Page 62 of Sweet Home Louisiana

She looked down at the bottle of whiskey in her arms.She could just take that back to Cora’s and medicateherself.

But Owen was sick.That truly did concern her.She was going to go check on him because the only other person who might was Sawyer.He worried about everyone.Which probably meant that Owen, and everyone else, was keeping his illness a secret from Sawyer.

Maddie turned in the direction of Owen’s house, thinking about all of the people in his life.His mom, Callie, would check on him, of course, but she was living in New Orleans with her new boyfriend, according to Kennedy.She’d apparently started dating again after Owen graduated high school.As a kid, rather than wanting Callie all to himself and scaring potential suitors off, Owen had always encouraged her to date.He’d wanted her to fall in love, not because he wanted a dad—he truly had several awesome men in his life, including her own father—but because he wanted Callie to have someone who doted on her like he saw all the other men doing with their wives.Josh and Sawyer and Kennedy’s mom and dad were a true love story and it was clear even now how crazy they were about each other.Maddie’s grandpa had been Cora’s soul mate.Maddie and Tommy’s mom and dad had been, obviously, a wild love story, too.Love—big, crazy love—was all around them here and Owen had wanted that for his mom.

But she’d never even looked.Not until he was older.Maddie smiled thinking about Callie finally finding someone.She was happy for her.And for Owen.Kennedy said Owen really liked the guy and that made Maddie happy.Owen was as protective of his mom as he was everyone else and her being happy would make him happy.

Maddie found herself standing on the sidewalk in front of Owen’s house a few minutes later.Nothing was very far from anything else in Autre, and nothing Landry was very far from Ellie’s at all.Maddie took a deep breath.She was just here to check on him.This wasn’t anything more than that.It wasn’t a booty call.

He was sick.He couldn’t very well booty call with her while he was hacking and coughing.Or puking.She didn’t really know what was wrong with him, but whatever it was, if it was enough to keep him from Ellie’s, it was enough to keep Maddie’s clothes on.

“You comin’ up here or what?”

His voice came to her in the darkness and she jumped, gasping out loud.“Holy shit, you scared me.”

“What are you doin’ just standin’ out there?”

She headed up the walk.“What areyoudoin’ out here?”

“Sitting on my porch, having a beer, and enjoying the night.”

She frowned as she climbed the steps to his porch.“You are?”

It was dark, more so on the porch, but she could see he was sitting on the porch swing, swaying gently, one foot crossed over his opposite knee, a beer resting on his bare foot.He was wearing athletic shorts and a T-shirt, looking completely relaxed at the end of a long work day.And not sick.

“You’re feeling okay?”

“Yeah.Just enjoying some quiet time.”

She propped the bottle of whisky on her hip.“You like quiet time?”

“Well, if you hadn’t noticed, the airboats are kinda loud.As are the tourists.And, of course, my family.So yeah, I like quiet time once in a while.”

Maddie felt herself smile.She personally loved quiet time and it was a small thing to have in common maybe, but she liked that he appreciated it, too.Or maybe it wasn’t so small.In a typical day at the art gallery she had a lot of quiet, but since coming to Autre she’d found herself feeling like sheneededit.It recharged her and then each morning she was ready to go back to the dock.That was interesting, too—in spite of the hubbub that surrounded her at Boys of the Bayou, she was ready to go every morning.Huh.

“You have to lie to people to get this quiet time?”she asked him, taking a step closer to the swing.Maybe he wasn’t sick and was just wanting to be alone.Did that mean she should go?

“Nah.No one uses my front door, so I’m safe up here in the shadows,” he said.

“Why don’t people use your front door?”

“Usually they’re bringin’ food or beer or something over so they come in through the kitchen,” he said.“And everyone cuts across the yards.It’s closer than comin’ around front.”

She’d followed the sidewalks so had naturally ended up in front, but what he said made sense.

“Everything okay?”he asked when she didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

“Yeah.I—” She looked down at the stuff in her arms.“I brought you stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“Yeah.Depending on what you need.I’ve got whiskey and ginger ale.”

“What’s in the box?”

“Uh…red beans and rice.And salad.”

“That for me, too?”

---