Page 38 of Pugs & Kisses

B ryson tracked the headlights driving toward him, trying to make out the model of the vehicle.

It passed his Jeep and he noticed Evie’s mass of curls behind the steering wheel.

He watched in his rearview mirror as she turned into the driveway of the house next door, backed out, and came back toward him, pulling up to the curb in front of her own house.

He waited until she opened her door before grabbing Bella and getting out of his Jeep.

She caught sight of him when he was still a couple of yards away.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” Evie asked.

She opened the back door and unleashed Waffles from his car seat. When she set him down, he immediately ran to Bella. The two started their sniffing ritual. It had become a thing that took place no matter how many times they saw each other in a day.

“I thought I would drop by,” Bryson answered with a shrug. “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind some company for a little while.”

“Not at all,” she said. She looked him up and down. “I can even be talked into a sleepover.”

“Ugh, don’t say that,” Bryson said, slapping his hand to his chest. “I can’t do a sleepover tonight.

My parents’ flight from Fort Lauderdale gets in just after ten o’clock.

They’re spending the night at my place and I’m driving them home tomorrow.

Dr. Blake is finally well enough to come back to work, so no more fourteen-hour shifts for me. At least for now.”

“Thank goodness,” Evie said. “I know this has been exhausting for you. And your parents finally get to see your new condo! That’s exciting!”

“Yeah, I just have to make sure there isn’t any lacy underwear hiding in plain sight.”

“Ha ha,” she deadpanned.

Bryson tried to smile, but it felt forced. Evie picked up on it right away.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He decided to come right out with it. She was going to find out sooner or later.

“The succession went through,” he said.

Her entire body seemed to deflate. “Nooooo. On a Saturday? How?”

“The judge signed the papers yesterday afternoon. Odessa called me. She has a friend at the courthouse who has been keeping tabs on the succession as it made its way through the system.”

“Shit,” Evie said. “I was still riding high from the money we made earlier at the carnival, but what good will eight thousand dollars do now?”

“It’s a good first step toward a down payment on another building, or the first few months’ rent if that’s the route we have to go,” Bryson said. “We still have options, remember?”

“But are those options realistic?”

“Hey, where’s this coming from?” Bryson wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “I’m the one who was ready to give up on The Sanctuary. You’re the one who convinced me we still had a chance to save it. Don’t give up on me now.”

She blew out a weary breath, but then nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “I’m going to start searching property sites as soon as I get Waffles settled inside.”

“Why don’t you wait until tomorrow to do that.” Bryson looked at his watch. “I know it’s kinda late, but I spotted something on the ride here that I think will cheer you up. Are you hungry?”

Her forehead creased. “I had pizza at Ridley’s, but I can use a bite,” she said, her voice a mix of caution and curiosity.

“Good. Let’s go.”

They piled into his Jeep, and a few minutes later, Bryson pulled into the parking lot near Poydras Avenue. There were three food trucks lining the outer perimeter. He parked and pointed to the yellow and red one.

“Does that look familiar to you?”

Evie gasped. “Is that Sally’s? When did they get a food truck? The restaurant has been closed since the pandemic.”

“I guess they found something that works for them. I would assume a food truck has less overhead,” Bryson said. “I just hope they still have that hot roast beef po’boy they used to sell.”

The food truck did indeed have the same menu from their days as the brick-and-mortar sandwich shop he and Evie frequented back when they volunteered at The Sanctuary.

Bryson opened the tailgate on the Jeep and he and Evie sat inside, their legs dangling from the trunk as they ate their sandwiches.

He broke off a piece of the crusty French bread and held it out to Bella.

“Will you question my dog parenting skills if I give this to her?”

“No.” Evie shook her head. “I will question your sanity for sharing this delicious sandwich. You can give Waffles a piece, too, because I’m not giving up any of mine.”

He laughed as he broke off another piece and slipped it to her dog.

“I had a feeling this would cheer you up,” he said.

“Eh, it’s more like eating my feelings,” Evie said. “I’m trying not to show it, but I’m scared, Bryson. Lucas Shepard can show up tomorrow demanding we shut down The Sanctuary.”

