"There you are." He bent down and allowed her to air-kiss both of his cheeks. "We need to talk."

That was Thaddeus T. Guidry speak for "you"re in trouble."

"What"s the problem?" Charlie stepped past him out of the bathroom. Betts and Lucky took up places on either side of her. They both hated her father and only tolerated him for her sake.

He looked from Betts to Lucky and back again. "Not here. It"s somewhat of a delicate matter."

"I"m sure Betts and Lucky won"t mind hearing about whatever delicate matter has brought you to my door." Well, it wasn"t her door, but pointing out the fact that it belonged to a man she"d spent the night with probably wasn"t in her best interest.

He turned around and walked over to shut the front door. She knew that Tate and Andre, his driver and his bodyguard, were outside. It must be bad if he didn"t want them to hear.

"It has come to my attention that Jerome has hired a man to wine and dine you in order to get information about our campaign." Thaddeus T. took a seat on the sofa like it was a throne and he was holding court. "It appears that Jerome has gotten his hands on some very, um," he glanced at Lucky and Betts, "sensitive and possibly negative information of a personal nature."

"What are you talking about? I haven"t seen Michael in weeks." Normally she"d kowtow to her father, but she was getting so tired of cleaning up his messes. She"d spent a lifetime doing whatever he wanted in the hopes that one day he"d forgive her for not being the son he"d always wanted.

"Michael? Who"s Michael?" He crossed his legs. "I"m talking about Wagner Scott."

Surely she hadn"t heard him correctly. "What?"

Her heart jerked in her chest. It made sense, and if she was being honest with herself, she"d known he worked for Jerome the whole time. But she hadn"t cared-that was the worst part. She"d enjoyed spending time with him, and it hadn"t mattered that it wasn"t real.

G.o.d, she was just like all of those other women. She"d thought she was different. She"d thought she was special. She"d thought she"d gone into things with her eyes wide open, but she"d had on blinders.

"Your new boyfriend, Wagner Scott. Jerome dropped by my office this morning to tell me that Mr. Scott is doing a fine job." Her father tilted his head to the left and evaluated her. "Apparently, this Mr. Scott has you eating out of the palm of his hand and reporting all sorts of information to him. Does the name Rothchild ring any bells?"

"No." Wait. She reached out and took her friends" hands. If he was talking about what she thought he was talking about, this was bad... very bad. "Please tell me you didn"t take money to veto that oil and gas bill two years ago?"

He looked at her like it was her fault. He"d promised her that he"d vetoed the bill because it was best for the state. She"d lobbied hard for it because the extra revenue would go directly to teacher salaries.

"You son of a b.i.t.c.h." She was shaking. Both Betts and Lucky squeezed her hands, letting her know that they were there for her. He"d be lucky to stay out of jail.

How could he have done something so stupid?

How could he have done this to the state?

How could he have done this to her?

"What"s done is done, only now, thanks to your new boyfriend, it"s going to be on the five o"clock news." Again, he made it sound like it was all her fault.

She"d had enough. She couldn"t take it anymore. "In your rush to judgment, let me point out something that you missed. If I didn"t know about you taking the bribe, how could I have told anyone? I can a.s.sure you that Wagner has never been to my house and was only at my office for about five minutes. He was never alone with my computer and he didn"t have access to my files." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Your little pal Jerome got his information from someone else." She thought about it for a second. "My money"s on Alicia. Let me guess-you broke things off with her."

"My personal life is neither here nor there." His face was turning red, and she knew he was having a hard time holding back his temper. His little girl had never questioned him before. "So, what are we going to do about your little mess?"

She gave Betts and Lucky"s hands a squeeze and then let them go. "You are going to leave." She pointed to the courtyard. "Now."

Everyone froze. Charlie Guidry never talked back to her father.

Slowly, he stood, walked to the door, and opened it.

Wagner stood there holding a beverage caddy with four cups and several small, white Cafe Dumont bags. He stepped inside, and the smell of hot, fresh donut wafted in with him. "What"s going on?"

"Nothing." Charlie was emotionally spent. Jerome had been his mysterious employer and he hadn"t quit. He might not have given Jerome dirt on her, but he"d still done damage. He"d lied to her-had continued to lie to her. Did she have gullible written on her forehead?

Her father stepped through the doorway and turned back. "I expect you in my office in an hour."

"No, I won"t be there in an hour or ten hours. I quit." She slammed the door in his face.

Wagner set down the beignet and coffee and tried to pull her into a hug, but she stepped back.

