the cottage floor and had the wildest sex they’d ever had, with Brulee getting up to leave with a snort. She giggled thinking about it now.
“The dog was embarrassed.”
“No, I think she was giving us privacy. We do it in front of her in the bedroom all the time.”
“Yeah, but never like that,” Maggie said, snickering. “Never on the floor. Never with me yodeling.”
“Yeah, that was wild.”
“We can’t measure every one by that one.”
“No, we won’t because every time is great. That was just wild.”
They grabbed hands and laughed.
“If we get the urge again, tonight, we’ll just do it in the truck.”
They dropped the dog off. Brulee immediately went to Johanna and her puppies and planted herself next to them, her mother and her siblings.
Rose was there, and Maggie quickly told her that the music had initiated a whole string of events, including going dancing tonight.
“I told you,” Rose whispered, her eyebrows up. “Let the dog spend the night. You two have fun.”
The roadhouse was down a rough dirt trail; they bounced in the potholes. The parking lot was full of pickups, and music filled the night, more zydeco, but this was live, and the singer was into it. Maggie could tell he was having a good ole time up there with his accordion and his song. Barbeque smoke and wonderful smells of meat and vinegar and tomatoes and molasses made her mouth water.
They ate heartily, piles of ribs and corn bread and cabbage salad. And then after they washed all the grease and sauce off their hands, they went out onto the dance floor and danced like they’d been dancing together their whole life, and Justin just pretended he knew what he was doing, twirling her around and holding her hands, rocking with the music. They cleared a space in the center of the floor with their dancing, and Maggie was out of breath when she noticed they were clapping in time to the music for them.
“They’re clappin’ for us,” she said, looking into his eyes.
“They’re clappin’ for you,” he said, stopping for a moment to kiss her, which led to cheering and more clapping.
Finally, the song was finished, and Justin took a bow with his arm about Maggie Angel.
“Take a bow, sweetheart,” he said, and she did, smiling, embarrassed.
It was the most fun she’d ever had. The day was probably the best she’d had in a long, long time. And she owed it to her mother, who had reminded her that she had her grandfather’s record collection, and that it was impossible to stay sad if you listened to zydeco.
On the ride home, she laid her head back on the seat and closed her eyes, and slowly, the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile.
Chapter 5
Saturday morning, Annie Casson woke up with a stomachache. But she came back to bed, determined to sleep in. These were the last days to sleep. Her mother had warned her that she’d never get to sleep in again once the baby was born, so she’d better make the most of it.
But it was hopeless. She turned on her stomach, then her back, to her left side and then her right side.
“What’s wrong?” Steve muttered. “You’re making me crazy.”
“I don’t want to get up, but I can’t sleep.”
He rolled over and embraced her, rubbing up against her with a decidedly hard appendage sticking her in the back. “I know something that will help you relax,” he mumbled in her ear, morning breath and all.
“Um, thanks, but I have a stomachache. Too much Thanksgiving leftovers. I’d better take a raincheck.”
“You always have an excuse,” he said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
“Steve, are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m serious.”
“Well, hop on, then, and if I fart on you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Grimacing, he shook his head. “Okay, why didn’t you say so in the first place?”
“I did. I told you I had a stomachache. That should have been enough.”
“Are we having an argument?” he asked, walking around to her side of the bed. He looked down at her, grinning.
“You could say that.”
He sat down next to her and rubbed her stomach. “I’m sorry you don’t feel good. Thanksgiving was a bust. I felt a little queasy myself yesterday.”
“It was me and my big mouth,” Annie said.
“It was a natural slip of the tongue,” Steve said.
“For me to open my big trap about Ted going over to Maggie’s cottage was such a foot in mouth.”
He kissed her neck. “It