hope it’s merely a rumor because if it’s not, Sera’s inherited more than a house that will likely fall apart around her. She put herself in between my mom and something she wants, and that never goes well. See y’all after church, and it’s not fair that I have to go and you don’t.”
“I’m not the one getting married.” Cal yawned and sat back. “I don’t have to impress the priest. Harry here isn’t even Catholic. He’s the luckiest one of all. He can watch all the football he wants every Sunday.”
“Hopefully there will be football in Hell,” Angie said with a wink. “Bye, boys.”
Harry still had some questions. “Why does Aunt Celeste hate Seraphina? You said she was friends with Wes. I get she didn’t want them to date, but according to you, they didn’t.”
“Nah, Sera wasn’t interested in him that way. My sainted brother wasn’t her type,” Cal said. “She was more into bad boys, if you know what I mean. Sera got around in high school. Never could convince Wes that it wasn’t going to happen.”
“And your mom hates her because she didn’t want Wes?”
“Nah. She hates Seraphina because she blames her for Wes losing his damn mind and going into the Army.”
Harry stared at him. He got that Wes hadn’t needed the Army the way he had, but he still didn’t think joining up achieved a level of crazy.
Cal sighed. “I didn’t mean it that way. It would have been great if serving his country was truly what Wes was doing, but it wasn’t. He was running away.”
“From what?” As far as Harry could tell, Wes’s life should have been very good.
A grim expression crossed his cousin’s face, a serious look he rarely saw there. “Wes was in his last year of college. Sera was working but for some reason she went up to Baton Rouge and they had a big fight. I don’t know exactly what happened. I think Wes probably gave her some dumbass ultimatum. I told him he should be patient and eventually she would give in and sleep with him. I mean, he couldn’t actually marry her, but he could have a good time. Like I said, I don’t know what happened, but he came home and told Mom and Dad he’d dropped out and was going into the Army. He said he would prove to Seraphina that he could be man enough for her.”
Harry sighed. “Damn. That explains it. He gives up his degree, and all over a woman. Why would she do that? Why tell him to go into the Army?”
“Who knows?” Cal shrugged like it no longer mattered, the sad look in his eyes turning back to the devil-may-care expression he wore like a mask. “Maybe she wanted to get rid of him. Wes could be annoying. Sera was one of the cool kids in high school. By that time Wes was in a private school. He would have been back in Papillon after he graduated. Maybe she didn’t want the nerd to ruin her social life. None of it made sense to me, but Mom blames Sera for Wes’s death, and she will not like Sera setting up house in our backyard no matter how big that yard is. She’ll put the pressure on if what I heard is true. Though if Sera really has all that gold, she might make it a fight. Either way, it’ll be interesting.”
He didn’t like to think about the woman with the high-voltage smile convincing his cousin to drop out of college, but he’d known women who lived to manipulate. Men, too. They weren’t happy unless they were in control, and sometimes they drew satisfaction from ruining lives.
It didn’t make sense, but it didn’t have to because he was going to stay away from Seraphina. He wasn’t going to cause a rift in his family over a woman he’d barely met. “Well, I’m going to work on a couple of things. I’ll be out in the shop.”
“I’ll be in the media room. The Saints are playing. Come on up if you want to hang,” Cal offered. “And I was serious about tonight. We’re going to this bar outside of town. You’ll like it.”
He probably wouldn’t, but at least he would know his cousin would get home all right. He pushed his chair back and started to pick up his plate. The maid was at his side before he could take a step. She took the plate out of his hand and swept