Page 30 of Pugs & Kisses

I t doesn’t feel awkward. How are things not awkward?

Thirty minutes into their drive, and Evie still could not get over how comfortable the mood felt between herself and Bryson.

She’d awakened with a weird feeling in her gut that had her picking up her phone to call and back out of today’s trip.

She had been so sure she wasn’t ready to face him after their kiss a couple of nights ago.

Instead, she’d placed the phone on the charger and showered, determined to move beyond whatever discomfort they would face for the sake of The Sanctuary.

Other than a tricky moment when he first arrived to pick her up—he’d hesitated before greeting her with a soft peck on the cheek—all had gone just fine.

Could it really be this easy? Could they fall back in love without having to go through the cringeworthy, uneasy phase of sussing out what worked and what didn’t?

God, I hope so.

It would make this transition from friends to something else… something more… a lot easier.

Evie peered out the window as they reached the crest of the bridge over Bayou Des Allemands.

One could argue that the whole of South Louisiana was one big bayou, but the difference in the landscape of this marsh compared to what she was used to in New Orleans made it seem as if she’d crossed over into another world.

Tall cattails—Evie always thought they resembled a corn dog—waved back and forth, the stems bending toward the water.

“It’s beautiful out here,” Evie said. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever taken this drive before.”

“Have you ever had a reason to?” Bryson asked.

She frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean. Why would I?”

“Exactly,” he said. “Unless a person has something specific happening in Bayou Country, it’s hard to get any of you city folk out here to visit us.

” He gave her an up-and-down glance from the driver’s side.

“You don’t look like the type who would spend a day catching catfish on the lake, so I’m guessing that’s a no. ”

“Excuse you,” she said, giving him a playful slap on the arm. “Judgmental much?”

“Just pointing out the obvious.”

“Should I also point out the obvious?” Evie asked.

“And that is?”

“That you’re also ‘city folk’?” She made air quotes.

“No.” He shook his head. “I live in the city, but I will always be a country boy. Make no mistake about that.”

She would love to point out how his tailored slacks and that camel-colored cashmere pullover that fit him to perfection was the opposite of what you’d see on a country boy, but he would come back with some excuse to fit his narrative.

He was maddening. And irritably handsome as he steered the car with one hand, which was even more maddening.

“Now,” Bryson continued, “if you want the experience of a lifetime, you will let me bring you back here one weekend and go out with my dad’s old pirogue to Dulac or Chauvin.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll pass,” Evie said. “I don’t do bugs, and I know enough about the bayou to know there are bugs. Big ones.”

“Coward.”

“Unapologetically.”

Their eyes met for a second and they both laughed.

“You’re so ridiculous,” Evie said.

“And yet you agreed to take this ride out to the bayou with me anyway,” Bryson said. “What does that say about you?”

“That I’m a glutton for punishment,” she returned.

“Ouch.” He slapped his left hand to his chest. “Speaking of you being a glutton for punishment, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask, and now that I have your undivided attention, I can.”

“Uh-oh,” Evie said. “This sounds too serious for my liking.”

“I want to know what my asshole of an ex-lab partner did to finally make you see that he is and has always been an asshole.”

“Ah.” She nodded. “Just to be clear, who’s the glutton for punishment here? Me for having to tell the story, or you for having to sit here and listen?”

“Definitely you, but for staying with him for so many years. I don’t know what you did in a former life to saddle yourself with that kind of a penance.”

“It wasn’t all bad,” Evie said. “And I am not defending Cameron in any way. Just pointing out that there were some good years sprinkled between the bullshit.”

He grunted.

Evie knew he didn’t want to hear about the good parts, but she also wanted to be truthful.

“Cameron and I had a perfectly fine relationship,” she said with a shrug.

He made a Get on with it gesture. “We only have about twenty minutes until we arrive at the school. Get to the part where Cameron is the asshole.”

She burst out laughing again.

“Fine, I’ll fast-forward through the not exactly exciting, but still pleasant years of the relationship. I thought things were just fine, but that all changed the day before I ran into you at The Sanctuary.”

“What happened?”

Evie adjusted the seat belt at her shoulder and settled back into the seat. It occurred to her that Ashanti and Ridley were the only people who had been given the whole story.

