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“Are you off duty tonight?”Felina asked, trying to steer the conversation away from her problem.
Deputy Shelby Taylor wore jeans and a white blouse instead of her uniform.“I’m on days this week.I’m meeting Remy here for dinner.”She pulled up a chair and dropped onto it.“What did I miss?”
Felina closed her eyes, knowing the others would bring Shelby up to date on her dilemma.
“Trish stole Marty from Felina,” Danny said.
“And now, they’re getting married,” Gisele added.
“She didn’t steal him from me,” Felina argued.“Apparently, I never owned his heart.He fell in love with Trish.I can’t fault him for that.She’s beautiful and nice.”
“And duplicitous and not your friend if she was having an affair with Marty behind your back.”Gisele’s lips pressed together.
“You’re too kind,” Shelby said.“I’d dump her ass.”
Felina shook her head.“I can’t.I’m the only florist in Bayou Mambaloa.”
All four women stared at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“Please, don’t tell us you’re going to do the flowers for their wedding,” Danny said, shaking her head.
Felina grimaced.“I promised Trish I would.”
“Forget the beer,” Bernie said.“Bring the whiskey.”
Danny marched to the bar, reached over the counter, grabbed a bottle of whiskey and four glasses, plunked them on her tray and hurried back, calling over her shoulder, “I’m taking my break.Don’t bother me for fifteen minutes.”
“Ladies,” Felina said.“I don’t want this to get blown out of proportion.I’m really okay with all of it.”
“Obviously, you’re not, or you wouldn’t be at the Crawdad Hole on a Thursday night.”Danny unscrewed the cap from the whiskey bottle and filled the five glasses.She handed one to Felina while Shelby, Bernie and Gisele snagged a glass for themselves.Danny sank into the seat beside Felina.“Here’s to friends who don’t screw your boyfriend.”
“Hear!Hear!”Bernie, Shelby and Gisele chorused.
Felina’s lips twisted.“I’ll drink, but only because I know the whiskey’s good.And, to be honest, I do need help.”
“And you came to the right place.”Danny drank her glass of whiskey in one long gulp, then plunked the glass on the table.“So, what’s it to be?Want me to put a hit out on Marty?I know a couple of coonasses who’d do it for a bottle of whiskey.”
Shelby pressed her hands to her ears.“I did not just hear that.”
“No,” Felina said.“I just want ideas on...”she fought for the right words, “frankly, how to save face and get my mother off my back.”
Bernie blinked.“Sweetie, you don’t need to save face.”
“She’s right,” Gisele agreed.“If anyone needs to save face, it’s Trish and Marty.”
“You know Bayou Mambaloa,” Felina continued.“Everyone is feeling sorry for me.I’ll be the biggest, most pathetic loser at Trish’s wedding.If I had dumped Marty, it would be different.He dumped me; therefore, I’m the loser.”
Gisele shook her head.“Felina, you have it all wrong.You’re the winner.Marty didn’t deserve you.”
“She’s right,” Shelby said.“You dodged a major bullet.”
“I know that,” Felina said.“But my mother and the rest of our little gossipy town are feeling sorry for me.I don’t want that.I need a plan to look strong, not weak.”
“Then why did you agree to do the flowers for their wedding?”Gisele demanded.
“Yeah,” Danny said.“You should’ve told them to shove it here the sun won’t shine.”
How did she get through to her well-meaning friends that she didn’t want to come off as mad or vindictive?“I want to appear to be happy for them.But not in a pathetic way.”
