Chapter Nine
Unless Helena learned to fly, Maryse figured it would take her at least an hour to get to Maryse’s cabin. Relieved to be rid of the ghost and frustrated that her date with an eligible doctor had ended with her thinking of Luc LeJeune, Maryse reached for the tequila bottle and poured herself a shot. She gritted her teeth as the bitter liquid burned her throat. She was a lousy drinker. A cold beer was one thing, hard liquor was another.
She poured another shot but couldn’t get it past her lips. Disgusted with herself, Helena, and her night, she walked into the kitchen and began to make a peanut butter sandwich.
She didn’t even care whether Christopher called her again. Which was good, because despite the intriguing underwear comment, he probably wasn’t interested in being embarrassed in a fancy restaurant again anytime in this life. She took a bite of the sandwich and pulled a beer from the refrigerator.
She went back into the living room and plopped down on the couch, trying to ignore the fact that the reason Dr. Christopher held no appeal to her was because Luc LeJeune held entirely too much. Damn that man! Why did he have to go and kiss her? She was doing a fine job of pretending she didn’t find him sexy as hell, and then he crossed that line. And once you crossed that line, there was no going back. Oh, she could pretend it didn’t affect her, but she wasn’t going to fool anyone—especially not Luc.
And all of this thrown at her when she really, really needed to be concentrating on finding that plant for the trials. Whatever Blooming Flower had brewed up for Maryse’s dad had been working. The cancer was moving toward remission, and he hadn’t experienced a single side effect—something that could rarely be said for the radiation treatment he’d refused. Then Blooming Flower had died without revealing her secret. The secret Maryse was still searching for. She took a long swallow of beer and flipped the remote to some boring talk show.
It was over an hour before Helena showed up. Maryse was about to go to bed when the ghost popped into the living room, walking straight through the wall and the television. For a moment, Maryse thought she was having a hallucination that someone had stepped out of the television set, but then her vision cleared a bit, and the pink polyester seemed to glow in the dim living room light.
“What took you so long?” she asked. “Couldn’t catch a ride?”
“You know good and well no normal person’s coming out into a swamp in the middle of the night.”
Maryse glanced up at the clock on the wall. “It’s only eleven. Hardly the middle of the night.”
“When you’re my age, eight o’clock is the middle of the night.”
Maryse shook her head. Something else in life to look forward to. “Look, Helena, I’m a little drunk, and I’m tired. I’m in no mood to deal with you, especially after that stunt you pulled tonight. I know you might find this hard to believe, but I don’t want to live alone on the bayou with only a cat for company the rest of my life. I’m an introvert, not a hermit. Snagging a doctor isn’t exactly the worst way to go, regardless of whether you think I could have landed him or not.”
“Hmm. You live like a hermit. When’s the last time you got out of the bayou for anything…dinner, a movie, a night on the town? Maybe if you spent some time in the general population, you could meet a nice man. Something the doctor is not. He uses women.”
Maryse waved one hand in the air. “I am not going to discuss this with you. It’s simply none of your business. You never liked me anyway, so let me take my chances. What the hell difference does it make to you if I end up a two-time loser?”
Helena studied her for a moment, seeming to contemplate her next words. Finally, she sighed and said, “I never said I didn’t like you. And besides, none of that matters now. We have bigger fish to fry, and I can’t have a decent conversation with you if you’re in such a snit.”
“Well, then you’re out of luck tonight.” Maryse rose from the couch. “I’m going to bed. Are you staying?”
Helena sat on the couch and glared at the television remote. “Don’t have much choice do I, if I want to talk to you. As long as I’m stuck here, will you at least change the channel?”
Maryse considered refusing for a moment. Hell, she considered turning the whole damned thing off and making Helena sit in the dark, but she just didn’t have the energy to listen to the griping. “You know, you could have saved us both the hassle and stayed at the hotel. I’m sure there are at least twenty televisions on there with all kinds of things to watch.”
Helena gave her a horrified look. “Oh, no—I already tried that one. Do you have any idea what those salesmen turn on when they are away from their wives? I can’t believe Mildred allows that crap in her hotel. Good God, the things I’ve seen.”
Some of the things Helena had seen were probably the same things Maryse could have been doing herself if her mother-in-law hadn’t cheated her of the opportunity. But she thought it wise not to point that out. “Fine. What do you want to watch?”
“I heard down at the beauty shop that channel six is doing an all-night marathon of real hauntings,” Helena replied, looking animated for the first time that evening. “That will be interesting. Maybe I could learn how to move things.”
Oh goody. “Yeah, sure, and if things don’t work out here with that little business concerning your soul, at least you’ll know where to find friends.”