Page 17 of Beauty and the Bayou

“Oh, good,” Ellie said.“Cora!”she called.“Partner meeting.”

“No,” Sawyer said, steering Juliet toward the bar.“I’ve got something better for you.”

“Oh?”Ellie asked.

“Her.”

Ellie’s eyes lit up as she focused on Juliet.“I can feed her and ask her everything I want to know?”

Juliet looked up at Sawyer and saw him nod.“Yep.”

She turned wide eyes on Ellie, who looked like Sawyer had just given her a shiny new toy for Christmas.

“Juliet, this is my grandmother, Ellie.Ellie, this is Juliet.”

He nudged Juliet forward, and the men at the bar, in a seemingly choreographed move, all shifted one stool over, leaving an empty one dead center.

Juliet dug in her heels instantly.

Sawyer noticed her resistance and gave a low chuckle she couldfeelat her back almost more than she could hear it.

“Smart girl to be cautious around this bunch,” he said, his voice low.“But once you taste Cora’s sourdough bread with her strawberry-rhubarb jam, you’ll be thanking me.”

“Cora?”

“Ellie’s best friend and business partner.She does most of the cookin’.”

“Okay, now, for fuck’s sake, let’s get you out of all of…that,” Ellie said, waving her hand up and down to indicate everything Juliet was wearing.“I’m sweatin’ just lookin’ at ya.”

Come to think of it, she was a little hot.“I don’t have any shoes on under these.”The guy at the sporting goods store had told her she could buy this kind, with the built-in boot, or buy the kind that went over boots—and then buy the boots separate.She’d thought these seemed easiest, but they didn’t fit as well as she’d like.Her right ankle was a little wobbly sometimes, especially on uneven terrain, so she was going to have to be careful in them.Once she took them off, though, she’d be without support at all.She rarely went barefoot and the bayou seemed the last place to start.

“That’s okay,” Ellie said.“The health department won’t cite us if you go barefoot in here for a bit.”

Juliet hadn’t even thought of that.“You sure?”

“The last time the health department was down here was 2004,” Leo said.“And the guy said he’d forgive anything as long as he could have a third helping of Cora’s red-eye gravy and grits.”

Well, okay then.

Juliet braced a hand on the stool to remove her boots.She always liked to have something solid nearby in case she wobbled.She was really very steady and rarely had falls.If she got tired or too hot or was sick with the flu or something, she noticed her weaker right side more and had to be more careful, but most of the time she was fine and no one around her could tell she had about thirty percent less strength on her right side compared to her left.But she was always prepared and didn’t push her luck.Standing next to solid objects when she would be partially balancing on one foot was just smart.

Juliet pushed the top of the left boot down first, keeping her right foot booted and therefore more stable.It wasn’t until she’d pulled her right foot out of its boot that she noticed there was very little conversation going on around her.She looked up to find everyone watching her.Was she doing something wrong?Was there a wrong way to take boots off?She glanced at Sawyer.He was also watching her, unblinking, a weird look on his face.

Juliet glanced down.What the hell?She was wearing shorts and no socks or shoes, as she’d told them.She figured out quickly that the boots would be a hundred times more comfortable with socks on and would definitely add them next time, but the guy at the store hadn’t mentioned that.She looked back up to Sawyer, frowning slightly.“What are you staring at?”

Sawyer cleared his throat and looked up at her.Almost as if he hadn’t realized he’d been staring.He glanced around and scowled at everyone.Several turned away and went back to their breakfasts and conversation.Then he focused back on her.“Just thinkin’ that you probably weren’t in danger of overheating in those boots after all.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have much on under there.”

She looked down again.She had on denim shorts.They seemed pretty simple and basic.She wasn’t an outdoorsy girl, so she didn’t have a lot of work-outside-in-the-heat-and-dirt type clothes.Hiking, boating, skiing—all things her older brothers had loved—were a little tough for a girl who couldn’t trust her endurance and balance.Not to mention that her packing strategy was driven by the careful, always-be-prepared, you-better-take-it-just-in-case voice in her head rather than any attempt at minimalization and efficiency.

“Is there a dress code in here?”she asked him, putting a hand on her hip.

Everyone in the place had denim on, except Kennedy.

“No…I wouldn’t say there is.”Sawyer ran a hand over the back of his neck.“Maybe you should keep the life jacket on though.”He looked slightly pained suddenly.

---