Lulu's Recipe for Cajun Sass - Sandra Hill Page 0,11

up to about too-hot-to-handle. “No, I was just helpin’ Dad on my afternoon off work.”

Good for you, daddy’s boy, she thought. But you probably hoped to hook up with some beautiful bayou gal along the way. Instead, you got stuck with me.

A grin twitched at his lips as if he knew what she was thinking.

The fathead.

His head shot up as if a sudden thought had come to him. “Please don’t tell me you were doling out medicines during that recent Asian influenza epidemic?”

She bristled. Something about this almost-doctor really got her dander up and she exploded, “No, I did not. Me, I am not so much a fool that I would think I have a cure for some strange virus. If I did, I would be famous and rich as one of them Rockerfellers, now wouldn’t I? But what I did do was give my customers herbal remedies to relieve shortness of breath or fever for the summer flu that hit here, not an epidemic. And, yes, I kept my pantry cleaner than a bleach factory, cleaner than some doctor’s offices I been in.”

He was clearly amused by her reaction, probably an overreaction, to his insulting words, which might very well have been teasing. She didn’t know him well enough to tell the difference.

“Where at you studyin’ medicine?” Sometimes Louise deliberately dumbed down her language when she was around people who considered themselves superior intellectually.

“Up north. Harvard.”

Well, you couldn’t get any higher intellectual reputation than Harvard, she supposed. “Well, la dee da! So, you become Yankee now?”

He smiled. “Hardly. You jump to a lot of assumptions, my dear.”

He even sounded uppity, not at all Cajun-ish. “You know what they say about Yankees, dontcha? They’re like hemorrhoids. A pain in the be-hind when they come south, but a relief when they go back up.”

A slight tic at the side of his closed lips was the only indication she’d pricked his pride. “That joke is as old as time.”

She shrugged. “If the boot fits, no sense throwing it out.”

But then he smiled. “I can’t believe we’re arguing about old jokes. You’re a little bit snippy, darlin’. Did I say somethin’ to offend you?”

Hah! He thought he could toss out a “darlin’” with a sexy smile and suddenly become Cajun-ish. “Is the sky blue, darlin’? Do birds fly?” she inquired sweetly, then explained, deliberately dumbing down her language again, “Ain’t ah knowin’ what yer thinkin’ here, cher? You, a Southerner-turned-Yankee raise yer precious nose at mah croup syrup. Like all doctors, ya think folk healers are quacks.”

“Don’t presume to guess what I’m thinking, chère. Just because I said your concoction stinks, doesn’t mean I disapprove of your work; so, no need to pitch a hissy fit.” He inhaled and exhaled, as if to control his temper, then said in a softer tone, “You have to admit, there are lots of charlatans out there, putting out magic elixirs that cure everything from constipation to cancer, but—”

She put up two hands to halt his words. “Truce,” she declared with a laugh. “Anyways, how come it’s taken you so long to get through medical school? You gotta be at least thirty.”

“Thirty-one,” he said. “I spent three years in the Army during the war as a combat medic.”

Ah, Louise realized the irony then. Her Phillipe had intended to study medicine after the war, as well. Unfortunately, he hadn’t survived to fulfill that dream. It wasn’t a subject she wanted to discuss further. And she didn’t have to because, just then, a whimper came from within the cottage, followed by the sound of tiny feet walking through the rooms. “Tante Lulu!” Adèle cried, dragging her pet blanket on the floor behind her.

Louise opened the door and lifted the child into her arms, blanket and all.

“Lulu?” Justin inquired.

“This is Adèle,” she said, kissing the top of the girl’s tousled hair. “From the time she was a toddler, she was unable to say Louise, so, Lulu it became. And stuck.”

Justin nodded but said nothing, studying the two of them. With Adèle’s cheek pressed against hers, staring at the stranger, Louise knew there was a strong resemblance, which she didn’t bother to explain.

And what he thought was obvious. Louise could almost see the facts click in his bachelor head. Young bayou woman. Not so attractive. A little bit snippy. Has a child. Not for me!

Not that Louise cared.

Much.

But she was annoyed.

Very annoyed.

And something shifted inside of her, something important which she would examine later.

Uh-oh! the voice in her head said, immediately