Page 12 of Crazy Rich Cajuns

“So far, you’re an eleven on a ten scale,” Ellie told him.

He cocked an eyebrow.“Is the ten a really great guy or a roaring asshole?”

She laughed.“A really great guy.”She reached out and patted his hand.“But don’t worry.If you wanted to be a roaring asshole, I know you would do it well.”

He chuckled.“Thanks.I think.”

“Heard you saved me from having to have conjugal visits with Leo down at the jail,” Ellie said, pulling two bottles of beer from under the counter and flipping the tops off before passing them down the bar to two of the older guys who had been perched at the end of the bar every time Bennett had been in here.

Bennett cast a glance at Leo.“Well, that might be exaggerating a little.He, Tori, and Kennedy were messing with the gal from Wildlife and Fisheries, but I don’t think she really had any intention of taking anyone to jail.”

Ellie snorted.“Exaggeratinga little?The guy who once told me that he almost got hit by a meteor when he was out night fishin’?”

Bennett turned his stool slightly toward Leo.“A meteor?”

Leo lifted a shoulder, a small smile on his lips.“Thought so.”

“What was it really?”

“Some stupid kids throwing rocks from a dock at one of the fishing cabins.”

“Rocks the size of meteors?”Bennett asked.

It didn’t take long to figure out that Ellie, Leo, Cora, and most of their friends were a little crazy.But they were funny and loving and always there for their friends and family, and a little crazy just kept it all more interesting.

“Well, itseemedlike the size of a meteor,” Leo said.“At the time.”

“You mean, when you were two jars of moonshine in,” Ellie said.“When you and Kenny went out night fishin’, there was very little fishin’ going on.”

“Yeah, well, at least we baited hooks and dropped them in the water,” Leo said.“Whenyouand me went out night fishin’, we didn’t even unpack the poles.”

“Not thefishingpoles, no,” Ellie said with a sly smile.

Leo chuckled.“I guess you could say that we—”

“Nope,” Bennett cut in, interrupting whatever the older man was about to say.“That’s enough of that.”

It also didn’t take long around Ellie and Leo to know that there were no off-limits topics, and that included their own sex life.They were crazy about each other, even fifty-some years later, and they had no filter when it came to inappropriate humor and sexual innuendo.Or up-front sexual conversation.Like flat out admitting they had make-out sessions in the restaurant’s kitchen or why the bottle of chocolate syrup Kennedy had up at the house for her ice cream was suddenly empty.

“Anyway, the risk of anyone getting arrested today was pretty small,” Bennett told them.

“Was still a great reason for Kennedy to call you,” Leo said.

“She doesn’t need a reason to call him,” Ellie said.She gave Bennett a side-eye.“Does she?”

“Of course not.”Bennett lifted his glass to try to obscure his expression.Ellie’s ability to read people was well-known.

He and Kennedy were still at a place where they made up reasons to call one another.He’d say he didn’t get a report she had already sent.She’d say that she thought he should know that the order of stuffed alligators for the gift shop was going to be delayed three days.She didn’t always send the reports on time, but she always sent them eventually and he definitely didn’t need to know about the stuffed alligators, but they both liked to flirt on the phone and they weren’t to the point of admitting that they just wanted to talk yet.

“That girl really was givin’ us a hard time about the wolf and her pups though,” Leo said.

“You had it handled,” Bennett told him.“Hell, Bailey left thinkin’shewas the one in the wrong after ten minutes with you all.”

Leo chuckled.“What we lack in actual know-how, we make up for with pure, very believable, heartfelt bullshit.”

“Amen,” Ellie said, lifting her own glass of sweet tea.

Bennett dipped another fried pickle and glanced around the bar.It was early enough in the afternoon that none of the other Landrys were in yet.Kennedy’s brothers and cousins were still out on the bayou with tours and her parents were still at work.

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