Sweetheart Reunion

Alma stood with her hands on her hips, looking for all the world like a pirate queen about to make a man walk the plank. “I reckon those will do just fine. Thank you, Julien.”

“Thanks back to you and I’ll take my check now.” He handed her a receipt, grinning to stop the pain edging through his heart. “You look tired, chère. Long day?”

Alma glanced away, irritation marring her pretty face. “It’s always a long day around here.”

Julien leaned one booted foot up onto the steps. “You work too much. You need to take some time away.”

“Since when are you so worried about my work schedule?”

Since he’d had an epiphany or two. But he couldn’t explain that to Alma. She worried about his lack of faith. She’d have him by the ear and through the church doors before he could say “Praise the Lord and pass the salt.”

So he said, “Since I’ve seen you in this place mostly every day and night for as long as I can remember.”

She fussed with checking his haul. “I get days off every week.”

“Oui, and you spend them mostly right here.”

“How do you know what I do?” Alma asked, her deep-blue eyes crashing like an angry ocean.

“I see you most every day so it’s kinda hard to miss,” Julien replied, the smile gone out of his words. “I worry for you.”

“Don’t,” she said, tossing hair away from her face. “Just get your load finished so I can get back to my customers.”

Something inside of Julien snapped. He’d had a long, hard day, too, and too long of a time thinking about her. And he was proud of his catch. He wanted Alma to be proud of him. Or maybe he just needed Alma to see him, really see him, again. She thought he was heartless, without a soul. But she’d never know how he prayed in the long, silent nights of longing for things he might not ever have. He’d prayed all right. He had faith. He just wasn’t one to go shouting it to the world.

“I think you should get away from this kitchen and your customers for a while.”

“I have work to do, Julien, so stop thinking and get back to unloading.”

“All done.” He hopped over the last two steps then said something to his brother in French. Pierre rolled his eyes but nodded then went back to the truck and cranked it.

“Your brother is leaving you,” Alma pointed out, nodding toward the roaring pickup.

“I told him to go on home,” Julien said, taking her by the hand. Then he turned to the window into the kitchen. “Miss Alma is taking a little break. Winnie, you can keep everyone happy for a while, can’t you?”

Winnie grinned into the window, her brown bangs flipped over the crinkles in her eyes. “Oui! Take your time.”

Alma pulled away. “Since when do you go ordering my staff around, Julien LeBlanc?”

He grabbed her hand and held tight. “Since you look like you’re about to fall out. Since you need to rest but you won’t do it. Since…just now when I decided to take matters into my own hands.”

Alma held back, glancing through the window to frown at the still grinning Winnie. “I don’t have time for your foolishness. I have people—”

“Who can cook and clean and smile at other people while you take a walk with me along the bayou. Five minutes, Alma. That’s all I ask.”

* * *

Alma stared down at his hand in hers, wondering why his big, tanned fingers seemed to fit so closely to her own work-worn hands. And wondering why she just wanted to sit down and have a nice little cry. Why did she feel as if she’d missed out on something important?

Pushing that idea aside, she tried once again to pull away. “Julien, I’m fine. I can’t go for a walk during suppertime.”

He didn’t let go. “Yes, you can. C’mon. It’s a nice evening.”

She couldn’t argue with that. A cool spring breeze played through the bald cypress trees lining the banks, the gray-beard moss swaying against the branches like old lace falling against leather. A flock of brown pelicans flew by, the symmetry of their wings lifted high up in the sky in perfect formation over the water. The sight was as natural to her way of life as breathing. Scenes such as this normally brought her a certain calm. But with Julien nearby, her heart spurted like a burned-out boat motor.

Sighing, Alma followed Julien down the steps in spite of the need for self-control shouting in her head. “Five minutes, then I have to get back. I’ve got pies to bake tonight and bread to mix for the morning rush.”

He nodded and held her hand tight to his. “I won’t take you far.”

Oh, but he would, she knew. He could, if she let him. Julien was a ladies’ man, handsome and playful and larger than life. A man who danced with the girls at the fais-do-do. A man who charmed women with just a wink and a smile. He could take her to places she’d stopped dreaming about going. He could also break her heart again.

