"My powers of perception have been a bit dull lately, I wasn't really sure." She smiled. "That's so cool to know, I thought I was the only one around."

"We're not as rare around here as you may think. There are a couple of older guys that live on the other side of the lake. They celebrated their forty-year anniversary last month, and I have friends nearby in Jeanerette."

"Are you...out," Morgan waved a hand, "around here?"

"Yes, everyone in town knows, and unfortunately, the neighboring towns do too," Jaclyn said as she looked away.

"Why is that unfortunate?"

"Well," Jaclyn said after a long sigh, "it's how they came to know. To make a long story short, I had an affair with a woman I didn't know was married. Feeling...adventurous, we made the mistake of parking in her car behind the power company building, and we were caught in a very compromising position. Word spread like wildfire, and her husband who worked with a few guys from town at a plant found out." Jaclyn looked down at her feet. "Grandma was alive then, and we were in the store when he came in prepared to strangle me because Gwyneth told him I'd basically took her against her will. Grandma called the police, and nearly everybody in town followed the squad car. In front of everyone, Carolyn Dunn explained in graphic detail what she'd seen that night when she busted us."

"Oh," Morgan put her hands over her mouth, her voice sounded m.u.f.fled when she said, "what a terrible way to come out."

"Dragged out was more like it. He had me by the front of the shirt. Skip and the boys along with the police chief had a hold on him, and Carolyn was fluttering around like a bird screaming out every last sordid detail. Grandma and Maddie took it well after the commotion died down. Austin was too young to really understand. My parents, however, were mortified." Jaclyn shrugged. "I understood how they could be embarra.s.sed by the incident, but they were more upset about being known as the parents of a lesbian. Gayle's exploits have always paled in comparison, and they're more than willing to make excuses for her." Jaclyn waved a hand. "I won't go off on that tangent. How does your family feel about you?"

Morgan smiled. "Brad took it with a grain of salt. He'd always seen me as an older brother anyway. Dad," Morgan said with a wince, "took it really hard at first. Being a chickens.h.i.t, I waited until I'd finished college and moved away before I told him. The visits after that were tense. I think that's when he bought the place here. He thought that maybe since he hadn't remarried and I didn't have female influence, that was the cause. But he was an avid reader and gobbled up everything he could on the subject and gradually grew more comfortable with me."

"Chet claims he remembers him, and he used to come into the store for coffee a lot. I wish I did, I think it would've been interesting to have known him."

"You would've gotten a kick out of him. Dad had the strangest sayings. 'Morgan, if I tell you a rooster will plow, you hook him up.'" She laughed. "He used his favorite when he was fussing at me, instead of saying, 'do you hear me?' He'd say, 'you hear my horn?'" Her smile slowly faded. "I'd say, 'I hear you honking, Daddy.'" She stood and stretched. "I should go. Thank you for dinner and all the hospitality. I really do enjoy talking to you, Jaclyn."

"I'm glad." Jaclyn stood. "We'll do it often. I need to keep you fed to keep the weight balanced in the not-boat," she said with a smile. "The water's cold in November, and I'm not looking forward to going in to fetch you and my son."

"I won't turn down the company or the food." Morgan hesitated for a second then hugged Jaclyn. "Thank you."

Jaclyn stared across the lake, hoping that Maddie didn't have her binoculars out. She didn't want to be reminded about all the possibilities there could be with Morgan. Because she knew it would only be a matter of time before Morgan left White Oak Lake, and she couldn't afford to have her heart go with her.

Chapter Eleven.

"Okay, wait. You're telling me that you're going to cross a lake in a bookcase...Morgan, you have lost what's left of your d.a.m.n mind, and you ain't been there a week. Pack your s.h.i.t, I'm coming to get you."

"It's a regatta, Celeste." Morgan looked up at the sky where she sat on the deck. Dark clouds were moving in from the west.

"You have damage to your medulla oblongata. Girl, I got some info you're gonna want to hear. Put bookcases out of your mind for a sec. Stanton blew his top at Dalton the other day, he's got s.h.i.t jacked up all over the place. He let crazy Lisa strike a deal and order seventeen hundred dog jackets to be sold in grocery stores! Kevin told me he heard Stanton tell someone on the phone that he made a huge mistake in replacing you with Dalton. All the money he's saving on the lower salary is going out the window because Dalton can't handle the people or the job."

Morgan sat up a little straighter. "Are you serious?"

"So serious, everyone is taking bets on when Stanton is gonna beg you to take your old job back. Most of us think it's gonna be at the first of the year because Kevin said Stanton pulled his budget and started reworking it. And here's the kicker, Stanton asked me if I heard from you and wanted to know if you'd found another job. I told him you were considering some offers while you were visiting your family, and he got nervous."

All the air rushed out of Morgan's lungs.

