Sitting in the passenger seat of the decrepit vehicle, Sylvie attempted to soothe his ruffled temper. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a bit?”
“Overreacting? Overreacting?” Both of his hands were clenched on the steering wheel, and his teeth were gritted. “Screaming at you might be overreacting, though I was sorely tempted. Putting you over my knee and paddling that heart-shaped butt of yours might be overreacting, though the thought is appealing. Stopping you from actually drinking that chicken blood during the voodoo ritual might have been overreacting, but it would have served you right.” He turned and stared at her. “Babe, you haven’t seen overreacting… yet.”
Should she try to explain to Luc? Or was it a losing battle in his present mood?
“Listen, Luc, you and I might snicker over voodoo and pretend that it’s all just hocus-pocus, but we both know it can’t be dismissed so easily. Strange, unexplainable things happen when voodoo is involved.” She took a deep breath and tried to lighten his mood. “Luckily, they’d already finished the ritual to remove the curse before you got there. So, no more worries in that regard.”
He stared at her as if she’d flipped her lid. Maybe she had. “How could you?” he asked finally.
“How could I not?” she answered stubbornly. “I needed to have that voodoo curse removed, and that’s what I did.”
“With dead chickens?”
She shrugged. “Whatever it takes.”
“Why did you involve Tante Lulu?”
She ducked her face guiltily at that. “She was the only person I could think of who might know a voodoo person. Besides, you told me not to call you.”
“What kind of half-assed logic is that? I’m trying to protect you, Sylvie, and you’re making it damn hard. First, you release me from jail when I don’t want to be released. Then, you drag my aunt into some harebrained scheme that could endanger you both.”
She bristled. “You are the most ungrateful bastard! I’ve taken care of myself for most of my life, and somehow I’ve survived, harebrained as you seem to think I am.”
“Sylvie, I was in the middle of a meeting with the Cypress Oil lawyers when Remy called me. I do not need any more problems now.”
“Oh, really. And who else was at this meeting?”
He was surprised at her question, but detailed all the parties involved. “Why do you want to know?”
She was unable to keep the hurt from her voice. “Why wasn’t I there, Luc?”
“Huh?”
“You heard me. You’ve gone to great lengths to get me to help you with the water and soil samples. I agreed to send the samples to a chemist friend of mine who specializes in oil pollutants. You made me promise to testify in court, if necessary.”
“And?”
“And now you exclude me, you jerk.”
“Don’t you turn this on me, Sylv. Why couldn’t you just stay put for a few days and let me handle things?”
“S-stay put?” she sputtered. “You mean, like a good little girl? You mean, like I’ve behaved all my life? You mean, like other people are more competent to do the job than me? Ooooh, I’d like to give you ‘stay put.'”
Luc’s eyes went wide at the vehemence of her response. “I just want you to be safe.”
She was so angry she was shaking. Jumping out of his Jeep, she stomped up to her house. At the last minute, she turned and told him, “All my life, I’ve done what’s safe. And I’ve been miserable. I thought you were different, Luc.” Her voice broke before she repeated, “I thought you were different.”
She had to give Luc credit. He did come after her, pleading, “Sylvie, be reasonable,” but she’d already slammed and locked the door in his face.
A week went by without Sylvie seeing or hearing from Luc, and her temper had cooled.
She wasn’t even upset with him for breaking off communication because she assumed he was either in the process of preparing for a court battle with Cypress Oil, or in the process of negotiating a pre-trial settlement. Besides, she had enough on her plate to worry about without being involved in the shrimpers’ fight. And despite her protests to the contrary, it was really rather sweet of Luc to be so protective of her.