Page 18 of July (New Orleans #7)

“T hank you,” Willa said and handed the customer the bag with the three purchased magnets and key chain in it.

The woman nodded in response and left the gift shop.

Willa checked out the next customer, who bought a magnet and two T-shirts, and looked around.

Seeing only one other person in the shop, she leaned over the glass counter, which doubled as a display case for the few more expensive items no one ever bought.

During the busy months, the museum’s operating hours were extended, but the gift shop was open a full thirty minutes after close to try to capitalize on any stragglers who wanted another six-dollar key chain with the state of Louisiana on it, so she had another two hours on her shift.

“Can I get that magnet behind you?”

Recognizing the owner of the voice immediately, Willa looked up and saw Jill standing in front of the counter. She was smiling and pointing behind her. Willa smiled back and turned to see what Jill was talking about, wondering why she would want to buy a magnet at all.

“You want a magnet of St. Louis Cathedral in gold?”

“I do. Always have, actually. Has been a big dream of mine my whole life,” Jill said.

“Can I get something, too?”

Willa looked down and saw Juni standing a little behind and off to Jill’s side.

“What do you want?” Jill asked her.

“Um… Candy.”

Jill laughed and replied, “One thing. Go pick something out while I talk to Miss Mailor.”

“We’re outside of school, so I can call her Willa, right?”

Willa smiled down at her and replied, “Yes, you can.”

Juni smiled back at her and looked up at her big sister with a smug expression on her face, like she’d won both the battle and the war this night.

“Go get your candy,” Jill said, laughing.

Juni hurried over to the small candy rack.

“Just a heads-up, we sell the bagged cotton candy stuff here, so I wouldn’t let her get that. It’ll keep her in sugar for days,” Willa offered.

“No cotton candy, Juni,” Jill said loudly.

Juni let out a grunt that had both adults laughing while Jill moved closer to the counter, leaning over it beside Willa.

“I didn’t see you at pickup.”

“I had a meeting,” Willa replied.

“Really?”

“Yes,” she replied with a small laugh. “I have meetings, Jill.”

“The timing is suspect.” Jill glared at her playfully.

“I thought I was going to call you after my shift,” Willa noted. “I wasn’t avoiding you. I was sticking to the plan.”

“Juni was restless after school, so I thought a little trip to the museum might be something fun. Turns out, I’m a tour guide who gets in free a lot of places in the city.”

“No way,” Willa faked surprise. “I didn’t know that.”

“I can skip the line at Café Du Monde, too, if you ever need a favor.”

“I think I could use that favor someday,” Willa replied.

“Someday? Like maybe after your shift?”

“I still have two hours left.”

“Juni won’t last that long.” Jill laughed. “Do you get a break or anything?”

“I get a ten-minute break if I want to take it, but I usually don’t.”

“Can you take it now , though? We can walk around the Square, and I can treat you to beignets.”

“We wouldn’t even make it halfway through that line in ten minutes.”

“I told you, I get special treatment. I’m kind of a big deal in this town.”

Jill wiped fake dirt off her shoulder, which made Willa laugh.

“I have to ask my boss,” she said.

“I’ll wait here,” Jill replied.

Willa smiled at her, and it was so tempting to lean over just a few inches to her right and kiss Jill quickly before walking away because that was what it felt like she should do.

It was as if they had somehow skipped right on past the whole awkward ‘will they, won’t they’ phase and went straight to the part where they kissed one another when they would only be apart for a few seconds.

She didn’t kiss Jill, though, because as nice as that would be, their first even chaste kiss wouldn’t be with a gift shop checkout counter between them.

Instead, she pushed open the door behind the counter and found the other employee finishing up her break.

“Hey, can I take a quick ten-minute break?”

“You never take a break,” her coworker noted.

“I know. Is it okay?”

“Sure. I’ll watch the register. Take fifteen, if you want. We’ve got time until we get a little busier.”

“Thank you,” Willa replied.

She left the door open, removed her name tag, placed it by the register, and walked around the counter.

