AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I wanted to say goodnight to Katrina,” she said, in her little voice, looking curiously at the adults. She went to Katrina, not Calista. “I was afraid you’d leave before I had a chance.”
Reaching for her hand, Katrina went with her and guided her out of the room. “Let’s see where you sleep when you’re not on the boat.”
“Are you interested?” Pris asked, looking up at her.
Was she? “I guess I am,” Katrina said, hugging her. “I guess I am.”
***
Sunday night, Randy Benedict and Beverly Casson sat on the covered screen porch off the kitchen of the house that Alfonso had built, eating dinner that she’d prepared for him.
“This is just delicious,” he said. “I feel like I’ve had a meal at a five-star restaurant.”
“It’s just fried fish,” she said. “My old standby. You live down the street from the fishing boats, you eat a lot of fish.”
“It’s mighty fine. As a matter of fact, the last twenty-four hours has been the best day I’ve had in a long time.”
“I forgot how fun canoeing is, especially in the creek where there are gators.”
He reached over for her hand. “I’m not afraid to say it, a man my age, but this is love at first sight for me.”
“Randy, that’s so very sweet, but I’m not divorced yet,” Beverly said, concerned.
“I don’t care about that. Well, I care if you reconcile. That would hurt mighty big. But since he’s gone and you said it might be forever, I’m not afraid to let myself go.”
She took his hand. “Randy, I really like you. I think this could be something good for both of us. But until I’m divorced, I have to try not to get too involved. I mean, I’ll see you as much as you want and that kind of thing, but we’d better not live together. I’m not sure what will happen to my house.”
“Okay, I gotcha. You have a lot at stake.”
“Just the house, just my share of the hardware store. I need my share of the income.”
“I gotcha,” he said. “I’m in no rush. And just remember, we always have my house to go to. It’s farther north but still in Cypress Cove. You know that little subdivision that never really took off? We bought in there.”
“You’ll have to take me there sometime. We looked at those houses before we decided to build here.”
“You made the better choice,” he said.
She took their plates into the kitchen and came back out, wiping her hands on a dishcloth.
“So, do you want to join me in the bedroom?” she asked. “I want to make up for lost time.”
“I’d love to! I guess this makes me about the luckiest guy alive.”
Grinning, he took her hand and let her lead the way.
***
While Sunday football played on the TV, Alfonso Casson snoozed on the couch, and his new, live-in girlfriend lounged in the recliner, reading a novel on an iPad while munching on caramel popcorn they’d purchased from a vendor last night. After the parade, the evening had been fabulous. The years with her fisherman husband had never included much fanfare during carnival. He’d decorate his boat for the Lights on the Cove Boat Parade on the weekend before Mardi Gras, but that was it. There was no dress-up, no costumes, no marching in the parade. They’d do a picnic on the sidewalk with other families from the kids’ school, and then after the parade went by, it was time for home and bed.
Being on the arm of the master of ceremonies like she was last night made up for all the disappointing carnival parades she’d gone to since marrying Alphé. When they had left the apartment last night to get on the first float in the parade, where they waved to the crowd, she’d seen her kids on the sidewalk, eating fried chicken with their neighbors. There was a moment of shame, but it quickly passed when Al pulled her along.
“Come on, Lola, we need to get on the float.”
She’d never asked him what had changed. Just a week ago, he’d said he never divorce his wife, and then suddenly, there they were, living together, with Alfonso saying he was filing for a legal separation.
At the barn dance, seeing Alphé with the beautiful redhead, she felt silly. Her husband was well read for being a fisherman, and she felt a little embarrassed for Alfonso, who didn’t know the characters until she reminded him of Marlon Brando’s role in the two movies. He wouldn’t know the play.
She wondered what was going on at her house,Alphé’shouse. She’d driven by earlier and saw her sister-in-law Calista’s car there, as well as the girlfriend’s fancy Porsche. A weird sense of being left out passed over her, and she quickly ignored it. It was the first weekend in a long, long time that she didn’t have to do laundry or cook meals or get four kids ready for school. But tomorrow morning she’d be there to see them off; it was the deal she’d made with Alphé to get her freedom.
