Page 41 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

“And once you’re part of the Landry family, you’re part of the Autre family.And vice versa.”This came from Ellie as she set a plate down in front of Tori.

Tori thought about her own hometown.There were a lot of people there she knew she could count on.They would help her out if she asked.They’d believe her if she told them she was having a problem.But would they swoop in and literally carry her out of a situation?Would they take a black eye or broken nose for her?Would they line up their pickups on the road, blocking an entire group of people from entering the town for her?

No.

They’d encourage her to go to the police, probably.They’d talk badly about the other people, possibly, over coffee at the diner.They might offer her money.They might even call the policeforher.But they wouldn’t necessarily put themselves on the line, physically, repeatedly, personally, for her.

But, again, she thought that might be normal.

Jumping into pickups and grabbing shotguns and immediately being prepared to actually physicallyfightsomeone was maybe not the go-to for most people.She didn’t think this Montague-Capulet-standoff thing was typical.At least not as the initial reaction to something.It was passionate.That was for sure.And a little over-the-top.

And, dammit, there was something really nice about it.It wasn’t rational and it wasn’t following any kind of proper procedure.But it got the job done.And there was something about having someone so into you that they’d do whatever it took to help you.Something about having someone on her side with such an ardent group of people on their side, just because of whohewas.

She thought it said a lot about Jeremiah that the entire town was ready to rally behind him even if he’d been overreacting.

Maybe Landrys just overreacted naturally.

Maybe people from Autre did.

Hell, maybe it was a Cajun thing.

“That is…something,” she finally said.

“So now you understand,” Ellie said.She handed Tori a fork.

“Understand what exactly?”Tori asked, taking the fork.The aroma from the crawfish pie was making her mouth water.

“Not to be surprised by anything,” Ellie said.

“Anything about Josh?”Tori asked.“Or the town?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah said with a chuckle.

“All of it?”Tori took a bite of the pie.And moaned.Out loud.She couldn’t help it.

Cora looked pleased.

“Any of it,” Leo said.“You can be…amazed.But don’t be surprised.You’ve been warned.”

Tori took another big bite and thought about the difference between amazed and surprised.Yep, amazed sounded good.She nodded.“I’ll try.”

“And now you better scoot,” Ellie said.“If you’re not back to the plantation on time, Josh’ll kick Leo’s ass.”

Tori took another quick bite, not at all prepared to leave the crawfish pie unfinished.The flaky crust and the tender seafood and the spices…she might move down here just for this pie.“He’d fight hisgrandfather?”she asked after she’d swallowed.

“He’ll kick his ass at poker,” Ellie said with a wink.

“Can he do that?”she asked Leo.

He shrugged.“Yeah.We usually team up to just be sure Kennedy loses, but if I get in Josh’s sights, I’ll lose a shit ton.”

Tori wanted to keep them talking until she could finish the pie.“You guys gang up on Kennedy?”

“That girl needs to be humbled as often as possible,” Leo said with a nod.

“And it takes them all teaming up to beat her at poker,” Jeremiah said, clearly proud of his daughter.

“It’s all you guys’ fault she’s so feisty,” Ellie said pointing at Jeremiah and Leo.“She’s terribly intelligent.Then you both and her brothers neverlether win a damned thing, so she became something even more difficult to beat.”

---