She wasn’t sure how much Rene would want her to talk about this. He’d left Louis out for a reason. Sylvie might not agree with it, but she had to honor her husband’s wishes. “I know something of it.”
“He didn’t trust me with the last one. They did it with Lowestone, too. I saw our winning bid and it was lower than the one I put in the computer. He found out about it and changed the bid. That must have hurt Charles quite badly with the company he was working for,” Louis said. “It’s probably why he decided to throw a Hail Mary. He knows his time is running out. The next time a board vote comes up, Rene will know what to look for. Does Rene think I’m working with Charles?”
Again, this was something Rene should be handling. “He’s suspicious of everyone.”
“He’s been around me all his life. He could probably feel I was hiding something. Which I was.” Louis stood up. “I’m going to go look for him. I’ll check the house in New Orleans and a couple of the hotels I know he likes.”
“I think Rene might need the night to himself,” Sylvie said. She’d thought about keeping up her search but realized Rene was almost never alone. It might do him some good to think about what he was doing. He was likely feeling like there was no way out.
She was going to prove him wrong.
“What are we going to do about Roberta?” Cricket asked. “I can lose the house. I love it and I thought I would die here, but Rene should know I love him more than I love the house.”
“Rene needs to know a lot of things, and we’re not going to lose anything.” Sylvie sat down in the chair across from them and stroked Lady’s fur. Her dog was not going to come from a broken home. She would not be a single dog mom, working out who got to take Lady to the vet and to the dog park on weekends.
“All right.” Cricket sat up. “Let’s figure out how to help my son.”
Sylvie was ready to do just that.
chapter thirteen
Rene parked the SUV on the outer edges of the B and B’s parking lot and stared at all those expensive cars with a knot in his gut.
Was Sylvie back at the house, packing up her stuff? Or was she waiting there for him to come home so she could tear a strip off his hide before packing up her stuff, taking their dog, and walking away?
Like she should.
He’d become a damn country song. Lost his house and wife and dog, and his momma had run off with a scoundrel who would take all their money and leave them in the dust.
Rene groaned at the thought of Louis being the bad guy. It didn’t make sense. Had he hidden his inner con man for thirty years? Played the good guy for decades on the off chance that his best friend would have a heart attack, die, and leave his wife vulnerable to fraud?
Or Louis could have loved her all these years. His mother could have held feelings for him from the time they were kids, and now they were at a point in their life when it made sense for them to be together.
“Hey, are you still thinking about running?” Dre’s voice came over the speakers, reminding him he wasn’t alone. Dre had called moments after Rene had left.
“I’m not running.” Not yet. He was thinking about heading into New Orleans after he did what he needed to do here. Maybe if he could put off talking to his wife, he wouldn’t break down entirely in front of her. “I have to talk to my aunt.”
He’d thought about simply not showing up at all. Roberta would take the insult as a reason not to vote for him. But then he wouldn’t be in compliance with the agreement he’d made with Charles. He couldn’t put Sylvie at risk.
“Well, get in there, get it done, and then go find my sister because the longer you let this go, the more of a lecture on love and marriage you’re going to get, and honestly, the more of a shot there is that Sylvie shows up here, and that could be bad for me. I need at least three more days before I won’t wince every time my momma hugs me,” Dre admitted.
Andre had sat up with him all night, talking him through the problem, which Dre thought could be solved by him beating the crap out of Charles, sweeping his wife away for a long vacation, and telling his whole board to go to hell.
It sounded perfect, if only he could protect Sylvie that way.
“I’ll go home and talk to her.” Then he would go to New Orleans and try to decide what to do with the rest of his life. “I love her, but everything I could offer her before is about to be gone. All of it. I’ve got savings that I can use to move and set up another life, but I’m not even going to have a job.”
“Sylvie will not be the first strong, powerful woman to be saddled with a handsome, charming layabout,” Dre cracked. “Happens all the time. You have to keep up your looks, brother. That’s all you have now.”
Rene groaned, but he was smiling again. “You’re an asshole.”
“Yeah, but I’m also on your side.” His voice lost its amusement. “Think about what we talked about. I know family is a transactional thing for you, but that’s not the way Sylvie and I were raised, and though she took your name, you took my momma on when you married her. Do you want Marcelle Martine on your ass? Because she will be if you try to walk away.”
This was what Dre had argued all night long. Even as they were sitting on Sylvie’s couch, battling it out in a video game, eating pizza, and drinking Scotch, Dre had told him over and over again that he didn’t owe Sylvie cash and a perfect life.
What he owed his wife was his whole heart, and to be a good partner to her.
Was he being a good partner? All of his life he’d been taught to sacrifice for his family. Shouldn’t he do the same to protect the one woman he loved more than anyone in the world? Shouldn’t he give up his happiness to spare her pain?
“I’ll talk to her tonight.” It was all he could promise.
“Good.” Dre sounded perfectly relieved. As though something magical would happen if he just got in the same room with Sylvie. As if everything would fall into place. “I’ll be here if you need me.”
“Thank you.” Rene turned off his SUV and forced himself to get out. He was a man who was always impeccable, but he was walking into a big family gathering wearing yesterday’s rumpled suit. He’d taken a shower, but the suit was dry-clean only, and Dre’s clothes didn’t fit him at all.
How long would it take him to pack up and get out of the home he’d lived in all his life?
He would have to sit down and explain to his mother that he wasn’t fighting anymore. He would apologize, wish her and Louis well, and offer to help them any way he could.
God, he felt so helpless.
It had been one night and he missed Sylvie like it had been a decade. Was this what the rest of his life was going to feel like? Like he was missing a piece of himself?