Page 16 of January (New Orleans #1)

“D id I mess it up?” Kyle asked.

“No, it’s great,” she replied, taking a sip of the Abita beer Kyle had bought earlier that day. “You’ve really never cooked this?”

“No,” Kyle said. “I’ve never had it, either.”

“You’ve never had barbeque shrimp?”

“No. The only shrimp I think I’ve ever eaten has been with you on the tour.”

“Really?”

“It’s not the cheapest food in the world, and I guess that if it were cheap, you probably shouldn’t buy it, huh?”

“Bad shrimp? No way. Avoid it like the plague, or you’ll get the plague.”

“Anyway, it’s not cheap, but it’s also not fresh where I come from. I had a lot of PB&Js when I was a kid. Sometimes, without the PB or without the J, depending on what was in the fridge at the time. Other times, without the bread.”

“How did you–”

“Just ate peanut butter or jelly out of the jar. I once put a half-filled jar of jelly into Jolie’s lunchbox, and that was her lunch that day, with some stale crackers we had.”

“You had to grow up fast, didn’t you?” Melinda asked, leaning back in a comfortable patio chair.

“I guess so. It didn’t feel that way when it was happening. It felt very, very slow, like I’d never get out of it or that it would never end. I assume you led a bit of a different life.”

“We had seafood in general pretty regularly, if that’s what you mean,” she teased. “But it’s cheaper here, and it’s fresh. We weren’t rich or anything. My parents both worked. And I was the oldest, so I took on more than my siblings.”

“Aren’t you twelve minutes older than your brother?”

“Yes, but remember the whole immaturity thing? Mike grew up, but it took him a long time to get there. As kids, he just wanted to play guitar, skip out on chores, and do the bare minimum at school. He got into college, but just barely. My mom worked late a lot, and my dad worked second shift for years, so dinner was on me and usually the dishes, too, unless my mom got home early enough to make one of my siblings do them instead. It annoyed me some days, but most of the time, I was fine with it. I guess I liked being in charge.”

“You like being in charge, huh?” Kyle teased, finishing her beer.

“Yes. But not in all ways.” Melinda winked at her, and when Kyle’s eyes opened wider, she added, “Just putting that out there.”

Kyle cleared her throat and looked out at the garden. The sun had gone down a long time ago, but the gas lanterns lit up the space and made Melinda feel as if she was surrounded by light and Kyle, and she never wanted to leave this spot. Kyle had given her the tour earlier, and the expansive house felt more like something from a catalog than a home people lived in, likely because it had been a rental property for so long and catered to that, but it had the bones of a real home. The kitchen was large enough for two people to cook in comfortably. She knew that because after Kyle continually insisted that Melinda stay out of the kitchen and let her cook, Melinda snuck up behind her and watched her work. Eventually, Kyle gave in and let her at least help set the table and get the beers.

The library was filled with books that people had left over the years. It was more like a hotel lobby library filled with airport books, the books people bought when they realized they’d need something to do on the plane, so they picked up something at the airport bookstore. A crime thriller here. A romance there. Kyle had told her over dinner that there were better books in a storage closet, some first editions, even. Melinda wanted those books on the shelves. She wanted the bedrooms upstairs to be decorated as if people really lived here instead of having two twin beds with plain comforters in one room and two full beds in another to maximize the number of people that could stay in the house at one time. She wanted the place to feel like a home. Then again, what Melinda wanted didn’t matter. This was Kyle’s house, and Kyle was planning on fixing up a few things and then renting it out again, so those things likely wouldn’t change.

“I don’t want the night to be over,” Kyle said.

“It’s not,” Melinda replied. “It’s not late.”

“I promised you beignets after dinner.”

“Yes, but this is New Orleans, baby: we’ve got beignets twenty-four-seven here.”

Kyle laughed and said, “I forgot they’re always open for a minute. I might end up gaining a lot of weight if I end up liking them.”

“You’ve yet to try one?” Melinda asked.

“Not yet, no. Jolie did, obviously, and she was supposed to bring some back to me, but she ate them all on the way. I did get their coffee, though. It was pretty good.”

“We have to remedy this.” Melinda stood.

“But I thought it wasn’t late,” Kyle noted. “Can we stay here just a little bit longer? It’s so peaceful.”

Melinda nodded and said, “Can we maybe move to that very comfortable patio chair over there that has a nice-looking cushion on it?” She pointed to a chaise-type chair about twenty feet away.

“There’s only one. I’m not sure what happened to the other one or if there ever was another one.”

“I’m good with sharing. I have three siblings, remember?”

“Oh,” Kyle let out, sounding surprised and adorable. “You want to…”

“Share the chair with you, yes.”

“Yeah, okay. Should we clean up first?”

“No.” Melinda shook her head a little. “In a minute.” She walked over to the chair and turned, waiting for Kyle.

Kyle stood, pushed in her chair, and walked over to the chaise. Then, without words, she knew that Melinda wanted her to sit down first, so she did and leaned back, spreading her legs. Melinda’s heart did a little flutter, and her stomach flipped as she swallowed hard, picturing them in a very different scenario, with Kyle’s legs spread before her. She refocused her mind and moved to sit down between them, wrapping Kyle’s arms around her waist instantly and looking out at the garden.

