out an exhale of disgust. “See, Louise is going to be hurt. Do you love her?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
“And does she love you?”
I think so. “Yes.”
“Does she think you’re going to settle here in Loo-zee-anna?”
“She probably hopes…as you have.”
“Well, consider how disappointed I am and multiply that by a hundred for Louise.”
“Stop worrying, Mama. Nothing is settled yet,” he told her when she finally left after gaining a promise from him to return on Sunday for a Welcome Home dinner for his brother Leon and Lily Rose. He wasn’t looking forward to the event, which would probably involve a slide show of all the sites they’d visited in Europe, but he’d do it to please his mother.
Later that day, there was another knock on the door.
Who could it be now?
Since his roommate was out now, he took the stairs two at a time, and opened the door to find a mailman standing on the porch, holding a special delivery. Justin signed for the oversized envelope.
“Hope it’s good news,” the man said.
“Me, too,” Justin replied.
Once back inside, he stared at the envelope for a long moment. It was addressed to Dr. Justin Boudreaux. A bit premature, that, but who was he to complain? The return address was a hospital in Chicago, as he’d expected.
At first, he was afraid to open the envelope. As long as it remained closed, he still had hope. But wait, why was he being so negative? He tore the envelope open and quickly scanned the contents.
Slowly, a smile emerged on his face, and he let out a whoop of happiness. His future was sealed! Solid gold!
Now, to convince Louise that she should share in his future.
Chapter 9
Stormy weather…
Louise was making Adèle’s favorite Cajun spaghetti and meatballs, a mix of andouille sausage with ground beef, and a dash of tabasco in the sauce, when she heard a car crunch over the clamshells in the driveway. Looking out the window, she saw Justin emerge from his mother’s DeSoto. She hadn’t expected him today. And what was it with the huge bouquet of flowers he was carrying in one hand and a bottle of what looked like champagne in the other?
What does it mean?
Oh. He must have accepted Dr. Clovis’s offer and he’s come to celebrate with me.
She smiled and did a little dance in place.
“Tante Lulu! It’s Jus-tin,” Adèle yelled from the porch where she’d been playing with her Mr. Potato Head.
By the time Louise turned down the heat on her sauce and got to the door, Justin was standing there with a big grin on his face and Adèle’s little arms wrapped around his thighs. Despite the two or more days of whiskers on his face, and his wrinkled shorts and T-shirt, he looked hotter than a movie star. Like that James Dean, but better. Rebel with a cause.
He handed her the bouquet and the bottle and leaned down to give her a kiss…a kiss that lasted a little longer than it should have, considering the bundle still hanging on his leg.
“Adèle, sweetheart, let Justin go. Give him a chance to catch his breath.”
“Okay,” Adèle said, scuffling her shoe on the porch floor.
“Hey, Short Stuff, here’s a little present for you, too.” He handed her a book that apparently had sound effects. As Adèle flicked through the pages, Louise heard a cow moo, and a cat meow. “Let me talk to your aunt for a few minutes, and then we can read the book together. Or else I can help you with Mr. Potato Head. I make a swell Sweet Potato Head.”
Adèle’s eyes lit up and she said, “Yippee!” She held onto the book even as she went back to her Mr. Potato Head, who was looking more like Mr. Mashed Potato. Justin followed Louise inside. While she put the flowers in an oversized Mason jar in the sink, Justin opened the champagne and poured some in two St. Jude tumblers.
Louise sat next to him at the kitchen table and raised her glass to click with his. After they’d both taken a sip of their bubbly drinks, she said, “So, Mister Mysterious, what’re we celebrating?”
He took one of her hands in his and kissed the knuckles. “I have the most amazing news.”
She waited for him to tell her that he’d accepted Dr. Clovis’s offer.
“I’ve been offered a residency in heart surgery at Chicago General, one of the best teaching hospitals in the United States…maybe in the whole world.”
She blinked several times, not sure she had heard right.