“That’s a possibility. But it’s been a possibility for a while.” He shrugged. “What can you do?”

“But I needed this!” Evie said. “I know it’s selfish, and I know it should be about the animals, but I needed this. I wanted to do something big, something significant. I needed to prove to my mother that I’m more than your run-of-the-mill veterinarian. Hell, I wanted to prove it to myself!”

“Ev, why are you buying into this bullshit? There’s nothing run-of-the-mill about you or the work you do as a vet.”

“Says the hotshot surgeon.”

“No, you don’t get to do that. I have my role as a surgeon, but you have a role too. Do I have to remind you about the skill it takes to examine an animal you’ve never encountered before and issue a diagnosis? You’ve already done the hard part by the time the patients get to me.”

“I know, I know,” Evie said. “Sorry for taking that cheap shot, especially after you bought me a sandwich.”

“A good sandwich,” he reminder her.

“The sandwich of all sandwiches,” she said with a wry grin. “And you do not have to convince me that domestic animal veterinarians like myself play an important role.”

“Then stop downplaying your worth,” Bryson said.

Her shoulders drooped. “It’s just that I wanted to prove that I could accomplish something without my parents or Cameron holding me up. It sucks that the thing I set out to achieve—saving The Sanctuary—may not happen. It just has me in a mood. I’m sorry.”

“Ev, it’s not—”

“I know there’s still a chance of saving it.”

“Then stop talking like all is lost,” Bryson said. “Who knows, this could turn out to be the best thing yet for The Sanctuary. We may find a building that’s even better to house it.”

She slanted an irritated look his way. “Why are you rationalizing everything when I want to wallow in my misery?”

“Because I don’t like it when you’re miserable,” Bryson said. “I take it as my personal responsibility to make sure you are never miserable.”

She snapped her head back and let out a crack of laughter.

“That is an undertaking that may be impossible even for the great Dr. Bryson Mitchell.”

“Are you challenging my abilities to bring joy and pleasure to your life, Dr. Williams?”

“No,” she laughed. “I am underscoring the unavoidable misery I will soon face.” Her mouth scrunched up in a frown.

“My parents’ anniversary party is tomorrow.

They will be celebrating forty years of whatever is the opposite of marital bliss.

You would never know it by the show my mother will undoubtedly put on for everyone.

” She looked over at him. “You should come with me to the party.”

Bryson drew back, giving his head a slight shake. “I don’t know about that, Ev. That’s really not my scene.”

She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “What? It’s just a party. An elaborate, over-the-top party, but still just a party.”

“Exactly. An elaborate party with your parents and a bunch of people who are like your parents.”

“Wait a minute.” She held up a hand. “I’m usually the last person to defend them, but just what do you mean by a bunch of people who are like my parents?”

“Rich people, Ev. High-society people. Even though I technically do fit in with that crowd these days, I still don’t feel comfortable around them. I doubt I ever will.”

Her features softened with understanding. “Don’t let that get to you. I’ll be there. I promise I will not leave your side for a minute.”

She could glue their hands together and it still wouldn’t help.

“I’ll think about it,” Bryson said, although the thought made his stomach hurt. “Speaking of parents,” he said. “Do you want to meet mine? You can come with me to pick them up from the airport.”

Her brow furrowed. “Um, are you sure we’re at that stage? Meeting the parents, I mean?”

“You just asked me to come with you to your parents’ party.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t even have to meet my parents. They’ll be so busy putting on a show for the two hundred people my mother has invited that they probably won’t even notice that I’m there.”

“I want you to meet my mom and dad, Ev,” Bryson said, struck by how ardently he meant it.

“Will they like me, or will they judge me for my rich family the way their son did?”

“They will like you,” he said. “I’m sorry I ever told you about that.”

“I didn’t give you a choice,” Evie reminded him. Her chest expanded with the deep breath she sucked in. Bryson could tell she was struggling with the decision.

