A Trashy Affair Read Online Free PDF

the woman probably lived in the dark basement of the courthouse like an evil troll and never left the building, Jane wended her way home.

Chapter Four
    At least, Chapelle’s rush hour, which usually lasted only fifteen minutes, had ended, one nice break in a horrible day. Nearly missing the entry to her gravel driveway because of all the yard waste heaped on either side, Jane parked by her dilapidated garage. With darkness falling swiftly, she appreciated the light from her little lamppost. Still, the big pecan tree in her yard cast a deep shadow across her path to the backdoor.
    Something huge and threatening separated itself from the darkness—maybe a black bear ousted from the cane fields being cut in the area. Should she retreat with caution to her car or roll into a ball and play dead? She could never remember which applied to black bears. Jane took a slow step back.
    “Going somewhere?” Blackie Tauzin said. “You just got home. Missed a pretty sunset tonight. I’ve been sitting here watching it.”
    “Oh, Merlin! You frightened me.” Her hand rested over her pounding heart.
    “Didn’t mean to. I finished with the bushes and got the trumpet creeper off the fence but left it on the garage. I know it’s a noxious vine, but the orange flowers are nice.”
    “Yes, I like them, too. Besides, I think the garage might fall down if you pull it off. That vine is sturdier than the walls.”
    “Is that why you never park inside—besides the critters, I mean?”
    “I still have two years of car payments to make and can’t afford to have a building fall on my Honda.” Jane advanced into the spill of light coming from her kitchen window.
    “It’s sturdier than it looks, and nothing in that garage will hurt you. Even snakes run away given some space. The sun may be gone, but you look like you can still use some wine.”
    He held open her unlocked door. Jane entered and immediately became engulfed by the rich aroma of a pot of gumbo on the stove.
    “My mom came by and saw me working over here. Her husband went hunting last week, and she brought me duck and andouille gumbo for my supper. You like that kind?”
    “I love all kinds of gumbo.”
    “Couldn’t find your rice cooker, so we’ll have to settle for that brown Minute Rice you got in the cupboard.” Merlin went to the stove and checked on a smaller pot. He shook his head over her pitiful rice. “Yeah, it’s ready. You want to eat now?”
    “Thanks, but I need to wash up. Nadia Nixon informed me I had body odor after my foray to the parish barn. I wouldn’t come too close right now.”
    Disregarding her comment, Merlin came close, very close, and sniffed. “I’ve smelled lots worse things, but go ahead if you want to shower. The food will keep.”
    Jane backed away slowly as if he really were a black bear invading her house. “Okay. By the way, I don’t have a rice cooker. My family moved here from Montana. We’re more meat and potato people, gumbo eaters, not gumbo makers.”
    “Then you are in for a treat. My mom makes the best duck and andouille gumbo.”
    “I thought she was simple-minded.”
    “Even the simple can learn to cook with a little patience. Granny has lots of patience, only she was about out of it with the state of the yard. All I could do to keep her from marching right over here on her walker and taking you to task about it.”
    “Again, sorry. I do keep the grass mowed.”
    “After I get the pansies and ornamental cabbage planted in the flowerbeds for winter color, you’ll be square with her.”
    “I have flowerbeds?”
    “Sure. What did you think those circles of angled bricks in front of the house were?”
    “Obstacles to mowing? The tops of old cisterns?”
    “Flowerbeds. Get on wit’ you. I’ll set the table.”
    As soon as Merlin turned toward the cupboards, Jane retreated and ran for the safety of her bathroom. She locked the door and dragged the clothes hamper under the knob, pretty flimsy defenses considering