Page 81 of Sweet Home Louisiana

Maddie glanced down at her shoes.She’d read about a woman who had scared an alligator off by slapping her flip-flops together.Would Converse work the same way?

“Oh my God, the alligator is getting so close!”someone yelled.

Maddie felt like her heart had frozen and she tried to pull in a deep breath.

Wilma was enough of a threat.But if that was Betty and that was her nest…

“There’s another one!”one of the kids shouted, pointing.

Maddie felt a buzzing in her ears as she spotted the head and snout of another alligator also swimming in Owen’s direction.

Holy shit, was that Fred?Did it matter?Females were smaller than males, but they were also vicious predators that didn’t really give a fuck if Owen was a wild hog or just a stupid guy strutting for his tourists.

That was it.

Maddie swung around and located the metal box under her seat.She knew what was in there, and she knew how to use it.Maybe she hadn’t actually done it in a long time, but she was going to have to hope that it was like driving an airboat.

She unlocked the box and within two minutes, even with hands shaking badly, she swung around holding a loaded rifle.She hadn’t held a gun in years and her stomach twisted as she looked down at it.She couldn’t shoot this thing.But then she glanced over to where Owen stood and the alligator that was within ten feet of him, and she lifted the gun.

One of her passengers noticed and gasped.Her husband turned.“Hey, what the hell?”

Maddie shook her head.“It’s fine.I know what I’m doing.”

“You have agun!”

That caused people in Owen’s boat to swing around.One of the women screamed.One ducked, covering her head with her hands.

Maddie would have rolled her eyes, if she hadn’t been trying to keep her hands steady and her focus on the alligators that were getting closer to Owen.

But Owen’s attention was on Maddie.And the gun.

“What are you doing?”he asked.He seemed genuinely confused.

“Gators.Two of them,” she said.

“Yeah, I know.They live here.I see them every day.”

“They’re comingatyou.”

Owen turned to face the boat fully, his hands lifted.“Maddie, you know how this goes.They know I’ve got food.That’s why they’re coming over.Put the gun down.”

“Just…come back to the boat,” she told him, not really hearing what he was saying.Her eyes were firmly on the alligator to his right.“Then I will.”

“It’s okay,” he said.“Everything’s okay.”

Her arms were shaking now, too, and she knew it was fear and adrenaline, but she told herself it was because she hadn’t held a heavy gun in a long time.Or any gun in a long time.Did she want to shoot the alligators?Of course not.For one thing, the best way to kill an alligator was to shoot it right in the head.Which meant getting way closer to the damned thing than she ever wanted to be.But could shooting in the waternearone scare it off?Sure.Theoretically.

“Owen,” she said, noting that her voice was as wobbly as her arms now.“Get back in the fucking boat.Now.”

Her eyes were starting to sting, but she had to keep them clear to see what she was doing.

One of the alligators was now only two feet away from Owen.She knew that the danger zone for an alligator strike was about half its body length straight in front and ninety degrees to either side.This was the kind of stuff she and the boys had all been taught by their dads and grandpas growing up down here.She’d never been a big hunter but the boys had, and Leo had insisted she and Kennedy learn to shoot and all the basic hunting safety the boys had to learn.

She was very grateful to Leo right now.

She just really prayed that she didn’t accidentally shoot his grandson.

Maddie lifted the gun, rested the butt against her shoulder, and lined it up with the ground to the left of the alligator that was closest.

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