The Broussard Sisters Ch. 08

"Enough of my Big Eddie?" she asked. "No, I'll never get enough of that!"

He was still smiling when he heard Bill's car pull into the driveway.

Chapter 77

Carmen was nervous. It had been ages since she'd been out on a date. 'Just coffee' was still a date.

"Mom, just wear that plaid pull over, you know, that short sleeve one," Elaine suggested.

"It's too tight," Carmen said.

"Exactly," Elaine said, nodding her head.

"Elaine!" Carmen gasped.

"Mom, you want a second date?" Elaine asked.

"No, not if the only reason he's going out with me is for my boobs," Carmen lied.

"Uh huh," Elaine said, finding the blouse in her mother's closet.

Dick Davis made sure his clothes were clean. He checked his hair again, and then checked his clothes again.

He smiled. He faced down some pretty badass motherfuckers, bikers, pimps, drug pushers, and here he was, nervous about a date with a woman.

"Yeah, but she's a mighty fine woman," he said aloud and checked his breath. "And if she gives you any shit, can't shoot her."

----

Candy scowled; Pam insisted on driving.

"It's going to be dark soon," Pam explained.

"I said 'whatever,'" Candy said again.

"Uh huh," Candy said from the back seat. "Where're we going anyway?"

"I don't know," Pam giggled. "I thought you knew!"

The three friends erupted in squeals of laughter.

:Just go to Paul's," Candy said. "That's where you want to go anyway."

"Uh huh, like you don't," Cindy said.

----

Paul looked up from the Gremlin and smiled as the Toyota pulled into the parking lot.

He'd seen J.R. Jensen earlier that day as he was in the grocery store. J.R. had told him that Cindy Jensen had moved back to California almost immediately after graduation. Paul didn't know why, but that tidbit of information had saddened him somewhat.

He smiled; Marie had squealed with laughter when he told her that all they had was butter flavored shortening. He didn't know why she found that so amusing and didn't want to know. His dad sure did blush hotly as they unloaded the groceries. And he left Paul to run the lot by himself.

That wasn't unusual; ever since Marie moved in, Bob spent a whole lot of time at home.

The Broussard sisters squealed and laughed and chattered, each demanding one hundred percent of his attention the instant the Toyota's doors were opened. Three sets of warm brown eyes looked up at him. At that very moment, Paul Robichaux knew that he was in love.

"Let's go into the office," Cindy whispered and Paul quickly washed his hands clean.

"I go see Dr. Minden tomorrow," Candy told him.

"Um, good, who's Dr. Minden?" Paul asked.

"My eye doctor, silly," she laughed and slapped him.

"What time?" Paul asked.

"Two thirty, why?" Candy asked.

"Because I want to be there," Paul said.

Three sighs told him that was the perfect thing to say.

A flash of sunlight reflecting off of a windshield also told him that he didn't have time to have any intimacy with the three girls; Dad was pulling into the parking lot.

"Hey Snow White," he teased as he bounced into the office.

Three short girls stuck their tongues out at him as they left the office. He laughed and they couldn't help but return his laughter.

"Need to get off tomorrow about two o'clock," Paul told him.

Bob looked over Paul's shoulder as Paul pulled up the web site he'd been looking at and patted his son's shoulder.

"So, what you going to do if it is this Retinitis Pigmentosa stuff?" he asked.

"What you mean?" Paul asked.

"Well, if it is, she's going to be blind in a couple of years, right?" Bob said.

"Let me ask you," Paul said, looking up at his father. "What would you do if it was Marie?"

"Everything I possibly could," Bob admitted.

"And that's what I'll do too," Paul said. "Everything I possibly can."

----

Glen Simone looked over at the attractive blonde; not at her face, but at the impressive rack she was sporting.

Courtney Simone noticed her husband's eyes and scowled. He ignored her; he was very good at ignoring her.

"Too bad she's with somebody," Glen thought, forgetting that he was with somebody at that moment, his wife.

Courtney looked over at the attractive blonde and nearly burst into giggles; the attractive woman was his ex-wife. She smirked at Glen, something he couldn't ignore.

Anger, Glen simply let that roll off of his back like water off a duck's back. Tears, Glen weren't affected by them at all. Of remorse or regrets, Glen had no concept. Guilt was easily discarded. But someone laughing at him, that, Glen couldn't stand. He was a true sociopath.

"What?" he demanded.

"That's Carmen, dumb ass," she smirked. "Your ex-wife."

"What?" he asked, and then looked at the blonde's face.

Carmen and Dick were smiling and laughing, getting to know one another.

