Chapter 24: Rémy Thibodeaux, 37, bayou resident...

Kitty got to the City Dock ten minutes before 8; Rémy was waiting for her. She had dressed down — pink shorts and a white, sleeveless blouse. An overnight bag with the necessities.

Rémy steered his way through the bayous effortlessly. Helped her onto the pier, and led her up the steps into his home.

Like Marie Guidry, Rémy had been raised in the Cajun Bayous, and returned there when he came home from the Navy. Both he and Marie had had new homes constructed — small, but trig.

Sipping Gimlets at his kitchen table, both started to speak at once. Rémy laughed and held up a palm, “Me first.”

“Sure.”

“This felt wrong to me from the first, Kitty. I do want you — have for some time, me. But not this way. I won’t coerce you into having sex — it would diminish my enjoyment, and maybe yours too.”

She whispered, “Thank you.”

“Now here’s the agenda — I got me a fresh bag of sac au lait I’ll fix for us. That’s not all the menu either — we’ll start with turtle soup and have pecan pie after. Then you can decide how you feel — you know, if you want to stay or have me run you back.”

She patted the back of his hand, “Thanks, Rémy — sounds great. Supper, not the running back.” She leaned back in her chair and gestured down her body with both hands, “So, everything on this menu is still available to you. Everything.” She looked directly at him, “I want you too.”

He gave her a beaming smile, “That’s great, Kitty, glad we cleared the air.” He started to tell her that Jared was now off the hook — no charges would be filed.

But she was quicker, “Look, I’m glad the ... um, situation changed. That I don’t have to be here. But I am here, and that’s because I want to be.”

He started to speak, but she held up her hand, “Rémy, I’ve known from the start that pussy was never gonna be enough to — you know, get Jared off the hook. You made that clear.”

Rémy sat back — the conversation had taken an unexpected turn, and now he was curious.

“I know, hell everyone in town knows that Kate Broussard has brought sex out into the open here in Sausalito. An’ everyone in town also knows she’s looking for a mother — a city mother — willing to fuck her own son.”

“Oh my, Kitty.”

“Rémy, if I get up my nerve, if I can actually do it — that’ll be enough, right? Get Jared off the hook?”

“Are you sure about this? I mean that’s a big step — a huge step.”

Rémy understood how pleased Eulalie and Sabine and Kate would be. But he was also growing fond — fonder — of Kitty Arceneaux.

“No, I’m not sure at all, Rémy. But I’ve been thinking and thinking on it. An’ here’s the other thing — if I do it, I don’ want anyone else to know — jess you and Kate.”

“Well ... Kitty, I can’t speak for Kate — okay if I call her?”

Kitty folded her arms, thinking. She said, “Well, Kate’s seen it all. An’ they got all those live sex shows down here. Moms doing sons if the rumors are right.”

“They are. So, call Kate or not?”

“Go ahead.”

Rémy composed his thoughts before he dialed. He knew Kate would be quick on the uptake, but he wanted to set the table first.

“Hey, Kate, listen — I’m here with Kitty Arceneaux. You know her boy got in trouble with those underage kids. Yeah, Jared. Well, I like to keep Sausalito’s dirty laundry in Sausalito if I can — I hate getting Jackson and the Hill County Juvie Center involved if I can help it.”

Rémy listened, then nodded, ‘See, Kitty feels the same way, probably even more so.” Kitty nodded.