“This is nice,” she said after several minutes of silence.

“It is,” Kyle agreed, placing a kiss where Melinda’s neck met her shoulder. “I’m glad we did this.”

“We’re still doing it,” Melinda reminded her. “And we have beignets to look forward to still.”

“I think I could fall asleep out here.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah, with me holding you, looking up at the moon.”

“That sounds nice, but I’d probably get a little cold.”

“I can grab blankets. All of them, if you want,” Kyle whispered into her ear.

“You’re making it hard to resist.”

“That’s kind of my point. Can we skip beignets and just stay out here all night? I’ll–”

Before Kyle could finish that thought, though, the chair beneath them gave way, and the metal screeched as they fell to the ground below.

“Oh, my God!” Melinda said, laughing as Kyle still held on to her, now more for protection than for romance.

“Well, I guess I no longer have to wonder what happened to the other chair,” Kyle said, smiling at her.

Melinda’s laughter grew in volume as Kyle joined her. Then, as she looked around, Melinda saw rust and missing screws. It was likely the chair hadn’t been taken care of out here and that if there had been a second one, it had also broken and was tossed out.

“Beignets?” Melinda asked through her laughter.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Kyle said, looking around. “Are you okay?”

“My butt is a little sore, and I think my dress will likely need to be dry-cleaned, but I’m fine. You? Got any metal pieces stuck in places they shouldn’t be?”

“No, thankfully,” Kyle replied, tossing a few pieces to the side on the patio.

“We should get up,” Melinda suggested.

Kyle stood, held out her hands, helping Melinda stand up, and then she looked Melinda over, checking for cuts and bruises.

“Do I need a tetanus shot?” she asked, looking down at her own body to be sure.

“I think you’re okay,” Kyle replied. “And I’m so sorry. I should’ve tested it out before we sat down.”

“There’s no way you could have known that chair was about to take its last chair breath,” Melinda told her.

“Should we clean up now?” Kyle asked.

Melinda laughed again, unable to hold it in for some reason, and Kyle stood there, watching her laugh, until Melinda took her by the hand over to the table, where her laughter finally quieted, and they brought the dishes inside. After cleaning the few they used together, Kyle went back outside to at least make sure there weren’t any rogue metal pieces lying around where someone could get hurt. Melinda heard her working as she moved into the parlor, which was next to the library. It had two old-style straight-backed chairs and a love seat that matched. There were small tables and a wet bar along the wall, again with nothing in the old glassware.

“I think this was where the men had their brandy and cigars while the women did the dishes,” Kyle said. “But it also has this old record player, and it actually works.”

“No way,” Melinda replied. “It works?”

Kyle nodded and walked over to the corner where a very old record player sat beneath clear plastic in order to tell others not to touch it.

“I tried it out the first time I was here. There’s a record on it still.”

“Play it,” Melinda suggested .

Kyle went to pull back the plastic shield before she maneuvered everything into place, and a second later, there was a sudden scratch. Then, an old, slow song, with static in the background, started playing. Melinda listened for a moment, but she didn’t recognize the song. The label on the record had long ago worn away, so she waited for words, but they never came.

“Want to…” Kyle began and faded, clearing her throat.

“What?”

“It’s stupid.”

“Kyle, what?”

“Do you maybe want to dance?”

Melinda smiled and said, “Yes, I do.”

Kyle looked surprised at first, but then she held out her hand for Melinda to take. She did, but only temporarily before she pulled Kyle against herself and wrapped her arms around Kyle’s shoulders, letting Kyle wrap her own around her waist.

“I thought about this last night,” Melinda offered a few moments later.

“Dancing?”

“Dancing with you.”

“Why?”

“At the reception, there were couples dancing together, and it made me think of you.”

“You didn’t dance with Bridgette?”

“To a few fast songs, yes, but not like this,” she replied, resting her head on Kyle’s shoulder. “ Definitely not like this.”

“Why did you two never date? You’ve known each other forever, right?”

“I don’t know. It just never happened. It wasn’t what either of us wanted. Bridgette is a couple of years older than me, so it wasn’t going to happen when we were younger, and then, it never did.”

“But you’re… good with that?”

“Yes. Why?” she asked.

“And with Jill? ”

“Why are you asking me why I’ve never dated my friends?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ve been burned before,” Kyle replied.

“Someone told you they were just friends with another woman, and that turned out not to be true?”

“I liked her for a long time before I finally asked her out. She assured me that she and her best friend were only friends and weren’t interested in each other in that way. But then, a few months later, I walked in on them doing something I don’t think best friends do.”

“No… Really?” She pulled back to look at Kyle. “I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago, but I wanted to check.”

“Bridgette is my friend. I have zero interest in dating her.” Melinda cupped Kyle’s cheek. “Jill and I met at work. We’re friends, too, but the kind that hang out a little after a shift or on lunch. I love both of them, but I have no desire to date either of them, okay? Can you trust that?”

“Yeah, of course,” Kyle said.

