Free Marisa Carroll - Hotel Marchand 09 by Her Summer Lover Page B

go to college. No scholarships and no money. But there was the army, so he’d signed up for a four-year hitch and the college tuition bonus that came with it.
    And then one June morning, Sophie Clarkson had strolled into the garage where he was working for his uncle Max until he was called up, and lit up his world. She had been willowy, blond and beautiful, perfect in every way. Rich and sophisticated, or so it seemed to him, and she took his breath away. He’d fallen in love on the spot. And wonder of wonders, she’d seemed to feel the same way.
    He grabbed a basket of dirty clothes from the foot of his bed and snorted in self-derision as he headed down the stairs to the laundry room. “Face it, Boudreaux. She still does take your breath away.”
    “Did you say something, Alain?” his mother asked from the kitchen as he passed by.
    “Nope,” he lied. God, he was talking out loud to himself. That was a bad sign.
    “Is Dana asleep?”
    “Out like a light.”
    “Good. I was afraid she’d be too wound up to sleep after talking to her mother.” Cecily hadn’t taken the time to change from the set of maroon scrubs she’d worn to work that morning and she looked tired as she rested her elbows on the scarred top of the pine table that had sat in the middle of the kitchen floor for as long as Alain could remember. Familiar guilt jabbed at his gut. He was taking advantage of her, living here like this. It was time they moved out on their own.
    He stood there holding the basket of dirty laundry, seeing his childhood home, his present sanctuary, in a different light. He knew the rent he paid for living here went a long way toward the upkeep on the old house. It was a monster to heat and cool. But his mother, and her mother before her, had grown up here. If he and the kids moved out, could she keep it? Did she even want to? The question surprised him a little. He hadn’t thought of that before, his mom maybe wanting to move into a nice apartment in New Iberia or even Lafayette. Her life, her roots were planted so deep in the bayou soil he’d never pictured her any place else. But maybe it was time he did.
    “Mom—”
    She interrupted his attempt to broach the subject. “Are you planning to let Casey Jo take Dana to Florida?”
    “Not if I can help it.” He set the basket on the floor and turned one of the high-backed pine chairs around backward to straddle the seat. “Even if she can afford the trip, I don’t want her getting the idea she can take Dana out of school anytime the notion strikes her.” He wasn’t comfortable about letting his ex have the kids un-supervised. He never knew when one of her infrequent bouts of maternal feelings would kick in and she’d decide to try and keep them with her. Not that it would last long, just long enough to disrupt all their lives and cost him six months’ salary for lawyer fees to get them back, but he wasn’t going to take the chance if he could help it.
    Cecily tucked a strand of graying hair into the braided knot on top of her head. “Good. Sometimes you’re too soft-hearted.” She got up and went to the coffeepot on the counter and poured a cup. His mom had a cast-iron stomach from drinking hospital coffee for thirty years. He’d be up all night if he drank coffee this late in the day. “If she’s got the money to take the kids to Disney World, then she can damn well hand it over for their college funds, and I would have told her just that if I’d gotten to the phone before Dana did. Between you and me, I don’t like it when she takes them out of the state. No telling what kind of idea that girl’ll go and get in her head.”
    “Yeah, Mom. I thought of that, too.” He stood up and heaved the laundry basket onto one hip. “Better get this load washed or it won’t dry before bedtime.”
    “I’ll get that,” Cecily said, leaning back against the counter as she cradled her coffee mug in both hands. “You must have better things to do than