Page 9 of January (New Orleans #1)

“Y ou didn’t even go in?” Jolie asked.

“I don’t know what happened. We walked all the way over there, and I–”

“Wait. We ?”

“Yeah, Melinda and I.”

“Melinda? The tour guide?”

“Yes. Do I know another Melinda in New Orleans or at all?” Kyle asked sarcastically as the car made its way along the street.

“I didn’t know you were asking her to go with you.”

“You didn’t want to, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go alone. Turns out, I didn’t even go in with her there, so…”

“It’s just a house, Ky.”

“I know. But it’s kind of weird, isn’t it? Grandma had two houses. One is pretty modest. Then, there’s this mansion in the middle of a rich part of town, and she’s just renting it out to vacationers.”

“It is weird, but maybe she didn’t want to have to deal with it. She did live alone all these years.”

“Why did Mom make it sound like they had nothing when she was growing up? Her room looked like a typical teenage room from back then. She had a lot more than we did growing up.”

“Mom is a liar. You know that,” Jolie replied.

“I just have a lot of questions.”

“Do you think you’re going to ask her?”

“Why would I waste my time? She’ll only come up with a new lie.”

When the car pulled over outside of the office building, Jolie and Kyle thanked the shared-ride driver and got out, standing on the sidewalk for a moment, looking up at it .

“Now or never, huh?” Jolie said.

“Let’s go and find out what we can,” she replied.

Inside, the lobby was expansive, with a round security desk and one of those screens where they could check on the location of the suite number and the elevator they should take to get there because there were, apparently, certain elevators that took people to floors two through six and others that went to floors seven through eleven. Finding the right one, Kyle hit the button and waited with Jolie at her side.

“So, Melinda?”

“What about her?”

“Was she mad that you basically dragged her along for nothing?”

“No. She was great. We ended up walking around for a while.”

“What did you talk about?”

The elevator arrived, and after three people exited, they got in and pressed the button for their floor.

“A little of everything, I guess. She’s twenty-five.”

“She’s younger than me?” her sister asked.

“Yes,” Kyle replied with a nod.

“I wouldn’t have guessed,” Jolie said. “She seems more mature somehow.”

“Than you? Yeah, that’s not hard.”

“You’re hilarious.”

The elevator arrived on their floor, and they stepped out. Greeted by a reception desk and a young man with a headset, looking like he was answering forty phone calls at once, Kyle stood there and waited for him to look up.

“Are you seeing her again?”

“Melinda? Yeah, after this. And you’re coming with me.”

“I am?”

“Yes. She invited us on the cemetery tour she’s doing tonight. Her company has exclusive access to stuff and is able to do night tours when most others have to stick to the daytime.”

“You’re taking me to a cemetery? No, thanks. ”

“Can I help you?” the man finally said, looking up at them.

“Yes. We have an appointment with Mr. Beaufort.”

The man nodded and pulled up something on his computer screen.

“Name?”

“Kyle and Jolie Schafer,” Kyle replied.

“You can have a seat. He’ll be right with you.”

Minutes later, they were ushered back through winding hallways toward what appeared to be a corner office, where the door was opened for them, and a man who looked to be in his early sixties with white hair and one of those expensive lawyer suits stood up and buttoned his jacket.

“Hello, Kyle and Jolie. I’m Brian Beaufort,” he said in a thick Southern accent. “I was planning on calling you next week to discuss your grandmother’s passing. I am sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” Kyle replied.

Mr.Beaufort walked around his desk and gave them a polite smile, shaking their hands with his much larger one in turn. Then, he motioned for them to sit on the sofa at the back of the room, and he took the straight-backed chair across from it.

“I’m glad you’re here. It makes things a lot easier.”

“How so?” Jolie asked.

“Well, your grandmother left you certain items in her will, and you’ll have to make decisions on how you’d like to deal with those. It’s easier that you’re here in person, though you could’ve handled it from home as well. My firm is happy to help take any of this burden off your shoulders, if you’d like.”

“Can we start at the beginning, please?” Jolie requested. “Kyle and I never met our grandmother and didn’t know anything about her, really.”

