Brigett Scott's Blog

Chapter 4
The wedding ceremony was romantic. It was one of those big affairs that the society column in the local newspaper liked to cover. Jolie hoped that no one took her picture. She did not want to end up in the paper where her grandmother might see. The old woman would be full of questions. Questions that Jolie did not want to have to answer. She was only here to have her grandfather’s debt taken care of. She was not going to let this good looking man distract her from her goal.
At the reception, Jolie and Beau ate and mingled with his family. She was surprised by one thing. She was sure that he would spend the whole night staring at his ex-girlfriend, but he didn’t. It was almost like he was not even aware that his ex was in the same room. Jolie, however, was painfully aware. The beautiful blonde kept giving her those evil eyes. She was one of those women who was probably the head of the snootiest sorority on the most Southern of college campuses. She was most likely now the president of the local exclusive women’s club, the type of club that Jolie would never be welcomed into. Jolie was poor. She had always been poor and she imagined that even once she was teaching she would still be poor. She did not mind what she was because she was raised by the most loving grandparents and she had never needed anything besides their love. She had never gone hungry and life was always interesting.
Jolie could feel Beau’s ex-girlfriend’s continual stare. The stare that lets another woman know that she is somewhere she should not be or with a man that she does not have a right to be with. Jolie tried to look confident, but it was hard with Beau’s ex making her so uncomfortable from across the room.
Jolie should have been less worried about Beau’s ex-girlfriend and more worried about his family. She did not notice all the muffled comments riding a wave of gossip between Beau’s aunts and uncles, but Beau noticed. He was not sure what was going on, but he had a bad feeling about it.
Beau asked Jolie to dance, but as he was guiding her out to the dance floor they were interrupted by Beau’s grandfather and his oldest uncle. The two men did not look happy.
Beau instinctively placed his arm over Jolie’s shoulder and pulled her closer to him, almost cradling her to his body in a protective manner. It shocked him when he realized what he had done. He felt her body freeze for a moment. She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, but she did not move out from under his protective embrace. He smiled nervously and shrugged, trying to wordlessly explain his actions.
“Beau, what are you doing bringing this tracas to your cousin’s wedding? C’est femme de la crasse pure!” Beau’s grandfather, Ernest Thibodaux, said in half English half Cajun French as he waved his hand dismissively toward Jolie.
Jolie’s mouth dropped open, shocked by the old man’s obvious insult and dislike of her. She felt her skin warming from the base of her throat up to her scalp. She prayed that she was not actually turning as red as boiled crawfish. The old man had basically called her low class trouble in front of the entire wedding. She was glad that Beau was holding her in place because she wanted desperately to run, but she did not want to hurt Beau’s feelings, from the expression on his face she knew that he was just as shocked by his grandfather’s reaction as she was.
“Arête, Papa! You are out of line. Jolie is my date for the evening and I expect you to treat her with some respect,” Beau said, as he pulled her even closer to his side. She felt protected when he pulled her so close.
“Beau, you don’t understand. This girl is beneath you and this family. I cannot allow her to stay here. I forbid you to continue seeing her.”
Beau shook his head at the old man and then looked down at Jolie. Her eyes were wide open and he saw her innocence starring back at him. He thought that he could see tears pooling in the bottoms of her eyelids. The thought of anyone hurting this beautiful creature was just too much to bear. He loved his family but he had grown tired of them always thinking that their wealth made them better than everyone else in town. His grandfather’s treatment of Jolie tonight was just another sad example of the cruelty that he had seen over the years.
Beau slowly looked back up at his grandfather and decided that he had had enough.
“Vieux fils de putain!” Beau snapped at his grandfather and pushed the old man out of the way so that a path was cleared for Jolie and himself to exit the reception hall. Glasses and plates crashed to the floor as the onlookers gasped at Beau’s harsh words for his grandfather.
Once they were back in Beau’s truck, he loosened his tie and started the engine. Jolie’s eyes were still wide with shock or horror. He was not sure which emotion was there. It was probably a mixture of both.
“Are you okay?” Beau asked.
“You just called your Papa an old-son-of-a-bitch,” she giggled. Her soft laughter filled the cabin of the truck and before he knew it he was laughing with her.
