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By Root 518 0

who said it bored her to tears. They were a natural, as Kitty put it, to take over their parents’ catering firm. She would do the cooking, and Josie would handle the business end of it. Now, three years later, their books were solidly in the black. “The American dream,” Kitty had said back in Baton Rouge when she wanted Josie to agree to take over the business. “We answer to no one but ourselves. We give ourselves the best health insurance, the best pension plan, and we don’t have to worry about anyone downsizing or snatching it away from us.” Josie had agreed because it made sense. She liked being her own boss. She’d hated the bank she worked in just the way Kitty hated the insurance company she worked for.

She loved N’awlins, or the Big Easy, as people called the city. She adored the Garden District, with its wonderful old homes like their own, as well as the exciting French Quarter. When she missed Baton Rouge, the city where she and Kitty first achieved their independence, she hopped in the car and drove there, sometimes at a moment’s notice. As Kitty said, the past was prologue. N’awlins was her home again just the way it had been her home growing up.

“Get to bed,” she ordered her sister. “I’ll meet with Mrs. Lobelia, but first I have to clean up the porch and see about fixing Rosie’s baby.”

“Why don’t you go to the store, buy another Beanie Baby, take out the beans, and sew it up again? I’ll take Rosie in the house with me so she won’t see you doing it.”

“That’s a thought, but only if I can’t find the beans. I want to fix it for her just the way it was. I’ll be in to fix lunch in a little while.”

“The guy was a hunk. A real pity you didn’t get his name. Bet he works out or runs. His muscles positively rippled when he was carrying that big dog.” Kitty grinned.

“You saw all that through his suit?”

“Yep. Those eyes are to drown in. Very kissable mouth. His teeth positively glistened.”

“I didn’t notice,” Josie muttered.

“Get off it, Josie. You noticed. No good-looking man gets by that eagle eye of yours. By the way, how’d the date go last night?”

“First and last. He was just too full of himself. Get that matchmaking look out of your eye. I’d never date a man who has hair longer than my own. Cajun, Choctaw maybe. What do you think?”

“Maybe a combination. Whatever it is, it works. He was one handsome guy. I’ve seen him somewhere. It will come to me sooner or later. That was no off-the-rack suit he was wearing either, and that car isn’t exactly a puddle-jumper. Big bucks. Pity you let him get away,” Kitty said as she flounced her way up the steps.

Was it a pity? Josie wondered as she made her way to the cottage, where she worked industriously gathering up as many of the tiny beans as she could find. Two hours later she had the soft little toy sewn together. She bent over Rosie, who was curled into a ball in her little bed. “Here you go, baby, good as new.” She wanted to cry when the Maltese made no effort to reach for it to cuddle with as she always did. “I think I got all the beans. See, it’s just as fat and wiggly as before. C’mere.” The little dog made no effort to move but buried her head in her paws.

Damn, if she could get her hands around the giant’s throat, she would squeeze the life out of him. And his monster dog. Her best hope was that Kitty would remember where she’d seen him so she could then go and wring his big neck. Like that was really going to happen.

The ferns looked a little sparse when she rehung them, but with more potting soil and a good spritzing they looked almost as good as new. She did her best with the geraniums and petunias, but most of the stems were broken and bent. She needed new ones. How bare and impersonal the little porch looked without the colorful blooms. She was going to have to remove the screen door and take it to be repaired. She might as well do that now and pick up some new flowers on the way back. She had plenty of time before her meeting with Mrs. Lobelia. She could also pick up a couple of po’boys for lunch for her and Kitty.

“Come on, Rosie. Help me take off this