Bayou Christmas (Cypress Cove #2) - Suzanne Jenkins Page 0,27
thorn in our sides.”
“Everyone says he’s harmless,” Maggie said, unconvinced.
“He really is. You saw how he acted, hanging all over me. That’s something a teenaged boy would do. It was so out of character for him. I still wonder if he’s in the middle of some kind of breakdown. He came over after Justin told him off, and we had the most amazing sex. If I dump him, that will be it for me. I might as well enter a convent.”
Maggie grinned into the phone. It seemed like sex might have been in the air that night.
“Well, I’m truly sorry, Kelly. How awful.”
They made arrangements for Maggie to bring Brulee over later that afternoon, to see what dogs she would tolerate, and they would be the rescues Maggie would foster for now. Getting a paper and pencil, Kelly made a list.
“You’re going to talk to an attorney on Monday. Today I’ll talk to my father about the double-wide, find out what it will take to move it by you, and ask Steve if he’ll manage the foundation. In the meantime, you’ll find out what you have to do to get utilities to it. I wish I had the money; I’d get solar.”
“It’s something I can look into, Kelly,” she replied, writing down look into solar.
“Remember, they do solar at the hardware, too.”
“Right! You’re right, this is almost too easy.”
“Thank you for calling, Maggie. It was just at the right time, too.”
“Aw, I’m glad. We have a lot of exciting things to talk about and plan. Will you let me know what your dad says about the trailer? We’ve been looking for a used one. A double-wide will be even better.”
“I’ll go over to the hardware right now,” Kelly replied. “Give me a ring before you come by with Brulee, too.”
They talked for a while longer, seemingly unable to end their exciting conversation, and finally said goodbye. Maggie looked at the time. Even though she worked from home now and every day was a day off, the weekends were still special to her. Justin had clinic hours in the morning, which meant she was going to a wild horse preservation meeting without him for the first time. The closest neighbors she had—Gloria and Bubba, also volunteers, who came by Bayou Cottage every other day to scoop horse poop—were dropping by to pick Maggie up.
“It’s right on our way,” Gloria had said the last time she was there to poop scoop. “No problem at all.”
While she walked around the yard with Brulee on a leash for one last pee-pee, Maggie called Annie.
“I’m sick,” she whined. “I swear to god my mother-in-law is trying to kill me. Everything she served had cream cheese in it. I think I’m having a gall bladder attack.”
“Should you go to the doctor?” Maggie asked, concerned.
“No. If I went to the doctor every time I suffered for overeating, I’d be there daily. Anyway, I know you didn’t call to listen to me whine.”
“You can whine all you want. Actually though, I did call you to tell you that I’m teaming up with Kelly to move the rescue here instead of starting from square one. So you’ll be employed sooner than you thought.”
“Kelly, my sister-in-law Kelly?”
“Um, yes, that Kelly. It’s not going to be a problem though, right? She told me about Thanksgiving, and she’s not angry, Annie.”
“She’s not? She was pretty shocked when I opened my trap,” Annie admitted. “How did it come about?”
“She just said she found out in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner that her boyfriend was running for the creepiest-guy-in-the-world award. Actually, it was helpful talking to her about it because I feel better, more relaxed, like he isn’t going to come here and try to kill me.”
They talked more about the rescue, and Annie could see the wisdom in moving all of Kelly’s work over to Bayou Cottage.
“Let Kelly know we talked,” Maggie said. “I didn’t mention you, but you can tell her you’re coming to work for us. It might stir things up a little bit.”
“Oh yeah, I know how you love drama.”
“My ride is here,” Maggie said, chuckling. “Talk later.”
She waved to Gloria and Bubba and quickly led Brulee back into the cottage even though she didn’t want to go.
The day at the horse preserve was interesting. A lot of familiar people were there, including Amber Greely and Grace Breaux. They were working on repairing fences that day, and Maggie learned how to repair and stretch wire fencing. By three, they were