Riding the Thunder - Deborah MacGillivray [99]
“So what’s good for lunch? I’m in the mood for Tex-Mex for some reason.”
“Tex-Mex? Bah! You want some good eatin’, try my Cajun cookin’. I fixed my Chicken What Du Hell as the lunch special. It’ll make your soul sing.” Sam offered him a big smile as he dumped the ice shards into the bin and closed the lid.
Jago finished the Coors. “I’d noticed your accent. You’re from New Orleans.”
“Sure am. Katrina got me. Had my own restaurant. Nothing fancy, mind. Just good eatin’. Mama Lou’s Down-Home Authentic Cajun Cooking. That damn big-ass sign was the first thing that Katrina got. Not much longer after that, the water came. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Emergency Preparedness people did this computer mock-up to study what would happen if a Category 5 hurricane ever hit New Orleans. They even aired it on the Discovery Channel the year before it happened. They did nothing. Sat on their hands and said there was no way to evacuate the city. Didn’t rebuild the levees. Wouldn’t stop dredging the river. So, the worst happened, exactly like that computer show warned. And the poor unsuspecting people paid. Whole town paid and is still paying. When I saw the water rolling in, I got in my truck and drove north and kept going, following the Blue Highway. Finally landed here late one night. My Aunt Bessie used to work for Asha’s mama, was a cook for her. I used to come stay with her in the summers. So there I was—no home, no family, no business and too damn old for anyone to hire me. Asha did. The gal has a heart.”
“Will you ever go back?”
“I love the Big Easy, but that life is over. I belong here at The Windmill now.” Sam’s black eyes studied Jago closely. “What about you? You got a car, a cat and a ’cycle now. Hear you’re planning on getting a boat. You gonna keep our girl?”
“I sure plan on it.”
“She won’t live anywhere else, you know. You prepared for that? The Windmill is a haven for lost souls. It’s Asha’s purpose. Netta was lost. Derek was a punk headed for trouble, now he’s going to be a vet. Delbert doesn’t have anyone but us. Oo-it has been shunned all his life; no one ever looked close enough to see how smart that man is. I sure needed a home and job.” The cook paused. “Only, our gal was lost, too. She needed roots, a reason in life. All that money and that big damn house in England never gave her that. Her mama always returned home to Kentucky; ultimately it destroyed her marriage because Mac refused to give her what she needed, what she found here. Best think on that. Asha is like her mama; why she came back here to make a go of it.”
“Strangely enough, I guess I was lost, too.” Jago admitted. “I never realized it until now. I need roots and a purpose in life, too. I’m happy here.”
Sam huffed. “Figured that might be the case—why you started collecting your toys. What about your business trying to buy her out?”
“Sticky wicket, but I’ll handle things. We’ll work something else out.”
“She ain’t gonna be happy if you buy that horse farm out from under her brother,” Sam counseled knowingly.
Jago picked up a quarter from the counter and, with a magician’s practiced slight-of-hand, made it vanish. “I’ll have to work a little magic to see Liam holds onto it, don’t you think?”
“Sounds smart to me.”
After Sam ambled back to the kitchen, Jago stared out the window, watching the rain. The old man’s gentle prodding had summoned something he’d been hiding from—his lying to Asha. He needed to come clean with her. Soon.
He swallowed back the rising bile, recognizing it might mess up Desmond’s plans, and by damn, he owed everything to his older brother, knew all the sacrifices Des had made, what he’d suffered. More father than brother, Des had always been there. He loved his older brother; this whole takeover of Montgomerie Enterprises would make Des a billionaire several times over—or destroy him if everything turned sour. One wrong move and their plans would come crashing down like a house of cards. His