But Alma had enough heartbreak already to last her a long, long time. She wouldn’t add falling for Julien LeBlanc to that list. Not a second time, anyway.

“It is a nice night,” she said, just to test her voice to see if she could speak. The sweet scent of honeysuckle tickled her nose.

“It is at that.”

He glanced over at her while they strolled along the worn dirt path beside what they called Bayou Petite. It was just a small tributary shooting out of the big open canal that ran along the main road in Fleur. Big Fleur Bayou, that one was called. The town had been built around Big Fleur.

“So you had a productive day?” she asked, simply because being silent made her think way too much about him. And wonder why today of all days, she’d let him get to her.

Maybe because, today of all days, he’d actually made the effort.

“We did. Crawfish season is wide open but prices might be steep. And this year’s spring shrimp season has to be better than last fall.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’m ready. More than ready.”

Alma pushed aside a low cypress branch, the greening of the tree shining in the dusk like fireflies. “It’ll soon be time for the spring festival.”

“And the blessing of the fleets,” Julien added. “We need lots of blessings.”

Alma stopped at an old bench. “Let’s sit.”

Surprised colored his face. “You want to sit with me a spell, catin?”

“I’ve been on my feet all day.” It was the best excuse she could find. She didn’t dare tell him that even while making small talk around him, she became breathless.

He gave her a low bow and, with a flourish, wiped the wooden bench clear of fallen leaves and debris. “Your throne awaits, my queen.”

Alma laughed at his antics, her face muscles stretching wide. Maybe she should laugh more. “You’re such a clown.”

He sank down beside her then smiled over at her. “I made you laugh, so I don’t mind being called a couillon. And you have to know, when you laugh it sounds like a melody.”

“You’re also full of baloney,” she retorted, touched that he liked her laugh. She had to admit, it was good to see him laughing, too. They’d both lost a parent and while her mother had been gone for years, Julien’s father had died only a few short months ago. Had that changed Julien?

“I do put on a good show.” He went quiet and kept his eyes on her. “But then, you know that better than most.”

She couldn’t answer that. She did know it better than most. Underneath all that jovial bluster, Julien had a heart as big as the bay. He laughed a lot, talked a lot and held a lot inside.

“It’s been a while since we’ve just sat and visited,” he said, looking out at the dark water. “Life just keeps on going.”

“It does. I’m always so busy with the café.”

“You need to slow down.”

“You could take that same advice yourself.”

Julien nodded, his actions causing his wild mop of dark hair to fall around his forehead. “Can’t rest, darlin’. Too much to do. Work’s hard to come by these days.”

“You’ve always been a solid worker.”

He turned then, moving close. So close she could see the flecks of brown in his onyx eyes. “So you have noticed some of my redeeming qualities?”

“You have redeeming qualities?”

He laughed again. “Non. Not a one.”

But Alma knew that wasn’t exactly true. Julien loved living here on this bayou. Like most of the men around here, he’d learned how to fish and hunt while he was still practically in diapers. It was in his blood. And like most of the people she knew, he worked two jobs just to help his family make ends meet. He had changed a lot since high school. She’d heard through the bayou grapevine that he’d stopped drinking after his daddy died.

Alma prayed that was the truth. She prayed that Julien would settle down and find true happiness. But she didn’t dare pray that he might one day love her again.

“How’s your mama?” she asked now, always worried. The women around here didn’t take care of themselves and health care was a joke—not very affordable or available. Julien’s mother had a lot of health problems.

“She’s doing okay,” he said, the sparkle leaving his eyes. “She has her good days. Just has to watch that old ticker. Heart disease ain’t pretty.”

“Take care of her, Julien.”

He took her hand again. “I will, I promise. But what about you and your sisters?”

Alma knew what he was asking. What about the cancer? Are you all safe?

“Callie is doing great. Her last checkup was a positive one—all clear.” She thought about what Callie had been through and said a silent prayer for her sister. “And Brenna—you know her. Always going and doing. A busy career woman. But she’s good at her job and she loves working for the art gallery. She talks about planning her wedding, but I’m not sure that will ever happen.”

He turned toward Alma then. “And you?”

