Well was an odd word for what was happening between the two of them. She wasn’t sure how much she was helping with his family. And she wasn’t sure how the “getting to know you again” thing was going since they mostly talked about what had happened in their days and what they intended to do tomorrow.

Then they made out.

“Things are fine. We’ve got his aunt’s celebration coming up, and I’ve been meeting family members right and left.” Only yesterday one of his aunts had shown up at city hall. Aunt Marietta had walked right into Sylvie’s office wearing her Sunday best and demanded that Armie LaVigne be fired for writing her a ticket for speeding. She had to speed. She’d been late for church and she had the snacks. Did Armie LaVigne think he was more important than feeding the poor?

Sylvie hadn’t pointed out that she’d been feeding the church choir, and they weren’t particularly poor. That was when she’d gotten a lecture on her family duties, and why hadn’t anyone changed the name on the door? It still proclaimed that Sylvie Martine was mayor of Papillon. Was she one of those uppity new women who was too good for her husband’s name?

Rene’s family was big on names and labels and any other way to categorize a person.

“I have no idea how Rene survives a day,” she admitted with a shake of her head. “His family could fill a football stadium, and they’re always in his business. Now they’re in mine. I thought dealing with that one-eighth of a percent sales tax hike to pay for the new filtration system was hard. I’d take it over the Darois family any day.”

She lay back, looking up at the brilliant blue sky overhead. It was dotted with puffy white clouds, a perfect Southern Louisiana day that made her wonder if the butterflies were back yet. They showed up en masse twice a year during their long migrations. She loved those times of the year, when the world seemed filled with promise. It had been a long time since she’d taken a boat out on the bayou and watched the butterflies, felt them all around her, and remembered what a magical place this was. She was on the job all the time, and in the beginning that had been a good thing. Coming back to Papillon had been about more than taking the mayor’s job. It had been about coming home so her mother wasn’t alone. It had been about finally grieving her father.

Now she was starting to see a way to a future, and it felt right to stay here in Papillon. She’d seen the world and could see more of it, but she loved this place, loved her home.