Page 35 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

She’d never met a guy like Josh.She was surrounded by blue collar guys who worked with their hands, didn’t mind getting dirty, and who lived near and saw their families on a regular basis.In fact, that described most of the men in her hometown.Elton, Iowa was full of hardworking, family-loving men.Okay, maybe notfull.But there were several.Still, she’d never felt this way about any of them.And she’d known them all a lot longer than she’d known Josh.

He just seemed so…obvious about everything he felt.Whether he was frustrated or happy or turned on, it was clear and he didn’t hold back on expressing it.She loved that.

It was what she loved most about dogs.Most animals, actually.They were very clear about their feelings.If a dog was angry or scared, you knew it.If they were hurt, you knew it.If they were happy to see you, you knew it.Most of all, they were loyal and protective and openly, yes,unabashedlyloving.

Like Josh was.Or seemed to be.She had to keep reminding herself that she didn’t reallyknowhim.But damn, it felt like she did.

Tori grinned up at him.She’d never liked a guy because he reminded her of a dog, but in this case, it was a very good thing.

“I like that smile,” he said, his voice unmistakably affectionate.“Let’s keep that right there for the next several days.”

Tori nodded.“You keep doingthatfrom time to time and I’ll be grinning like an idiot.”

“Can do.Definitely can do.”He hesitated, then took a breath.“Okay, I’m going to go to work.Leo will get you back to the plantation.”His gaze flickered to his grandfather.“Eventually,” he added.“And I’ll see you there tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait.”And suddenly that was true.She’d been dreading all the wedding activities for, oh, about seven months.

“Me too.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.”Kennedy was there behind Tori then, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away from Josh.“Ellie, she’s all yours.”She nudged Tori toward her grandmother.Then she turned Josh and pushed him, much harder, toward the boats.

Josh went, but not without casting a last look over his shoulder at Tori.

Even that made her stomach flip.

“Hoo-ee,” Ellie said, wrapping her arm around Tori’s waist and starting for the dirt path that led from the Boys of the Bayou tour company building to the road.“I’ve never seen him like that.”

“Who?Josh?Really?”Tori asked, tripping onto the road as she tried to look back over her shoulder.

Ellie laughed as she tightened her hold on Tori.“Really.So I’m going to need your life story.”

5

Tori let the other woman lead her across the road to what was clearly a bar.It was a wooden shack, really, but it had neon beer signs in the windows and the sandwich board that sat in the gravel out front said,Today’s Specials: Appetizer-beer, Entrée-beer, Dessert-beer, Soup of the Day-Beer cheese…without the cheese.

“Do we have time for a life story?”Tori asked as Ellie led her into the building.

In contrast to the bright sunshine beating down outside, the bar was dark and Tori’s eyes didn’t adjust very quickly.She vaguely took note of a few booths along the wall to her left and the wooden tables and chairs in the middle of the room, but they were all empty at the moment.She also noticed there was a jukebox, three televisions mounted in the corners of the room—all of them off right now—and a short step up to where the long wooden bar sat.The place smelled like beer, smoke, and bayou.And none of that bothered Tori.In fact, she thought it smelled like a place that had been here for a long time.It was the kind of scent that made people feel at home.Like her barn back in Iowa.

“Well, you’re what?Twenty-six?”Ellie asked.

“Twenty-eight,” Tori told her.

“Ah, well, still I think we can fit in the highlights.”The older woman laughed.She pointed at a stool as she rounded the end of the bar and moved in behind it.

Ellie was about six inches shorter than Tori’s five-seven.She had bright white hair that was braided and wrapped into a bun on top of her head.Her skin was tan and wrinkled with lines that spoke of a life lived outdoors.She wore jeans, tennis shoes, and a T-shirt that saidI put the SIN in Wisconsin.In spite of her white hair and wrinkles, she didn’tseemlike the grandmother to four adult grandchildren.She was clearly feisty and had a sense of humor and she seemed to kind of…glow.She just seemed contented and happy and perpetually amused.Tori liked her already.

The stool Ellie had indicated was right in the middle of the long bar.There were three open seats.The rest were filled with men.All of whom watched every step Tori made.Three were about Ellie’s age, one was roughly Jeremiah’s age, and one was…somewhere in between.With her eye still adjusting to the darker room and with them all dressed in cotton and denim with hats on their heads, it was a little hard to judge ages, actually.

She slid up onto the stool.“You’re from Wisconsin?”

Ellie frowned, then looked down at her shirt.She laughed.“No.People who come in often send me T-shirts when they get back home.”She pulled the shirt away from her body.“Everybody thinks they’re better drinkers than us when they come in here.”

Everyone at the bar chuckled at that.

“They don’tleavehere thinking that, of course,” she said with a wink.

Tori grinned.

---