Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

“Talk about the fact that your truck was spotted outside the new girl’s house.”

Shit. He hadn’t thought about that. “Peanut came back last night. He scratched at the back door and scared her. You know how it is when you aren’t used to the sounds out here.”

Roxie’s brow rose. “Peanut? Bill’s dog? I thought his son took the dog.”

“Yeah, well, Mikey always was a selfish asshole.” It shouldn’t have surprised him but it did. He’d given Mikey a call this morning and explained the situation. “He gave me some story about how they stopped at a rest stop and the dog ran away. But he also told me to take him to a shelter because he wasn’t coming back to get him.”

“Asshole,” Roxie said with a sigh. “I’ll take him in. I’ve been meaning to get a dog.”

“I think you’ll have to fight Lila over him. She says she’s going to fix him up and then find him a home, but you know how that goes.”

“Yeah, in a few days she’ll be used to him and she’ll think it can’t hurt to let him stay a little while longer, and then she’s buying him Christmas sweaters and arguing at the town hall for a dog park.” Roxie nodded. “She looks like the kind who would dress up her dog, and I think she likes arguing.”

Why hadn’t he thought of that? He could have gone to bed with her, woken with her, shown back up at her place to fix something—he had his pick since nothing worked—and repeated the whole process. “I think she’s too practical to dress up the dog.”

“Nah, she only looks that way. Trust me, that dog will have a sweater by the end of the year. Have you thought about how Miranda is going to take your sudden passion for Remy’s sister-in-law?”

Miranda Jossart was the local real estate agent. He’d also gone to high school with her. They hadn’t been close then despite the fact that there had only been twenty-seven kids in their whole class. When he’d come home, Miranda had been one of the first to show up with a platter of cookies in her hand and a smile on her face, welcoming him back. They’d gone on a few dates, but there had never been a spark between them.

“Why would Miranda care that I’m dating Lila?” He’d missed an opportunity, but she had agreed to go out with him. Even as she’d been shoving him out the door this morning, she’d agreed to go to dinner on Friday.

Roxie stared at him, the same expression on her face she often used on Zep. “You can’t possibly be this unaware.”

She was underestimating him. “Apparently I can.”

“Why do you think Miranda brings cookies to the station house all the time? Do you think it’s because she loves law enforcement?”

“I thought it was because she loves to bake and always has too much.” She told him constantly that she was watching her figure. He’d never looked at her figure. She was a nice enough woman, but he’d never once thought of her that way.

“It’s because she’s got the hots for you.”

He laughed because that was ridiculous. “She does not have the hots for me. She’s just nice.”

“Like Annie Dubois is nice? Because when I first came to town she warned me off you. Not like I was ever going to hit that. No. My taste in men is way worse, but Annie showed up at my apartment and explained that you and she were together and I better back off.”

“What? I went out with her twice. Years ago.” It had been when he’d first come home to Papillon. He’d been divorced and burned out. He’d felt like he’d lost everything. The only reason he’d taken the job had been his old friend Rene basically begging him to do it. Annie had suggested that they have dinner, and he hadn’t cared enough to say no.

Then the accident had happened and he’d been forced to care about everything. He’d been forced to focus his entire world on his daughter.

“Well, you made an impression,” Roxie replied with a brief smile. “This was a couple of years ago. She might not still be pining. I think there are some women in town who believe that as soon as Noelle graduates you’ll look for some companionship. Especially when she goes off to college.”

“She’s not going off to college.” He couldn’t stand the thought of her out there in the big bad world. She was fragile, vulnerable. There were other ways for her to get an education. “She’s going to do it all online. She doesn’t need to be in some dorm where everyone parties. She’s not that girl.”

Noelle was studious. She took her classes seriously and she was focused.

And what would happen when she graduated from her online school? How the hell was she going to find a job here?