Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

“I don’t think that was it. I saw you two together. He was happier than I’ve ever seen him.”

“Well, I wasn’t worth fighting for,” she said wistfully. “Do you think he’ll tell everyone I tried to hurt Noelle?”

“What? Why would he do that?”

“Because if the clinic fails, I’ll leave town,” she explained. “I’ll have to. I have to have a job. The clinic doesn’t make much money. Not much at all, really, but I have to have a way to pay Mabel and keep the lights on. I’m starting to get a good flow of regular patients, but Armie could stop that with a couple of words. I’m the outsider.”

Lisa’s eyes went steely. “If he bad-mouths my sister, he’ll have to deal with me.”

She didn’t want to get her sister in trouble. Lisa fit in here. She loved it here. Lila was starting to feel at home in Papillon, but she couldn’t fight if Armie decided he didn’t want her here. It could harm her sister’s business. “I don’t know. Maybe I should try to find someone to take my place. The last thing I need is Guidry’s to lose business because I’m your sister. If I leave, they might forget.”

The door came open and Remy stalked in. “You’re not going anywhere, Lila. You belong right here, and I assure you nothing Armie says can hurt this business. Dixie and I are the only games in town, and she doesn’t have a bar. I assure you, when it comes down to pleasing the sheriff or pleasing me, they’ll think about the fact that I won’t serve any person who tries to drive one of my family members out of town.”

Lila stood up and Peanut jumped to the floor, taking his place beside her. “You were listening in?”

Remy had the good grace to flush slightly. “Well, Zep was already doing it, and I didn’t think he should know more than I did.”

Zep’s head popped around the corner. “Sorry. I saw that Doc there was upset and I wanted to know if I should punch someone.”

She sighed. “First off, I’m an NP. Secondly, no. If you punch someone and you injure that finger again, I’m not sewing it back on twice. If you like your pinkie finger, stay out of fights for the next eight weeks or so.”

Zep shook his handsome head. “No one’s going to call you Nurse Practitioner Daley. It’s too long. And I will find another way to defend you, then. I can come up with all sorts of ways to annoy the shit out of the sheriff. You can’t leave. We need you. I recently realized that having a member of the medical community in the family is important. If I get a bad hangover, I can pop into the clinic and you’ll rehydrate me. Also, I can get you to write me a note about passing my STI tests. It cuts out a whole bunch of steps.”

At least there was still someone who could make her smile, even if it was because he was such a dumbass. “I’ll write you that note. You should laminate it. But I have to consider that it might be hard to practice in this town. Remy, please don’t say anything. I don’t want to make this into some kind of feud. In a day or two, I’ll talk to him. I’ll promise to stay out of his way and be professional when we do cross paths.”

Remy frowned. “In a few days, he’s going to realize he’s been an idiot and he’ll come around. Are you ready for that?”

She wasn’t ready to think about anything beyond getting into bed and going to sleep. If she could get to sleep. “I don’t think so. Even if he did, it would only be a matter of time before I did something to annoy him again.”

Looking back, she could see that it had only been the accident that saved them the first time. She’d embarrassed him in the diner that day, and only the town coming to see her as heroic had changed his mind. If it hadn’t happened, they wouldn’t have gone on. It might have been better because it wouldn’t be so hard to work with him now.

“I’ll go get your things,” Lisa promised.

“No, I’ll do it.” Zep nodded Lisa’s way. “If I let you do it, you’ll probably end up in jail because you can be mean when you want to. Remy would definitely end up in jail. He promised Armie an ass kicking if he hurt you, and my brother always follows through. Turns out I’m the reasonable one here. Who would have thought?”

Certainly none of the three of them. “I’ll text and let him know you’re coming. Thank you. It’s a single bag and Peanut’s stuff. Not much at all.”

She didn’t have much, and it looked like that wasn’t changing anytime soon.