"Don"t touch me." Tears burned her eyes. It was telling that her father hadn"t made her cry but Wagner had. "Jerome hired you, didn"t he?"

"Yes, but I quit yesterday." At least he didn"t deny it. That was something.

"Stop lying." She doubted he could stop even if he tried. "He hired you to hurt me."

Up until now she hadn"t thought Jerome could ever hurt her, but she loved Wagner. It hit her like a punch to the gut. She loved Wagner and he"d played her. "Wow, I didn"t see that coming."

"As soon as I got to know you, I quit. Jerome is an a.s.shole. It was only a job. I gave back the advance." He pulled out his smartphone. "Call my a.s.sistant. Her name is Claire. She"ll tell you."

It was just a job. She was just a job.

How had this happened?

How had she let this happen?

"Yes, because Claire is completely impartial." She was in love with a despicable man. She sucked at romance. She sucked to h.e.l.l and back at it. Falling in love was supposed to be all hearts and flowers, but she"d never felt as bad as she did now.

"Say something... please." His voice was even. He reached out to touch her cheek and then thought better of it and let his hand fall to his side.

"I need to get out of here." She tried to hold back the tears as she looked imploringly at Lucky and Betts. "Can we leave? I need to go."

It felt like her broken heart would swallow her whole.

She was too numb to be humiliated. Her father was officially a criminal, and the man she loved had been hired to make her fall in love with him. Well, he was really good at it. All of those women were right: he knew exactly how to get to a woman.

Lucky put her arm around Charlie. "You bet. Let"s get out of here."

They walked outside into the blinding sunshine. It should be dark and gloomy to match her mood. Bright sunshine seemed like G.o.d was kicking her when she was down.

Her father"s Cadillac Escalade pulled out onto Bourbon Street and out of her life. That was the relationship she should be mourning, but she couldn"t get beyond Wagner.

How could she feel betrayed when she"d known from the beginning that he"d been sent here to betray her?

Over her shoulder, she heard Betts laying down the law to Wagner. "Stay away from Charlie. You need to leave New Orleans as soon as possible. I don"t care that you quit or had a change of heart or that you found Jesus or whatever. You are a terrible human being and if you ever so much as fly over Louisiana on your way to somewhere else, I"ll ruin you."

Betts slammed the door on her way out.

"I love it when you go all diva," Lucky said as she and Betts walked Charlie to Mama Cherie"s mile-long pink 1975 Cadillac Eldorado convertible.

The car was ridiculous and comforting.

"What am I supposed to do now?" The full weight of the morning was sinking in. Not an hour ago, she"d been blissfully asleep. "I"m unemployed and devastated."

"Sounds like a country song." Betts"s eyes went huge. "Can I make it into a country song?"

"My c.r.a.ppy life is your inspiration-go for it." She squished into the front seat between Betts, who was driving, and Lucky in the pa.s.senger"s seat. "This is really bad. I love Wagner."

"Oh, honey." Betts patted her leg. "That sucks."

"What if he has feelings for you too?" Lucky patted her other leg. "Just take some time and mull it over. What if he did meet you and fall in love and that"s why he quit?"

"I feel I should point out that this is the first time Lucky has ever taken the gla.s.s-is-half-full approach. It"s nice but kinda weird." Betts turned onto Esplanade.

"I"d like to think I"m the woman who could finally tame the rake, but this is life and not a romance novel." Charlie couldn"t hold back the tears any longer. They rolled down her cheeks. "I can"t believe I finally found someone to love, only he isn"t the man I thought he was." Her father hadn"t been the man she thought he was either. No, that wasn"t true. He hadn"t been the man she had hoped he was.

"Don"t worry. We"ll figure this out." Lucky rested her head on Charlie"s shoulder. "We"re not leaving your side until you kick us out. We"ve both reworked our schedules. We"re here as long as you need us."

Charlie opened her mouth to protest, but she did need them, and she"d do the very same for them. It wouldn"t matter if she sent them home anyway; they weren"t leaving until they knew she was back on her feet again. She mopped her face with the sleeve of her dress. "Where are we headed?"

"Back to your house. I texted your housekeeper that we needed chocolate and lots of it." Betts could barely see over the steering wheel-then again, the car was so huge, Shaquille O"Neal could barely see over the steering wheel.

