Page 34 of Moonshine Lullabies

“Well, you get it from somewhere,” she said.

I sat back down at the seat at a right angle from her and took up my cup of coffee and said, “Probably my papaw. After my mom passed, he and my memaw took me in and took care of me. He was the only example of a daddy I had and I have to say, he was a damn good one.”

She nodded. “On that, I would have to agree,” she said. “He still living?”

“Aw yeah,” I said. “Memaw went a few years back, but he’s still goin’. Older ‘n dirt and still livin’ up there in the holler.”

“When was the last time you seen him?” she asked.

“Prolly a year or two back, now.”

“That’s rough,” she said, and I nodded. “Lost my gran when I was seventeen an’ Tater was, oh I guess two an’ a half. I was glad she got to meet her great grandchild. She was my mamma’s mom and my last livin’ one. My biggest champion.” She huffed a laugh at a fond memory and it was like the clouds chased the sunshine of it away. “World’s a darker place without her in it.”

She sighed and leaned back.

“This here was her place. Her an’ my granddaddy left it to me an’ John-Paul. We moved in when she died to take care of it.” She sighed and said, “Well,Itake care of it. You’d be amazed at what you can learn on theYouTube.”

I chuckled and said, “Guess between huntin’, fishin’ an’ the club, Cy ain’t around over much.”

She shook her head.

“I can’t blame him on the first two. The bayou is in our blood. Livin’ off the land is just how we are. I know I love it… but sometimes I really do need him around here. When it’s somethin’ I can’t fix on my own, it drives me crazy I can’t rely on him – you know?”

I nodded.

“A man lives someplace, he’s the steward of his house. His home is his castle. Should be up to him to take care of it.”

“Ah, I guess I can’t blame him too much. He hates this house. Not real sure why he just ain’t never loved it like I have.” She shrugged, and I filed that away for later, figurin’ it’d be worth askin’ him.

She got up and started clearing the table. I made a noise like “Ah!” and gave her a reproachful look.

“You wash, I’ll dry ‘em?” she asked, and I smiled and gave a nod.

“Now you’re catchin’ on, honey,” I said.

“Oh, I heard what you told my boy last night. I hear everything in this here house.”

I chuckled and said, “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Jessie-Lou…

The more Collier was around, the more comfortable I was becoming and the more I liked him. He took me in to work and had been so careful with his hands and his touches up to this point, it was honestly startin’ to drive me a little crazy. I just wanted him to kiss me.

I got off the bike and turned to hand his helmet back to him. He took it and leaned it on his hip and looked up at me. I made my decision.

“You know, it’s nice you bein’ respectful an’ all, I like that – I like it a lot… but you don’t kiss me soon, I’m liable to think you’re not all that into me as I’d like to think you are,” I teased. I turned to go, and he caught me by the hand and jerked me back. I fell a little off balance but he caught me against his chest and my mouth just naturally found his.

I kissed him back against a grin I just couldn’t keep off my damn face and giggled against his mouth. He backed off me and helped me get my feet up under me. With a light smack on my ass, he said, “Go on, now. You don’t want to be late.”

I marched for the big bay door to the butcher where we took in the game but smiled over my shoulder at him, watching him watch me until I made it inside. Wasn’t ‘til I was out of sight that I heard him put his bike in gear and ride on outta there.

It was a busy day, processin’ rabbit catches for some of the ol’ timers around these parts whose hands were gnarled with age and their arthritis hurt ‘em too bad to do it themselves.

I got me a lot more to add to the bag from yesterday. I ended up with a nice big bag of heads to take home with me to clean the skulls in my beetle tank. Whew-ee! I was glad it wasn’t summertime because the stink could be unreal sometimes.

When Collier came back to pick me up, he put an arm around my waist from his seated position on the bike.

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