AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You tell your aunt Betty Gustavo Hebert sends his regards.”
“I’ll do that,” she answered, waving.
“Keep an eye out for your dock,” the dockmaster called out. “All docks look the same from the water!”
He was right, but there was only one cove lined with cypress trees in a half circle. She recognized the new dock. The old one had had a piece of plywood nailed to the end with a crude painting Lonnie Langtry had done of a mati, a Greek evil eye. There was no mistaking whose dock it was with that painting. She wondered what had happened to it, so would ask Aunt Elizabeth. A lot of men and one woman had mentioned her name today, so as soon as she got everything unpacked, she’d make the call.
Working up a sweat, she got the four boxes and bags of groceries into the house, including the bag of ice. She made a big glass of lemonade to drink while she put everything away. Then she went into the cool, dark living room with the phone and called Aunt Elizabeth, realizing she’d spoken to her daily like she would a close friend. And she wanted to talk to her again.
“You are one popular woman here in Cypress Cove.”
She folded her legs under her in the overstuffed chair, the cold glass of lemonade inviting a long chat.
“Oh Lord, you met all my former lovers, I guess?”
“Aunt Elizabeth, I’m stunned.”
She was Maggie’s maiden lady aunt, the spinster sister of Greta Bonnet, who was the black sheep of the family, especially after marrying Lonnie Langtry, the Cajun son of a witch and a sailor.
“I have to hear everything,” Maggie begged. “I wish you were here right now.”
“Where are you? Are you baking?”
“In the living room, the windows are open in back now the sun is over top, but Floyd installed those ceiling fans; thank you, by the way. So it’s not awful. And I’m drinking lemonade. I bought a bag of ice at Spencer’s, so nothing rotted on the way home. And I’m not going to bake.”
They laughed together, the idea so outlandish that Maggie would try to bake.
“You drove the skiff by yourself. You remind me of me! The only difference is that I didn’t have the guts to do it alone. I moved in with Greta and Lonnie. The cottage was Lonnie’s family place, not ours. You know that, right, Maggie?”
“I think I must have, but it doesn’t make any difference to me. I love it here. Tell me more.”
“We lived in New Orleans. And Greta picked up Lonnie somewhere. I wish I could remember the exact story. I wish she were alive. When she moved to the cottage, I came along. It was a package deal. It was so hot out there in the summer, but minus the smell of garbage we had in the Big Easy.”
“Do locals really call it that?”
“No, we didn’t. But I like it.”
“Okay, keep going,” Maggie said. “Don’t let me interrupt you again.”
“Wait, you’re the one who had news for me. You first.”
“Oh, right,” she said, giggling.
She told her about the dockmaster, the postmistress, the guy from the hardware store. “‘Tell her Val said hi.’ And Gustavo Hebert, same thing. The only ones who didn’t tell me they said hello were the guys from the hardware and grocery.”
“I slept with all of them,” she said, reminiscing.
“Aunt Elizabeth!”
Sitting forward, she swung her legs over the front of the chair and stood up, pacing, titillated by the story she might hear.
“I was young. It was boring there. Lonnie and Greta were trying to break some kind of marital consummation record, and you know those walls are as thin as rice paper.”
“I’m speechless.”
“Well, dear, get over it. I suppose you only had a single partner all your life.”
“No, that’s true, but don’t tell Rose.”
