Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

Lisa reached out and put a hand on her arm. “I’m glad to hear that. I’m so proud of how you’re opening up.”

It was odd because she’d always been the older sister, but in this Lisa was the leader. “So help me figure out how to deal with this, because Noelle is becoming important to me, too.”

Lisa nodded and settled back in her chair. “Armie is pretty protective of Noelle. I think he feels guilty. Divorce is always rough, but then he had to leave New Orleans and he saw less of Noelle.”

“Are we talking about how Armie coddles that girl?” Marcelle was back, Seraphina behind her. “Because he does. I worry about her. She needs a momma. Daddies are too soft on their daughters, and she needs some tough love or she’s going to end up living in her daddy’s house for the rest of her life.”

“There’s nothing wrong with living with your parents,” Sera said with a frown. “Just until you can save enough money for a place of your own.” She sighed. “Except it’s got to be close to my momma or I won’t have a babysitter for Luc. I’m a little worried about that, though. I think Momma might be planning on training Luc to help her with short cons.”

Marcelle waved that off. “Boy’s gotta have a profession. And it’s not the same. You’ll eventually find a nice man and settle down. You have a job and you get out in the world. Noelle isolates herself. I don’t think she’s been out of this town since the accident except for doctor’s visits. Armie tried to take her to Disney World for her sweet sixteen and she wouldn’t go.”

“I’ve offered to pay her to babysit Luc for me, but she told me she couldn’t because she’s in a wheelchair,” Sera said. “I don’t see why she can’t. At the time he didn’t do much more than sleep and poop, and she could always have called someone if she needed help.”

“She won’t try,” Marcelle pointed out. “She’s scared of everything, and I understand that, but her daddy needs to push her.”

“You know why he won’t.” Sera started combing through Lisa’s hair. “I heard him talking to my cousin one night at the bar. He had a fight with his ex-wife the day of the accident and he told her she had to bring Noelle to him for his time with her or he would take her back to court. She was on the road that night because Armie insisted on it.”

Insisted on seeing his daughter? Of course he had. “It wasn’t his fault.”

“It can be hard to see that.” Lisa stared at her pointedly. “Sometimes a person does everything she can to help someone out and it doesn’t work. It’s not her fault.”

Yeah, she’d been told that a hundred times and she did understand that. But logic and that terrible feeling in her gut were two different things. Armie had the same trouble. The only problem was she agreed with Marcelle. Noelle needed a push.

And she’d just thought of the way to do it. It was something she’d been planning to do anyway. After she’d studied Noelle’s charts, she’d decided they needed to try something new.

Maybe she needed to try something new, too. “How do you think I would look with bangs?”

“I think that would be amazing and Lisa needs some highlights,” Sera said, her joy obvious.

Before Lisa could bark out what had to be a denial, the door flew open and Mabel was standing there.

Lila stood up and turned to her nurse.

“You’ve got a patient. She needs you,” Mabel said.

Lila grabbed her purse and didn’t look back.* * *• • •

She pulled the last stitch on Carrie Petrie’s cheek through and started the process to tie it off. The woman hadn’t even winced when she’d given her the local. She’d been sitting on the exam table like a zombie, no expression at all. She did everything Lila asked her to, but she’d said very little.

“How did you get here?” She was fairly certain Carrie didn’t have access to a car.

“I took the boat,” she said in a monotone. “Bobby and his brother are working. Mother Petrie visits a couple of other families who live out on the islands every week. Today’s the day. Normally I would go with her, but I couldn’t hide this. When she left, I took the old boat out and came here.”

She went silent again.

Lila finished her work and studied Carrie’s face. “I think I’ve got the stitches tight enough that it shouldn’t scar, but you have to understand how close this was. If he’d hit you an inch higher, he could have seriously compromised your eyesight.”

“It was an accident.” The words were hollow. Carrie had been almost silent since Lila had entered the room. All she would say was she’d had another accident.