"I hate my house." Since she was changing jobs, why not change houses too? She needed a new life. What if she moved to Austin and lived next to Lucky? Or bought the ranch next to Betts? But she loved New Orleans. It was more than just home, it was in her blood. Her history was here. Although now, she was definitely quitting most, if not all, of the social clubs to which she belonged. Who the h.e.l.l cared that she was a direct descendant of the founders of New Orleans? And why did she belong to two garden clubs? She hated gardening.

"I have a confession to make. I hate your house too." Lucky shrugged. "Sorry to dump that on you, but all of your family"s portraits creep me out."

"Me too. I don"t think this will come as a shock to you, but most of your family depicted in those portraits aren"t easy on the eyes." Betts glanced at her. "You turned out really pretty-are you sure you"re not adopted?"

"Right now, I"d give anything to not have Thaddeus T. as my father." Charlie leaned her head against Lucky"s.

Betts turned into Charlie"s driveway and hit the spare clicker they kept in Mama"s car to open the gate. "How about if I start a rumor that you"re a b.a.s.t.a.r.d and spread it around town?"

"That"s so sweet." Charlie grinned. "Maybe I should change my name to Charlie Monroe."

"It"s not a bad idea." Lucky nodded. "I could change mine to Lucky Monroe, and then we could be the Monroe sisters."

"That sounds like a folk band." Charlie just wanted to put on her favorite comfy pj"s, curl up with a quart of Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream, and watch a Marilyn Monroe movie marathon like they used to in high school. "I love y"all so much."

"We know," Betts and Lucky said in unison.

Her life might be falling apart, but at least she wasn"t in it alone. Lucky and Betts would be there holding her hand for as long as she needed them.

Chapter 16.

The next morning, Charlie was a nervous ball of energy. True, her life was in complete disarray, but she was going to fix it. And she sure as h.e.l.l didn"t need a man to make her life complete.

Clearly, she"d had too much chocolate and was now in the manic phase of the chocolate high.

Betts flipped another chocolate-chip Belgian waffle onto her plate. "Eat up. The bacon should be ready soon."

Charlie slathered her waffle with Betts"s homemade chocolate-cream-cheese frosting and spooned fresh strawberries on top. She really needed to keep her chocolate buzz going.

The last forty-eight hours had been a chocolate haze of crying, laughing, and plotting to take over the world with her best friends.

Betts was a feeder-she couldn"t help it. The desire to make everything right through food came from Mama. Although, pointing out that Betts had anything in common with her mother was never a good idea.

"Waffles ready yet?" Lucky walked in wearing clean jeans and a white T-shirt. She"d showered, which was something Charlie really needed to think about doing. She pulled at her pink-bunny pajama shirt. It smelled pretty ripe and so did she. She"d been wearing the same pj"s since she"d come home and changed into them day before yesterday.

"Yes, Charlie"s already had two." Betts was both a feeder and a tattletale.

"It"s not my fault you weren"t down here to eat them. Finders keepers, losers weepers." Charlie took a bite of her chocolate-and-strawberry-covered waffle. It was heaven.

"What"s on the agenda for today?" Betts opened the waffle maker and used a fork to pull the cooked waffle out. She flipped it onto a clean plate and set it in front of Lucky.

"I need to go to CrossFit." At the rate she was going, her b.u.t.t was going to be the size of a barn soon.

"Nope, no CrossFit for you today. We"re going shopping for new furniture. This old c.r.a.p hurts to sit on." Lucky slathered her waffle in chocolate frosting. "It"s hard to sit around here feeling sorry for yourself in rickety, uncomfortable chairs."

"I agree." Charlie pointed to the portraits of dead people looking down on them. "We need to take some of these down."

"Don"t you mean all?" Betts poured more batter into the waffle maker. "Even the landscapes are stuffy and bleak."

"Based on these paintings, the nineteenth century was a dreary time for art. Know what would cheer this house right up?" Lucky pointed to the fireplace in the parlor. "A velvet oil paintings of dogs playing poker over your fireplace. Nothing says "happy home" like dogs playing poker."

"You know what? I think this place would make an excellent museum. I can"t sell it because this house has been in my family since it was built in 1860, but I could loan it out to the historical society. They could sell tickets to keep it maintained and to help fund their other projects." The more Charlie thought about it, the more she liked that idea. These walls held lots of New Orleans history, and it was time she shared it with the world.

"So we need to go house hunting." Betts pried the waffle out of the waffle maker and put it on a plate. She slathered her waffle with frosting but didn"t bother with strawberries. "What about one of those lofts downtown?"

"I was thinking about the Duplantis House." It was too big and too expensive and it needed a lot of work, but it felt like home to Charlie. Or it would when she was finished with it.