Page 41 of The Cajun Doctor

“Just watching the races,” he lied. Nascar had never been a big attraction to him, though it was practically a sacred obsession here in the South.

“Since when do you have a cat? I thought you hated cats.”

“I do.”

Max looked up and hissed his opinion, then resumed licking his private parts.

Aaron took a beer out of the small fridge, swallowed half the bottle in one long swig, then raised a questioning brow. His brother knew him too well.

“So, where’s De-li-lah?” Daniel asked.

“She wouldn’t come.”

“Shy?”

“Just the opposite. Did I tell you she can wrestle a two-hundred-pound alligator?”

“You might have told me a time or twenty.”

Aaron made a face at him.

“I take it she isn’t shaking the sheets with you yet.”

“Hah! I can’t even get her near the bed. In fact, she won’t even go out on a date with me. Don’t tell anyone.”

“Meaning Tante Lulu?”

“Got it in one.”

“She’s already crocheting doilies for you, y’know.”

“Don’t snicker, bro. She’s doin’ the same for you.”

“She is the most interfering busybody. Her family, too.”

“Our family,” Aaron reminded him.

“Our family,” he conceded. “But I gotta tell you, there are times when I feel as if I can’t breathe.”

“Like today?”

“Near the end, yeah.”

“Do you wish we’d stayed in Alaska?”

For a moment Daniel considered the question, then said, “No. This feels like home now.”

“Did I push you into this Bayou Rose Plantation business?”

“Hell, yes!”

Aaron, not a bit repentant, sank down into the leather recliner Daniel had just bought, pulled the lever ’til he was almost prone, then clicked on the vibrate button. “Wow!” he laughed and played with the different settings, like a kid with a new toy.

They heard a huffing noise coming up the steps. Then Tante Lulu emerged into the room. “Ain’t this nice?” she said, “but you need a few knickknacks.”

Daniel rolled his eyes.

Tante Lulu looked closer at the cat, which was lying on its back now, stretching its big body like some porno stud. “That cat is preggers,” she announced.