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“This is a surprise,” Gus said, reaching down for her rope.

“Katrina is moving in to her cottage today.” He offered his hand to help her climb the ladder after they got Brulee out of the boat. “Can you run me up to her? It’s about a quarter mile uptown on Main.”

“Sure. I know where it is. Creole cottage.”

He crouched down to pet Brulee. “How’d it go last night? I was prayin’ for you.”

“Aw, Gus, it was good. He acted real happy. I had the cake with the doll on top. He got it right away. TheCongratulations, Daddywas a tip-off.”

“You don’t seem too good though.”

“No. I’m going through something. Not sure yet what it is. I just need to give myself time.”

After giving Brulee a boost in back, he opened the passenger door for Maggie.

“Did Grace go in today to help Justin? Doc Chastain has a cold, and my mother wasn’t letting him out of her sight.”

Gus frowned. “No, he didn’t ask her. Amber Greely was there today. Ted was in town earlier and said he had to run into New Orleans for supplies, so Amber went over to help because Ted’s office was closed.”

The spoken name,Amber, reverberated in the truck's cab, the feeling like someone had thrown a bucket of hot shit at Maggie. Of course, Gus would know Amber was at Chastain Clinic, working side by side with Justin. Thank God she’d fed Justin breakfast and had sex with him that morning. Hopefully, she’d left nothing for Amber.

It would take the acting job of the century to pretend she didn’t care. She slowly took in a deep breath through her nose, not wanting Gus to see how upset she was. Gus must have known the information would upset her, but it was her right to know. Irrational or not, she needed to keep this immediate reaction a secret.

“I’m going to run into Spencer’s and get treats,” Gus said. “You want anything?”

“I’m good.”

She watched him walking into the store, trying to focus on one thing at a time, not allow her imagination to take over. Nothing she could imagine with Justin and Amber could be good. Amber alone Maggie could tolerate. She could even be a casual friend. But add Justin to the equation, and they would be nothing more than acquaintances.

The hope that Justin’s brother, Dave, would marry her might remove some of the suspicion and jealousy, but probably not. The thought of Justin sharing an intimate conversation about the baby with Amber made Maggie’s gorge rise. Fortunately, putting an end to her mind games, Gus came out just then with two bags of food.

“I smell fried chicken and potatoes,” Maggie said, taking the bags from him.

“Yep, and layer cake and eclairs and ice cream. Do she got a freezer, do you know?”

“Ha! Nope, I don’t know, but don’t worry. I’ll eat the ice cream.”

They drove the few blocks north.

“Oh, look, how cute,” Maggie said when they pulled up to Katrina’s Creole cottage.

“Do you think she’d let me walk through?”

“Come on, Gus. If there was only one person on earth we had to choose to be with us, it would be you.”

He cackled, getting out of the truck and going to the back to leash Brulee up again so she didn’t take off chasing some squirrel.

Empty boxes scattered helter-skelter over the front lawn, the little place too congested to keep both the boxes and contents. “I can do this for her, break down these boxes if she like, and take them to the recycling behind the post office,” Gus said.

Maggie called in to Katrina, and she would be forever grateful if he would do that, but invited them inside for a tour first.

“I’m starving, and you brought food.” Katrina kissed Gus’s cheek. “I’m eating fried chicken at ten thirty in the morning.”

“You an adult; you can eat it whenever you like.”

Katrina led the tour of the beautifully renovated cottage.

“This place is like a magazine shoot,” Maggie said. “That bunk room.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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