Bayou

Chapter 9 ~ Jambalaya

Chapter 9

The sound of Julia's laughter seeped through the walls and pulled me from a dead sleep. I pushed away the blankets, head clouded with fog and eyes crusted at the corners. For a moment, I just sat, like a corpse waiting to be reanimated. Then the sound rang out again, and I climbed down the ladder to follow it.

The front door was propped open by a chunk of wood, and outside, the yard was a bustle of activity. Julia sat in a kitchen chair she'd taken out onto the deck, her feet propped up on another chunk of wood, watching Croc wrestle Gator across the dirt.

Eve stood on the sidelines, cheering them on like a little gambler, fists shaking, hands clapping, shouting out to Croc as if she'd placed her bet on him.

Unlike the previous day, the wildlife was abundant. Toads hopped in and out of the water, herons meandered across the yard, and a group of baby alligators laid along the sidelines, taking in the spectacle.

"Good morning," I said to Julia, forcing myself to accept everything and question nothing. To question would be to try and add logic into an atmosphere that was totally illogical. I'd left one world, painted in falsities, only to enter a new one painted in hysteria. I knew the last one was fake, and I couldn't accept that this one was real.

Gator clamped his jaws around Croc's leg and rolled, but when his bright yellow eyes centered in my direction, he froze.

"Well, Good morning! I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to get up!" Julia said, pulling my attention back to her.

Eve gave a cheer, and I looked back to find the odds completely shifted. Croc slammed Gator onto his back, sprawled across his white belly, and pinned him with one flat hand against his neck.

"Uncle! Uncle!" Gator cried. "You're way too strong for me, Croc! I'm no match. No match at all! Willow! Are you watching? Do you see how strong he is!"

Julia snorted, and I rolled my eyes when Croc cut a not-so-subtle glance over his shoulder. "Yes, I'm watching. Croc is very strong."

I caught the curve of Croc's lip across his profile.

Dammit, he was cute. But he wasn't cute. Not in the least. He was downright sinful. He'd abandoned the button down. His body was stretched out, every inch of the sinewy lines along his back exposed, naked but for the dress slacks that hugged him far too well...

"Your mouth is hanging open, Willow," Julia said.

"Stop encouraging this."

"Encouraging what?" She uncrossed her feet, then crossed them again, taking a long dramatic sip from the glass of instant coffee in her hand.

I grunted.

"He likes you," she said.

"No shit? That's not saying much, considering I'm the only woman of childbearing age he's ever encountered." It was bad enough he looked the way he did. I didn't need Julia egging it on.

She dismissed me with a wave. "Don't sell yourself short." Her lips quirked. "With that mud hair, and those sludge eyes, you could have any swamp man you wanted."

I picked up a twig and tossed it at her but couldn't stop a laugh from bubbling out of my chest. "Where'd all the animals come from?" I asked, wanting a change of subject.

"I feel like I've walked into a fantasy novel. I'll tell you; I haven't had this much excitement in my entire life. All of them can talk, Willow. Just like Gator."

My eyes roamed, taking in the moving beaks, the cacophony of croaking murmurs.

"It's like a damn fairy tale," she added.