Chapter Seventeen

“Man, Libby, you make the best waffles in the world,” Ralph said.

“And you have the table manners of a slob,” Bailey said as he shoved another portion into his mouth.

The kids had helped Libby mix up the ingredients and spent their time talking and teasing each other. Libby had worked hard to achieve the relaxed atmosphere, and she was enjoying spending time with them alone. If her relationship with Tully was going to work, it would only happen if these two Badeauxes accepted her place in their lives.

“My mom used to say that if someone eats like that, it’s a compliment to the chef,” Libby said.

“Then your head should be as big as the house by the time he’s finished,” Bailey teased. “Hurry up and stuff your face, slobbo, and we can go sit by the pool for a little while.” Despite the morning cloud cover, the sun had finally broken through and the temperature had started to rise.

Ralph helped with the dishes after he’d finished eating, then went up to change into his bathing suit. He returned with his Nintendo DS Lite, and Bailey had her MP3 player and towel.

Libby, lounging near the pool in a conservative one-piece suit, glanced up when she heard them whispering but pretended not to see them.

“I can’t wait to get a load of Mom’s face when she sees how good Libby looks in that.”

“If it was a competition then I’d say Mom won hands down,” Ralph said. “She’s a lot better than that biatch Kara.”

“Spoken like a true dog.”

“Hey, Mom said it was all right to be a dog if you aren’t married, you aren’t obnoxious about it, and you don’t make any promises you aren’t going to keep. I’m going to make the most of that while I can.”

“First you have to get girls to realize you’re alive and breathing. Then you can go on and start your dog career, Casanova.”

“I’m sure you’re doing so much better,” he said as he bumped hips with her.

“Maybe I am.”

They sat on either side of Libby, Ralph engrossed in his game and Bailey moving her foot in time to the music playing in her ear. Libby smiled at their conversation and resumed reading the files on her lap. Pasco had finished his report with one piece still missing. After searching for weeks, he still couldn’t find any information about a six-month span in Kara’s history.

Libby was now finalizing a roster of the names of people working in the surgical ward the day that Evangeline had died. They were beginning depositions in the coming week, and Tully wanted to make sure to talk to everyone who had been even a mile away from Kara’s suite.

“Hey, Libby, can I talk to you about something?” Ralph asked when she put her stuff down and reached for a soda.

“Sure, whatcha got?”

“Bailey and me, we’ve been talking.”

“Should I be afraid?” Libby asked with a smile.

“Things are like way different now, so we decided that if we’re going to make changes, they should be radical. Mom’ll probably be cool with what we want, but we thought if you were on our side, it’d be that much easier to talk her into it.”

“Talk her into what exactly?” Libby asked, her eyes on Bailey, who had removed her earpieces and gave her a smile that could only be described as sweet and innocent.

“We want you to help us convince Mom to sell the house.”

“Would you like me to convince her to shave her head while I’m at it?” Libby asked incredulously. “Why would you two want to move?” she asked Bailey this time.

“If you and Mom are together, I’m sure you have to know how you got here. What you may not know is where she’s sleeping at night.”

“Explanation, please.”

“She treats the master bedroom like it’s radioactive, so don’t expect her to go all goony on you in there. If you want a legit shot at making this work you’ll agree with our plan.”

“Guys, you have to know how much I care about your mom, but do you think a move this big is any of my business?”

“If you want to stay with her, then you’d better learn to jump in and speak up. Mom won’t put up with you letting her make all the big decisions,” Ralph said. “We’re a team. Don’t you want to be a part of that?”

A moment later Libby heard Tully’s car screech into the driveway and the door close just a little too hard.

“Are you in?” Bailey asked.

“Sure. It sounds like she had a great breakfast meeting, so this would be a good time to spring this on her. I’m sure she’ll be easy to talk into packing up and moving.” Libby reached over and knocked the front of Bailey’s baseball cap down before doing the same thing to Ralph’s. “I promise I’ll talk to her about it if you two really want me to, but let me find out what happened this morning.”