The energy inside the truck became charged with something that Jolie had never felt before. She already knew that she was physically attracted to Beau. A girl would have to be stupid or dead not to be attracted to him, but this feeling was different from just pure physical attraction. He had stood up to his family for her. She was impressed and something else, but she did not know what to call it.
Beau drove her home and opened her door for her when they arrived back at the dorm. He was sorry that he had not gotten the chance to dance with Jolie at the wedding. He desperately wanted to hold her in his arms and feel her against him. He became nervous that he had missed his opportunity to ever hold her. They had only agreed to this one date. He had already paid the fine to meet his part of the deal. The truth was he would have paid it even if she would have canceled, but he was glad that she hadn’t.
“Can I walk you up to your room?” he asked. Beau was not sure what the rules in the dorm were for male visitors.
“Yes,” Jolie answered, her voice hitching up slightly, like she was pleasantly surprised by his request.
“So male visitors are allowed in your room?” he asked, as they walked upstairs toward her room.
“This is a co-ed dorm. There are boys everywhere.” Jolie fished around in her small handbag for her room key. “This is me.” She stopped in front of a door with a poster of Maroon Five’s Adam Levine practically naked taped to the door.
Beau arched one of his eye brows at her and smiled pointing to the very in shape and tattooed rock star.
“You like him?” he asked, still smiling. He was amused. He did not think of Jolie as the type of girl to put up a poster like this on her door. He looked around the hallway at the other doors and saw that they were all decorated with various posters and signs.
Jolie turned from unlocking her door to face her smiling date.
“It’s my roommate’s poster, but yes I do think he is cute,” she answered, looking into Beau’s deep brown eyes. It was the first time she really looked at his eyes. They were a shade of intensely dark brown, she almost had trouble seeing where the iris stopped and the pupil began.
He moved closer to her and reached out to place his hands around her face. Jolie felt her body warm. He was going to kiss her. She was not sure if she wanted to kiss Beau. He was a distraction that she did not need in her life right now and his family obviously did not want them together either.
Jolie could feel his warm breath on her face as his lips parted getting closer and closer to her own. She froze. Beau immediately reacted sensing a change in her body.
“What’s wrong? You don’t want me to kiss you?” he asked.
“I’m not sure but I think someone is watching us.” She could not explain the feeling she just knew that someone was close by watching their first kiss and it was something that she did not want to share with anyone.
Beau backed away slightly, still holding her head in his hands. He looked into those beautiful blue eyes and knew he was lost to her. He had gotten close to kissing her, but he could tell that she was uncomfortable with the possibility that someone was watching their first intimacy and he did not want her to be uncomfortable the first time he kissed her. He wanted her to be relaxed and happy. The most important thing was that he wanted her and he was going to do whatever it was that he needed to do to have her.
He slowly dropped his hands from her face, trailing his fingers down her neck and over her exposed shoulders. It was the most sensual feeling she had ever experienced.
“Can I see you again?” he asked, his dark eyes searching hers for the answer he hoped she would give. Silence greeted him as she thought it over just starring back at him, wishing that the mysterious eyes she felt on them would just go away. She wanted him to touch her again and to kiss her. It was amazing to her, how that one touch of his hands on her shoulders made her feel. She found herself suddenly wanting the distraction that he would become in her life.
“Jolie, I would really like to see you again,” he said, hoping she would answer him this time.
“When?” she asked, looking down shyly at her shoes.
He tipped her head back with his fingers. She was staring into those deep pools of warm chocolate eyes again.
“How about tomorrow?” he asked. He was off on Saturdays and he wanted to spend the whole day with her.
“Okay.” She had things to do, but she wanted to see him again.
“I’ll pick you up at six,” he said.
“Six for dinner?” she asked.
He shook his head no.
“Six for breakfast. I’m going to take you fishing,” he explained.
Jolie smiled a little apprehensively. He was going to take her fishing. She hated fishing but she loved riding in a boat.
“Okay, well, you better go then, because I need to get some sleep if I have to wake up that early.”
“Alright,” he said and began to turn to go and froze. There was someone watching them and he looked angry. Very angry. Beau knew immediately that this young man had a thing for Jolie.
