a sunny yellow. And she was carrying a thermos of something, which she passed to Delphine as they reached their row of chairs. She waved at her daughter. “Hi, baby. You can start the meeting now.”
“Zep, honey, you look so handsome!” Delphine said as she sat down and took her place next to Remy. “You look just as smart as Sylvie does. Oh, my.”
Zep’s head hit the desk.
Sylvie simply sighed. “All right, my momma’s here so we can start.”
“That better be coffee in the thermos, Delphine,” Armie said.
Delphine stood, the thermos in her hand. “You hush, Armie LaVigne. I used to change your smelly pants when you were a baby. This is champagne because it’s my baby’s big day. Are you telling me a momma can’t celebrate her baby’s big day?”
“He’s giving us an update on a werewolf that doesn’t exist,” Armie said.
“Oh, that’s how they get you,” Delphine promised. “They make you think they don’t exist, and then what do you think comes out of the dark to bite you in the butt? Only thing standing between this town and the rougarou is my baby.”
Marcelle stood. “Although we can help, you know. Delphine and I have been talking about a spell.”
It was Sylvie’s turn to face-palm. “Momma, sit down and drink your champagne.”
Marcelle shrugged. “Well, I was going to give you a discount.”
Delphine winked and pulled out some red plastic cups from her bag. “Works every time. And it’s not really champagne. It’s rum punch. Champagne sounds classier.”
“Hey, maybe we shouldn’t around the deputy,” Marcelle said under her breath. “She’s the mean one.”
Roxie sat up straighter. She wasn’t the mean one. Mostly. “Give me some.” Damn it. She could really use a drink, but she hadn’t been smart enough to change. She’d done what she always did when she went out in public. She’d used her job like a shield against everything. “Actually, save some for me. I’m still in uniform.”
Delphine gave her an approving smile. “I’ll do that for you, baby girl. You don’t talk bad about my new baby, Marcelle. She’s only going to be mean to the other people now.”
“She’s not mean, Momma,” Sera argued.
Roxie was genuinely amused. Being a part of the Guidrys would be a complete change from her own family.
Who were still here, lurking about in the shadows, waiting to bite her in the ass.
“All right, everyone get settled,” Sylvie announced. “We need to get down to business at this emergency meeting. I’m going to open the meeting with a statement from our task force leader, Zéphirin Guidry.”
“That’s my baby,” Delphine shouted with pride.
“Momma, please,” Zep begged quietly.
She couldn’t help but giggle a bit at the sight of his gorgeous face twisted in pure agony as his momma told him to keep going.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of another child who was totally embarrassed by a parental unit.
Ashlyn Travers wasn’t sitting with her mother. She wasn’t sitting at all. She was standing at the back of the auditorium with a handheld camera.
Roxie leaned over to whisper a question Lisa’s way. “Do you know if they always film these things? I hadn’t noticed it before.”
Lisa glanced up as Sylvie was talking about the rash of calls the government was getting. “Not that I ever noticed. Must be a school project. I heard they had an AV Club going at the high school. They’re learning how to edit and put together films. Some of the kids were in a couple of days ago talking about how you can even record whole movies with your phone these days.”
Wasn’t that interesting?
She settled back as her mind started putting pieces together.
She might be able to make this meeting work in all their favors. And Delphine might actually need that champagne because she intended to give Zep some real choices tonight. All she had to do was make her move.
chapter eleven
Zep wished he’d thought to change out the water bottles with beer. Or rum. He was going to need it to get through this meeting. Not only was his mother out there treating him like he was graduating from preschool, but he had to deal with the Q and A portion of the evening.
“Has anyone considered that this could be the government? We all know they have some crazy experiments going on.” Herve owned the auto repair shop and way too many trucker hats. The one he had on today proclaimed that Shrimpers Do It With Grit.