“Do you have any friends back home I should be worried about?” Melinda asked with a lifted eyebrow.

“No,” Kyle replied. “My best friend is Jolie, and I have a few people I hang out with from time to time.”

“No exes in that friend circle?”

Kyle laughed and said, “No.”

“Because you know how it is with lesbians,” Melinda noted.

“I do, but no. I don’t tend to hang out with my ex-girlfriends after it’s over.”

“Me neither,” she shared.

“Are we bad lesbians?” Kyle asked.

Melinda laughed before she rested her forehead against Kyle’s shoulder and said, “No, I think we’re doing just fine.”

When the song ended, Melinda wasn’t ready to stop dancing or, really, stepping from side to side while they held on to one another .

“Want me to start it again?”

“Does that record player have a repeat option?” Melinda joked.

They danced to the song again and again, with Kyle starting it over each time before they finally pulled apart. Then, Kyle cupped Melinda’s cheek and kissed her forehead. Melinda closed her eyes and breathed her in.

“I should walk you home,” Kyle said softly. “And get me home, too.”

“This is your home,” Melinda replied.

“My stuff is at the other house.”

“Let’s just stay here,” Melinda requested, pulling Kyle back in for a hug. “It’s so nice here. I don’t want to leave, Ky.”

“I like you calling me Ky,” Kyle admitted, running her hands up and down Melinda’s back now. “But this is a rental. There’s nothing here. The stuff in the fridge is what I bought earlier, and there’s nothing for breakfast or even a midnight snack. There are no toiletries or even hairbrushes.”

“You should remedy that,” Melinda replied, pulling out of the hug.

“I guess I will, then,” Kyle said with a smile. “Come on. Do you want to take a car instead?”

“No, I want to walk with you through New Orleans at night while you hold my hand,” she replied.

They packed up what they could and left things in the refrigerator for later, making sure to take the trash out before locking up. Then, Kyle took her hand, and they made their way slowly toward the café for those late-night beignets. As they walked, they talked more about Mike and her sisters. Melinda regaled her with stories from her best or funniest tours. Kyle talked about some of the stuff she’d translated into French, and Melinda cracked up when Kyle told her how she’d once had to translate a romance novel that had been written by a man. When Kyle described how he’d written the sex scenes, Melinda had laughed hysterically.

“I might have taken some liberties when I translated it because no one should read language like that when they’re reading a sex scene. How many times can one person put the word ‘engorged’ in the same sentence? He wrote that the woman’s breasts ‘flopped’ around. That’s not a very sexy verb.”

Arriving at the café, Melinda was glad to see that the line was actually pretty short. She ordered them the beignets and each a cup of coffee to stay, and they made their way to one of the small, circular metal tables seemingly always covered in powdered sugar. Kyle nearly managed to make it through three beignets without getting it all over her black shirt, but she laughed at something Melinda said, and it was all over from there.

“You ruined your sexy shirt,” Melinda noted, reaching forward to try to touch the spots where the sugar had landed.

“It’s served its purpose, so I’m okay with it.”

“What was its purpose?”

“To make me look half-decent on our first date,” Kyle replied.

“Oh. Then, it more than served its purpose. I can kind of see a bit of your bra through the space between the buttons.”

“What?” Kyle said, looking down.

“I’m kidding.” Melinda laughed.

After they finished their coffees, they walked toward Melinda’s place through the sea of humanity, which was the French Quarter at that time of night. Melinda pulled Kyle around to the back of the building where they’d have some privacy and looked up at her staircase.

“Come up,” she said, tugging on Kyle’s sweater.

“I should get back…”

“Come up, Ky,” Melinda repeated her invitation and wrapped her arms around Kyle’s shoulders. “I want you to.”

“I want that, too, but I don’t think I should.”

“Why not?”

“Because I really, really want to,” Kyle said, pulling her in close .

“Why is that a problem, exactly?”

“It’s our first date.”

Melinda nodded, bit her lower lip, and asked, “Can I at least get a goodnight kiss?”

Kyle smiled and leaned in, gently pecking Melinda’s lips before pulling back.

“Not what I had in mind,” she remarked before pulling Kyle back in for more.

Kyle had been smiling, so when their lips reconnected, it was awkward at first until she started kissing Melinda back, but, damn, Kyle could kiss. Her lips seemed to know where to go to meet Melinda’s, and her tongue slipped out and into Melinda’s mouth, causing Melinda to moan and pull Kyle in tighter. Kyle then nibbled on Melinda’s lower lip, letting it go and pulling it back in for more, and Melinda’s tongue slid across Kyle’s upper lip before she moved it inside Kyle’s mouth as she moved her hands up and under Kyle’s sweater and shirt.

“Come up,” she said breathlessly.

“Another time,” Kyle replied. “Soon.” She kissed Melinda sweetly.

“Ky?” she pouted.

“You said you go too fast.”

“What?”

“Before, when you said no to us going out, you mentioned that you sometimes go too fast with people. I don’t want to be someone you go fast with, Mel.”

She nodded, understanding, and said, “But soon, right?”

“Soon.”