"So listen up, fool. You play down there in the mud, get a tan, do whatever it is you do because you're really just on vacation. Aren't you glad I didn't get rid of all your suits?"

"You didn't?"

"They're taking up all the room in my closet, and that's where they're gonna stay until January when you cram your skinny a.s.s back into them."

"I'm trying not to get excited. Dalton could get his s.h.i.t together, and Stanton might keep him."

"When you were out with your dad, he just followed the guidelines you left. Now he's totally lost. Yesterday morning, he called a meeting and asked for advice, we all shrugged. Ain't n.o.body gonna help him because we can't stand him. I told everybody to let him hang his little brown-nosing self. Give it to me, baby. Come on, give ya girl the love because she's got your back."

"I love you, crazy b.i.t.c.h."

"No, scream it out loud. Let me hear you!"

"I love you, crazy b.i.t.c.h!" Morgan screamed at the top of her lungs. She turned when she heard shuffling, and Betsy was making a hasty retreat with a pie in her hands.

"I gotta go, I'm meeting Keesha for lunch. We're having Lebanese, aren't you jealous?"

Morgan's mouth watered as she remembered the feta salad she used to inhale. "Oh, I am," she said with a groan.

"Well, come January, you'll be having it with me. I love your narrow a.s.s, bye."

Morgan set the phone on her chest; it rode up and down rapidly with her breathing. She tried to remind herself not to get too excited, a lot of things could change before the new year. Then again, Celeste could've been wrong. Her best friend had been right, however, when she said that Dalton looked a bit too comfortable in her chair when she'd taken time off to be with her father during his last days. Stanton, the miser, was always looking for ways to trim the budget in their department, and Morgan's absence had caused him to consider a cheaper option. "Keep s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up, Dalton," Morgan said with a smile.

Betsy burst through Clarice's back door. "We need to call an emergency meeting."

Clarice was stretched out on her sofa buried beneath a row of cats. "Not now, I'm watching the news. There's been a UFO sighting in Kentucky."

Betsy slapped at the power b.u.t.ton on the TV until it went off. "They make bourbon there, they see all kinds of things. Now, Clarice, this is serious. I just heard Morgan telling someone on the phone she loved her."

"How do you know it was a woman, and how do you know it wasn't a family member?"

"She called her crazy b.i.t.c.h. She said, no screamed, 'I love you, crazy b.i.t.c.h.' Do you think she's talking to her ex?"

Clarice sat up, sending irritated cats scrambling. "I've got some good Hawaiian, you should try it. It'll take the edge off."

Betsy looked confused. "Hawaiian what?" Clarice pulled out a half-smoked joint and held it up. "No, no," Betsy said, shaking her head.

"It'll make you see hibiscus flowers."

"I don't want to see flowers! I want you to make a stronger potion and call Ida over here. This is serious!"

Clarice set the joint aside. "The leaves said not to meddle, and that's what you're doing."

"I don't trust your leaves," Betsy said in exasperation as she paced. "I looked at the leaves on my porch this morning, and they didn't spell out anything to me. You smoke so much of that stuff, you could probably see anything in them."

"I told you I saw someone coming for Jaclyn, then Morgan showed up. They've been talking a lot. I've watched them, too, Betsy."

"Simple logistics," Betsy argued. "Had Morgan stayed on the other side of the lake, she would've talked to someone else. Her father died and left her that cabin, that's why she's here."

Clarice threw an arm over her forehead and sank back down. "You have no faith. We're not going to be able to hold the power if you and Ida don't believe. Maybe we should just let love take its own course."

Betsy threw up her hands in surrender. "I believe, that's why I want an emergency meeting." So desperate she was to have Jaclyn happy that she was willing to drink more of the so-called potion, even though it gave her the runs. She'd lost three pounds since they started this whole thing. It was thrilling to think that she and her friends may be instrumental in making things happen for Jaclyn; the weight loss was an unexpected perk.

"We'll meet tonight. Call Ida and let her know," Clarice said as she reached for the remote.

Chapter Twelve.

Thunder rattled the building, and Jaclyn looked out the window. A glance at the radar on TV confirmed they were in for rain all day. And that meant no one would be coming through her door anytime soon, but Morgan proved her wrong. She shook her head like a dog and pulled a notebook from beneath her shirt as she walked in.

"I was going to put sealant on the Zephyr today, and now I can't." She sounded like Austin when he was being petulant and whiny.

"How about a cup of coffee or soda instead?" Jaclyn asked. "The rain will move out tomorrow, then you can go out and play."

Morgan stabbed a finger in her direction. "Mock me and you'll get a wedgie."

"Isn't Zephyr Greek? Aren't you going with a Viking theme?"

