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Sue jumped in then. “Lay off, Jo. She’s gotten in touch now and we’re all together. Not every single slight has to be fed and watered until death.”
“Slight? What are y’all talking about?” I couldn’t remember an actual slight. These were my friends, and I wasn’t going to let them hold grudges behind my back that I wasn’t even aware of.
Jo stared hard at me and took a swig of her beer. “It was graduation night, if you must know.”
“From high school?” I blinked. “I don’t remember.”
“That’s the problem. It was one of the worst experiences of my life and you don’t remember. You had a date. Sue had a boyfriend—if you want to call him that.”
“Hey—that’s not fair—” Sue protested, but Jo held up her hand and shushed her.
“I was with a group of our classmates at the after-party on the bayou. I’m not sure where you were, but you missed the part where Jason Mosher tried to kiss me in front of everyone. He was drunk—”
“He was always drunk—” Sue imparted, but again Jo silenced her with a hand.
“Everyone got super quiet when I punched him in the nose. Of course, his go-to was to call me a lesbian, which we know now that I was. I guess several of our classmates probably did too at the time. But I hadn’t come out yet and I’d had a couple beers—enough to be shamed and horrified. I left the party with a bruised hand and no friends who had my back.”
A tear spilled down Jo’s check from her left eye. “Where were you?” she asked me.
Tears filled my eyes, and the oysters suddenly weren’t sitting well. This was the first I’d heard of this. “I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me what happened?”
“You should’ve been there. We were always together at parties. It was our last night.”
I thought about that night specifically then. “I’m pretty sure I was making out with Tommy DuBois in his new truck.” I said it before I realized how ridiculouslyhigh schoolit sounded.
The three of us burst out laughing at the stupidity of it. “Okay, you’re excused then. Tommy washot.” Jo shook her head and wiped the tear away. “But I’ve carried that around for a good long time, as far as grudges go.”
“I know and I’m so sorry. But just so you know, Tommy was a horrible kisser.” Jo was sensitive but she also had a sense of humor, thankfully.
*
Tanner
Tanner wondered howmuch research Lisa had done on her own before bringing the case to him. To them. It shouldn’t be too hard to dig some information up on Lisa’s family, being that they were from Cypress Bayou. One thing was certain; somebody knew something here in town. He wished he still had access to Carson’s filing cabinets filled with everybody’s dirty secrets.
But Tanner had traded working for dirty Carson for working with the exceptionally efficient Carly, who’d become his right hand in a matter of days. He couldn’t imagine moving forward without her. It had happened so quickly. She’d texted several times to get his opinion on website text and graphics, so he knew she was working on getting that set up. He’d sent her a headshot and a few candid photos for social media. They were supposed to meet at the office later today.
The entire time he’d worked at Carson’s law offices, he’d been on his own, both personally and professionally, so it was nice to have someone to bounce ideas off and get opinions.
Plus, he had to admit, she wasn’t hard to look at and she smelled nice. That was something Tanner hadn’t been expecting. An attraction to Carly Bertrand. Little Carly Bertrand. He’d remembered her as a child, always. But now, it was impossible to ignore the fact that she’d grown into a smart, gorgeous woman. He’d need to be careful on that front because it was imperative that he stay a hundred percent professional. They were at the beginning of a very good thing.
Thunderstorms had moved into the area early in the day and as Tanner was working in his trailer currently, the weather was something he had to keep a close eye on. Mostly he was good with rain and a little thunder, but high winds, close lightning, or tornado warnings put him on high alert. He would’ve gone to the office, but the painter was doing some work there today. If things got much more extreme, he’d need to make a move either to Jake and Leah’s loft or the office. Paint or no paint.
A text came in then from Carly:What do you think about this one?
He saw that it was a sample graphic from a web developer. Clean, professional, and updated compared to Carson’s old-fashioned one.
He responded:Looks great.And then, on impulse, he included a thumbs-up emoji, something he never did. He’d hired her on a gut instinct, and so far she’d shown herself to be far more proficient than he’d imagined.
*
Carly
It was stormingtoday. The summer months in most of Louisiana brought frequent afternoon showers as the heat and humidity rose. Today, I worked on my to-do list from Nana’s house. Tanner suggested we work from home since so much of what we were doing right now was online research. He’d hired a painter to freshen up a few areas in the outer office today, though the high humidity wouldn’t help with the paint-drying process. Imogene was put in charge of taking inventory and stocking fresh supplies. Office supplies, cleaning supplies, coffee, et cetera.
Since today was Friday, we would reconvene Monday morning at the office.
Tanner had texted a few times to check in about some of the things we were working on, which made me feel connected to what was happening with Lisa Henry and the information he’d found so far. I couldn’t wait to dig in and research the family, but I was prioritizing websites and social media for the practice.
