Page 27 of January (New Orleans #1)

“K yle?”

“Huh?” she mumbled.

“Ky? Babe?”

Who was calling her ‘babe?’ Kyle’s eyes were still closed, and she was certain it was far too early for her to wake up, but someone was rubbing Kyle’s back through a blanket and calling her ‘babe.’ Kyle opened her eyes slowly and saw Melinda lying next to her, smiling at Kyle with her eyes. Kyle wanted to smile back, but it was as if her muscles weren’t working. None of them. She felt like every part of her body was tense, and her head was starting to hurt.

“Hi,” Kyle whispered.

“How are you this morning?”

“I’m okay, I think,” she replied, rolling onto her back and rubbing her face with both hands.

“So, I called into work and asked if someone could take my morning tour. We have a few hours before I need to be in now,” Melinda told her.

“You didn’t have to do that for me,” Kyle replied.

“I’m guessing you haven’t been that drunk in a while, so I thought it might be a good idea for me to be here this morning.”

“People do this every night they’re in town?” she asked. “I’ve never been that drunk. Not even in college.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I have a small headache, and I’m tired, but other than that, I think I’m okay.”

“I’m hoping we got ahead of it with the water and ibuprofen last night. ”

“Me too,” she replied, rolling back onto her side. “You’re naked.”

“You said that to me yesterday, too.” Melinda laughed. “Also, you ’re naked. We didn’t get dressed after our shower.”

Kyle laughed and said, “I tried to go down on you in there, didn’t I?”

“You did. You nearly slipped, so I held you up and decided we’d save that experience for when you were sober.”

“I’m sober now,” she said.

“You’re hungover,” Melinda replied, shaking her head at Kyle, who climbed on top of her.

“Thank you for taking care of me last night. I swear, I don’t normally drink that much, but your friends are fun, and I hadn’t really gone out like that since I got here.”

Melinda wrapped her arms around Kyle’s neck and said, “I’m glad you had a good time. It was fun watching you like that. For a good hour or so, you weren’t put-together at all and seemed like you were letting go.”

“I guess I did,” she replied.

“You’re wound too tight right now,” Melinda noted, massaging Kyle’s shoulders.

“I’m like that most of the time.”

“I like it when you’re kind of melting all over me, not when you’re crazy tense,” Melinda said.

“You know what would help me melt around you?”

“I have an idea. Want to slide up and let me–”

Kyle settled her hips between Melinda’s and said, “Not exactly what I had in mind.”

“No?”

“No. And I was thinking about fast because you had to go to work, but if you have the next few hours to take care of me, how about letting me do that by taking care of you ?”

“I thought you had a headache…”

“A small one. Trust me, this will help with that, too.”

Kyle leaned down and kissed Melinda slowly. Melinda responded by spreading her legs a little wider for her. Kyle’s lips then moved to Melinda’s neck, and she grazed them over the hickey that still remained there.

“I think I should redo this one. It’s starting to fade,” she noted.

“No way.” Melinda laughed. “Everyone saw it. I had to wear a turtleneck.”

“But it lets them all know something.”

“That I got laid?”

Kyle stopped what she was doing to be able to look at Melinda and said, “I was thinking that it might tell them that you had someone; like the only someone who got to do that to you, be with you like this.”

Melinda nodded and said, “You mean, like a girlfriend.”

“Yes,” Kyle replied. “In fact, before we do this again, I was kind of hoping we could agree that we only do this with each other from now on.”

Melinda smiled softly and said, “So, you want to be my girlfriend?”

Kyle nodded seriously.

“I would love that. But, Kyle?”

“Yeah?”

“On one condition: no more hickeys where people can see.”

“Where they can see? Meaning, I can still put them where only I get to see?”

It was Melinda’s turn to nod.

“I would like to start by making one a lot lower, then,” Kyle stated before placing a kiss between Melinda’s breasts. “Maybe on the inside of your thigh.” She kissed lower still. “Then again… You were in your underwear when I got here last night, and Bridgette had a full view of the inside of your thigh.”

“Oh, shut up.” Melinda laughed.

