One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy…
The next time the phone rang, Charmaine didn’t even hesitate to answer it.
“You got flowers on that there ranch?”
“What? Is that you, Tante Lulu?”
‘”Course it’s me. Who’d ya think it was? Gina Lolla-whatchamahoozit?”
“Where’d you get this number? Luc wouldn’t even let me give it to my shop managers.”
“I got my ways.” She chuckled. “Actually, I’m in Luc’s office. Sylvie brought me over. Luc took her down to the file storage room to look fer sumpin. Hah! I know what they’s doin’ down there. Hanky-panky.”
“Auntie, you don’t know that.”
“Yeah, I do. He was lookin’ at her like she was a sweet beignet, and she was looking at him like he was one of them Chippendale fellas and she just happened to have a five-dollar bill in her pocket.”
Charmaine couldn’t help but laugh. It was true. Married for five years, Luc and Sylvie were still crazy in love with each other. But all that was beside the point. “Why do you want to know about flowers here at the ranch?”
‘”Cause I was thinnin’ out my flower beds and I got lots of extra plants I could bring fer Rusty’s ranch. Irises. Magnolia bushes. Climbing roses. Okra.”
How okra fit in with all those flowers, Charmaine had no idea, and she wasn’t about to ask. “I’m not sure about you sending plants to the ranch. Rusty’s already upset about all the cleaning I’ve been doing inside the house.”
“Cleanin’? Is the place dirty?” Tante Lulu sounded gleeful at the prospect of a dirty house.
“Filthy. I swear, there are parts of this ranch house that haven’t been touched in years. I haven’t even started on the living room. Or the third bedroom. Or the pantry.”
“Oooh, oooh, oooh. Doan you be doin’ any more cleanin’ till I get there.” Aside from her healing arts, Tante Lulu enjoyed nothing more than a good spring cleaning, and, although it was winter, she would go through the place like a dervish and love every minute of it.
“Tante Lulu, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come here now. You might be followed by Bobby Doucet.”
“Hah! I ain’t afraid of that dumb dilly. Besides, I got a gun. And I need to get my car back. Oooh, oooh, oooh, I know what. I’ll have Remy drive me there in his whirly bird. No one can follow us then.” Charmaine’s half-brother Remy was a pilot. “Mebbe he’ll bring Rachel with him.” Rachel was Remy’s new wife.
Charmaine groaned. “Tante Lulu, believe me, Rusty is not going to appreciate your coming here. And the helicopter will probably stir up his cattle.”
Tante Lulu totally ignored her protests and went on to another subject. “Next week’s Thanksgivin’. You got a turkey yet?”
“No, I don’t have a turkey, and don’t you dare bring a turkey here.”
“I wasn’t even thinkin’ of bringin’ a turkey. Betcha I could talk that Clarence into shootin’ me a wild bird, though. Do you have all the fixin’s? Nevermind, we kin take care of that later.”
“I… I… I…” she sputtered. The idea of a Thanksgiving feast, Tante Lulu style, was more than Charmaine could fathom at the moment.
“The best part is, once Thanksgiving’s over, we can start decoratin’ fer Christmas. Dontcha jist love this time of year?”
Where in God’s name am I going to find Christmas decorations? Charlie Lanier was a nice old man, but Scrooge when it came to sentimental things, like Christmas. There probably isn’t a string of lights or a tree ornament on the whole place. Charmaine had to stop this Cajun train, which was Tante Lulu once she got an idea in her head, before it went any farther. “Now, just wait a minute here, Tante Lulu. You can’t come here and—”
A dial tone rang in Charmaine’s ear. Tante Lulu had hung up on her.
Rusty is going to kill me.
Was that laughing she heard out on the front porch? Had Rusty or one of the guys come back?
Nope, she decided, after going out to check. The only one there was St. Jude.
One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy…
The phone rang again a short time later, which meant Charmaine had to climb down from the ladder in the middle of the kitchen. She had been cleaning the ceiling fan.