Page 17 of Sweet Home Louisiana

Maddie looked at her.“I mean, I like Sawyer a lot, too.But he always backed Tommy up when he was telling me what to do and not to do.And Ellie’s great, of course, but she doesn’t let you get away with anything.Leo is probably my second favorite.He’s funny and sweet.”

“He’s cantankerous and full of shit,” Kennedy said of her grandpa, but her smile was nothing but affectionate.

“Well, there’s that, too,” Maddie agreed with a laugh.

“But no way any of them are your favorite,” Kennedy said.She got a sly smile on her face.“You never burned anything down for any ofthem.”

Maddie sighed.“I’m never going to live that down.”

“Are you kidding?”Kennedy said.“It’s a fantastic story.Especially since it’s Owen.”

Tori nodded.“Owen is so laid-back and charming and friendly.I can’t imagine someone getting that worked up over him.And vice versa.”

Yeah, well, she and Owen had always created sparks.Figuratively and literally.

“Crazy,” Maddie said.“It’s someone getting thatcrazybecause of him.”

Tori grinned.“Yeah.I mean, he’s awesome and the girls seem to really like him.And I get it.He’s hot.And the charming thing,” she added.

Maddie sighed.Oh, she wassurethe girls liked Owen.She had no trouble at all believing that Josh and Owen were the main attraction for a lot of the swamp boat tours.They did a lot of bachelorette parties and groups of girls in town for spring break, Mardi Gras and St.Patrick’s Day and…hell, most major holidays.Even girls who came with groups of friends or their families would, no doubt, find the view at the front of the swamp boat even more enticing than anything they’d see in the bayou.From her rare phone calls with her brother, she knew that Tommy had been the more serious, business guy.He’d led most of the fishing and hunting parties.Sawyer tended to take the families with kids out.He liked to take more of an educational angle, teaching the kids about the animals and plants and history.Josh and Owen were the party guys.

“But he’s just so easygoing,” Tori said.“I’d assume he’d be pretty great at apologizing and talking you out of a snit if he did something wrong.”

Kennedy laughed.“She didn’t burn the shed down because of somethingOwendid.”

“No?”Tori turned wide, interested eyes to Maddie.“Then why?”

“She wasdefendinghim,” Kennedy said.

Tori’s mouth formed a little “o.”“Tell me,” she said pleadingly to Maddie.

Maddie shrugged.Looking back, she’d gone over-the-top, but she still remembered how she felt when Owen’s mom told her that Wade had shown up on their front porch.“My ex-boyfriend threatened him after we broke up.”

“Did you break up with him because of Owen?”Tori asked, softly, almost as if she was hoping that was the answer.

Maddie nodded and Tori let out a happy sigh.

Maddie wasn’t sure if she should laugh or roll her eyes.Clearly Tori was one of them now.If she was into big huge displays of this-is-mine-and-you’d-better-back-off, then she was in the right place.

The story was public knowledge.Maddie had no doubt it had grown a little over the years, but it didn’t have to grow much to be pretty entertaining.Twelve years later she could look back and mostly just roll her eyes.She was a little embarrassed by the whole thing, of course, but in Autre, where over-the-top was a way of life, she was a bit of a celebrity because of her overreaction on Owen’s behalf.

Of course, outside of Autre was something else altogether.She wouldn’t want anyone outside of Autre to know about her past actions.The owner of the art gallery where she worked thought she was a sophisticated, composed, intelligent woman.So did her few girlfriends, the men she dated, her co-workers, really everyone.Because that was exactly who she was.Outside of Autre.

Tori leaned her elbows in on the bar and looked at Maddie eagerly.“What did he do?What did you do?What didOwendo?”She glanced over to where Owen was helping set up for the “partner meeting”.

Maddie reached out and swiped one of Kennedy’s fries and popped it in her mouth.She chewed for a moment, regarding Tori.She was involved with Josh.Josh was the least intense of the Landry guys.He was fun and friendly and flirtatious, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a little larger-than-life in him.Tori had also been around these people now for three months.Nothing Maddie was going to say would shock her.In fact, it almost seemed that she would be delighted.

Maddie swallowed and brushed her hands together.“Okay, here’s the story.Wade was being an asshole at the Valentine’s Day party we went to.He kept saying that the only present he wanted from me was sex.I kept telling him no, he kept drinking and the more drunk he got, the more insistent he got.Finally, I’d had enough and called Owen to come and get me.He, of course, came right away.I didn’t tell him what had happened until we got to my house but after I did, he dropped me off and went right back to find Wade.I wasn’t there for that but there were lots of witnesses.Owen pretty much threatened to rip Wade’s dick off if he ever said anything inappropriate to me again.”

Tori’s eyes were predictably wide and Maddie felt herself smiling.She shouldnotenjoy remembering or telling this story.But dammit, she kind of was.

“I found out about it pretty much as it was happening and I went straight to Owen’s house.”

“To yell at him?”Tori asked, leaning in.

“To kiss him,” Maddie said.

She grinned at Tori’s delighted, “Yes.”

---