Page 51 of Beauty and the Bayou

“Why do you think that?”

“The life jacket,” Ellie said.

“She’s afraid of the water.”

“Huh.”

Ellie didn’t look impressed—or concerned—by that.

“She’s wearing a life jacket twenty-four-seven because she’s afraid of falling in the water,” Sawyer clarified.

Ellie smiled.“I don’t think so.”

“No?”

“If she fell into the water down there, she knows there are always at least four people who would jump in and save her.”

“Okay,” Sawyer said slowly.

“The life jacket means that she can save herself.”

That hit him directly in the chest.

Juliet was afraid of the water, but she was making sure that if the worst happened, she could take care of it.Herself.

Sawyer studied his grandmother.“Leavin’ people alone isn’t really what we do down here.”He’dbeen leaving her alone, but he’d assumed other people would be in her business.

“No.It isn’t.But that girl spends a lot of time and energy being prepared for anything.She plans it all out.She makes sure she has everything she needs so she’s not reliant on anyone else.”Ellie frowned.“I don’t know who made her feel like she’s trouble, but we need to be sure she doesn’t feel that way here.”

Sawyer felt a surge of protectiveness go through him.Exactly what hedidn’twant to feel for anyone else.

“So if we’re not helping her and taking care of her, what are we doing?”

Ellie smiled at him.“Enjoying her.”

Sawyer paused a second.If Ellie was a typical grandmother, or even anyone else’s grandmother, he’d know for sure that she did not mean that in all the not-so-innocent ways his mind took it.But she was not a typical grandmother and the chances that she’d meant that, at least a little dirty, were good.

“What does that mean?”he asked carefully.

“We show her that even if she doesn’t need our cooking or our power tools or even us hauling her out of the bayou if she falls in, that even if she’s scared of the water that we need to make a living, we like seeing her smile and we’d love to hear her stories and we want to have her around.”

He’d already enjoyed her.

Sawyer couldn’t deny that.

And he hadn’t been all that helpful to her really.He’d made up the French braiding thing.Other than that, she’d been well prepared and he’d…yeah, enjoyed her.He’d love to play more of the What-If game with her.He’d love to see more of that sassy sense of humor she’d displayed when she’d told the wood delivery guy that she didn’t need anything bigger.He’d love to just watch her work through a plan, doing all the research and sorting things into her accordion files.

Sawyer blew out a breath.If he wasactuallya laid-back kind of guy, he’d let this all lie.He’d just leave it alone.

But he wasn’t going to let it lie.

Because he was not actually a laid-back kind of guy.

“She’s only here for another week and a half,” Sawyer told his grandmother.And himself.Saying it out loud helped remind him as well.

Ellie shrugged.“I’ve found that a lot of times when people come down here, or comebackdown here”—she cast a glance in Tori and Maddie’s direction again—“they often stay.”

“She’s a lawyer in Alexandria.”

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