Glen couldn't deny it; his ex-wife was a very attractive woman, especially when she smiled. Of course, she didn't smile a whole lot when they were together. She just couldn't seem to understand; why would he want to stay at home with a worn-out woman and two squawking brats. He'd much rather be out at Mickey's, or Club Paradise, and nailing some hot little blonde that wasn't riding his ass about bills, and kids, and work, and other boring stuff.

Courtney did get it. She didn't begrudge him wanting to be out with his friends, didn't ride his ass when he scored with a hot piece of ass, Hell, sometimes she'd join in.

Until Glen junior, that was. For the last six years, she was constantly riding his ass about getting a job, constantly riding him about spending some time with her son, constantly on him about doing stuff around the house.

He looked at the still smirking Courtney and felt his anger bubble up to the surface. In the past five or six years, the bitch had really let herself go. She was at least twenty pounds overweight, actually had a couple of gray strands beginning to blend in with her blonde hair, sometimes didn't bother shaving her legs for a couple of days, and like right now, didn't have a bit of make-up on.

Leaving her fat, ugly ass would wipe that smug little smile right off her face.

"So, want me to call in and have his car impounded?" Dick asked when Carmen pointed out that her ex-husband and the whore that stole him away were sitting at the next table.

"You wouldn't, would you?" Carmen laughed.

"Hey, I'm the Sheriff," Dick smiled.

"Think you could collect almost ten years of back child support?" Carmen asked, teasingly.

"Ten years?" Dick asked. "You file with CPS?"

"Yeah, a couple of times, but nothing ever happened, so I just quit," Carmen admitted.

"Well, let me look into..." Dick said.

"Hey, hey, come on," Carmen said. "Quit being a cop for a couple of minutes, huh?"

"'Fraid not," Dick smiled. "It's what I am."

They lapsed into silence, each sipping their coffee.

"So, um, what's your favorite food?" Carmen asked.

"Anything within reach," Dick said and smiled. "I mean, I work all kind of weird hours, don't always get a choice, you know?"

"Dinner," Carmen decided. "Dinner tomorrow night at my house, seven o'clock, okay?"

"I'll still be in uniform, that all right?" Dick asked.

"Yes," Carmen said in a husky voice. "A man in uniform? Oh, that'll be all right."

"Good, good," Dick smiled.

----

Pam scribbled her homework out and smiled. More and more, she was beginning to understand this stupid stuff. Candy's cell phone rang and Candy answered it.

"For you," she said and gave the phone to Pam.

"Hey Pam, you done that Algebra stuff yet?" Elaine asked. "This stuff's killing me!"

Bursting with pride, Pam explained the steps to solving the problem, told the girl 'I love you,' and hung up.

"You just told Elaine Simone you love her," Candy laughed.

More and more, Pam realized, she did love. She loved Candy with all her heart, loved Paul with all her heart, and loved Cindy with all her heart. While she did not love Elaine with ALL her hart, she did have a part of her heart open for the girl.

The girl was so brave. To suffer a traumatic beating like that, and just keep going, Pam did love her.

"'Cause I do, goofball," Pam smiled and returned to scribbling her homework.

----

Doug Jensen looked around in disgust. He'd cleaned the trailer, made J.R. clean the trailer, made him go and get some bug spray, and still the roaches were everywhere.

"God damned punk," he said and slapped his son, hard, again.

"God damn it, Dad, stop it!" J.R. yelled.

"Leave you alone and you turn this place into a shit hole!" Doug yelled back and slapped the kid again. "Too stupid to even change your diapers?"

And that bitch daughter of his had just left. Didn't bother telling him good-bye, kiss my ass, nothing.

He stomped on another one of J.R.'s pets; that's what he'd call them, J.R.'s pets.

Chapter 78

Teddy yawned, apologized again to David and again started the heavy sewing needles.

"Son, you'll learn," David encouraged. "You got to get more rest, though."

"I know, I know," Teddy agreed.

Midnight to eight was a bitch, but Ed had started him off in the highest paying bracket. Instead of making nine bucks an hour, which is what he'd be earning on either of the two other shifts, he was making nine fifty five.

Big Eddie. The guys called Elizabeth's father 'Big Eddie.' David had smiled and told him that was the nickname that Daphne Guidry had given him. Teddy remembered Daphne; she was a drop-dead gorgeous red head that had smiled so prettily at him as he filled out all the paperwork.

"Hell, she can call me whatever she feels like," David, laughed. "That is one fine ass woman!""

I heard that," Teddy agreed.

He yawned again and smiled self-consciously as David shook his head.

"Every time you yawn, you take your hand off the throttle," David complained lightly. "Slow us down too much, we'll miss quota."

----

Missy wiggled happily as she got under the covers and waited for Elizabeth to get out of the shower.

