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“Well, I didn’t think your response to a couple hours of me being out of touch would be hopping on a jet to come halfway across the country a week before you’re supposed to. The service out here is spotty at best. I explained that to you.” She’d gathered up her sketchpad and what had been left of lunch. “I wasn’t ignoring your calls. I know better than to do that.”
“Don’t make me sound like some overbearing stage mother.” She completely ignored the fact that there was a fifty-pound overly stimulated dog barking like mad ten feet from her.
Brynn stared at her.
“Fine. I am, but there are reasons for the stereotype,” her mother insisted. “I do it all to protect you and help you grow your career. You cannot grow your career if you die in the middle of a swamp with some man I don’t even know.”
She had no idea why her mom had chosen this moment to let her overly protective freak flag fly. While Dolly jumped around trying to get some attention, Duke settled in between Brynn and her mother, silently watching the scene play out. He never liked it when they were at odds, so Brynn tried to sound less annoyed than she actually was. “He’s a deputy. He knows this place like the back of his hand. I was and am perfectly safe.”
Her mom looked down the dock to where Major stood talking to the sheriff. Ally was still down there, her phone up, taking pictures of everything like it was part of her job. Which it was. “I doubt that you were safe. You can be very naive about men. I knew that man would be trouble the minute I saw his rather muscular ass.”
“What?”
It was her mother’s turn to stare. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you? I should have listened to Ally. She said you were clueless about this. Do you get no media out here? Have you not been watching your socials?”
“I pay Ally to watch my socials.” She didn’t need to read comments about how pretty she was, because they also inevitably came with comments about how fat she was or how she was attempting to enforce an unattainable beauty standard on the rest of the world. Ally loved dealing with that stuff. It never seemed to bother her, even on her own socials.
Her mom sighed. “I should have known you wouldn’t even be looking when something fabulous happened. You went viral, darling. We need to jump on this now. I’ve got all the morning shows fighting over who gets to talk to you first.”
Brynn was so confused. “Why would I go . . .” It hit her forcibly. Major had told her there was a camera out in those woods. A nature cam that caught the whole thing. But from what he’d said it was something the Papillon Parish Animal Services Department did to get kids interested in nature, and it almost never caught anything interesting. “How did it get out? I can’t imagine there are a bunch of eyes on that website.”
Her mother rubbed a hand over Brynn’s cheek, a familiar gesture of her affection. “Well, there are now, and this tiny town should thank you. You’re going to put it on the map.”
She wasn’t sure they wanted to be on any map her mother would consider worthy of her time. “Okay, so let me get this straight. Someone found the video footage of me helping Major out of the mud, it’s gone viral, and you really came here because you want me to go on a bunch of news shows to get publicity out of it.”
Her mother frowned. “Well, I was also deeply worried about you. If they’d told me there was quicksand out here, I would never have allowed you to come alone. I would have sent a bodyguard with you.”
“A bodyguard to protect me from mud?”
“Or a highly rated nature guide,” her mom argued. “The point is this place is dangerous, and you shouldn’t be out here all by yourself. I know you’re trying to get into the role, but your safety comes first. You know rural people have odd ways.”
Her mom was going to be such a hit in this town. “And city folk get vampire facials. Mom, it’s a nice small town. It’s not some horror show where they’re going to sacrifice me to keep their crops going.”
Her mother’s expression changed. Well, as much as it ever changed, because she was serious about frown lines.
Brynn rolled her eyes. “No, we’re not making that movie. It’s already been done. Wicker Man.”
“Never mind. The point is we’re here now and you’re safe.” She glanced around. “What is this place and why are you here? The sheriff person said something about butterflies.”
“It’s what they call the island. I was out here relaxing.”