◆◆◆

Their morning had been perfect. They’d made love, shared coffee, and Kyle had had Melinda again up against the sink in the bathroom after Melinda had already gotten dressed. She’d claimed that she’d needed to show Melinda just how cute she was in that uniform, but really, Kyle just hadn’t wanted to stop touching her. She knew she was likely going to have a bad rest of the day. Mr. Beaufort’s assistant had called during their coffee that morning to move up their meeting, which meant that after she and Melinda had said goodbye, Kyle had to hop in a car and head that way.

Since she was still wearing her clothes from the night before and likely smelled like the bars she’d been in and the alcohol she’d consumed, she had the shared-ride car driver actually drop her off at a Target on her way there because she didn’t want the fancy attorney to think she wasn’t a put-together adult. At the store, she quickly found a button-down shirt and a pair of black pants on sale. Having bought the items, she changed in the bathroom before she ordered another car to take her the rest of the way. The whole time, it didn’t even dawn on Kyle that if she’d just stopped by her grandma’s house first to change, it likely would have taken less time. She’d chalk that up to the fact that she was a little hungover, and now that Melinda wasn’t under her or over her, the spell had been broken, and she was really feeling it now.

When Mr. Beaufort’s assistant offered her a bottle of water while she waited, Kyle graciously took it and downed half of it in one gulp. She wished there were vending machines because she was starving, but this place was too hoity-toity for that. Was she a hoity-toity person now? She’d spent money at an expensive store yesterday on bath salts and scrubs. She’d never done that before. She’d also spent more on shared rides since she’d been here than she had on her car back home the previous year. Now, she was sitting in a fancy attorney’s office, waiting for him to tell her about the money and homes she’d inherited.

“Hello, Miss Schafer. Come on in,” he said with a wide smile as he motioned for her to enter his office.

Kyle stood, straightened her new shirt and new cheap pants that weren’t exactly the right size, and carried her water into the office, knowing she’d want to finish it.

“So, I understand there’s been a bit of a hiccup?” He sat down behind his big desk in his equally large chair.

Kyle sat down in the smaller guest chair in front of it and said, “My mother showed up out of nowhere and told me she wants the money and houses.”

“I see,” he replied. “She’s in town?”

“Yes, I think so. She’s kind of flaky, so she could have gone home, but my sister would have called to tell me if she had, and my mom seemed pretty determined.”

“Well, the will is legal and binding, Kyle. Your mother can do whatever she wants, but your grandmother was very clear in her estate planning. She was lucid and knew what she wanted. Not only does she have me to verify that, but we also have notaries and witnesses as well as a video recording of her explaining everything.”

“So, my mom can’t sue me?”

“She still could ,” Mr. Beaufort replied. “It just wouldn’t get her anywhere. I don’t want to speak ill of your mother, but from what you’ve told me, my assumption would be that I’d be able to deal with whatever ambulance-chasing attorney she’d hire to help her with this frivolous lawsuit.”

“What do I do if she shows up again?”

“Well, that’s up to you , really. If she shows up on your property and refuses to leave, you can have her arrested for trespassing. If she continues to harass you, you could always get a restraining order, but that can be a lengthy process, depending on what kind you go for.”

“A restraining order? She’s my mother,” Kyle said.

“I know. But it happens more often than you’d think. You’ve just come into a lot of money. People who weren’t all that interested in you before will likely begin to show their true colors. While you could also give your mom something as a gesture of good faith that she’ll return home and that’ll be the end of it, in my experience, that rarely works. Once you give them something, they start to expect more, and it doesn’t stop there. ”

“Sounds like you’ve met my mother,” she said, trying her hand at a bad joke.

“Just people like her.”

“I’d need to talk to my sister. Half this stuff is hers,” Kyle replied.

“Of course,” Mr. Beaufort said. “And I have a good lawyer here I can recommend to you if you need to take things further with your mother. I’m primarily estate law, so you’d want someone more experienced if you need to file restraining orders and the like.”

“I hope it doesn’t have to go that far.”

“Me too. But if she shows up, and you’re worried for your safety, don’t hesitate to call the police. The more of her behavior you have on record, the easier it will be to address it in court if you have to.”

