He had a small army ready to knock Guidry Place into shape in record time and they’d all agreed because somehow, someway, in all those jobs he’d done, all the drifting, he’d managed to make a little family for himself.
He would offer it all to Sera. He would show her what he could give her.
But he had to get to New Orleans first because his roofer friend was coming in this afternoon and he needed a ride. He would pick up Jimmy and rush back to hopefully find better lodgings for all of them. His aunt had left a message, but he couldn’t listen to it yet.
Of course, he might be sitting here forever. How long did gators nap?
He honked his horn but the gator simply opened and closed his mouth as though yawning and settling in.
What the hell was he supposed to do? The gator was across the entire road, and the sides sloped off at a pretty steep grade, so there was no going around him. The last thing he needed to do was roll his truck. He needed every dime he had to help Sera.
He sat for a little while, staring at his phone and then back at the gator. Shep had stopped barking, curling up on the seat beside him like if the gator got to nap, at least he could do the same.
His phone buzzed again. A text from his aunt.
I’m sending a gift your way. Stay put, my darling boy. I’ll make this right.What did that mean? Knowing his aunt, it meant she would have Luc Guidry installed in Wes’s room at Beaumont House by tomorrow. And what would she send his way?
He wished he hadn’t promised Sera he wouldn’t call her. It had been the right thing to do. If she said she wanted space, not giving it to her made him every bit as bad as all the other jerks she’d ever dated, but he wanted to call her, to hear her voice.
He wanted to find out if there was any way she could ever forgive him because there was no way he could forget her.
Shep’s head came up two seconds before Harry heard the sirens in the distance.
He sent a small thanks to heaven because the sheriff probably knew how to deal with a gator. He glanced back, and sure enough, a parish vehicle was tearing up the road. The big SUV stopped and the door came open and the deputy swung herself down and opened the passenger door.
Sera slid from the back, her blond hair tumbling around her shoulders.
She was here. She was here and so was a gator. She was running toward the gator, who might swallow her petite form in two quick bites.
He had that door open in no time flat, and shut it before Shep could rush out and try to battle the reptile.
Sera was running his way.
“Baby, there’s a gator. I need you to get in the truck.” He wasn’t about to let her get hurt.
She stopped a few feet from him, looking around to get a glimpse. “Oh, it’s no big deal. That’s Otis. He’s a sweetheart. I need to talk to you.”
“Come on, Rox,” a deep voice was saying. “She’s my sister. Shouldn’t I be allowed to watch her get her man?” He looked up as the deputy hauled Zep out of the back by his cuffed hands. “Hey, Harry!”
He was so confused. “Why were you in a squad car? Sera, if my aunt had you arrested . . . Deputy, you can’t arrest her. She’s done nothing wrong.”
Roxie tipped her hat his way. “I wouldn’t arrest Sera. She’s obviously a saint since she’s this one’s sister and he’s still alive. I would have surely killed him by now.”
“Roxie gave me a ride because I went to the motel but you weren’t there,” Sera said, looking up at him with big blue eyes. “My car died in that parking lot. I don’t think I can resuscitate it. I think it finally passed on.”
“But I called you. Why didn’t you call me back?” What was she here for? And were they really doing this in front of the deputy, her brother, and a basking gator?
Shep barked from inside the car.
And his dog.
Sera bit her bottom lip. “I forgot my phone. After Celeste came by, I had to see you. I didn’t want to talk to you on the phone. I needed to see you in person.”
“Celeste came by?”
She nodded. “She wanted to bring me Wes’s medical records. She apologized and then she begged me to give you a second chance, but it’s not really a second chance. We both made mistakes, but I love you, Harry. I can promise you I won’t ever keep a secret from you again. Please don’t leave town. If you’re still upset, I’ll give you time, but I think we should work it out here.”