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The pros definitely outweighed the cons. Checking the time, she wanted to get started on the vegetable garden she grew every year that supplied a substantial amount of the food they ate. If she moved in with Alphé, she’d just transfer the seedlings over to his place.
There was an old rusty shed at the rear of her property. Heading out to get her hoe, she stepped off the steps and looked up just as Austin pulled into her driveway. Shaking her head, she didn’t know if she should call 9-1-1 or just see what he wanted. Not able to help herself, he was so handsome, her heart melted. The ugly things he had done didn’t change that.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said. “Don’t get out of the car, or I’ll call the sheriff.”
“I can’t stay away,” he cried.
“Austin, you have a problem. I just told you a half hour ago to stay away, and here you are. You’re not thinking!”
“When I said I loved you, Calista, I meant it. I’m jealous of Alphé.”
“You have no reason to be,” she said, knowing that maybe Austin was onto something she hadn’t seen.
“I never trusted him, Calista. Even when we were kids, Alphé was sneaky. He was then, and he is now.”
“You’re imagining it, Austin. Just leave. I’ll consider what you are saying if you’ll leave.”
“Promise me?”
“I’m not promising you anything.”
He watched her for a few seconds, scaring her he might jump out of the car and attack her, but soon she heard the motor starting, and he backed out of her driveway. Waving to her, he really looked pathetic, but it didn’t move her. Quickly, she decided; no matter what, she’d stick with Alphé.
At the end of a dirt road littered with mud puddles every few feet, a new wrought-iron gate with the initials BC barred the way to Bayou Cottage. If you had binoculars, you’d see a beautiful woman in shorts, cowboy boots and a white shirt grooming a chestnut horse. A construction zone stood out, the beginnings of a barn that had started out to be a simple structure and morphed into a six-stall horse barn with a small, self-contained apartment above and a larger space in front of the barn that would be the satellite of Chastain Veterinary Clinic.
East of the barn, a double-wide trailer surrounded by a cedar picket fence hidden in a wood, its yard divided into sections: a burro and a miniature horse in one, six large dogs in another, a pig and four medium-sized dogs in the third. A large gravel parking lot on the east side of the trailer took up a quarter acre of land reached by making a right-hand turn at the wrought-iron gate. Although on the weekends the parking lot was often full, today there were two cars.
Amber Greely watched Maggie working with Justin’s horses for a while, a weird combination of admiration, jealousy and sadness clouding her thoughts, and then made the right-hand turn to get to the rescue. The dogs announced her arrival.
“Oh, Jesus God, look who just pulled in,” Kelly Casson cried.
Annie got up off the floor, where she was bottle feeding more puppies, to look out the window. “Ugh, I wonder what she wants.”
Amber was a veterinary technician student who was doing an internship at Kelly’s boyfriend, Ted Leblanc’s veterinary clinic.
“Maybe she’s bringing something from Ted. He said he got a ton of samples of puppy and kitten formula that are about to expire.”
Carrying an enormous box of supplies, Amber stood at the public entrance and knocked. “You go,” Annie said. “I’m not in the mood.”
Kelly giggled and opened the door. “Wow, is this what I think it is?”
“You got puppies?” Amber asked. “I got formula.”
“Well, isn’t that nice. Come in.”
Kelly took the box from her. “I’ll put this away.”
“Annie,” Amber said, acknowledging her. “Boy, you look great.”
Frowning, Annie looked at her reflection in the window. “I do? Thank you. I feel like a blimp.”
“Tiny women say that when they are pregnant. Us big amazons just look bigger.”
“Are you trying to tell us something?” Kelly asked, grinning as she came back into the room.
“Oh, hell no. I want a family, but Dave isn’t ready. On Sunday, Justin announced Maggie was expecting. You two friends will have babies close together.”
“We grew up together, and now our children will, too.”