“I dropped by the house unexpectedly and caught him in bed with another woman,” Evie said. Remembering that afternoon still caused a slight ache in her chest, but it had already begun to lessen. Interesting.

“That figures.” Bryson grunted again. “Asshole. How can you be in a relationship with someone for all those years and all of a sudden decide to step out on them?”

“He tried to make it seem like it was my fault. It made me wonder if this was the first time.” She twisted in her seat. “Was it?”

“Was it what?” Bryson asked, glancing at her before bringing his eyes back to the road.

“Did Cameron see other women when we were in college? You two were lab partners. Surely you talked about stuff—”

She stopped at his emphatic head shake.

“Hell no,” Bryson said. “Cameron and I were lab partners, not friends. We were the opposite of friends. He didn’t ask about my social life and I sure as shit didn’t care about his.

And once I discovered that he was dating you?

” He shook his head. “I would have thrown myself out the window of the vet med building before I listened to Cameron talk about your relationship. I wanted no part in it.”

That made sense. Cameron had never even mentioned Bryson’s name to her. He’d always referred to him as his “annoying lab partner” or “the perfectionist.” She couldn’t really see the two of them shooting the breeze.

“Well, there you have it,” Evie said. “That’s what happened. A tale as old as time.”

And one she knew the beats of all too well.

“I’ll say it again—he’s an asshole,” Bryson said.

“A cheating asshole, which is the worst kind.” He switched hands on the steering wheel and reached across the console to take her left hand in his.

“He never deserved you, Evie. It was obvious to me a decade ago. I’m glad you finally saw it, though I’m sorry you had to find out this way. ”

She suddenly had a hard time swallowing. “Thank you for saying that,” she said.

She feared he would take his hand away, but he didn’t. Instead, he held on to her for another seven miles, until they turned off Highway 90. The solace she experienced from his simple touch wrapped around her heart like a warm, welcoming hug.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this way. It exposed more about her previous relationship than she wanted to explore. That was the past. The man holding her hand could be her future if she only allowed it to happen.

Ten minutes later, they pulled up to a beautiful redbrick building.

“Is this your high school?” Evie asked.

Bryson shook his head. “No. I went to a private school in Houma. This is the high school where most of the kids who grew up on this side of Terrebonne Parish go to school.”

They got out of the car at the same time and Evie came around to the back of the Jeep just as he was opening it. He pulled out an elongated duffel bag and held it up.

“Brought along a little show-and-tell,” he said.

Evie narrowed her eyes. “Is it something gross?”

“Of course,” Bryson said. “Well, it depends on the student. Some will think it’s gross, and others will think it’s cool. I think it’s very cool.”

They entered the school and were greeted by a woman with heavily teased hair like something out of an eighties music video. She introduced herself as Cheryl Anne, no last name.

“We conduct Career Day a little differently these days,” Cheryl Ann said.

“We now bring the guests to the students instead of the other way around. Those big assemblies were just too much to manage, and this way we can tailor it to each age group.” She referred to the electronic tablet in her hands.

“It looks like you’re speaking to Mrs. Breaux’s earth science class and Mr. Douglass’s chemistry class. ”

She looked over at Evie. “You wouldn’t happen to write poetry, would you?”

“Um, no,” Evie said.

The woman stomped her foot. “The speaker we had for our English classes is embroiled in a plagiarism scandal that broke out on TikTok last night.” She lowered her voice.

“I wasn’t surprised. We graduated together and I was suspicious from the moment I read his first book, because I can remember his essays. There’s no way he wrote them.”

“Sorry I can’t help.” Evie hunched her shoulders. “I would be as phony as the plagiarist if I pretended to be a writer.”

She waved a hand. “I’ll figure out something.”

Cheryl Anne showed them to the first classroom. A younger woman with straight brown hair that nearly reached her knees greeted them.

“You must be Dr. Mitchell. I’m Joni Breaux,” she said.

Bryson pointed at her. “Did your granddaddy run a vegetable stand along Bayou Blue Road?”

Evie’s head jerked back at the difference she heard in Bryson’s tone, and in the way he’d dropped the last syllable on some of the words.

She fought to hide her grin as she listened to him converse with Mrs. Breaux.

It had only taken moments for him to slip into the distinct dialect of the people from this part of the state.