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He hugged her with one arm as they approached the dock. Bending down, he scratched Brulee behind the ears again. “Good girl,” he mumbled, wishing they would just get married and get it over with. He loved her so much, her and her little dog.

She grabbed his arm in front of Gus and kissed him on the lips. “I’ll see you after work,” she said, winking.

Helping Brulee get into the boat, Justin and Gus made small talk, throwing the lines to Maggie. The boat started right up as usual, and they watched and waved as she pulled away from the dock, headed home.

“Talk to you later, Gus,” Justin said, moving down the sidewalk to the post office. He’d count the minutes until he could be with Maggie again.

On the cool, fall day, the ride back to Bayou Cottage reminded Maggie of childhood visits with her grandparents, and boat rides where she’d get splashed with cold mist as her grandfather sped home from the village. She rounded the bend, and there, nailed to the end of the dock, was her new mati, or Greek evil eye, painted on plywood so she could tell which dock was hers since they all looked the same from the water. It replaced the original that her grandfather Lonnie Langtry had painted, now hanging over her fireplace.

“Brulee, we’re home.”

Popping her head up, the excitement of arriving anywhere always thrilled the dog, and her tail wagged. Just once, she’d jumped out of the boat into the water to swim to the shore, but Maggie’s wails and crying put an end to that, and she never did it again.

Pulling the boat up to the dock, she got a little closer to the shore to make room for Gus’s visit later. After tying up, she loaded all the groceries on the dock. She’d have to make a couple of trips to haul everything up to the house. Checking her watch, it was getting late. Getting the turkey in the oven was key.

“Come on, miss. You’re staying inside while I haul this loot in.”

She got Brulee in the cottage and made two more trips. The bag of ice went into the bay.

Inside the cottage, she began her preparations for Justin’s dinner. After she stuffed the turkey and wrestled it into the oven, she began preparing the fruit for the apple pie, peeling the apples and slicing them perfectly. She was measuring out sugar and spices when Brulee woofed at the familiar sound of Gus’s outboard, the distinctive clicking of a sticky valve.

“Gus is here!” she shouted, pushing the bowl back so Brulee wouldn’t help herself to the apples.

Letting the screen door bang, she ran back down to the dock, with Brulee at her heels.

“Gus! You’re just in time for lunch,” she called.

“I brought it all, even coffee,” he said, grinning.

She went to the side of his boat, and he lifted a cardboard cup holder up for her to take, and gathered familiar grocery bags together to bring inside.

“You and me will pay Spencer’s rent today,” he said, chuckling.

“Aw, you didn’t have to bring food.”

“I know. It’s a celebration though.”

“I can’t wait,” she squealed, jumping up into the air a little bit.

“I can’t either. I’m going to marry Grace.”

“Gus! How exciting!” she shouted, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “What! When?”

“Ha! I’ll cover everything when we get inside.”

They got the items in the kitchen, and she set out unpacking his bags. “Oh my god, I love tuna hoagies from Spencer’s. They really have the best deli.”

“Miss Spencer told me that’s your favorite.”

“She did, did she? Well, she’s right. What else is in here? Cake! And eclairs.”

“We’ll have coffee and eclairs for dessert. Celebrations call for eclairs.”

“Did you already ask her? Are you engaged?”

“We decided to forfeit the engagement. We’re too old. I’m nearly, well, you know how old I am. I’m almost eighty, fer dern sake, and Grace is seventy. We just want to get married and live together so no one will make fun of us shacking up at our age.”

“Grrrr, I just hate that. You know I overheard Mr. Casson saying something nasty about my mother and Doc Chastain. He said it in front of me.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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