What about her? She couldn’t tell him the secrets of her heart. “I’m okay. Tired. Missing my mama today. Wishing for things—”

“What kind of things?”

Alma swallowed back the hopes and dreams, refusing to let them float to the surface. “You know, more money to pay bills and less hours spent in that café. More time with Papa and my sisters. More… I don’t know. I’m content, Julien. Just content.”

“Is that all you want out of life? To be ‘just content’?”

She wanted to shout to him, no, she wanted more. She wanted him to tell her he had changed…she wanted to forgive him for his youthful indiscretions. But Alma had been through so much pain, she was almost afraid to look for love and a family. What if she found someone—other than the man staring at her now—and then she got sick like Mama had? Would that person stand by her through such a sickness? Or worse, what if she gave in to Julien’s flirtations and fell for him all over again, only to get her heart broken one more time or to only get sick the way her mama had gotten sick? She couldn’t put carefree, laid-back Julien through that. She didn’t want to put any man through that.

“You have that look, chère,” he whispered against her hair.

“What look is that?”

“That faraway look. It breaks my heart.”

Did everyone around here know her so well?

“I’ll be fine, Julien. It’s just, spring always makes me think of Mama. She loved her garden, loved spring on the bayou. It’s hard sometimes.”

He looked out over the water, his gaze following two fussy wood ducks. “My daddy’s birthday is next month.”

Alma’s heart broke open a little bit. “Oh, that’s right. He always loved this time of year. He used to tease that we only had the seafood festival to celebrate his birthday.” She touched a hand to Julien’s arm. “I miss him, too.”

Julien shrugged, as if shaking off the pain. “Oui, we all do. But I want to see you laugh again, so let’s talk about something else.”

She got up, pulling away. “I need to get back.”

“But we were just getting started.”

Alma looked at her watch. “Your five minutes are up.” She turned to head back up the path, this new intimacy startling her and leaving her unsettled. “But I do appreciate the little break.”

Julien got up to follow her. “What if I want more than five minutes?”

Shocked, she stopped. “Since when?”

He put his hands on her arms. “Since I’m getting older and wiser and you’re getting prettier and smarter.” He turned serious then. “I can’t seem to settle down, Alma. And I’m thinking it’s your fault.”

“My fault? You’re crazy.”

“No, just a man with a purpose. I’m thinking you’ve spoiled me for other women.”

Her pulse jumped like a fish coming out of the water, just a flash. “Then you need to rethink that.”

Alma pivoted and started walking. She heard him running to catch up with her. What had come over him?

His words echoed up to her. “You like bothering me, don’t you? I mean, you like making me suffer.”

“I don’t want to be a bother,” she said over her shoulder. “And I don’t have time to make anyone suffer.”

Except herself.

“You are a bother, though. You won’t go away. Always in my head, always the smell of flowers and the image of those pretty eyes of yours.”

There went her pulse, her heart, again. “I don’t want to be there—inside your head. Let me out.”

He tugged her back just as they reached the back porch of the café. “I can’t shake you.”

“So what are you going to do about it, Julien?”

He didn’t speak. But he did something, all right.

He leaned down and kissed her smack on the lips. A long, measured, meandering kiss that bubbled and churned with as many undercurrents as that big bayou. His kiss was certainly as dangerous as those ancient waters.

She pulled away long enough to whisper a plea. “Stop it, Julien.”

But he didn’t stop, even when the few customers and workers on the big porch started whistling and clapping.

Chapter Three

“How did you hear that?”

Alma glared at her cell phone then put it back to her ear.

Her sister Brenna laughed, the sound tinkling like chimes through the phone line. “Are you kidding? I still have friends in Fleur, you know. Friends with cell phones and social networks. They keep me informed. I even have a picture. Hold on.”

Alma groaned then glanced out the window of the cottage where she lived behind the restaurant. Less than two hours since Julien had pulled that stunt and already it had gone viral.

Her sister’s silky voice returned. “Okay. I sent you a copy. Look.”

“I don’t have time—” But she looked anyway. “Oh, wow.”

“Oh, wow is right,” Brenna said, giggling again. “That would look good on a romance novel cover.”