Beau turned back to Jolie to assess her reaction to the young man. She looked uncomfortable and he could tell that she was not romantically interested in the man. Her body language changed. She looked like she wanted to run into her dorm room.
“Go into your room.” Beau gestured to her door. She nodded in agreement and he watched her go inside and he heard the door locks click into place. Then he turned back to the young man who was still sitting in the chair in the communal lounge area watching him. Beau guessed that the man was about twenty-two-years-old and that he was an athlete. Football player he thought. He was blonde and good looking, but there was something about him that made Beau uncomfortable. Maybe it was the way the man had blatantly sat there watching Jolie. Jolie was a beautiful woman, but this was just odd behavior. Beau decided that the best thing to do was leave it alone for now. Tomorrow he could ask her about the young man and then decide how to handle him. Tonight he would go home with the feeling of her silky soft skin on the tips of his fingers.
Jolie on the other hand paced the floor of her small dorm room. Her roommate had gone home for the weekend and she was alone walking a path between the two twin sized beds. She paused at the window to watch Beau climb into his truck and drive away.
How dare Dreux sit there in the lounge and watch her intimate encounter with Beau. She was getting tired of telling him to leave her alone and she hated that he was getting bold enough to pull a stunt like this.
She would have to do something about Dreux. Maybe she should report his unwanted attention to someone at campus police. Maybe she should let him take her out on a date like he has been asking to do. She could bring along her gun. Maybe he would get the point if her gun was pressed into his groin.

Chapter 3
Jolie stood in her dorm room starring in the full length mirror tacked to the back of her suite’s door. She chose a little black dress for the occasion. It was strapless and had a shiny white belt around her waist. She had gotten one of the other girl’s in the dorm to put her hair up for her and do her make-up. She was not accustomed to getting ready for dates. In fact this was her first date since high school and back then she would just have worn jeans and a t-shirt.
She took the stairs down to the lobby of the dorm waiting for Agent Thibodaux to arrive. She grimaced when the full-sized green game warden’s truck pulled into the parking lot. She hoped he was not wearing his work uniform too.
She breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped out of the truck wearing a tailored grey suit. He adjusted his tie and grabbed a bouquet of flowers off the seat. Flowers … so this is a real date, she thought. He opened the door to the dorm and checked in at the receptionist’s desk. The girl sitting there pointed towards Jolie.
He looked at her and smiled. She was even more beautiful than before. When he looked at her he just had to stop and catch his breath. He could not explain it. She was angelic to him, a breath of fresh air, she was hope. Hope that he could be happy, but he knew from that moment, that one intake of breath that he could only be happy if he could be with her. She was all he would ever need.
Jolie watched as Agent Thibodaux made his way closer to her with the bouquet of flowers. They were wildflowers and it looked like they were freshly picked. There were purple irises, white hibiscus, and yellow wild flowers that she only knew as pesolees. She was impressed that he picked the flowers himself, but at the same time she wondered if he was running low on cash. Being a woman was difficult. Women like the gesture of fresh picked wild flowers, but they also wonder about a man who does not buy flowers from a florist.
Beau stretched his hand out to present Jolie with the flowers he had picked up on his ride through the swamp this afternoon. He did not know much about impressing women, but he thought that a woman like Jolie would like flowers. It did not even occur to him that roses from the grocery store or local florist would be preferred my other girls her age.
“They’re beautiful. Thank you.” Jolie reached for the flowers and smelled the wild hibiscus. These flowers did not offer a wealth of fragrance, but they were beautiful. She started to giggle as she looked down at the yellow wild flowers in the center of the bouquet.
“What’s so funny?” asked Beau, smiling at her because her face was even more beautiful when she was laughing.
“I hope I don’t wet the bed tonight,” she answered as she grabbed a red plastic cup from the communal kitchenette in the recreation room of the dorm.
“Why would you wet the bed?” he asked, confused by what urinating had to do with flowers.
“Seriously?” she asked. “Are you from around here?” She lifted one of the yellow flowers from the center and the cup and touched his cheek with it. She was laughing because the yellow flowers Beau had included in his gift were known to all Cajun children as pis au lits. Parents told their children that if you touched this kind of flower that you were sure to pee your pants or wet the bed. Jolie knew it was not true, but it was still funny.
