Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

Lisa smiled at the sound of the girl’s name. “Noelle is a sweetheart. I’m glad she’s coming in. She’s not going to be your problem child. I can think of several others, though.”

“Why?” This was what confused her. The sheriff had mentioned it. Lisa had been worried about it. “Why won’t they give me a chance? They gave you a chance.”

“Who won’t give you a chance?” Zep Guidry stood at their table, a notepad in his hand and a roguish look on his ridiculously handsome face. “Because whoever won’t is an idiot. I’ll give you a chance, chère.”

Chère, she’d learned, sounded more like sha. And she was sure Zep would give her the same chance he seemed to give everyone, according to her sister. Well, everyone with breasts. “I think I’ll pass. Why don’t you give me the chance to drink? Bring me a New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Nothing too pineappley, though.”

Zep stared at her. “I thought wine was made from grapes. I don’t think we have any pineapple wine. Is that possible? And our wine comes from New Orleans. We get a shipment every couple of weeks.” He gave her his movie-star smile. “It’s fresh today.”

Lisa groaned. “Tell the bartender to bring my sister a glass of the new Marlborough. I’ll take a beer. And stop hitting on my sister.”

“Well, she was saying no one is being nice to her. I could be real nice, Lis.” Zep winked her way. “Real nice.”

He was gorgeous and such a child compared to Armie LaVigne. “When was your last STI test?”

Zep frowned. “Why you gotta go be like that? Fine. I’ll go get your drinks. But I still don’t understand what pineapples have to do with anything.”

Lisa shook her head as her brother-in-law walked off toward the bar. “Sorry about that. He’s an idiot, but he’s also family. We have a surprisingly large wine selection. And a delicious muscadine sweet red that is the best. It’s like dessert in a glass. Some of the locals make it.”

She was not in Dallas anymore. “You used to be a wine snob.”

“Not really. I just acted that way when you or Will were paying for dinner,” she replied with an impish grin. “Most of what I drank came straight out of a box. Hey, don’t look like that. I was a poor college kid. I took what I could get. Let’s talk more about how today went. You know it’s going to take some time.”

“I guess I’m wondering how you made the transition.” She’d had a ton of time today to wonder if she’d made the right call. And then Armie had looked at her with that nauseating sympathy in his eyes. He’d known. He’d known what had happened to her in Dallas, and it had obviously made him change his mind. He hadn’t asked her out today. He’d treated her with the same kid gloves everyone had for months and months. They still did. Everyone but Lisa, which was likely why she’d come here in the first place.

“I loved Remy,” Lisa said simply. “I loved him and I got here and made the decision to love this town. It wasn’t hard for me, honestly. This place is weird, and I’ve always loved weird. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the city, too. It’s why I’m glad Remy still has jobs that take us to Dallas and New York. I love the theaters and the restaurants, but none of those cities has an Otis.”

“That would be a good reason to stay in the city.” She’d practically run from the house to her car this morning. She hadn’t even let herself look in the backyard. Not that it was a traditional backyard. There was no neat and tidy fence to block out the rest of the world. It was something she intended to work on. A big fence. Like the wall from Game of Thrones.

Lisa laughed. “No, you’ll get used to him. I promise. There’s something magical about this place if you’ll open your eyes and let yourself see. You have to slow down here. You have to take things in.”

“I can’t get much slower.” She wasn’t used to being bored at work.

“I’m not talking about your work. I’m talking about your life. This is what I was really trying to say yesterday. I want you to slow down and enjoy the world around you. There’s a lot to enjoy. There’s a lot to learn.”

She wasn’t sure about that. “I think I learned to not buy a house I haven’t seen in person and that small-town doctors like to prey on their big-city counterparts. I’m not going to be able to keep that clinic open if I can’t get patients to visit me.”

“They’ll come around,” Lisa promised. “I had Remy beside me. They tend to accept you more if you’ve got someone vouching for you. It’s like a big old family in some ways. If your brother is bringing a woman home, you tend to try to get along with her. That was how it was with me. They knew Remy was serious about me and that’s why they gave me a chance.”