Page 31 of January (New Orleans #1)

“U m… Kyle? Are you in there?”

“Ky!” Melinda shifted quickly.

“What?”

“Kyle, someone’s out there,” Melinda told her.

“Out where? Go back to sleep.” Kyle pulled on Melinda’s hand to get her to come back into the soft cocoon of their blankets and body heat. “What time is it?”

“It’s ten in the morning, and you’re in a tent.”

Kyle’s eyes opened. That was not Melinda’s voice. Melinda went from scared to relieved, though, if her facial expression was any indication.

“It’s your sister,” Melinda said.

“Yes, it is. Are you two decent in there?”

“Not exactly,” Melinda replied as her eyes roamed over Kyle’s bare chest.

“Well, I’ve seen Kyle’s, so cover up, Melinda, because I’m coming in.”

“Jolie!” Kyle yelled as the zipper quickly unzipped, and Melinda rushed to lie back down and bring the blanket not just over her breasts but also over her face while Jolie zipped the tent back up.

“Hi,” Jolie said. “I have a ton of questions about this.” She looked around the tent. “For one, there’s a perfectly good house a few streets away from here that has a bed. Granted, it’s one our grandparents probably made our mom in decades ago, but still. I’m pretty sure Melinda also lives in an apartment somewhere that has a bed, too, and it’s probably a lot newer and not at all touched by our grandma. ”

“Jolie, get out,” Kyle said, laughing.

Melinda was trying to find her shirt with her hand, the only part of Melinda that was now outside of the blanket.

“Here,” Jolie said, handing Melinda a shirt.

“That’s mine,” Kyle replied.

“Does it matter?” Melinda remarked from beneath the blanket.

“I think this is probably yours,” Jolie said, holding up Melinda’s black bra. “A little too big for Ky here.”

“Okay.” Kyle took the bra. “Leave my girlfriend’s bra alone.”

“Girlfriend?” Jolie said, lifting her eyebrow and waiting for Kyle to explain.

“Yes. We’re together now,” Melinda said instead. “And thank you for my bra.”

Kyle handed it to her and laughed as Melinda shifted a lot under the blanket until she emerged with Kyle’s shirt on and, likely, her own bra on underneath it. Kyle was holding the blanket to her chest, covering herself up, but she looked around for her sports bra. Finding it by Jolie’s foot a second later, she picked it up, quickly pulled it over her chest, and lay back down.

“Um… Babe,” Melinda said. “These are yours.” She held up Kyle’s underwear.

“Gross, guys,” Jolie said.

“ You came in here. No one invited you,” Kyle reminded.

“It smells like sex in here,” Jolie stated. “I’m going to vent the place a little.” She unzipped the tent a bit. “So, while my sister puts her panties back on, does anyone want to tell me why you’re in the backyard?”

“We stayed out here last night,” Kyle said as she slipped into her underwear and looked over at Melinda, who was still completely covered but appeared to be doing the same thing.

“Yes, Ky. I can see that.”

“The house is being fixed up right now, so the furniture is gone. I didn’t want to have sex with my girlfriend in Grandma’s bed. And yes, Mel has a place, and we’ve stayed there for the past few nights, but we like it out here in the garden, so I wanted to surprise her.”

“But not get arrested,” Melinda added from beneath the blanket.

Kyle laughed and said, “Yeah, that.”

“So, you bought a tent and went to town on each other out here?”

“Yes,” Melinda said.

Kyle laughed again.

“And it was amazing,” Melinda added before she finally came out from under the blanket and smiled at Kyle. “She’s amazing.”

“That’s adorable,” Jolie replied.

“What are you doing here? In New Orleans?” Kyle asked.

“Mom called me and told me you were being a total bitch, so naturally, I assumed she’d done something. I came back to help, if I can.”

“Help?” Kyle asked.

Melinda handed Kyle her pants and said, “Why don’t I let you two talk? I’m dressed. I just need my shoes.”

“Here.” Jolie pointed to Melinda’s shoes in the corner.

“Thanks,” Melinda replied.

“And you don’t have to go,” Kyle said.

“I do, actually. I’m working in a couple of hours, and I need to get home to shower and change.” She seemed to have a thought. “Where’s the construction crew?”

“Oh, they’re coming this afternoon,” Kyle answered as she cupped Melinda’s cheek softly. “They had a quick job in the morning. It’s why I wanted to do this last night.”