As Tully walked through the gate, the outcome of her meeting was obvious.

“This might be a guess on my part, but I’m thinking it didn’t go well. How about you stay put and I’ll go calm her down.”

“Oh, man, if there was a food fight I would have loved to be there to see Mom’s face when those pants got messed up. She hates spilling stuff on her clothes,” Bailey said when Libby stood and tugged her bathing suit down in the back.

“Okay, guys, you may hear a little screaming, but don’t send in reinforcements unless I ask for them,” Libby said.

As she headed upstairs she heard Tully muttering and stepped into the guest room to see her taking off her shoes and tossing them onto a towel in apparent disgust. Her sock and left loafer were soaked with what appeared to be syrup. Without a word Libby went into the bathroom to get another towel for the rest of Tully’s clothes.

“Should I even ask, or would you rather stew?” she asked as she threw the towel next to Tully and stood in front of her.

Tully laughed when Libby picked a piece of tomato from the front of her shirt. “You’re just a riot, darlin’.”

“It appears like you’ve been in a riot, sweetheart.” She pulled the polo shirt out of Tully’s pants and kept going, removing it and throwing it onto the towel. “I know she was mad at you, but this is ridiculous.”

Tully had to laugh at the methodical way Libby was working on getting her undressed. “No, she gave in to everything I asked. The new additions to my wardrobe came when the crazy bitch she’s sleeping with joined in the fun.”

“Kara showed up? Why?”

“Not because I invited her, I can assure you.”

Tully explained what had happened, and they were both laughing as she described Jessica’s demeanor when the same police officer that had written up the report at the house the day she’d caught them in bed showed up at the café. When Tully passed on the chance to press charges again, Jessica had paid for the damages in an effort to get them out of there before anything else happened.

“Can you handle the pants by yourself or do you need help?” Libby asked.

“Ooh, my day’s improving by the second with offers like that. Let me get my suit on and I’ll join you outside.” Tully started for the master bedroom where she still kept her clothes.

Libby followed her and leaned on the dresser while she was in the closet. “Honey, why haven’t you moved back in here?”

“Because I haven’t been able to convince our parish priest to come over and perform an exorcism on the bed.”

From the way she said it, Libby didn’t think she was kidding.

“I know it makes me appear weak, but I can’t just forget.”

“Do you trust me enough to tell me what exactly happened that day you came home?”

After a few minutes Tully had changed clothes, and she came out with a T-shirt over her bathing suit. With her eyes on the bed she told the story for the first time, leaving out no detail. Though the mess had been cleaned long ago and the rumpled sheets thrown away, from the way Tully described the betrayal in vivid detail, Libby could tell it was etched into her mind.

“It makes me sound like a pansy, I know, but I’d rather do my next opening statement in a thong than sleep in here.”

“Now that you’ve put that image in my head, I really need a swim, sexy.” Libby moved closer and put her hands behind Tully’s neck. “I have a solution for your problem, if you care to hear it.”

“It isn’t you and I making love in here to dispel the bad memories, is it?”

Libby dropped her head to Tully’s chest, knowing from the familiar heat that she was blushing. “Behave or else. The kids are right outside.”

“If that’s what you had in mind, I’d rather go back to the guest room to try it out. It’s stupid to hate a room, but I hate this one.”

“The kids mentioned this little problem, and after listening to your story I have to agree with them. We think you should sell the house.”

“I just paid for half of it again. Couldn’t you and your partners in crime have mentioned that before I had the check drawn up?” Tully kissed the top of her head and pinched her butt. “And where do you and the geniuses outside think we should move to?”

“I think we should go about it the same way I found my great new place.”

“Look at rat-infested dives, then all decide to move into the pool house?”

“Something like that, smart-ass.” Libby could understand what Ralph had said about speaking up and giving an opinion. Tully seemed to want and expect that from a partner. If the Badeaux family was indeed a team, Libby really wanted to join it.