The Convent Rose (The Roses) by Lynn Shurr Page B

a ride to the Lafayette Art Walk next week? We do want to see your landscape in situ as well as your friend’s sculpture.”
    “Of course. I’d be happy to take you.” Eve suppressed any regrets she might have about being saddled with two elderly nuns who could barely walk. After all, these two once strong teachers had given all the years of their lives praying to God and guiding young women like her. It was the least she could for them. She put aside any thought of inviting Bodey to go with her.

Chapter Five
    The week turned long on him again. Bodey Landrum got the floor people started early on Monday ripping up the gold shag carpet and preparing the surface of the slab to take a nice wood veneer. He’d found some good antiques among the stored furnishings, but the orange velvet upholstered couch and chairs he’d donate to Goodwill. The living room needed leather that dogs could drool on and kids could kick without doing much damage to the furniture.
    He’d tried every day since Tuesday to get Eve out of her studio to ride or to eat dinner or to take in a movie. She worked Wednesday through Saturday nights at the restaurant and put in all the time she could on the commission from Hardy Courville because the piece needed to be done for the grand opening. Valid excuses, but underneath he sensed her uncertainty either about him or Evan Adams just like he could when he mounted a young bull for the first time. He began to feel uncertain himself, not a good emotion for a man who always brimmed with confidence.
    Renee Hayes called him almost as often as he called Eve. Finally, he’d treated his former girlfriend to an expensive lunch in Lafayette for old times’ sake, but when he claimed he had to meet his interior designer right afterward, she’d followed him home and dogged their steps, making suggestions about the house. Renee was still hanging around when the frustrated decorator left. Bodey knew Renee could show him a good time, but Big Ben had taught him to set a goal and go after it without dilly-dallying along the way. Not his idea of a wife and mother, so why waste his time on her? He’d sent Renee home by saying he had to go for a haircut, the male equivalent of “shampooing my hair.”
    Bodey went out to the machine shed and passed a few hours with Rusty working on a hay baler they’d want to use later in the spring. When his cell phone rang, he nudged it open with his chin to keep the oil off the surface.
    “Hi, Renee. Sure, you can use the pool, but the water is still fairly chilly. No, I’m up to my armpits in grease right now, will be for most of the day. People are tearing up my flooring all over the house, so I’m stayin’ out of the place. Thanks for the offer, but I think my shower still works. Some other time, then.”
    Rusty raised his eyebrows. “Looks like Cousin Renee is on the prowl again.”
    “We’re old friends, that’s all. Like I said, I’m lookin’ to settle down.”
    “Sure you are. What did you do Saturday night while Eve served fried crawfish tails at the café? Us old married men need to live vicariously.”
    “So I went to the Rainbow Express out on Highway 90. Doesn’t mean anything.”
    “You went to a honky-tonk, and it didn’t mean anything.”
    “I had a few drinks. I danced with these girls who were celebratin’ a birthday until my knee started to bother me. I came home, took two Advil, and went to bed around one.”
    “How many phone numbers did you get?”
    “Three, not my best night, but I don’t plan on callin’ any of them since I found out Eve is still available.”
    “I keep trying to tell you this is not a good match, old friend. The two of you couldn’t be more different. She’s all artsy and stuff, and you’re all cowboy.”
    “Not true. We both like horses and strawberries and Mama Tyne’s biscuits. I buy art. She makes it. We’re both pretty much alone in the world. You and Noreen had less going for you than that.” Bodey wiped his hands