“You are very smart,” Melinda noted before she leaned in and gave Kyle a quick kiss.

“I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah. Just come by whenever. I’m in the office today. Jolie, it was nice to see you. Maybe we can all do dinner or something?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Jolie replied.

“Maybe?” Kyle said to her sister after Melinda said her goodbyes and headed toward the house.

“Yeah, maybe,” Jolie repeated. “I don’t know how long I’m staying yet. Can we please get out of your backyard sex palace now? This is weird for me.”

“You came in here.” Kyle laughed. “Uninvited, I might add.”

Jolie went out the now-unzipped tent flap and stood, waiting for Kyle while she put on the rest of her clothes and shoes.

“I saw a half-eaten pizza in there. I took an early flight and skipped breakfast.” Jolie started toward the house.

Kyle joined her, and once they were in the kitchen, she locked the back door behind her and walked to the coffee maker she’d bought. It was a cheap one, but it would get her through on the nights that she and Melinda decided to crash in the backyard. She started up a pot and went to the table.

“So, you and Melinda? You’re a couple now?”

“Yeah, we are.”

Jolie looked at the pizza, grabbed herself a slice with the mushrooms, and asked, “What are you going to do when you go home?” She bit into the slice and started chewing.

“Um…” Kyle sat down at one of the kitchen chairs. “I’m not.”

“Not what?” Jolie asked.

“Going home.”

Jolie’s eyebrows knitted together before she sat down across from Kyle.

“You’re not going home?”

“No. This is home now.”

“A tent in the backyard?”

“I’m staying in New Orleans, Jolie.”

Jolie took another bite and nodded, thinking about whatever she was thinking about.

“You’re moving here permanently?”

“Yes,” Kyle said.

“Because of Melinda?”

“Because of me,” she replied .

Jolie nodded some more and asked, “You’re sure? You want to live here because you want to live here? Not because you met someone?”

“She’s part of it, yeah, but not all of it, and not even the biggest part.”

“And if you two break up, you’d still want to live here? Because, Kyle, I get that you like her a lot, but you just got together, and if you move here, you’d move here . Melinda is all tied up in this city for you. You’d see her everywhere.”

“I know,” Kyle replied.

“And you’re not worried about that?”

“No,” she said definitively. “I’m in love with her, Jolie.”

Jolie’s eyebrow lifted as she chewed.

“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. It’s always possible that things could end between us, but I don’t see that happening.”

“Most people don’t see the end coming, Kyle.”

“I know. I just mean that I can see us together for the long haul. I see Melinda at your wedding with me.”

“When am I getting married, exactly?” Jolie asked.

“Someday,” Kyle replied. “I hope someday because I know that’s what you want: marriage and kids. And I can see Melinda there with me, babysitting and feeding them tons of junk food before we hand them back off to you.”

“First of all, bitch. Second of all, that’s a lot, Ky. You’ve never talked about someone like this before.”

“I’ve never felt it before.” She shrugged a shoulder.

“You trust it?”

Kyle nodded.

“Okay. Well, it’s your life. I just love you, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know. I love you, too.”

“So, you’re leaving me with Mom?” Jolie asked.

“No. You could move here, too. I just don’t think you want to.”

“I don’t. It’s nice for a visit, but not where I want to stay forever. ”

“So, you’ll visit me?”

“A few times, at least, before I have all these kids you see in my future so I can have some actual fun here.”

Kyle laughed and said, “I’ll have to go back to get my stuff. I was thinking about maybe taking Mel with me.”

“Don’t, Ky.”

“No?”

“Our life up there isn’t exactly simple. I’ll help you pack up, and if you want, I’ll take a few days off, and we can drive your car down here together. I’ll fly back up when it’s time for me to go. It can be a sister road trip since we won’t be seeing each other all the time anymore. Then, leave all that complicated mess up there and start over with Melinda down here.”

“I guess,” Kyle said. “I’m just that lame person now who doesn’t want to be without her for even a few days.”

“I wondered when that would happen for you.” Jolie smiled. “She’s great, Ky.”

“She is, yeah.” Kyle smiled back as the coffee maker on the counter began to gurgle.

“So… Mom said she met her.”

“Ugh.” Kyle stood up, needing to be standing if they were going to talk about their mother now. “She came here to yell at me about how she’s owed everything, and we should have gotten nothing, and Melinda was giving a tour.”