“I understand. She explained that your mother and she were estranged, which is likely why she didn’t leave anything in her will to your mother. ”

“Do you know what happened?” Kyle asked, leaning forward on the sofa.

“She didn’t tell me much, no. I was her lawyer, not her confidant, of course. I only met with her a few times after she first got sick and wanted to ensure she took care of her affairs before she passed.”

“She has two houses,” Jolie replied.

“She does, yes. The one she lived in is probably worth a little, but the house in the Garden District is worth a pretty penny.”

“And she left them to us?”

“She did. She split everything between the two of you right down the middle, so to speak. The money as well.”

“There’s money?”

“Oh, yes,” he replied. “A nice sum. You likely won’t be able to retire right away, but if you invest some of it, you should be able to have a nice life for yourselves. I have all the paperwork and details right here. I can go over it with you now, if you’d like.”

“Yes, please,” Kyle said eagerly, not because she wanted the money but because she wanted any story that could possibly come along with it.

An hour later, both Kyle and Jolie were stunned to know that their grandmother was a millionaire on paper. Her assets, combined with the money in her accounts, would definitely make their lives easier, but now, they had decisions to make.

“What do you want to do?” Jolie asked once they were outside the building.

“I have no idea,” she said, ordering them another car to take them back to the hotel while still in shock herself.

“He said we could sell pretty easily. One or both.”

“She rented out the big house. Should we keep doing that, too?” Kyle asked. “It would be good money coming in regularly.”

“But we’d be landlords. Do you want to be a landlord?”

“Not really. But you could help with it, right?”

“I guess. But, Ky, my job keeps me busy as is. I’m kind of hoping I’ll meet someone soon, and I’d like to have time for a relationship.”

“We could hire a property management company to take care of it.”

“True,” Jolie replied. “It’s a lot to think about.”

“We shouldn’t make any fast decisions,” she suggested. “We just found out that our grandmother was rich, didn’t ever give us any help or money, and now that she’s gone, she left us everything. It’s a lot to process.”

“Are you really going to make me go on some creepy cemetery tour?” Jolie asked.

“You’ve been all about the tours since we got here.”

“Yes, but we’re going to the casino tonight. I thought you’d come with us. I didn’t realize you’d made plans with Melinda.”

“You’ve been busy,” Kyle reminded.

“Are you mad that you’ve put more time into this than I have?”

“Not mad, no. I just made plans. I thought you could come with us, and it would be fun. The place is supposedly haunted. There could be ghosts,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at her sister.

“And at the casino, there could be money and drinks. I’ll take the casino,” Jolie replied.

“Fine. But just because we might have some money coming in, doesn’t mean you should lose everything you have at the slots tonight.”

“Do you really want me to go with you?” Jolie asked.

Kyle thought about it as the car she’d ordered pulled up. If Jolie was there, she’d have someone to enjoy the tour with since Melinda would be busy giving it, but if Jolie wasn’t there, she’d have Melinda to herself whenever there was a gap in the tour or maybe after if Melinda was free. She thought about asking if Melinda wanted to grab a drink once she was finished with work for the night, and if Jolie was there, doing that would be a little easier because it wouldn’t sound like she was asking Melinda on a date. Kyle hadn’t asked Melinda specifically if she was into women, but the look she’d given her at the bar the other night, combined with some of the light flirting they’d done, had her believing it was at least a possibility. Of course, Kyle hadn’t asked her if she was single, so there was always the chance, even if Melinda was interested in women, that she had one of her own already.

On top of all that, Kyle was going home soon. Maybe not tomorrow, but eventually, she’d leave New Orleans, and Melinda would still be here, so asking her out on a date was pretty much a waste of time since nothing could come of it. The thought of leaving New Orleans had Kyle feeling something she couldn’t quite explain, though, as she climbed into the back seat after Jolie.

“Ky?”

“Huh?”

“I asked you if you really wanted me to go with you.”

“Oh, sorry. No, you don’t have to if you’d rather go to the casino.”

“Really? I don’t want to keep ditching you. I just really like these girls. They’re fun and like the same things I do.”

