“I’ll have to pop by the old Carmichael place and introduce myself. Think she likes red velvet cake? Oh, fiddle dee, what am I asking you for? Who doesn’t love my baking?”
Another headache threatened. He’d take a deep breath, but he’d already tried that. No more air would fit into his lungs. He released some in a sigh. This is what he’d been afraid of, other people getting involved, not giving him time or space to figure feelings out for himself. “Don’t go poking for trouble where there is none.”
“I can’t believe Al snubbed her like that.” No one got away with calling Aloysius Hogg “Al” except for Lou Lou. She’d briefly dated him senior year. He’d gone too frisky at prom, and she’d dumped him on the dance floor, but not before giving him a knee where the sun don’t shine.
Hogg had started rumors, but he picked the wrong family to tarnish. No one had a memory as long as Lou Lou’s. She cherished her grudges more than her prized silver flatware, and polished them even more regularly.
Rhett got knocked around in a few fights with the Hogg extended family, meathead cousins egged on by Al. Mama took one look at the boot-print bruise over his kidney and near lost her mind. Doc stepped in and that was it. Game over. His father used his community influence to block Hogg from receiving a local scholarship, and the resulting enmity had endured to the present day.
Lou Lou didn’t mind. In fact she was rather proud of the “feud,” as she called it, claiming that having a family nemesis was invigorating for the spirit. Rhett thought it was a pain in the ass, but he couldn’t respect a man who let others fight his battles, so he let sleeping dogs lie.
“Well, if you’re not interested in your neighbor, how about being Mr. Scallywag?” Lou Ellen held up a finger, cutting him off before he finished opening his mouth. “The Village Pillage is next month, and we don’t have anyone.”
“I’m shocked,” he said dryly. The Village Pillage was the annual Everland summer festival, a celebration of the town’s pirate heritage. One of the key events was the town silent auction. He always donated a free check-up. But each year some unlucky chump was Mr. Scallywag and was put on the block for a blind date. “Who the hell would want to be Mr. Scallywag?”
“A man who wants to help his sister who is the chair of the silent auction? Besides, the money is going to enhance Everland Green, and that includes your beloved dog park.”
“I’m working my ass off to build an animal shelter. My conscience is clear.”
“When are you going to come over and play Barbies again, Uncle Rhett? You are the best Ken!” Lilac cried as Lorelai piped from the far back of the van, “Mama, can Santa bring me a My Little Pony for Christmas? I want Applejack.”
“I don’t even want to hear you-know-who’s name until after Halloween.” She shook her head. “Whatever happened to it’s better to give than to receive? Now what was I saying?”
Lou Lou wouldn’t rest until he had enough kids to fill his own soccer team and spent every weekend at Little League with Snapper. He loved his sister, but she drove him crazy. “There’s something to be said for peace and quiet.” Rhett took a step, then another, backing away.
“What’s the fun in that? Oh, go on, walk away,” Lou Ellen called. “You can’t hide from the truth. This day has been a long time coming, Sugar Booger. An answer to all my prayers.”
He scowled at the sidewalk as his sister drove off laughing. The throbbing in his head intensified. For years he’d been the subject of town gossip, and the only way he managed to stay out of the Back Fence headlines was to lie low. Be dull as water. This passing interest in Pepper Knight wasn’t worth the hassle. She wouldn’t be sticking around, and he had to live here, day in, day out, without going crazier than a peach orchard pig.
Time to fly under the radar and put her out of his mind for good.
