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“I’m thinking about maybe going back to school,” Jill blurted out randomly.

“Huh?”

“For my master’s degree.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Jill said. “I guess I’m just a little bored. I like giving tours. I just don’t know if I want to do it forever.”

“You went to college. You have a degree.”

“In marketing. I hate marketing.”

“Why did you major in it, then?” Melinda laughed.

“Well, I thought I liked it at some point,” Jill replied. “Anyway, I was thinking about something else, but I haven’t decided yet. I thought I could get the degree while I work, and maybe in a few years, when I’m done, I’ll find something I really love.”

“You could always take over the place with me, assuming she does leave it to me one day. It’s a long way off, probably. I know she says she’ll retire at sixty-five, but she won’t.”

“Please, that woman will work up until her second line. But that doesn’t mean she won’t sell it to you before that and just cut back or something,” Jill said, referring to the type of parade historically associated with jazz funerals, because their boss would undoubtedly get one as she’d been a New Orleans institution for her entire adult life.

They finished their sandwiches and said goodbye only to HenrySr. on their way out since HenryJr. had already disappeared into the back. Taking the short walk back to the office, Melinda looked around. Tourists were wandering in and out of buildings and chatting about what they’d bought or what their evening plans were. She smelled seafood and heard jazz coming from one of the bars. To her, New Orleans was always bathed in sound, and she loved that about this place. It was different than Manhattan, for example, which was also bathed in sound, but there, it was city noise. In NewOrleans, it was art that surrounded her and kept her safe somehow.

“Looks like we’ve got a few walk-ins,” Jill said, nodding toward the front office door that a family had just pulled open.

“Yours or mine?”

“Family, so I’m guessing Garden District,” Jill replied.

“You’ll get some frat boys soon for your Quarter tour, so don’t be jealous,” Melinda teased as they approached the door.

Jill laughed, and they headed inside, where they walked behind the counter and grabbed their lists. Melinda put on her name tag and walked back outside, where she’d meet her tour group in five minutes. As people slowly began to gather around, she checked their names off her list, and when it was time to start, the family of walk-ins joined them and handed her their tickets. She laughed silently at how easily she and Jill could predict who would join which tour and began her welcome speech.

“Hello, everyone, and welcome to NOLA Guides! I’m your guide today. My name is Melinda, but you can call me Mel, if you’d like. Today, we’re going to be heading to the beautiful Garden District, so if you’re looking for another tour, now is the time to join my colleague, Jill, who is about to head out to the cemetery and Jackson Square.”

“Mom, I want to go to the cemetery,” a boy of about twelve said to his mother.

“Shh! Be polite,” the woman whispered back to him.

Melinda smiled and began the tour.

CHAPTER 3

Kyle’s eyes were closed, but she wasn’t asleep. She had never been able to sleep on planes, so she was just resting and thinking. She’d been doing a lot of thinking lately. From the moment she heard from her father that her grandmother had passed away, she’d been thinking. She wondered what she’d missed by not knowing the woman, what possible lies her mother had told them over the years, and what had really happened so long ago between the two of them to cause them to never speak again.

“Hey,” Jolie said.

Kyle didn’t open her eyes.

“Hey,” her sister repeated. “I know you’re not sleeping, Ky.”

“I’m almost sleeping,” she lied, still keeping her eyes closed.

“Come on. You said we could talk about what I wanted to do while we were in New Orleans once we were on the plane. We’re on the plane.”

“Why do we need to talk about this?”

“Because you said this wasn’t just us breaking and entering, but a vacation for me, too. I’ve made a list.”