“Oh … sorry. I didn’t even think about what kind of flowers I was picking.” Beau fidgeted with his keys. He was a little embarrassed. He wanted to impress Jolie and do everything right. He did not want her thinking he was a fool.
“Don’t apologize. Yellow is my favorite color.” Jolie placed the cup on the reception desk as asked the girl to call her suitemate to come down and get the flowers. Then she placed her hand on Beau’s shoulder and leaned in kissing him sweetly on the cheek. He didn’t have to bring her the flowers and it was a thoughtful gesture that she thought deserved a reciprocal gesture in return.
The well-dressed couple did not know it, but they were being watched and the man watching them was not happy about these turn of events. He wanted Jolie for himself. She was beautiful, smart, and funny. She was not like the other girls who attended school here. He was determined to make sure that this new development would not stop him from having her all to himself.

Chapter 2
Agent Beau Thibodaux watched through the window of his office as a young woman climbed out of the front seat of a beat-up old yellow jeep. The jeep looked like it had actually been used in a few wars it was so dented, but the woman who got out of the jeep was definitely in much better shape. She was a little taller than average height and her legs looked like they went on forever. Of course, it helped that she was wearing a skirt. Her top was a fitted white t-shirt and on her feet were some white flip-flops. Her hair was brown and he was hoping he would get the chance to see the color of her eyes. His heart quickened when he realized she was coming into the field office—his office.
He had just been promoted to head of this region for Wildlife and Fisheries. It was a big accomplishment. He was only twenty-five years-old and the youngest field agent to ever have been given such an honor.
Beau lowered the radio on his desk so he could hear the beautiful woman talking to his secretary.
“I’d like to speak to the Game Warden about this letter my grandmother received.” The woman spoke in a confident tone.
“I’ll see if he has time to talk to you, please have a seat.” Gloria, Beau’s secretary, told the woman.
The phone on his desk rang. He picked it up after the third ring. He did not want to seem too anxious.
“Talk to me,” he said. He was practicing staying calm, cool, and collected. He did not want this woman to know that he thought she was beautiful. It had been awhile since he had been on a date. He just had not had time since he was working so hard for this promotion and to be totally honest, his ex-girlfriend had ripped his heart out and danced on top of it with her fancy four inch heels.
“There is a young lady here to see you about a letter her grandmother received. It looks like a final notice on a fine. The stationary is from the Baton Rouge office.”
“Okay, wait five minutes then send her in.” He wondered what this woman could have possibly done to get fined by Wildlife and Fisheries, but he had seen it all in his four years in the field. People did crazy, stupid, and illegal things in the swamps and bayous all the time. She just did not look like she was stupid or crazy. He hoped she wasn’t anyway.
Jolie sat in an uncomfortable brown chair in the reception area of the Game Warden’s office. She listened as the secretary informed Agent Thibodaux that she was there to speak to him. Her heart was pounding in her throat and ears. Oh no, she thought. She knew what was going to happen. The same thing that happened every time she was about to confront someone, she was going to lose it. She always ended up yelling and crying. She didn’t know why. She was probably just crazy. If things went well, Agent Thibodaux would just give in right away. He would see her point and understand. She could only hope it would work out that way. She hated looking like a lunatic, but sometimes she just could not help it.
“Agent Thibodaux can see you now,” the secretary said, as she pointed to the door with the gold name plate that said Beau Thibodaux, Regional Manager. Jolie nodded and stood to walk through the door.
Jolie turned the knob and pushed the door open. She stood in the doorway for a second and took in the man standing behind the gray government issued desk. He was about six feet tall and had dark hair almost black in color and in bad need of a haircut. He was wearing the standard issue Game Warden uniform, hunter green short-sleeve button down shirt, khaki cargo pants, and a black gun belt with a black gun at his waist. He did not look much older than her and she thought he looked kind of scared. He had a nice build. She could tell by his arms that he was athletic and worked out. His job may have required a pretty high level of cardiovascular fitness. He probably had to chase people down through the swamps. She could see him doing those things, but for some reason he looked scared to death at the prospect of having a conversation with her.
