dinner.  It’s six o’clock.  I already called and told her we’d be late.”

“I’m sure she had a field day with that one.” 

“Eh, she just told us to take our time.”

“If you don’t stop flashing the damn smile, we’ll be taking the whole night.”

“Is that a promise chère?”

The easy banter continued as they cleaned up and dressed.  By the time they made it to dinner, they were pushing seven o’clock and famished.  A niggle of guilt crept through Lacy, but Sara had assured her she wanted to be in charge of the meal tonight.  The four friends sat around in light conversations reliving memories, sharing stories and telling jokes.  If Justin was surprised at the budding romance between his best friend and wife’s cousin, he didn’t let it show.

“How are your parents doing Sara? I haven’t seen them in
quite awhile.” Beaux detected a subtle flinch from Lacy but something wasn’t right and he had to find out what. He didn’t know the questions or the answers he was looking for, but he would find out.

Sara sat sadly for a moment. “They’re getting a divorce,” she announced then broke into tears.

Everyone, including Justin sat in astonishment.

“I’m sorry Sara. I had no idea or I would never have asked.” Beaux felt like a cad making Sara cry, but in his defense he hadn’t expected that news.

Justin moved to comfort his wife as she continued speaking.

“I don’t get it. After all they have been through I don’t know why they are giving up now.  Neither will speak to me about it.  The only answer they have given is that they’ve drifted apart. Every time I have seen them in the past year, they’ve been arguing, but I thought they’d work through it.  I guess not everything is meant to last forever.”