And, dabbing her curly brown hair with a large towel, the beautiful girl was casually walking into the bedroom.

"I love you," Missy admitted.

Elizabeth stopped, looked at her for a long moment, then smiled and sat down at her vanity to finish drying her hair.

Missy held her breath, waiting for Elizabeth's response. Her heart sank and the tears began to pool in her eyes; Elizabeth wasn't going to answer her. Elizabeth obviously didn't feel the same way.

Elizabeth knew exactly what Missy was waiting for; it was a bit of a power game for her. Elizabeth would tell Missy what she wanted to hear just as soon as she was ready to tell her. She finished drying her hair to her satisfaction, smiled at Missy again, and turned off the light.

Missy fought down the sobs as she felt the bed shift under Elizabeth's weight. When she felt Elizabeth's arms go around her and felt Elizabeth's moist lips against her neck, though, she lost the fight and began bawling.

The next morning, Elizabeth smiled and softly kissed Missy's neck again.

"I love you too," Elizabeth whispered into Missy's ear.

----

"Momma's got a boyfriend," Elise sang as Carmen quickly fixed their scrambled eggs.

"Shut up," Carmen demanded.

"Momma's got a boyfriend," both Elaine and Elise sang.

"Shut up," Carmen ordered but couldn't help but burst out laughing.

----

"What the fuck you so happy about?" Jackson asked as Dick sauntered in to the station.

"Just glad you my bitch," Dick said and grabbed the large man in a bear hug.

"I told you, it's my turn to get on top," Jackson said and the two friends laughed.

"Seriously, man, I got a date tonight, getting me some home cooked goodies," Dick smiled. "She's a real sweet woman, got two girls...."

"Yeah?" Jackson smiled. "Home cooking, real sweet, man I ain't heard shit how she looks."

"Saving the best for last," Dick smiled. "She is so damned good looking it hurts!"

"You so full of shit," Jackson laughed. "Oh, hey, wait a minute! Wait just one fucking minute, you ain't talking about Carmen Simone, huh?"

"You know it!" Dick enthused.

"Aw, you fucker!" Jackson said and slapped Dick's ass. "You lucky fucker!"

"And you two have guns and badges?" Officer Stevens asked as he walked by.

"Yeah, I know," Dick smiled. "There just ain't no justice in the world, is there?"

----

That afternoon a very nervous Elaine drove Pam home; Candy and Miss Bobbi were at the doctor's office and didn't know when they'd be home.

"See you Monday," Pam cheerfully said as she got out of the car.

Elaine watched as Pam Ran up to the door and let herself into the house. Obviously Pam hadn't been nervous at all about being in the car with her. Other than making a few dumb jokes, Elise hadn't complained about Elaine driving them to Waffle House, or to the supermarket. Maybe she was making too big a deal out of it.

She carefully checked all around before putting the car into gear and driving away.

Pam got the ground beef out and started on their dinner. Miss Bobbi was getting too far along to be worried about cooking and Candy sure wasn't going to do it.

----

Paul and Cindy sat and waited. Cindy fanned through the magazines on the low table.

"God, how old are these magazines?" Cindy asked.

"Oh, here's one that's not to awful old," Paul said, picking up the Newsweek. "See? Here's a picture of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, says they plan to find the Promised Land in a couple of weeks, no longer than a month or two."

"Shut up, you think you're so funny," Cindy laughed and punched him.

"Wow, Noah predicting a quick end to the rain season," Paul went on.

"Shut up," Cindy laughed.

Inside the dark room, Candy wiped the tears away.

"I mean, we'll have to do a couple of tests, but it does sound like the advanced stages of Retinitis Pigmentosa," Dr. Minden said and scribbled some notes.

"Is there anything can be done?" Bobbi asked.

"No, well, they're working on implants, but..."Dr. Minden said.

This was it. She was going blind. A chilling thought hit Candy and she gasped aloud.

"Mom, what about the baby?" she asked.

She turned to face Dr. Minden.

"Is the baby going to have it too?" she asked, pointing to Bobbi's tummy.

"It does run in some families," Dr. Minden admitted.

"Mom, what are we going to do?" Candy asked, clutching her mother's hand tightly.

----

"Momma's got a boyfriend," Elise whispered loudly as Carmen bustled hurriedly.

"None of that stuff when he's here, you hear me?" Carmen hissed.

"Oh, come on, Mom," Elaine laughed. "Like we'd do anything to embarrass you in front of our new Daddy!"

"See? See?" Carmen shrilled. "That! Right there! Scare him off before he even sits down!"

"So, I can't climb up into his lap and ask him to read me a story?" Elaine teased.

"I will kill you," Carmen hissed.

"I can't ask him to tuck me in?" Elise asked.

