Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

“I can handle it.” She started to lead Zep back.

Armie sighed and sat down. “I’ll be waiting here.”

It was good to have someone waiting, and even better to know he would be waiting to take her home.chapter fourteenArmie came awake to the smell of coffee and the sense that all was right with his world. Damn, but he loved waking up and knowing Lila was somewhere in the house. She almost always woke up before him. He was going to have to set an alarm because he was missing precious time with her.

In the two weeks since she’d moved in, she’d had a definite impact on his household.

The best thing she’d done was get Noelle out more often. She’d gently pushed and prodded his daughter into going to church with her. Of course that had meant he’d had to go to church. That wasn’t a ton of fun, but Noelle had spent time with the youth group and had even gone out to the movies with some friends she’d made.

Lila had held his hand as he’d watched them drive off with his daughter. She’d been the one to convince him she had to go out on her own again, and he had to trust her enough to have some kind of a life.

Lila had also been the one who’d sat up with him waiting for her to come home, watching the little signal on his phone that showed him where she was.

“Hey, sleepy head. It’s almost time for me to head out. You on night shift again?”

He rolled over and got his first look of the day. He liked starting the day alone with her and finishing it off the same way. Even when she was asleep when he came in. He’d snuck into bed at four a.m. and she’d turned as though even in her sleep she’d known he was there. She hadn’t opened her eyes but had let him wrap her up in his arms as he’d gone to sleep. “I am. How did last night go?”

“Good. Noelle worked on her history project and then we watched a movie.” She was dressed in scrubs, her hair up in a neat bun that made him want to sink his hands in and mess her up a little. She looked gorgeous right after sex, when she was completely open to him. He’d come to understand that was a side of Lila Daley that was saved for him, a gift to him.

“I’m glad to hear it. My night was all about the damn golf carts. I swear those damn things are a menace. Arnold Butler kitted his out with twinkle lights and oversized tires. He was going fifteen miles an hour and holding up traffic.” And that old man knew a whole lot of rude hand gestures, all of which he’d used on Armie when he threatened him with a ticket.

“We were fine, so you can probably pull Major off sentry duty so you can stop working like a crazy man,” she said pointedly. “You can go back to day shift and let Major deal with the crazies.”

He wasn’t sure about that. He’d had Major or Roxie doing regular drive-bys when he wasn’t at home. So far everything had been quiet. According to the reports he’d gotten, Bobby and Donny Petrie had been getting on their boat every morning to head out into the bay to shrimp and going back to the island at night. “He doesn’t mind. Neither does Rox.”

She sat down on the bed beside him. “I know they don’t, but it isn’t necessary. The arson inspector said his results were inconclusive. Unfortunately, Bill stored gasoline in the garage, and that was right next to the laundry room. I hadn’t even started to explore that garage. I was intimidated by it.”

Because Bill had been a hoarder and his garage hadn’t been filled with cars. He should have checked out the house more thoroughly. “I know. I read the report ten times. I’m thinking about asking for a second opinion. There was an accelerant used, but it could easily have been the gas because while Bill was apparently prepping for the apocalypse or something, he didn’t use safety storage procedures. I’m going to sue that home inspector. I think I’ll sue Miranda, too.”

Lila’s eyes went wide. “Don’t you dare. She sent over the lemon cookies and they were incredible.”

“Those were ‘I hope you don’t sue me because I screwed you over’ cookies.”

“Regret and fear never tasted so good,” Lila replied with a shrug. “It’s fine. The insurance money should come in soon. I don’t think it was the Petries. I think maybe Carrie moving out proved to him that she was too much trouble. Maybe he realized how close he came to doing something that would have ruined his life. He apparently hasn’t even tried to contact her. I spoke to her yesterday and she’s good. She’s in therapy and talking about finding a job. She’s thinking of moving to Dallas.”