Page 60 of Beauty and the Bayou

Juliet knew that he was relating to her mom, so she admitted, “It took a little while for her to realize that it wasn’t going to go away.That this was how things were going to be.But there was this time—” She hadn’t talked about this with anyone before, either.But she’d never met anyone who needed her stories like Sawyer did.It was kind of amazing, actually, that she knew exactly what he and his family were going through.“I did finally fall off my bike.Of course.”She eyed him.“I mean, we can all admit that it was inevitable, right?Eventually, the girl who’d had a stroke, no matter how much protective gear she wore and how many classes she took—and how much her mom worried—was going to fall off her bike?”

He nodded slowly.

“I cut up my shin badly.Even though I had knee pads and long pants on.I hit just right and tore my pants and ended up with this deep gash.So, I sat by the side of the road, pulled out my first aid kit, and cleaned it up and bandaged it.When I got back to the house, Chase distracted our mom while I went upstairs to my room and changed my clothes, got rid of the pants and everything.By the time she found out about it, the cut was already healing.”

Sawyer was watching her, his expression unreadable.

“She told me later that all of that helped her,” Juliet went on.“It helped her to see that something had finally happened, but that I was okay and that it was healing—even without her intervention.Without her evenknowingabout it.The anticipation of something going wrong was awful, but once somethingdidgo wrong, she realized that she had two choices—never let me do anything again, or accept that no matter what precautions we take, bad things would still happen sometimes and that there are still things we could do afterward to make them better.”

Sawyer didn’t say anything.

“And you know whatIlearned?”Juliet asked.“The overprotectiveness wasn’t all bad.If Ihadn’thad those knee pads and long pants on, that injury would have been even worse.”She paused, letting him think about that for a second.Both she and her mom had learned from something bad happening, and it had changed things between them for the better.“And that even though Icoulddo it myself, it was nice to have her help me bandage my knees after that.”

“So she totally lightened up and felt fine and never worried again?”Sawyer asked after a long pause.

Juliet could tell he knew what her answer was going to be.She smiled.“No.But it was easier for her to let me go.Instead of keeping me away from the things that might make me need the first aid kit, she took it upon herself to make sure the kit had everything I needed.She bought me a bigger one and just made sure it was always fully stocked.”

He nodded slowly, clearly thinking that over.

Juliet smiled.“And because of that, I told her when I did get hurt, which meant that I got stitches the time I needed them and got a tetanus shot the time I needed that.I might not have if I’d still been afraid of her reaction and things would have been worse then.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment.Juliet just let him sit until he was ready.

Finally he said, “A few days before you met Maddie and Josh and Owen and Bennett, Maddie took over one of my tours to try to give me a break because she was worried about me.She hadn’t driven an airboat in years and she hadn’t been on one of the tours in forever.They got down to an area where Owen knows there are gators.In fact, they’re kind of trained to expect him.But Owen hadn’t told Maddie.One of them got really close to him and Maddie panicked.Pulled out the rifle and took a shot to scare the thing off.”

Juliet stared at him.“Wow.”

“Yeah.Scared the shit out of me.She could have shot Owen.Or one of the tourists.”Sawyer shoved his free hand through his hair.“She was out there trying to help me and it was almost a disaster.”He took a deep breath.“But after I calmed down, I realized that she handled it.It wasn’t great and I hope it doesn’t happen again, but she and Owen were there together and they figured it out.Maddie ended up down at the police station and we lost a lot of money on that tour, but, they—we—handled it.”

Juliet loved these people and if they were navigating a life change that left everyone questioning their roles, she could definitely help.Things had been complicated with her and her family for a long time, but they’d figured a few things out over the sixteen years they’d been doing this.

“You’re not wrong, you know,” she told Sawyer.

His gaze intensified.“What do you mean?”

“To worry.The bayou is a dangerous place.You want them to be safe.You’re not wrong to think things could take a bad turn, especially after what happened with Tommy.”

He swallowed hard.

“And they get it,” she said, her voice softening.“Your family gets why you feel this way and why you react the way you do to things.They don’tblameyou, I promise.”

His gaze dropped to her mouth.“Damn,” he said quietly.

“What?”

“I really want to kiss you right now.”

Surprise rippled through her.That hadn’t even been in the top ten of things she would have guessed he’d say.

“Really?”

He met her eyes with a crooked smile.“I amnotthe first man to tell you that he finds you attractive.”

She laughed as he used her own words on her.“You haven’t actuallytoldme that.”

“You don’t know anyway?”he asked, his voice a little gruffer.

She wet her lips.“I’ve felt the chemistry,” she admitted.

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