“Okay,” Kyle replied.

Several minutes later, she finished the water and sat in the back seat of another car, headed toward the garden house to meet Myra. She’d been told that some of the work that didn’t require permits could begin, which was one thing for Kyle to look forward to.

“We’re good to go on just about everything, and permits should be available soon.”

“I thought it took weeks.”

“I know a few people. Besides, we’re about to enter carnival season when this city fills with hundreds of thousands of people, so I played the tourism card with the city and let them know this house would give one more lodging option and that we could have the work completed sooner rather than later, which would mean there wouldn’t be garbage and construction remnants on the lawn of a Garden District house that is on the main tour path. I’m not really sure how true it is that I’ll get everything done by then, but they gave me what we needed.”

“Really? That’s great,” Kyle replied.

“So, you and I need to get into the materials. I brought some recommendations with me. I’ve got a crew of four, but the electrical and plumbing are being worked on by those crews. The roof looked surprisingly good, but we’ll repair some of it as well. I’ll get a few more people to join each day to make sure we can try to get the place done for you by when I said we could.”

“This is amazing,” Kyle said. “I’ve never done anything like this before, but I’ve heard so many horror stories.”

“Well, I try not to be part of those whenever I can.” Myra chuckled. “I’ve got some other possible good news for you, too. I had a job planned for next month. They ordered a bunch of materials but decided to sell the place instead and not use what we bought for them. So, if you’re interested in the flooring they chose and some of the other materials, their place is bigger than this one, so I’d have enough for your house, and I already have them in my warehouse. I can get them for you at cost, too.”

“I’m sorry; are you a saint? This is a miracle. When does the Vatican show up to validate that so you can be one step closer to sainthood?”

Myra laughed loudly and said, “It would actually be a favor to me. We need the space, so if you don’t want it, I’m hoping my next job will.”

“Can I take a look?”

“I’ve got samples with me right now. Want to sit down in the kitchen and look?”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

After Myra left, Kyle did feel a lot better. She had the flooring picked out, and the windows were standard for this type of house, so they would be in soon. The roof, it turned out, didn’t need that much work, and they were really just making sure the plumbing and electrical were not only up to code but up to the modern era. Kyle had also loved going through the samples provided by Myra, which gave her the idea to call an interior decorator. She wasn’t sure why she’d thought of that. The house would be rented out with basic, cheap furniture for now and didn’t require a professional to come in and decorate it. Then, she had the idea of having Melinda here with her, going through samples, making decisions about the wall color, the furniture, and how to elevate the garden out back, and that sounded so good, she began searching for companies that she could call to schedule a consultation.

When her phone buzzed, showing Jolie calling her the instant she looked at the display, she was pulled out of her revelry and answered the phone.

“Hi,” she said tersely.

“I know you’re still mad at me.”

“Because you know how she is. Why would you tell her?”

“She just has a way, Ky… She got to me. I’m sorry. Is everything okay?”

“No, it’s not. She said some things.”

“What things?”

Kyle didn’t really want to burden her little sister with any specifics of what their mother had said to her, which was a moment in Kyle’s life she’d never be able to forget. She didn’t want to put that on Jolie, too.

“The usual.”

“I’m so sorry, Kyle.”

“She wants everything. She said she’d fight.”

“Fight you ?”

“Fight us . This stuff is half yours.”

“Yeah, but I’ll do whatever you think is best. My half of the money will just go into savings.”

“Will you give her some?”

Jolie sighed and said, “I don’t know. Maybe. Not all of it, though. Not even close. Will you ?”

“No,” Kyle replied, picturing the hatred on her own mother’s face when she’d told Kyle that she’d never wanted her at all.

“I wish I had your backbone.”

“Jolie, she doesn’t deserve any of it. Grandma didn’t want her to have it.”

“Did you figure out why yet? You’ve been reading the journals. ”

Kyle stared out at the back garden and thought about how to tell Jolie the truth. Lying wasn’t an option, but this would be a lot for Jolie to process. She knew that much because she was still processing it herself.

“Yeah, I found out. Are you sitting down?”