Morgan shrugged. "Snorri just doesn't say speed to me. I've been looking at replicas on the net all morning." She sat down and opened her notebook. "I can't wait for Austin to get home from school because I want to brainstorm and come up with an idea for the pontoons and hull."

"Be right back." Jaclyn scampered off into the storeroom. A minute later, she returned with an empty beer keg that she set in the chair beside Morgan. "What if you attach one of these to the front and sides of the case? They'd help keep you buoyant, and the one in the front would produce less resistance." Morgan's gaze followed Jaclyn's hand as it moved around the keg.

She looked up at Jaclyn for a moment. "You surprise me. I'd been under the impression that you kind of hoped we'd give up this ridiculous pursuit."

"It's important to Austin, and it's obviously important to you. That doesn't make it ridiculous in my eyes." Jaclyn held up a clamp. "We used these to keep a helium tank upright one year when we did balloons for one of the parades. They're light, you can bolt them to the not-boat and use them to secure the kegs."

Morgan grinned. "You've really put a lot of thought into this."

Jaclyn wrinkled her nose. "Don't let the hair color fool you, we blondes know it takes a genius to play a fool as they say."

"I really am impressed."

Austin bolted through the side door and shook the rain out of his hair just as Morgan had earlier. "Man, it's a frog choker out there." His face lit up when he noticed Morgan. "Hey," he said excitedly as he walked over to the tables. "I don't have any homework, so we can get right to work."

"We'll have to do it on paper because of the weather." Morgan patted her hand on the table. "Sit down and see what your brilliant mother came up with."

"Hey, you." Austin planted a kiss on Jaclyn's cheek. "I read my presentation on drunk driving first, and I got an A."

"Well done, you've earned a treat." Jaclyn patted him on the back and walked off.

Morgan b.u.mped Austin's fist as he sat, then began explaining Jaclyn's idea. "Way to go, Mom," Austin said when she returned and placed two ice cold bottles of chocolate milk in front of them. Austin raised his in salute. "Mom, you rock!"

Jaclyn straightened up around the store as the pair sat at the table discussing names and ideas for making the not-boat look like a Viking ship. After much debate, they dubbed it Thor because they agreed it would be mighty when they finished with it. Jaclyn watched them out of the corner of her eye as they became animated while discussing their wardrobe for the regatta.

"So I'll order the hats tomorrow. They should be here by the race," Morgan said.

"And I'll talk to Skip. I know he still has some deer hides hanging around his shop."

"I'm not wearing dead animal carca.s.s."

"Come on, Morgan, we got to have the look. Vikings wore animal skins."

Morgan shook her head. "I'll wear a brown shirt and the hat."

"When you see me in a hide, you're gonna want one," Austin said as he shook his finger. "You watch."

"I'm gonna run up to the house and start dinner. Will you watch the store for me, Austin?"

"Sure, Mom, what're we having?"

"Chicken pot pie, perfect rainy day fare approved by Vikings," Jaclyn said with a smile. "Morgan, you're going to join us, right?"

"She is," Austin said with a nod, then looked back at Morgan hopefully. "You are, right?"

"Sounds too good to pa.s.s up," Morgan said with a smile.

Jaclyn poured the chicken mixture into a baking dish, then spread a pie crust over it. She smiled thinking rain or not, had Morgan not have been there, Austin would've gone to Logan's to hang out. It was more than just excitement over the regatta, he genuinely enjoyed being around her. And Jaclyn did, too. Morgan was like a breath of fresh air in a world that had grown stagnant unnoticed. She slid the pie into the oven and made a fresh salad. When the crust was a golden brown, she set it out to cool and went to close the store.

"You can't tell Momma." The conversation Jaclyn walked in on stopped her in her tracks. Neither Austin nor Morgan noticed her come in. She stood behind one of the shelves and chewed her bottom lip as she listened.

"Austin, do you have those pictures on your phone?" Morgan asked. Silence was the response, and she heard Morgan blow out a breath. "Have you shown anyone else?"

"No, I like Rylee...she's a friend, too. That's why I didn't want to say anything."

"How old is Rylee?"

"Thirteen."

Morgan's tone was truly curious. "What do you think of her after seeing those pictures?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, ask yourself what kind of girl sends pictures of herself like that over a cell phone?"

"She's nice, she just wants Logan to like her."

"She has no self-respect if she thinks sending nude pictures is going to make a boy like her. Of course, he's going to like what he sees, but just the fact that he sent them to you and all his other friends means he cares nothing for her. Beyond that, what Rylee and Logan have done is criminal. Stories like this are in the news all the time. You could get into a lot of trouble for what you have on your phone. Those pictures are considered child p.o.r.nography. Just having them in your possession is against the law."

"I'll delete them."

"Hand me the phone," Morgan said firmly. "Now I'm going to ask you again, did you send these photos to anyone?"