Bayou Beauty (Butterfly Bayou 4)

Sylvie strode into the house, frustration welling inside because she knew what the problem was but not how to solve it. The afternoon had gone by in a flash, and her stomach growled because she’d missed dinner.

Rene was not at either of the two motels outside of town, nor was he at the B and B. She’d checked both motels and neither of the clerks at the reception desk remembered seeing him. A quick call to Seraphina had told her Rene wasn’t there but that the rumors were already flying.

She needed to track his phone. When this was all resolved, she would make sure she had that capability because her husband was slippery. He was somewhere out there in the world being a Gloomy Gus, likely going through all kinds of doomsday scenarios in his head. If he’d given her half a chance, they could have settled everything and she wouldn’t be so dang hungry.

Maybe she should order pizza. The Darois cook was marvelous, but she kind of missed regular old pepperoni.

She closed the door and immediately heard a series of barks as Lady rushed to get to her. She knelt down and picked the puppy up, happy for the wild affection Lady offered.

Since she wouldn’t be getting any from her husband.

Had he even thought about their dog when he’d had his meltdown? The entire afternoon she’d been building a list of things she intended to lecture him on. It was a long list.

Never once did she consider the fact that he might have meant what he’d said, that he might actually want to break up. She knew that man deep down, and if he’d wanted to break up, he would have discussed it with her. No, he was having a fairly reasonable breakdown given the amount of pressure he’d been under, but he was going to find out that he didn’t get to walk away.

“Sylvie? Did you find him?” Her mother-in-law walked in looking sad and vulnerable, her wrist still in a brace.

“No. He’s hiding somewhere. I think he probably went into New Orleans, but I’m not going to make that drive tonight.” Sylvie held the puppy close as she spoke to her mother-in-law. Louis lingered in the doorway that led to the parlor. “I went to the office, though. He hasn’t announced your firing yet. I think we can assume he won’t truly go through with it.”

“He can’t fire Louis,” Cricket said, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “Louis didn’t do anything wrong. I do not understand why Rene is acting this way.”

It was time for some hard truths for her mother-in-law. “It’s because you raised him this way.”

Cricket’s lips pursed in a stubborn expression that reminded Sylvie of her son. “I did not raise him to be rude.”

“No, but you raised him to be head of the household, to take care of his family, and that was what he was trying to do,” Louis said quietly. “Cricket, you’ve leaned on him for years, let him handle everything for you, and then you told him flat out the money and the house don’t belong to him. I don’t blame Rene for what he did. But I would like to get a chance to talk to him.”

At least Louis was going to be reasonable. “Rene is under a lot of pressure, and given what I found out at the office, it’s worse than what we thought.”

“What happened? Did you talk to Jane?” Louis moved to Cricket’s side.

As much as anyone could talk to Jane. The young woman had been emotional to say the least. “I don’t know,” Sylvie said. “She cried a lot. I ended up finding Gabriel Layton. He told me that there was a bunch of drama with his sister bringing Roberta into town.”

“She refuses to fly.” Cricket dabbed at her eyes. “Says if the good Lord wanted her to fly, he would have given her wings. So she only travels by car. And she won’t drive herself. I feel for whoever had to go and get that mean old woman.”

It had been Ashley, and she’d been sitting in her brother’s office crying when Sylvie had sought out Gabriel. The tears had quickly turned to anger as she’d told Sylvie every awful thing that had gone down during the six-and-a-half-hour drive from Houston. When she’d stormed out, Gabriel had apologized and helped her track down Jane Calhoun, who had also cried.

Gabriel had stayed with Sylvie, making sure she understood what was going on. It had been Gabriel who’d let her know Rene hadn’t taken any clear actions to fire Louis. He’d been utterly shocked by the idea.

“Jane said Charles had definitely been there this afternoon. He checked in with security shortly after lunch and left after twenty minutes. I’m fairly certain the only person he talked to was Rene. According to Jane, Charles walked out looking happy with himself, and that was almost the same time she got the call from the clinic. If I’d been a couple of minutes earlier, the receptionist at the clinic wouldn’t have made that call.”