“Yeah, right. Don’t get any ideas.”

“Oh, I only have one idea,” Brenna said with a sigh. “We need a wedding in Fleur. And you and Julien have been dancing around this thing since high school. Actually, since kindergarten.”

“We’re not dancing around,” Alma retorted. “We’re just friends.”

“Friends? Sister, that shot shows you and Julien LeBlanc are so much more than friends.”

“Delete it,” Alma said. “That’s what I’m going to do right now.”

“No, you won’t,” Brenna said. “You’ll print it out and put it in that scrapbook you’ve been working on for years.”

“And how do you know about my scrapbook?”

“I have ways.”

“You are so sneaky. No wonder you’re good at your job.”

“And what does that mean?”

“Nothing,” Alma said. “Just that your imagination makes you suspect things and I guess that is a bit creative when you’re dealing with art. You can spot a fake.”

“Exactly,” Brenna said. “Julien tries to be a fake, pretending to be a bad boy and all that, but he’s still in love with you. That’s why he pretends to leave a trail of broken hearts behind him. But he’s the one with the broken heart. And now I have the picture to prove it. You know what they say about a picture?”

“Well, this one isn’t speaking a thousand words,” Alma replied. “More like, this picture is purely, truly fake.” She swallowed, then closed her eyes to the memory of Julien’s kiss. It had not felt as if he were faking at all. No, that kiss had been all too real. “He only did that to embarrass me and get me all riled up.”

“Okay, keep telling yourself that,” Brenna said. “I think you are riled up, but in a good way.”

“And what about you?” Alma asked, anxious to get off the subject of that kiss and the way it had made her feel. “When are you going to have that big Baton Rouge wedding you keep dreaming about?”

Her sister went silent. And that wasn’t like Brenna.

“Bree?”

“Not a good subject right now.” Alma heard a sigh. “Keep the picture, Alma. You’ll regret it if you delete it. I gotta go. Hope to see you in a few weeks.”

The connection ended and Alma was left standing there, staring at a picture of Julien LeBlanc kissing her.

“I should delete it,” she said, mumbling and muttering as she went around locking doors and preparing to go to bed.

But she didn’t.

She got in her grandmother’s old brass bed laced with mosquito netting and stared at the picture for a long time.

Then she turned out the lights and tried to go to sleep.

But the face of a dark-haired charmer kept popping into her mind. And the memory of that kiss kept her tossing and turning well into the wee hours.

Why did Julien want to be back in her life?

* * *

Julien wasn’t the first one in the door at the Fleur Bakery and Café the next morning. He waited until almost lunchtime, not wanting to appear anxious.

Except that he couldn’t wait to see Alma again. She’d kissed him back last night, and for the first time in a long time he had real hope in his heart. Since the night she’d walked out of his life, Julien had longed for a way to win Alma back. But pride and her aloof nature had held him back.

Then Sunday after church, he’d watched his maman with his cousin’s new baby. Watched and seen the tears forming in his sweet mother’s eyes. She missed her husband. Julien’s daddy had died from a heart attack just last fall. They all missed him. When his mother Virginia had glanced up and caught him staring at her and the child, she’d said something that had stayed with Julien.

“Don’t squander time with your pride, Julien. You don’t have to look so sad. You could have a baby yourself if you stop being so mule-headed. Alma would make a good mother.”

His mama sure had a way with words. But her pointed suggestion had stayed with Julien and then he’d spotted Alma the very next day there in her café, with that early morning sweetness all around her. He’d seen the same sadness he felt there in her pretty eyes. She’d looked as if she wanted something more. Something she couldn’t quite find.

That’s how he felt now.

He wanted her to smile again. Preferably, at him. And the fact that she’d kissed him back rather than slapping him flat gave him enough hope to hang on like a bass on a nylon string.

Time to let her reel him in.

Enough with the revelations and the signs. He planned to ask Alma out on a real date. If he could get up the courage. Maybe a poem. He’d quote her some pretty lines then ask her to go to up to New Orleans for a nice evening. Alma deserved a nice evening, didn’t she?

After a few of his fishing buddies converged on the restaurant, Julien made his way to his favorite table then searched for Alma. Where was she?