“It’s fine. I’ll have fun on my own,” she replied.

◆◆◆

“What are you doing?” Melinda asked when she spotted Kyle in the line to pay for the tour.

“Trying to get my ticket. Why?”

“Kyle, I told you…” Melinda pulled her aside. “You’re just with me tonight, okay? No ticket necessary.”

“Won’t you get in trouble for that?”

Melinda chuckled and replied, “No. It’s fine. If you wait outside, I’ll be right there, and we’ll get started.”

“Okay. If you’re sure,” she replied.

“Just go outside.” Melinda gave Kyle’s shoulder a light shove.

Kyle smiled at her in response and followed Melinda’s instructions. Within a few minutes, around fifteen people were waiting on the street as Melinda began with her introduction. This one was a bit different than the one she’d given on the food tour. She was attempting to make things a little scarier for the group by referencing ghosts, vampires, and witches. The three kids under thirteen seemed to be eating it up. Kyle just stared at Melinda and hung on her every word. At first, she remained at the back of the group as the tour began, feeling guilty that she was getting the experience for free while the others were paying customers, but by the time they entered Lafayette Cemetery No.1, which was the most famous one in New Orleans, Melinda had motioned for Kyle to join her up front as she proceeded to show people the famous mausoleums and explain a bit about the history of the cemetery and New Orleans but also focused on the rumors of hauntings to make it more interesting for the kids. Then, before the tour ended, Melinda gave everyone a few minutes to look around in one area to see if they could spot a ghost.

“So, what did you think?” Melinda asked her when she and Kyle were standing off to the side.

“This was fun. Thank you for letting me tag along,” she replied, watching the kids and their parents attempt to locate ghosts.

“Have you been there yet? I’m guessing no, but thought I’d ask,” Melinda said, pointing across the street to a restaurant.

“No. Is it good?”

“Commander’s Palace?” Melinda laughed a little. “Yes, it’s one of the best restaurants in the country.”

“Oh. Really? Shows how much I know,” Kyle said.

“If you want to go while you’re here, I can get you a table for you and Jolie.”

“You really do know everyone in the city, don’t you?”

“My boss is the owner of the tour company. She’s a New Orleans institution and basically a second mother to me. She knows a lot of people, too, and I’d be asking her to call and get you the table.”

“What about you? ”

“What about me ?”

“Will you join us?”

“I’ve already been.”

“I don’t really want to go if you’re not going with us,” Kyle replied.

Melinda smiled and said, “Want to talk more about it when we get back?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Kyle replied. “Hey, what are you doing after this?”

“This is my last tour of the night, so I was going to go home. Why?”

“Would you maybe want to get a drink instead?” Kyle chanced.

“Oh. Yeah. Sure. That sounds like fun,” Melinda replied. “Just let me wrangle this group, and we’ll head back.”

“You can pick the place. You’d know better than me.”

“Are you looking for something in the Quarter or something quieter?”

Kyle smiled and replied, “Well, I’d like to hear whatever we might be talking about, so I’m thinking quieter.”

“I’ve got a place, then,” Melinda said. “Okay, everyone, it’s time for us to leave the ghosts alone and get out of here before the vampires spot us. Are we ready?”

Kyle laughed to herself as Melinda looked at a photo on a little girl’s phone. She’d found a ghost and had taken a picture of it. Melinda made sure to make a big deal out of it for the girl’s benefit, and then it was time for them all to go.

“So, there’s a dueling piano bar, if you’re interested,” Melinda said when they arrived back at the office. “They have great martinis.”

“I’m not picky.”

“It’s a bit of a walk. Do you want to take a car instead?”

“You walk for a living all day, so I’ll leave that up to you, but I’m good. I really like walking around, and I haven’t done much at night.”

“The city is different at night, isn’t it?”

“It is, yeah,” Kyle agreed .

“Can you give me five minutes to change into a pair of jeans and a different shirt?” Melinda asked.

“Oh, sure; we can stop by your place, if you want.”

“Great. Come on up,” Melinda said.

“Up?” Kyle asked.