“Come on, Ev. My mother, for one, will love you. I can basically guarantee that.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

An hour later, Bryson, Evie, his mom, and his dad, along with Bella and Waffles, sat outside under the covered veranda at Morning Call. The legendary coffee stand had been around since the eighteen hundreds, and in Bryson’s opinion, served the best beignets in the city.

“I rarely come here, so this is a real treat,” Evie said, biting into a pillowy, powdered-sugar-covered beignet.

Bryson couldn’t help but watch as her tongue licked a bit of sugar from the corner of her lip. He had to look away. He could not entertain the thought that rushed into his brain with his parents sitting at the same table.

“I have them every chance I get,” his mother said. She took a sip of her decaf café au lait and looked back and forth between Bryson and Evie. “So, you and Bry went to LSU together?”

“Bryson was two years ahead of me, but we were there at the same time. We also volunteered at an animal rescue here in New Orleans one summer.”

The fact that she didn’t mention Cameron and how he was connected to both of them thrilled Bryson. He wanted Cameron Broussard to stay in the rearview mirror, right where his ass belonged.

As he observed his mother and Evie chatting about an upcoming Broadway show heading to the Saenger Theater, Bryson was even happier that he’d asked her to join them. They got along as if they were old friends instead of strangers who’d known each other for all of an hour.

One of the fire-engine-red Canal Street streetcars made the corner and pulled in next to the coffee stand.

“That is the quintessential New Orleans portrait,” Evie said, holding her hands out in front of her as if making a picture frame. “It’s even prettier when the azaleas are in bloom. Although, the azaleas aren’t nearly as stunning as your camellias.”

“You’ve seen my camellias?” his mother asked.

“I brought Evie with me when I went down to speak at Southwest Terrebonne High,” Bryson said.

“You did!” His mother’s eyebrows reached her hairline.

She smiled. It was that cagey smile, the one that told Bryson her brain was cooking up something.

“Well, he needs to bring you back when the rest of the family is there.” She bumped his dad with her elbow.

“Maybe we can have a crawfish boil, Wallace.”

Pop nodded and garbled something that sounded like “yes” as he chomped on his second order of beignets.

“It’s been even longer since I had boiled crawfish,” Evie said.

“That settles it.” His mother slapped the table, and Bryson knew for certain that there would be a crawfish boil in their near future. When Stella Mitchell got that gleam in her eyes, there was nothing stopping her.

“I hate to break this up, but it’s getting pretty late,” Bryson said. “We need to bring Evie and Waffles home before we get to the condo.”

“I hate that you’re right, but you are,” his mother said. They rose from the table and piled into his Jeep. Once they arrived at Evie’s, his mother insisted on getting out of the car to give Evie a hug.

“It was so nice meeting you,” his mother said. “You need to come out to the bayou soon.”

“I promise I will,” Evie said.

Knowing that his mother’s questions would come rapid fire if he didn’t preempt them, Bryson filled the conversion with talk of this latest cruise. By the time they arrived at his condo, he’d heard about every meal and port of call and knew the names of the cruise director’s three children.

His stonewalling lasted until the end of the tour of the condo. The moment they were done, his mother said, “So, Evie is delightful. And gorgeous. She looks creole.”

“I didn’t ask for her DNA profile, but I’ll be sure to do that next time I see her.”

“Don’t be a smart-ass,” his mother said. “How serious is this?”

“Don’t start, Ma.”

She plopped her hands on her hips. “I absolutely will start. Do you know how many nights I have prayed that you would find someone after you broke up with that Alyssa girl? If I’d known Evie back when you both were in school, I would have been praying for her from the get-go.”

Bryson silently acknowledged that if he’d had the opportunity to introduce her to his parents back when they were in school, he probably wouldn’t have. The admission settled in his gut like a bitter pill. He would never forgive himself for hiding his background and his family the way he had.

He walked over to his mother and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“Evie and I are really good friends. If it develops into something more, you will be the first to know.”

In his head and in his heart, they were already a lot more than he was letting on, but that information would be shared on a need-to-know basis, and the only people who needed to know that right now were himself and Evie.