Another waitress came and took his order, her own soft smile full of interest. Mollie, her name tag stated. But instead of flirting in his usual way, Julien only had an interest in the chief cook and bottle washer around here. Alma. It wasn’t like her to take time away from the café.

Maybe she was hiding out. He’d thought about not showing up today himself. She had not been happy with him after that kiss.

He grinned, remembering how she’d turned and pranced back into the restaurant, all fire and glory, while everyone who’d witnessed the event had clapped and whooped.

Alma wasn’t into clapping and whooping.

Julien had walked home, whistling a happy tune.

Until reality set in and he realized he’d kissed Alma in public. And while she’d acted like she liked it, she’d also acted like she just maybe might kill him. Later. She probably thought he’d done it on purpose, just to show her. On purpose, to send her a message that Julien LeBlanc still had it.

Whatever “it” was. Lately, it hadn’t been working for him. So he’d reached out to the one woman who could always make him smile even when his heart carried a big frown. So he’d kissed that woman in a moment of pure, spontaneous need.

What if she poisoned his food?

“You look like a nutria caught in a trap,” Tebow said as he slid into the booth across from Julien. “What’s on your mind, bro?”

The cute waitress dropped Julien’s plate of eggs and grits in front of him then took Tebow’s order. “Bon appetit,” she said, winking at Julien.

Julien glanced over at his friend. “Here, take a bite of these eggs.”

Tebow shrugged and dug right in. “They’re good.”

Julien watched his friend for any sign of distress then pulled his plate back.

“Hey!”

“Get your own,” he told Tebow, still looking around for Alma.

When the girl named Mollie returned to give Julien a refill on his coffee, he asked her, “Where’s Alma today?”

Looking surprised, the waitress held the glass coffeepot close. “She had a meeting about the festival. She’ll be in later.”

Tebow shot the waitress a big smile then aimed his baby-blue gaze at the nametag on the girl’s T-shirt. “Thank you, Pretty Mollie.”

Mollie gave him a look that told him to drop dead then whirled and headed away.

“I think you just broke her heart,” he said to Julien. “And I think she just broke my heart in return.”

“What?” Julien asked between bites. He needed to hurry.

“Never mind.” Tebow stared longingly at the food. “I’ll just sit here and watch you eat while I starve to death from lack of love and a meal.”

“Where’s the festival committee meeting?” Julien asked.

Tebow shrugged. “You’re asking me?”

“Yes, you. You mama is always on that committee.”

“And they always meet at the family center at the church,” Tebow said, giving Julien a strange look. “I’m worried about you, bro.”

Julien shoved the rest of his grits into his mouth, swallowed and then took a long swig of coffee. “I have to go.”

Slapping a ten on the table, he was up and out the door before Tebow could ask why and what for.

Julien had come to a decision after that kiss last night. He was tired of waiting around for Alma to forgive him. He’d just have to show her he could change—he had changed—instead of hoping she’d see it with her own eyes.

He was about to volunteer to serve on the Fleur Seafood Festival Committee.

He loved a good festival and he loved seafood.

And he wanted to kiss Alma again. Soon.

If he had to sit around in boring meetings to make that happen, it would be a small sacrifice.

* * *

Alma stifled a yawn and looked at her watch. She was cranky today and it didn’t help that she’d missed part of her eight hours of sleep. But the breakfast shift would be changing over to lunch and she needed to get back to the café.

Tebow’s formidable mama, Frances LaBorde, was chattering away about what they could do to bring new and exciting ideas to the annual seafood festival scheduled for next month.

“We have all the usual sponsors lined up and we’re right on schedule as far as food booths and entertainment,” Mrs. LaBorde said. “Alma, you got the seafood wagons all ready?”

Alma sat up straight and picked up her pen. “Yes, ma’am. The Fleur Bakery and Café will have booths stationed at both entries to the festival. And of course, we’ll have a booth and cooker set up right in front of the café, too. Crawfish, shrimp and oysters, fried and boiled, and just about any type of fresh fish you could ask for. Not to mention boudin, gumbo, dirty rice and red beans and rice. No one will go hungry.”