Four Weddings and a Swamp Boat Tour - Erin Nicholas Page 0,98

he awakened this morning. He supposed it was for the best since he had no idea what to say to her. Well, other than begging her to stay. Which was ridiculous. She was going back home for her best friend’s wedding. It wasn’t like she was leaving forever. Or taking off for Colorado. Hell, he was the one who said no to going with her. She’d invited him along.

But he knew there was a chance that when she was away from him and Autre, whatever spell he and his hometown and family had somehow cast on her might be broken. Once she was back in Appleby, she could very easily decide to stay there. Or, when she was back in Appleby, she could be reminded about how much she really wanted her Year of Aloneness. She could head out to Colorado after the wedding. In fact, for a girl who really had been seeking the path of least resistance when she headed to Louisiana a couple of months ago, that would be very in character.

Of course, there was a voice niggling at the back of his mind reminding him that the girl who had arrived in Louisiana a couple of months ago wasn’t the same girl who’d gotten in her car this morning. All he could do was hope that the girl who had headed north to Iowa had left a piece of her heart with him in Louisiana.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell her about this,” Kennedy said.

“She has a wedding to get to.”

“That wedding is not more important than you are,” Kennedy said.

Mitch shook his head. “That’s ridiculous. It’s a wedding. Two of her best friends.”

“And you’re you. You are important too, Mitch,” Kennedy said. Her tone was exasperated but also full of affection.

He swallowed. “She needed a chance to get away and see what she really wants. If you love something, set it free and all that.”

Kennedy laughed softly. “Landrys don’t let the things they love get away, Mitch.”

“Right. Sometimes they drive them away.”

Kennedy couldn’t argue with that. “Well, we do try our best sometimes.”

Yeah, they did. He’d seen all of his cousins try to screw up the relationship with the love of their lives. He’d seen his grandmother screw up her relationship with his grandfather for that matter. But they’d all fixed it in the end. He felt a little flip in his gut thinking about that.

“She was very upset that she didn’t know about the grand opening of the enclosure,” Kennedy said.

Mitch looked at her quickly. “You told her?”

“Yeah. Accidentally. I had no idea that she didn’t know about it. But I would have told her either way.”

“It’s just a fence and a couple swimming holes.”

Kennedy straightened away from the fence and turned to face him, her hands on her hips. “No, it’s not. You know this means a lot to me, and Tori, and Maddie, and Juliet. The otters are practically our pets. And this will help the family business. Plus, you did an amazing job. Way above and beyond. This thing is awesome. The city is giving you a Best New Initiative Award.”

“Autre is giving their incoming mayor’s family a Best New Initiative Award,” Mitch said. “That’s ridiculous at best, considering there haven’t been any new initiatives in any other businesses in years, and a conflict of interest at worst.”

Kennedy, the incoming mayor, waved that away. “The whole city council agreed it’s awesome. The award was Knox’s idea, not mine.”

Knox was the city planner. He was a great guy. He’d grown up in Autre as well, hunting, fishing, and climbing trees with the Landry boys. Knox was a big, outdoorsy guy and the last one that any of them would have expected to turn into a guy who worked in an office and worried about things like stoplights and traffic patterns. But he had a nerdy side. And he got shit done.

“Knox likes me. Not the enclosure,” Mitch said.

“Everyone likes you, Mitch,” Kennedy said with an eye roll. “That doesn’t mean you’re not good at things and deserving of recognition.”

He didn’t respond to that. Because that was really nice. He was proud of the enclosure. He had to admit it looked amazing.

“And now that Maddie’s posted it on our social media, that animal park outside of Galveston wants you to come help them expand their enclosure. And you got that grant, Mitch!”

He had to admit the email they’d gotten from the animal park in Texas had been pretty cool. He was happy to