Page 38 of Sweet Home Louisiana

“Or maybe they could give us a ride back to New Orleans,” Natalie inserted.“We could hang out at the bar across the street until they’re done.”

Lacey, clearly having decided that Kennedy and Maddie were their confidants, leaned in with a big smile.“Maybe you get these requests all the time.But, between us girls—and I’m sure you know this since you work with them—Josh and Owen and Tommy are amazing.We couldreallyuse just a night to kick back and…relax…with them.”

Maddie didnotwant to know how the three guys-two-girls-relaxing-thing had gone down.Definitely not.In fact, she felt a little ill.

“You met them this past Christmas?”She’d been under the impression that Josh had met Tori last Mardi Gras and had been waiting on her the entire year in between then and now.

“Christmas before that.Like a year and a few months,” Lacey said.

Ah, so they would have met about two months before he met Tori.Got it.

They did, actually get a good number of people requesting certain captains on return trips to Boys of the Bayou.But it came equally from all age groups and both genders.Okay, maybe not exactly equally, but it wasn’t just the young, pretty tourists making requests.

“That trip was thebest,” Natalie said.“We came down to see Lacey’s grandma—she lives in Mandeville.So we decided to go to New Orleans for the weekend, saw an ad for swamp boat tours and came down for the day.And—” She sighed.“Had thebesttime.”

Lacey nodded.“So, you can help us out, right?Come on.There’s just one of each of us.Surely we could squeeze onto their boats.”

Maddie didn’t think the girl had said “boats” with any innuendo, but Maddie heard it that way and curled her hand into a fist.She couldn’t slap a customer.That would be really bad.

“Yeah, their boats are nice andbig,” Natalie agreed with a giggle.

Okay, so shehadmeant the innuendo.The strength of the jealousy that ripped through Maddie shocked her.But there was no denying it.The idea that one of these girls had even touched Owen made Maddie see red.

In the back of her mind, it registered that maybe she should feel weird about their intimate knowledge of her brother as well, but really her desire to punch someone in the nose was all about Owen.

Punching her would still be bad, but Maddie wasn’t going to be here in a couple more weeks, so maybe the harm wouldn’t be that great…

“Well—” Kennedy looked at Maddie.“Do you want to tell them or should I?”

Maddie saw the twinkle in Kennedy’s eye.Kennedy was going to keep these girls off of Josh and Owen’s boats, but she was giving Maddie the chance to be the one to come up with how.She really loved this girl.

Okay, maybe she didn’t need to punch anyone.

Maddie sighed and nodded, trying to look sorry.“We can definitely book you on one of their tours, but I think we should be honest with you—you know, between us girls.”

Lacey looked at her.“Honest about what?”

“Well, for one thing, Tommy isn’t here anymore,” Maddie said.Her heart clenched as she said it.

“Oh, he quit?”Natalie asked, with a tiny frown.

Maddie nodded.That was a lot better story for them.She wasn’t going to tell these girls what had really happened.“Yeah, he’s not with the company anymore.”

Kennedy shifted on the tall stool and Maddie knew she was uncomfortable.

“And Josh is married,” Maddie said, rushing to change the subject from Tommy’s absence.

“He’smarried?”Lacey asked.“Really?”

Well, close enough.Maddie nodded.“Madly in love.Met her about two months after he met you and she just erased all other women from his heart and memory.”

All completely true.

Lacey frowned and looked at Natalie.“Sorry, Nat.”

Ah, so Natalie was the one who’d been friendly with Josh.Which meant Lacey had been Owen’s “friend” for the weekend.

Maddie hated her.

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