“Please have a seat,” he said, as he motioned for her to sit in the chair in front of her. It was the same exact kind of chair she had occupied in the lobby. She thought about just giving him the $275. Maybe he could buy better office furniture with it. “How can I help you, Miss…? I’m sorry. What’s your name?”
“My name is Jolie Boudreaux and I want to know if you could make this little problem go away for me?” Jolie handed the letter to him across his desk. His fingers brushed against hers for a second, she pulled her hand back and placed it in her lap. His fingers were warm and he let them linger against her skin for a little longer than necessary. She was not interested in any romance at this point in time. She was concentrating on school and her grandmother right now.
Beau looked down at the letter and read through it. A smile spread across his face. He remembered writing this ticket. The old man, George Boudreaux, had caught at least two dozen illegal catfish that morning. Normally he would have let him go with a warning but he could not let him kill that many undersized fish without the fine. The old man had been so angry that he had threatened to call Beau’s own grandfather and give him a few choice words. Beau just took the fish and gave him the ticket. He drove away before the old man would do something he would regret. Beau did not want to have to arrest him. He did not want to involve his own grandfather either because he knew his Papa Thibodaux hated George Boudreaux. He was not sure why. No one ever discussed the details for the falling out between the two men.
Jolie must be the granddaughter of Mr. Boudreaux. If she was anything like her grandfather she was sure to be full of life and even more off-color words. He looked at her over the top of the letter. She was even prettier than he thought when he first saw her getting out of her jeep. From this close he could also see that her eyes were blue—like a robin’s egg. Her hair was wavy and thick and he imagined it would be as soft as a new born bunny’s fur.
“Miss Boudreaux, I am sorry but there is nothing this office can do about this fine. Someone is going to have to pay it.” He handed the paper back to her.
“Agent Thibodaux, why in the world would you expect my little old grandmother to pay for something her dead husband did wrong?” She was fuming. He could tell that she had expected him to just make the fine go away, but the truth was that the estate was responsible for the paying it.
“I’m sorry, but she is the beneficiary to his estate so she is responsible for his debts.”
“That is just the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. So if he would have had prison time to serve out for his crime, would you expect her to fulfill that too?”
Beau just stared at her. She was incredible and he wanted to get to know her better, but she would not want anything to do with him unless he could make this fine go away. Luckily Beau had just the thing in mind that would suit both of them.
“Miss Boudreaux, I think I have a solution to your problem,” Beau smiled at her across the desk.
“What might that be, Agent Thibodaux?” Jolie was suspicious of his smile. It was a sneaky little smile that caused the corners of his eyes to crinkle.
“I'll make this fine go away if you will agree to be my date for my Cousin Regina’s wedding on Friday night.” He leaned back into his chair and waited for her reaction. He knew from the little bit she had already said that she would either accept or she would be outraged.
“You want me to go out with you? That’s got to be illegal … blackmail or something. I’m not a hooker, Agent Thibodaux.”
No, she was not a hooker, he could tell by looking at her that she was a good girl. She was here trying to fix her grandmother’s problems. She was loyal and responsible—and beautiful. He liked her and besides, he needed a date to his cousins wedding. Ever since Sara, his ex-girlfriend and his cousin’s maid of honor, left him Beau had not been the same. He spent time concentrating on his work. His mother had told him he needed to get back in the dating scene, but he just was not ready. Until today, he did not know what it was about this woman, but she made him ready.
“Here’s the thing. I have to go to this wedding … right … and my ex-girlfriend is the maid-of-honor. She will be there with her new husband; the same guy that she left me for. So you would be doing me a favor and then I would pay the fine for you. It’s a win-win situation.”
Jolie thought about the proposition. She did not like it, but it would solve her grandmother’s money issue. She would just need to go on one date with Agent Thibodaux, and it was not really even a date. He just wanted someone to go with him so he would not look pathetic in front of his ex.
“Okay, I’ll go, but it’s just to the wedding and then you’ll bring me straight home. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” Beau smiled. All he needed was a little more time with her and he was sure he could make her see him in the same light that he was seeing her.