“Mom actually gave her a compliment. Well, it’s a compliment coming from her, but she said she kind of liked Melinda because she had spunk.”

Kyle laughed and said, “I think if Mel didn’t have a tour group standing right behind her, she might have tried to start a fight.”

“Defending your honor? I like it.” Jolie nodded as she finished her slice of pizza. “So, what happens now?”

“She said she was going to sue me. What did she tell you?”

“Just that she was pissed and wanted my help. She asked if I could represent her, even though I’m not a lawyer, or if I could get a lawyer from the firm to represent her.”

“What did you say?”

“No, Ky. Of course, I said no. Did you really think I’d help her?”

“You told her about the money and the houses.”

“That was a slip, and it shouldn’t have happened.”

“She has a way of getting to you, Jolie.”

“I know. I’m working on it. It’s why I’m here, actually.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“I don’t want her to use me to get to you anymore, Kyle. It’s not fair to you. It’s supposed to be you and me against everyone else, and I’ve not always done a great job with that.”

“She’s your mom. I understand.”

“But you’ve always been more of a mom-sister hybrid to me than she’s been an actual mother. Kyle, you’re only three years older, and you raised me. You were the one who made sure there was always something for me to eat. Don’t think I didn’t notice that sometimes, it meant that you went without. You’d steal a bite of my sandwich, and that would be your entire dinner some nights. I don’t know that I’ve ever said thank you for that.”

“I’m the big sister. You don’t have to thank me.”

“What she said to you the other day really pissed me off, Kyle. She told you she never wanted you, and that might have been true because I don’t know many accidentally pregnant sixteen-year-olds who truly want the baby at that age, but she had no right to say that to you. You are not the reason her life has sucked. It sounds like she’s been the cause all along. Grandma didn’t kick her out; Mom left. I think she’s spent the rest of her life trying to wrestle with the consequences of her own actions and blaming us. Well, blaming you, mainly.”

“Maybe,” Kyle said.

“So, no; I told her I wasn’t helping her. I told her to leave you alone and that all of this was your decision. Then, I booked the next flight out and requested some more time off work for another family emergency. ”

“You should’ve told me you were coming. I would’ve–”

“Picked me up in the non-existent car you have down here?” Jolie laughed. “Besides, had I done that, you wouldn’t have gotten at least a few hours of sleep.” She winked.

“I don’t know what Mom is going to do. I’m kind of hoping it’s like everything else: she makes a bunch of threats and gives up. But it’s money, so I doubt it.”

“Have you thought about giving her just a little something to make her leave you alone?”

“I did, but Mr. Beaufort said that rarely ends well. Once she knows I’m willing to give her something, she’ll just expect more.”

“Knowing our mother, that’ll definitely be the case,” Jolie replied on a sigh. “Okay. So, we give her nothing.”

“That means you, too, Jolie. You can’t give in if I’m holding firm.”

“I won’t. But I think it would be helpful to me if you’d do something for me.”

“What?”

“Take it all.”

“Huh?”

“Kyle, I don’t need these properties. I don’t want the house Grandma and Grandpa lived in. And this one will be beautiful, I’m sure, but I don’t want it, either. Let me sign my share over to you.”

“You should sell me your half, then,” Kyle replied.

“No, just take them. Take the money, too. I’ll transfer it all into your account.”

“What? No. Jolie, you need it.”

“Just keep it. If something comes up and I need it, I’ll let you know. If I have it in my accounts, though, no matter how strong I might be, she’ll find a way, Kyle. I can’t let that happen. I might change my mind in a year or two, and if so, give me my money back.” Jolie laughed. “But for now, if I don’t have it, she can’t get it from me.”

“Are you sure? You could buy a house up there.”

“I will. One day, I’ll buy a house with my husband, and I’ll ask for some of it then. For now, though, I don’t need it, so it just feels like this albatross hanging around my neck. This would help me, Ky. And that’s especially true if you’re not there to help me when she gives me those puppy-dog eyes and tells me she needs cash.”

Kyle nodded and said, “Okay. If that’s what you want. But I’ll see about putting it in a special account. Maybe some of it would go into an investment account or something.”

“Whatever you think is best. I trust you.”

“Okay. We can go to the bank and take care of it, if you want.”

“That would be great, yes,” Jolie replied before she stood and walked over to the counter, where Kyle was still standing. “Is that the shitty chicory stuff or actual coffee?”