blue sky? Did he take a boat out on the bayou to watch the butterflies the way they had when they were kids?
Don’t move. They’re all over your hair, Sylvie. It makes you look like you have a crown. Princess Sylvie.
Her life would be easier if they didn’t have all this shared, sweet history between them. If he’d been nothing more than a wretchedly handsome, nice man she had a connection with, she likely would be sleeping with him. She wasn’t a woman who slept with anyone she found attractive, but he was her legal husband. And they were consenting adults who had sexual chemistry between them. If he’d merely been some guy she was attracted to and liked, she would be indulging in sex for the first time since she’d come home.
Sera’s face moved over her, blocking out the sky. “Do you think you made a mistake? Because you have two choices. You can divorce that gorgeous wealthy man who looks at you like you’re the sun in the sky, or we can kill all his relatives. All of them. Seriously, Remy knows people and he always says it’s been too long since he got to kill someone. He was a Navy SEAL, and sometimes that part of him needs to come out.”
Hallie’s face stared down at her, too. “My momma says Remy kills people every day with the cholesterol in his chicken-fried steak. She’s really just upset she can’t eat it anymore. Maybe we could get all of Rene’s relatives to eat it and have heart attacks.”
Her friends were complete goofballs. She sighed. “I don’t think we would ever convince Ashley Layton to eat something fried. We would have to get to her through vodka.”
“Is his family truly your main problem?” Sera asked.
Hallie’s gaze turned Sera’s way. “Her problem is she hasn’t jumped his bones yet. You know that’s what the problem is. Girl needs to get her some of that man. We talked about this.”
Sera gave her that look she used when someone said something foolish. “We also talked about easing her into the discussion.”
Hallie shrugged. “Sylvie is a very direct person. She doesn’t need to be eased into anything but Rene’s bed.”
Sylvie groaned. She should have known this would happen. She’d been ducking this conversation for a week. “This is what you two have been talking about behind my back?”
“Well, now we’re talking to your front,” Hallie offered with a smile. “Don’t be a hypocrite. You know how much we talked about Sera and Harry when they first got together and I wondered if he took his leg off when they had sex.”
Sera gasped. Sylvie winced. Harry had lost a leg during his time in the service, and Hallie had indeed been curious.
Hallie shook her head. “You would have asked the same of me if my Johnny had been one leg down.”
“Probably. Also, Sylvie and I talked a lot about how to handle you hormonally when you were pregnant because you were the terror of the town,” Sera replied with a prim look.
“I was glowy and perfect,” Hallie argued.
That made Sylvie laugh. She wasn’t sure how she’d made it through her years away without these two. Maybe it was time to talk to her best friends about the trouble she was having.
She hadn’t been around when Sera had been pregnant with Luc. Sylvie had been in college and she’d stayed for the summer semester that year because she’d heard Rene had come home from Chicago and she hadn’t wanted to see him.
If she had, would they be where they were? Or would they be so much further down the road?
“Have you ever wanted something you don’t know you should have?” Sylvie asked.
“Didn’t I mention Remy’s chicken-fried steaks?” Hallie replied.
Sera’s eyes rolled. “Don’t pay her any mind. Hallie’s the one who always knew what she wanted and got it right away, and do not talk to me about Gracie having Johnny’s thin hair. You are going to give that child a complex. Sylvie’s asking a serious question and yes. Yes, I have. I wanted Harry, and I screwed up things in the beginning. I don’t understand what’s wrong here, because you won’t talk to us.”
“You’re being Super Sylvie,” Hallie said seriously. “That’s what we call you when you’re there for everyone else but won’t let us do the same for you. I know you think it’s a good thing, but it makes us feel like you don’t need us.”
That thought made Sylvie wistful. “You two have families.