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WEDNESDAY MORNING, Pepper opened Francine’s with a smile on her face. All might not be right with the world, but she felt good. She had helped apprehend a criminal and reconnected with an old friend in the process. She felt a little bad that she had missed saying goodbye to Owen. From the text messages she got from Ida Belle and Gertie, it sounded like the record company had sent a rental SUV to Sinful as soon as the mess with Wendy was sorted. By now the tour group was on their way to Houston for their rescheduled tour date.
She was busy setting tables when the bell over the door jingled. Pepper looked up to see Marty and Scooter come in, looking like they had become best buddies during the past couple of days.
“Good morning! Marty, I thought the tour group left yesterday for Houston. You didn’t go with them?”
“Nah. I was only around to try to help Courtney. Now that she’s gone...” Marty shrugged, and Pepper saw a tear leak out of the corner of his eye. Even though he had been dishonest in the way he went about joining the tour, she felt a little bad for him.
“Does that mean you’ll be staying in Sinful?” she asked, trying to make conversation as she brought the coffee out to their table.
“For a while. Makes me feel closer to Courtney, you know?”
Pepper’s smile was strained, but she nodded. The guy was a little weird.
Scooter piped up, “Don’t forget, Marty, I’ve got plans to hook you up with someone at the Swamp Bar by the end of the week. You’ll love Sinful even more by then.” Pepper grinned and handed them menus before heading back behind the counter.
The next couple of hours brought a steady flow of customers, and Pepper was busy serving up mountains of breakfast foods and gallons of coffee. She loved busy mornings like this, especially since it meant she was able to catch up on the latest gossip.
One couple’s conversation in particular caught her attention.
“It’s true.”
“But I haven’t seen anything about that on the Tweeter.”
“No, no you gotta look on that one where the people make their faces look all weird—Snaptalk.”
“Why in the hell would something so important be there? Why can’t they just use Facebook like everyone else in the world?”
“Oh, it’s these kids. They think we’re not hip to the new things, like they’re all in on some secret they’re keeping from the adults.”
Seeing as the two diners appeared to be in their seventies, Pepper thought there might be a little bit of truth to what they were saying. But she kept quiet and didn’t try to hide the fact that she was listening.
“I just hope he’s not a recluse.”
“You can’t live in Sinful and be a recluse.”
“Sure you can. Look at old man Jenkins.”
“He’s a hundred and six years old. The guy can barely get from his recliner to his front door to pick up his mail every day.”
“Still, you never see him outside the house. Recluse.”
“Well, I don’t think that will be the case with Owen Bryce.”
Pepper’s eyes widened in surprise. Obviously, there was something going on here that she had completely missed. Maybe it was time to become an active part of the conversation. She picked up a coffee pot and a tea kettle full of hot water and made her way to the table in question. As she refilled cups and sat the kettle on the table, she casually inquired, “What’s this I hear about Owen Bryce?”
Both of the women looked surprised. Apparently being a waitress meant you were supposed to have all the gossip before everyone else. Finally, one of them said, “Didn’t you hear? Owen bought a house right here in our little town. Plunked down cash, and more than the asking price, too! Can you imagine? We’ll have some much-improved scenery around these parts when he’s in town, that’s for sure.”
Her dining companion giggled, and they shared the type of laugh that Pepper usually only heard from teenage girls in the midst of their first crushes. She laughed along with the ladies, but inside she was feeling a bit nervous. There was something about her old friend that made her feel a bit on the edgy side when she was near him. She wouldn’t call it a crush, exactly, but she would rather not have to deal with it. However, if Owen really were going to be living in Sinful, even part-time, she didn’t know how to feel about it. She also wondered how Owen had paid cash when Joe and Bruce were convinced he was running on empty.
###
DURING HER BREAK, PEPPER did some mad googling about Owen and any mention of his purchasing a new home. All she could find was one cryptic comment about how much he loved the Deep South. Then she found another about how he was considering putting down roots somewhere other than Nashville because he was tired of the fast pace and constant pressure of being so near the heart of the country music industry.
“Ouch,” she said to herself. “That won’t win any fans at the record label.”
Before she went back inside to finish her shift, a text message popped up from a number she didn’t recognize. Curious, she opened it.
“Pepper, just wanted to send you a pic of the new digs. Hope we’ll be seeing more of each other soon. Owen.” Below the message was a picture of a house just down the street from her own place. If they both stood on their front porches, they would be able to wave at each other.
Her fingers hesitated, but she knew she should reply. Trying to keep things light, she typed, “I saw a couple of your social media posts. Did you put those up, or did Lisa?”
Owen replied, “Me. Lisa resigned last night after she told me she only took this job to help my ex-wife get evidence that I’m worth more money than I claimed during the divorce. Sounds like she wanted more alimony or some kind of payoff. Lisa apologized, said goodbye, and now I’m in charge of my own Tweets again. Don’t know if that’s good or bad.”
Aha, Pepper thought, so that’s what the conversation we overheard at Gertie’s was about. She texted back, “It will be great to have my old friend around once in a while. Are Joe and Bruce moving here?”
He must have been waiting for her message, because the reply came immediately. “No, just me. I realized I need a quiet place to live with people who will inspire my songs. I hope you’ll be one of those people.”
“You’re right about one thing—there’s plenty of inspiration around here for country songs. Let me know when you’re coming to town. Jaxson and I would love to have dinner.” After pressing send, Pepper turned off her phone, preferring not to think about whether she and Jaxson would even be together the next time Owen made it to Sinful.
Pepper went back into Francine’s through the kitchen, eager to get busy again and put personal matters out of her mind. When she walked through the kitchen door into the dining room, she looked up to see Owen standing there, arms wide open and a huge smile on his face. Before she could say anything, he scooped her up into a giant bear hug and said, “I’m letting you know... I’m here in Sinful, and I’m not going anywhere for a while. The tour is on hold until we can replace Wendy, and really we all need a break to recover from what happened.” Pepper tried not to think about the fact that every phone camera in the place was being used to capture the embrace.
When Owen set Pepper down again, she looked up at him and tried to laugh. “But what about the SUV I heard about? I thought you all drove away into the sunset.”
“Everyone else left to head for an airport and home. But for the next month or so, I’m all yours!”
Cheers went up around the restaurant. “Well,” she said, “I’m sure Jaxson will be happy to have you around. Someone else to talk guy stuff with. Will you be staying with him until your house is ready?”
“Nope, the house is ready now. I’m moving into it as-is. See ya ‘round, neighbor!” Owen tipped an imaginary hat before leaving Francine’s, and the conversations taking place in his wake nearly drowned out the thoughts in Pepper’s head. That is, until she looked at one table against the far wall and found herself staring into the deep blue eyes of Olivia LeBlanc. Olivia was wearing an expression that Pepper couldn’t read, but it sent chills down her spine.
Fun times ahead... fun times... The sarcastic thought flitted through her mind before she was inundated with food and beverage requests, several of which came with intense questions about just how well did she know Owen Bryce and was he moving here to be near her?
Pepper had to admit, things were never boring in the tiny bayou town of Sinful, Louisiana.
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