“Can I help you, miss?”
She walked over to the counter. “I’m looking for Gil Amaud.”
“Well, you’ve found him.” Wonder what a city slicker lady needed with him?
“This is going to sound a bit strange.”
He watched as she shifted back from one foot to the other and reached into her purse. Fidgety thing. What really caught his attention though, were her sad blue eyes, which—to his annoyance because there was no reason to think it—he wanted to bring a ray of happiness to those eyes.
“I found this letter…” Her voice trailed off, bringing him from his thoughts of her sorrowful eyes.
He could see her take a deep breath then she took a letter out of her monstrous purse. What all did a woman need to carry with them all the time that would require hauling around something that large? He’d carried less than that for a weekend trip.
“This letter. It was written to Josephine Amaud in Comfort Crossing.”
Gil reached out his hand and took the envelope from her. He carefully opened it and read the letter. “My great-aunt’s name is Josephine Amaud. Well, at least her maiden name was. She’s one of my grandfather’s sisters.”
He watched her pale blue eyes light up with hope.
“So, did she meet up with this man? Who did she marry?”
Gil glanced down at the return address. “Well, I don’t think it was this someone—is that an O? She married Benjamin Peters.”
“Really?” The woman looked disappointed. “I hoped… I mean… I hoped they met and married and well—I don’t really know what I hoped to find.”
“Well, I’ve never thought that Aunt Josephine was particularly madly in love with her husband, but she has a good life. Uncle Benjamin died over ten years ago. Aunt Josephine lives over in Bay St. Louis with her sister, my Aunt Catherine, though Aunt Catherine is away on a trip now. Bay St. Louis is over on the gulf.”
“How far away is that?”
“About an hour from here. Give or take.”
“Do you think she’d talk to me if I went and showed her the letter?”
The letter had gotten him curious, too. “Tell you what. If you wait for a bit until Lou comes in to work, I’ll drive you over there myself.” He admitted he wouldn’t mind a break from the store. He was sure it was that, and not that he wanted to spend time with this woman—because he’d sworn off women. Especially big-time city women, which he was sure described this woman to a T.
“I don’t want to cause you any trouble. You could just give me directions.”
“No trouble at all ma’am.”
She smiled at him then. A smile that made her sad eyes light up again. “Well, if you call me Madeline instead of ma’am, then we have a deal.”
“Madeline. And you can call me Gil.”
CHAPTER THREE
Madeline wandered around the Feed and Seed, waiting for Gil to get ready to go to Bay St. Louis and visit his great-aunt. No way would she head out with someone she’d just met in St. Louis, but here in Comfort Crossing, where Rebecca and Larry knew Gil, she felt just fine about a road trip with Gil and letting him introduce her to Josephine.
Madeline explored the aisles of the store. It was a charming mix of old and new. Old wood plank floors. Hardware and tools of every kind. Dog food, cat food, horse tack. She’d noticed an outside area that had fencing and water troughs and she didn’t even know what some of the things were. In the corner was an old fashioned soda machine with the door to open and bottles to be pulled out. She noticed a bucket beside it with a note attached that said “One Dollar.” She guessed in a town like this, you trusted your customers to throw their money in the bucket before grabbing their soda.
She meandered up and down the aisles, amazed at how much was crammed into every nook and cranny, all organized in a precise, easy-to-find order. She decided to treat herself to a drink, dropped her dollar bill into the bucket, and chose a diet soda. She sat down on a well-worn wooden chair at the table in front of the soda machine. The drink was frosty cold. She watched across the store while Gil helped an older woman pick out some paint. He was very patient while she wavered back and forth between two almost identical shades of blue. Gil finished up with the woman right as another man came in the front door. Gil waved to the man. “Hey, Lou. I’m going to be out for the afternoon, you gonna be okay here alone for a bit? Davey will be in later to help.”
“No problem.”
Gil strode over to where she was sitting, his cowboy boots making a scuffing noise as he crossed the distance. “You ready to go?”