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With that attitude, she faced her aunt. “Congratulations, Auntie! You must be over the moon.”
“I’m so over the moon,” she cried, grabbing her niece. “This is what I have always wanted. And hello, Justin. I’m glad to see you here.”
Before she could put her foot in her mouth about Justin, Maggie quickly brought her up to date. “We have horses at Bayou Cottage!”
“Well, let’s go to see this phenomenon,” she cried. “And wait, is that Alfonso Casson’s boy with Annie?”
“It is. I think I made a match.”
“Everyone has someone. Everyone but Rose.”
“Oh god, you’re not going to drag her over here, are you?” Maggie cried.
“Why not? She is deserving, and there are more single men here than any place else in Louisiana. I’m actually thinking Vic Chastain might be a good match for your mother. What do you think, Justin?”
He rubbed his chin, looking from Maggie to Elizabeth. “I think I’d better reserve judgment.”
“Smart man,” Gus said, climbing back in his boat. “Call me when you want to go back, Betty.”
“I will, Gus.”
They waved to Gus and watched him navigate away from the dock.
“I think he’s interested in my mother now that he can’t have you,” Maggie said.
“Gus’s too old for Rose. He’s pushing eighty, if I remember correctly. No, Vic is perfect. Don’t say anything to him, Justy. I’ll set it up. We have to get Rose over here, first.”
“I moved here to get away, and now it’s like Grand Central,” Maggie cried.
“Ha! You’re denying your own mother a visit?”
“If she comes here and the same day leaves me like you did.”
Elizabeth grabbed her arm and stopped walking. “Are you serious?”
“I’m very serious. All I’ve done since I moved here is try to change the way I feel about people and my life, and you are the one with the most advice for me about it all. And what do you do as soon as there is a chance for us to really get down to the nitty-gritty? You jet to meet Val and leave me in the lurch.”
Stunned, Elizabeth stared at her niece, the wheels obviously turning as she weighed what Maggie had said. Finally, taking her by the shoulders, she looked her right in the eye.
“My dear, you’re absolutely correct. Please forgive me. I will make it up to you, I promise. Now that I’ll be living back here in the cove, I’ll be just as meddling as I’ve always been.”
“You never heard me complain, did you?” Maggie asked, teasingly shaking her off. “Let’s get back to the house before my dog thinks we’ve abandoned her.”
“Ugh, don’t look now,” Justin muttered.
“Jeez, look at Annie and Steve!” Maggie hissed. “That’s gross.”
“Yikes, they didn’t waste any time,” Elizabeth said. “It’s testosterone.”
While Maggie looked on appalled, the newly introduced couple kissed passionately at the side of the cottage, a hint of Annie’s leg up around Steve’s hip.
“Yuck. Well, I don’t care what you call it, I hope she doesn’t think that’s happening in my house tonight.”
“I’m afraid to look,” Justin said, laughing.
“Yes, don’t look. You don’t need any ideas.”
“I wonder what the horse people are thinking right now,” Justin replied.