"So help me God," Carmen warned, and then yelped as the doorbell rang.

"Momma's got a boyfriend," Elise and Elaine whispered loudly.

"Go answer the door," Carmen ordered. "And no funny stuff, you hear me?"

Dick was very nervous. Suppose he slipped up and cursed in front of this lady and her kids? Around the station, they didn't worry about watching their mouths. They felt like saying 'fuck,' the said 'fuck.'

He smiled as Elaine opened the door and smiled at him.

"Hi, come on in," she said.

Under her breath, she whispered to him, "Even if you don't like her cooking, you better say it's good; she's been busting her ass all day on this stuff."

He laughed out loud; a little more at ease. This lady was as nervous as he was.

The cooking was good. They ate in the kitchen, not bothering with the pretenses of eating in the dining room, which was used primarily as a place to study and do homework as the lighting was better in that room.

Carmen, Elaine, and Elise tried to act prim and proper. Finally, Carmen had to laugh. They were not prim and proper.

"I'm sorry," she laughed out loud. "I don't know who these people are, but this isn't us!"

She smiled at him.

"Eat. Eat like you would if you were at home," she said.

To her kids she said, "Go ahead, and act like y'all always do, act like a bunch of animals. Better he sees us the way we really are now so it won't be such a shock later on."

"Momma's got a boyfriend," Elise mouthed to her and laughed out loud when Carmen slapped her in the back of the head.

"You ain't going to arrest her?" Elise asked him. "She just hit me!"

"Didn't see nothing," Dick shrugged and dug into the mashed potatoes.

----

Matt smiled from the doorway as Elizabeth tiptoed over to the sleeping Teddy. He muffled his snicker as she wet her finger in her mouth, and then stuck the wet digit into Teddy's ear.

"What? Huh?" Teddy grunted and groaned and Elizabeth giggled.

"Hey Baby," she smiled. "I came to take you for dinner; can't have my man going to work all hungry."

He looked at the alarm clock; it was almost eight o'clock already.

"Okay, okay, let me get dressed," Teddy, mumbled.

"Ooh, you're naked under there?" Elizabeth asked and began pulling the sheets back.

"No, I'm not," Teddy said, but held the sheets tightly.

"Let me see," Elizabeth insisted.

Teddy was embarrassed; he slept in pajamas.

"Cute," Elizabeth smiled, kissed him on his cheek and skipped out of the room so he could get dressed in private.

"I like her," Matt said.

"Yeah, me too," Teddy admitted.

----

Pam beamed with pride as Paul praised her cooking.

Miss Bobbi, Mr. Jake, and Candy and Cindy had also praised her cooking, but it was Paul's approval she wanted the most.

"Yeah," Candy teased. "Beaux likes it a whole bunch."

"Better not be feeding him no meatloaf!" Pam protested.

Over coffee, the six of them talked about the bad news Dr. Minden had given them. There weren't really any options; no surgeries or treatments to reverse the eye disease.

"Why even bother?" Candy asked when Jake brought up college.

"You're going blind, not dying," Paul said.

"Yeah, Candy, all kinds of blind people do all kinds of stuff," Pam encouraged.

"Like what?" Candy demanded.

"I don't know, Pam finally had to admit.

----

Teddy gritted his teeth; Missy was right there, as always. He was glad that Elizabeth had made up with her; friendships were important, but he would have liked to have a little alone time with Elizabeth before clocking in.

Missy's leg hurt; Elizabeth keeps kicking it under the table. She was supposed to tell Teddy she was knocked up with his kid.

She couldn't, though. She just couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

The murderous looks Elizabeth was shooting her, though, let her know she had better do it soon.

"Tomorrow," she whispered to Elizabeth. "Tomorrow night, okay?"

"Tomorrow, or on Saturday, I'm telling him," Elizabeth conceded.

Chapter 79

Damn, he was a good kisser. And the fact that he looked so good in a uniform didn't hurt one bit.

"So, how was the 'home-cooking?'" she asked and kissed him again before he could answer.

"It was damned good, and you know it," he answered when she finally released his mouth. "See anything left on my plate?"

"No," she smiled.

"And," he said when she released his mouth again. "I'm hoping I'm invited back for more home cooking."

"Just the cooking?" she teased.

"Hey," he grew serious and took her hands into his. "You, um, you got two girls, you know? I mean, I want to throw you over my shoulder and carry you up them stairs, but you know? Not in front of the kids."

She burst out laughing and kissed him again.

"Oh, come on, Dick!" she laughed. "I doubt very seriously if either one of my girls are virgins!"

"I am too!" Elise shouted out, and then clapped her hands over her mouth as Elaine glared at her.