Chapter 1
Jolie Boudreaux patted her grandmother’s back in consolation as the old woman who had raised her cried in mourning and frustration. Her grandmother, Maman Nettie, was crying because of a notice she received in the mail from the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department. The letter simply stated that she owed $275 to them for a ticket that had been given to her husband three months ago for fish that were too small to keep. Jolie’s papa was a fisherman and trapper and he didn’t care much for the laws that stated which animals he could or couldn’t catch. He was only concerned about feeding his family and making enough money to keep them comfortable. So when he was caught by the Game Warden with the silver tub full of illegally small catfish he didn’t tell anyone. He hadn’t intended on paying the fine. The problem now was that Jolie’s papa was dead. He had died about two months ago and her maman was still mourning him. To be honest, so was Jolie. Her papa had been responsible for teaching her so much about hunting, fishing, gardening, and life in general. He had loved her and she loved him. In her eyes, he was a man to be revered. So she would defend him to the death—even though logically she knew he was wrong about the fish.
“Jolie, what we gonna do? I can’t afford no $275 fine now that your papa is gone.” Maman Nettie said through her tears.
Jolie knew the old woman couldn’t afford the fine. Nettie Boudreaux received about $800 from social security per month. She had a meager savings of a couple of thousand dollars. This was emergency money. The old woman lived alone in a small two bedroom house and watched soap operas and game shows all day. She didn’t have cable television just the basic channels that she received through the old metal antennae on top of her aluminum roof. She didn’t eat anything fancy or expensive, but her income was stretched between utilities and medicines. Jolie helped her grandmother when she could, but as a full-time college student she rarely had enough money from her weekend bartending job to give her grandmother much money. She made good tips but she had to pay her tuition and room and board at the university.
Jolie wasn’t like the other students she went to school with. She was more practical and responsible. She was twenty years-old but she lived more like a thirty-five-year-old woman. She went to class on time and paid attention. She was an excellent student, but her grades in high school had only been good enough to earn her a partial scholarship. Her assignments were done on time and often days before they were actually due. The other students did not like her because she always set the curve in class for tests. Jolie did not let that bother her, because unlike most of them she was there to learn—not to make friends. Her goal was to become a high school biology teacher. Then she could teach at her old high school and move in with her grandmother. She would have enough money for the two of them to live off of and she could repay the old lady back for raising her when her parents died. Maman Nettie and Papa George didn’t bat an eyelash when she needed a place to live. They took her in without question or complaint. She hoped she was a strong enough person to do the same for her grandmother in her old age.
Jolie also had other problems that she kept to herself. She figured she could handle her own issues, hell, she would have to because there was no way her grandmother could get rid of the young man who had been bothering her in the dorm. The boy had made unwelcomed advances toward her and he was having a hard time taking no for an answer. Jolie couldn’t carry her gun on campus so she was going to have to be alert in case the boy did not start backing down soon.
There was one thing that Jolie knew for sure. She wasn’t going to pay for this ticket. Why should she or her grandmother have to pay for her grandfather’s mistake? She just didn’t think that was fair.
“Maman, stop crying. I’m going to take care of everything.” Jolie took the letter from her grandmother’s shaking hands. She turned on Maman Nettie’s favorite game show, The Price is Right, and sat her down in front of the television with an old lace handkerchief, a can of Pop Rouge, and a lemon Hubig pie.
“What you gonna do, beb?” Maman Nettie asked, as she dried her eyes with the worn out piece of lace.
“I’m going to go to that Game Warden’s station in town and talk to Agent Thibodaux.” Jolie looked down at the letter. It included the name of the Game Warden who had given her papa the ticket. She intended on giving him a piece of her mind. What was he thinking giving an eighty year-old man a ticket? He could have at least let him go with a warning.
“Now don’t you go make more trouble, Jolie. I’m sure I can just take a little money from my savings to pay the fine.”
“No, I’m sure I can reason with him.” Jolie was not really sure if she could reason with him, she would probably end up yelling at the man, but she was going to try to be civil. She just hoped she could get him to understand that it was not fair to make her grandmother pay for her grandfather’s crime.

I had a great time at the book club meeting at the Terrebonne Parish Public Library. I hope I answered everyone's questions about the book and how I write. Thanks you guys!