“Can I get this?” Juni asked as she walked up to them, holding a candy bar.

“Sure,” Jill replied and went to pull out her wallet.

“I’ve got it,” Willa said to her. “If I buy it, you get my ten-percent discount. I’m kind of a big deal here.” She winked at Jill and took the candy bar from Juni.

After buying it from the manager using the discount she hardly ever took advantage of, she handed it back to Juni and motioned for them to leave.

“I have a whole fifteen minutes,” she said.

“Better than ten,” Jill replied.

“Where are we going?” Juni asked.

“Hold on to your candy bar, okay? We’re going to get beignets now.”

“Beignets?” Juni’s eyes widened.

“She’s not sleeping at all tonight, is she?” Jill asked Willa.

“Probably not.”

“Juni, you can walk a little ahead of us, but don’t go too far, and when you get to the street, stop and wait. I mean it.”

“Okay,” Juni said.

“So, what was the real reason you stopped by?” Willa asked.

“I guess because I don’t know what to do here,” Jill replied.

“And Juni really was restless. She finished her homework and didn’t want to play on her tablet, which was weird for her.

We went out to the yard, and she ran around for a few but seemed to still have a bunch of energy, so I thought we could come here. ”

“So, it had nothing to do with the fact that I work here?”

“No, it did . I would’ve gone someplace else otherwise; a park with a swing or somewhere she could run around until she was tired and ready to go. I realize that kind of makes it sound like I’m treating my sister like a puppy, but I’m not. I didn’t know what else to do with her, though.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Willa asked, changing the subject.

“Yes. That’s why I’m here,” Jill replied. “Are there rules against it?”

“Us dating?”

“Yeah. Are there rules?”

“The school frowns upon it.”

“Do they really think you’ll change Juni’s grade just because you’re dating her older sister?”

“You’d be her guardian, Jill. That’s essentially her parent where they’re concerned. You’d be the one making decisions for her education, and I’d be her teacher.”

“It’s the fifth grade. She’s not graduating medical school and about to operate on someone.”

Willa chuckled and said, “I know.”

“It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. I was thinking earlier, and I wanted to just ask your opinion on this, but Juni could switch teachers, maybe.”

Willa stopped walking, which made Jill stop, too.

“You don’t want me to be her teacher?” she asked, trying not to let the hurt seep into her tone.

“What? No, of course, I do. I’m trying to see if we can make this work. I want to go out with you.”

“Jill, I love Juni. I want to be her teacher. She’s worked so hard this summer.”

“I know. I know. It was a selfish idea.” Jill looked ahead to see that Juni was still walking past the artists and street performers. “We need to keep going, or I need to tell her to stop.”

Willa started walking again and reached for Jill’s hand, entwining their fingers.

“I want this, too, you know?”

“So, why can’t we have it?” Jill asked. “Juni, wait.”

Willa looked ahead and saw Juni was getting a little too close to the street corner.

“I know. I was,” Juni said back to her.

Willa dropped Jill’s hand and asked, “Does she know?”

“About us?”

“No, that you’re gay.”

“No,” Jill said, shaking her head. “But I’ve never told her I’m straight , either.”

Willa chuckled and replied, “Good point.”

“I don’t plan on hiding it from her. We just don’t really know one another all that well yet. I’m guessing that’s about to change the more time we spend together.”

“She’s already getting to know you, Jill. It’s happening.”

“Jill, can I get two orders?” Juni asked when they joined her and waited for the light to change.

“No way.” Jill laughed. “Too much sugar.”

“I can save them for tomorrow.”

“Beignets are the best when they’re fresh,” Willa added. “You don’t want to eat old beignets, do you?”

Juni shook her head like that was an awful idea.

“Bless you,” Jill whispered appreciatively as they walked across the street.

Willa looked over and saw that Jill had Juni’s hand in her own, trying to keep her extra close through the traffic. Willa didn’t hold Jill’s hand, but she did place her own on Jill’s back and rubbed it for her until they got across the street.

