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“We?” He wasn’t sure what she was trying to say. He didn’t know Sienna well enough to read her yet. It was funny because he could already tell Jayna’s moods from the set of her shoulders, the way her lips pursed.
“People like me and Jayna and my mom. Like my cousins. I’m worried, Quaid.”
“Worried about the classes? You know there is going to be plenty of time for you to study. We aren’t all that busy.”
“No, it’s not that,” she replied with a shake of her head. “I’m going to do my best. I promise you that. I appreciate this opportunity, and I know I’m going to make it work for me and my girls. I’m worried about the way my sister looks at you.”
“How does she look at me?” His walls crept back up. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Sienna warning him off her sister. He thought he could be good for Jayna. He knew she was starting to be good for him.
“The same way she did when she was seventeen.”
“I feel bad that I didn’t recognize her. In my defense,she’s changed quite a bit. I overlooked her in high school, but I also overlooked anything that wasn’t football and whatever cheerleader I was dating at the time. And beer. I drank a lot of beer in those days.” Those had been the last days of his freedom, but then that was pretty much the point of high school. When he’d gone to college, he’d had to buckle down and do the real work. He’d put football behind him and studied and worked with his father.
His writing had become the only outlet he had, and he hadn’t shared it with anyone except unknown editors and now Jayna.
“She’s being a drama llama about people not recognizing her. She looks nothing like she did in high school. That is so not her natural hair color. She made sure she didn’t look like she used to and honestly, she was pretty obnoxious back then. Jayna couldn’t wait to get out and didn’t mind letting everyone know how fast she was going to run.”
“A lot of kids feel that way.”
“Probably, but they also likely weren’t as vocal as Jayna about how awful everything was. But she was a kid. She’s gotten far better at hiding her disdain.” Sienna sighed. “Or maybe she’s older and wiser and not as disdainful as she used to be. I know our relationship is much better now. Sometime after she got married and I had Kelly and then Ivy, she reached out and we got close again. She wouldn’t come home, but she called and invited us to New Orleans. She became someone I could depend on. So I need to look out for her.”
He could understand that. If he was close to his brother, he would likely do the same. “I see her quite well now. I’m not the same idiot I was back then.”
Sienna’s lips pursed in almost the same expression Jayna got when she was about to get stubborn. “No, but you’re still a Havery and she’s a Cardet.”
“Why would that be a problem?” He wasn’t sure where she was going. “I’m going to admit that I’m attracted to your sister. I would like to have a relationship with her while she’s here in town. We’ve talked about it, and she’s been upfront about the fact that she’s going to leave at some point.”
Sienna nodded. “She worked so hard to get out of this town when she was a kid. She’ll leave as soon as she possibly can.”
“Or maybe she’ll see that this isn’t such a bad place.”
“I doubt that very much, but that’s not the problem. The problem is your mother. I know that you don’t care that the Cardets aren’t exactly the town’s elite family, but your mother will. She’s not going to be happy about you pursuing Jayna.”
Of course. He should have known. “What has she done?”
“Nothing yet, but she will. Do you remember a couple of years ago when you were dating a woman named Sally LaBon?” Sienna asked.
Sally had worked at the local bank. She’d been fun to be around, but it hadn’t gone anywhere. Like most of his relationships. “Of course. Sally was a nice woman. We went out for a couple of months but it didn’t get serious, and she broke things off. I think she married and moved to Houma with her new husband.”
“Yes. She got married two years ago. But she didn’t break things off with you because she didn’t think you were moving fast enough. She broke it off because of all the talk that she wasn’t good enough for you, that you would never get serious about a woman of her class.”
That got his brows to rise. “Her class? That’s ridiculous. Do people still think that way?”
“Some do. There was a lot of talk when Rene Darois married Sylvie Martine. Some people wondered if she married him for his money.”
“They shouldn’t wonder that around Rene. Or me for that matter.” He didn’t like the thought of anyone questioning Sylvie.
“Sylvie’s family is well thought of. Marcelle is a pillar of the community, but there was still some talk. It was the same when Seraphina Guidry married Celeste Beaumont’s nephew, and everyone loves the Guidrys. It’s going to be worse for Jayna because our family has a bad reputation. We’re mostly considered trash since our relatives are in and out of jail. Jayna’s the first Cardet to ever go to college, much less law school.”
He hadn’t thought about her family beyond the fact that she obviously loved her sister. “I don’t think that at all. There’s not a concern in my mind that Jayna Cardet wants my money. Well, she’s serious about the steak. The woman is hungry, but I’m not concerned about it if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I just have to think that part of why my sister wanted out of here was because of how we were perceived growing up. We were those trashy Cardets. It’s better now, but things change slowly. One of the reasons I’m here is I want out of that trailer. I want a different home for my girls.”
“There’s nothing wrong with living in a trailer.”
“Says the man who grew up in a mansion,” she replied quietly. “I know that poverty isn’t a moral failing, but some people treat it like it is. Jayna worked hard and got herself out. Having to come home with her tail between her legs has been difficult on her. I would hate for there to be a bunch of gossip that would make it worse.”
He tensed, realizing what she might be saying. “Are you asking me to stay away from your sister?”
