Page 20 of Bayou Sunset

Well, here goes nothing.“You.”

Chapter Eleven

DAISY MAE FELT like she might have choked on her beer if she had taken a sip when Steve uttered his unexpected words. She had harbored the hope that he had deep feelings for her and couldn’t bear to be apart from her. However, she had long moved on from that schoolgirl fantasy. Over time, she had become more grounded in reality, fully aware that their relationship could never evolve beyond friendship.

Pointing a thumb at her chest, she asked, “Moi?”

Before Steve could respond, Alice eagerly waved and called out to them. “Bonjour, Daisy Mae,” she greeted as she smoothly slid into the booth next to Daisy Mae. “Bonjour, Steve.”

Looking green around the gills, Steve nodded. “Bonjour.”

Mais non!Daisy Mae silently requested that Alice leave the room. She and Steve needed to conclude their conversation, and Daisy Mae was eager to understand why Steve had accused her of keeping him away when she’d offered to go with him. Was that why he stayed away? Because he thought she’d try again to convince him to take her with him.

Little did he know, she’d grown from that little girl who’d thrown herself at her first crush to keep from losing him.

Marie—their waitress, appeared with a beer for her sister and then disappeared without a word.

Daisy Mae picked up her beverage. “Drinking on duty?” she asked Alice.

Alice took a long drag on the beer. “Shift be jus’ done.”

“I thought ya was here ta take our statements.” Daisy Mae said.

Nodding, Alice turned to Daisy Mae. “I be. I decided ta do it off duty ta have a drink together. It's been forever since Steve be in town.”

Daisy Mae felt a surge of burning jealousy coursing throughher veins. Although Steve was not her beau, she did not want him to be only a friend. Given his nickname, “Romeo,” she suspected that he had the power to seduce any woman he desired.

In a fit of childishness, she wanted to cross her arms over her chest and pout to get Steve’s attention. Instead, she kept Alice’s focus on her by retelling the day’s events.

Alice made notes in a small notebook. When Daisy Mae finished, Alice asked, “Steve, da ya have anyting ta add?”

Steve shifted. “Non.”

Alice put the notebook in her uniform breast pocket and shook her head. “I no believe we've got some rogue shooter out dere. We no can have dat in our waters.”

“Mais,” Daisy Mae said, “I not sure it were a rogue.”

Tilting her head in interest, Alice asked, “How so?”

Daisy Mae met Steve’s eyes as he shook his head in disapproval. Disregarding her brothers’ insistence on secrecy, she had already confessed to Alice about the map. “We were treasure hunting,” she explained, refusing to let anyone deter her from the truth.

Alice clamped her lips tight before speaking. “Is dat de map ya told us ’bout?”

Without looking at Steve and receiving his disapproval, Daisy Mae nodded.

“I sure would like to git me hands on it and see if it be da stolen one.”

Daisy Mae took that like a slap in the face. Her spine went ramrod straight. “Are ya saying mefrèresare thieves? Dey be many things, but thieves dey no be.”

Alice put up a hand that halted Daisy Mae’s words. “Hoo boy, I no say dat.”

Daisy Mae harumphed. That's precisely what her friend had said.

Why didn’t Steve defend her brothers? He looked as though he would rather be anywhere but there. At that moment, Daisy Mae realized that he had misspoken when he said he only stayed away because of her. That wasn’t what he’d meant at all.

Ready to finish her conversation with Steve, Daisy Mae asked to be let out of the booth, surprising Alice and Steve as she realized they’d never get a private moment together at the bar. “Steve, ya ready ta git back to dabateau?”

He quickly straightened up and nodded, mirroring Alice’s movement as she rose from her seat. Steve had barely exchanged three words with Alice. She couldn’t help but feel that her friend was somewhat undeserving of the tinge of jealousy that she felt.

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