“For someone trying not to date me, you sure do like to touch me a lot,” Jill joked quietly once they were in line.

“I can’t help it. You’re very touchable,” she whispered back.

Jill smiled at her and asked, “Can you watch her for two seconds so that I can get us ahead of this line?”

“Sure,” she replied.

Jill left the line and walked straight up to the window like she’d done that a million times, which she probably had, and there was something about Jill’s confidence in doing so that had Willa going a little weak in the knees.

“Willa?” Juni asked from her spot next to her now.

“Yeah?”

“I made two new friends today.”

“You did?” Willa placed her arm over Juni’s shoulders and looked up to see that Jill was waving them forward. “Oh. Your sister is ready for us now. Let’s go. Tell me about these friends while we walk.”

Juni told her all about the two girls from the sixth-grade summer class that she met and talked to earlier that day, and when they got to the front of the line, Jill passed Willa three bags of beignets like she was the most powerful woman in New Orleans.

Then, they walked out of the café toward the street, heading back through Jackson Square, and waited for the light to change.

“Can I eat them now?” Juni asked, her eyes glued to the open bag in Willa’s hands.

“Better to get all this powdered sugar out here than on the carpet at home,” Jill replied.

When they crossed the street, they headed back toward the museum, where Willa knew they would be saying goodbye.

Thinking of that made her heart hurt, so with Juni a few steps ahead of them and only paying attention to the sugar she was about to consume, Willa felt like they could start really talking again.

“You said something on the phone earlier,” she noted.

“Yeah?”

“About dating in secret until she’s out of my class.”

Jill had just bit into her beignet, getting powdered sugar on the corners of her mouth, but she stopped walking and turned to her. Willa laughed, glanced around to see where Juni was, and then wiped Jill’s lips with her thumb before grazing it over her bottom lip.

“Here,” she said.

Jill opened her mouth, and right there, in the middle of Jackson Square, Willa slipped her thumb inside it. Jill licked the sugar off her thumb and sucked on it for only a second before Willa slowly removed it and stared into Jill’s smoldering eyes.

“You can’t do that and not go out with me,” Jill uttered softly before she turned to see that Juni was still walking.

“I know, but…” Willa didn’t know what else to say.

“Tonight, Willa.”

“Tonight what?”

“Go out with me tonight. My friend will watch Juni. Let me take her home and get Rory over there. I’ll pick you up, and we’ll go on a real date. Dinner somewhere. Anywhere. I just don’t want my kid sister there.”

Willa laughed and resumed walking. Jill did the same, and they took faster steps to catch up to Juni.

“Thank you for the beignets,” she said.

“Thank you for the candy bar discount. You made her a very happy kid,” Jill replied.

“Yes,” Willa told her finally.

“Yes, what?” Jill checked.

“Yes, I’ll go out with you.”

“Tonight?”

“Tonight,” Willa confirmed with a smile and blushing cheeks. “But, Jill, you have to tell me if it’s getting too crazy with Juni or your mom. All of those things are still–”

“I know. I will. I feel like I’ve had to put a few things in my life on hold recently, and I might not get some of them back if my mom…” Jill didn’t finish the sentence with Juni within earshot. “But I don’t want to put this on hold, Willa. It feels too important.”

“Neither do I,” Willa admitted. “You should know, I’m a poor teacher who can barely afford to eat herself, so I can’t exactly take you to fancy dinners. I used an old gift card for last night.”

“I don’t care about fancy dinners. Besides, I still have that cheesecake in my fridge. We’ll have to share it later.”

“With your friend, Rory?”

“What? No. I’ll just bring it when I pick you up. We can have dessert and then dinner.”

“If you’re promising dessert before dinner, that’s a very different kind of first date.”

Jill laughed as she stopped them in front of the museum.

“Mom never let me have these. She said they were bad for me and had too much sugar. But they’re so good. Can we get more?” Juni asked with wide eyes, talking very quickly.

“She didn’t?” Jill said, looking over at Willa. “Shit. What did I just do?”

“You can’t say, ‘Shit,’” Juni scolded.