“I… would… have… been… a… waitress,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Why?” It’s not as if he hadn’t asked that question a hundred times before.
“Because I needed the money,” she practically shouted.
He could tell that she immediately regretted her outburst. But, Holy Moses, this was something new. “Your father was paying your college expenses. Why did you need the money?”
“Forget it,” she said and started to go into the house.
He grabbed her arm. “Truth, Charmaine. I deserve the damn truth.”
“My father cut me off, you big baboon. Now, let me go.”
“Why did your father cut you off?”
“Does my father ever need a reason for the things he does?”
“Well, no,” he started to say, but then he noticed the way Charmaine’s eyes shifted nervously. She was hiding something. Something important. “Spill it. Por l’amour le Dieu, spill it.”
Tears welled in her eyes and seeped out. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can, baby,” he said, taking her by the forearms and forcing her to meet his scrutiny. “Tell me.”
Just then, Tante Lulu stepped through the doorway, reeking of peach bubble bath, and asked, “So where am I gonna sleep t’night?” She was wearing pink foam rollers in her hair and pink Barbie pajamas and some kind of white goop on her face.
Charmaine stepped away from him quickly, and said, “I’ll fix a bed for you on the living room sofa for tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll clean out Charlie’s bedroom for you to use.”
The two of them scurried off then.
Charmaine probably thought she’d had a narrow escape.
It was just a temporary reprieve. For ten long years, Raoul had wondered if there might have been some hidden reason why Charmaine had left him. Maybe now he would get the answer.
‘Bout time, the bane of his life expounded.
Chapter 10
Mr. Clean had nothing on them…
The next day, just past dawn, they treated the much-expanded Triple L crew to a breakfast Tante Lulu style: fried tasso, a highly seasoned Cajun ham, red-eye gravy, biscuits as light as a bayou cloud, grits, fluffy scrambled eggs, and gallons of coffee. Then Charmaine followed in the wake of the old lady on the mother of all cleaning sprees.
Before the men had left for the day, Charmaine had asked them to take the hand-woven Cajun carpets out of the living room to the side yard, where they now hung over the clotheslines for scrubbing. They were old and worn, but still fine, probably made by Rusty’s grandmother on the loom she’d seen stored in the loft of the barn.
Before they got started, though, Tante Lulu asked her to tackle her roots. Tante Lulu, known for her outrageous appearance, had decided to be a redhead in line with her kick-ass cowgirl persona of the moment. While Charmaine worked on her at the kitchen table—work that was so familiar to Charmaine she could do it with her eyes closed—they chatted amiably.
“I think you and Rusty should have a big wedding this time.”
Charmaine almost dropped the small bowl of dye she held in one hand. Then she chuckled. Leave it to Tante Lulu to surprise her like that. “There is no ‘this time,’ Auntie.”
“Hah! I seen the way that boy looks at you, like a hobo on a hot dog. And yer no better. Lordy, Lordy, if he was a sweet praline, you’d be lickin’ him up one side and down the other.”
“Tante Lulu! I’m shocked at you.”
“Doan be takin’ that attitude with me, girlie. Yer more shockin’ than I ever was. I’m learnin’ new antics from you, day by day. If it hadn’t been so long since I had a man in my bed, I’d even try that born-again virgin thingee of yers. As it is, my thingee is prob’ly dried up ’bout now, like a raisin.”
Charmaine couldn’t help but laugh.
“I allus felt bad that I wasn’t there to help you with yer weddin’ to Rusty, but I gots plenty of time now. How ’bout Christmas? Wouldn’t that be a great time to have a weddin’?”
Charmaine groaned with dismay. Putting a hand on Tante Lulu’s shoulder, she squeezed gently. “Thank you for caring so much. But Rusty and I have too many obstacles between us. Besides we’re still married, so another wedding would be redundant, don’t you think? Ha, ha, ha.”