Page 43 of The House on Prytania

“Well, it’s a good thing Melanie’s here, right?”

“True. Although I really don’t want her involved. She needs to know that I can handle things on my own.”

“What about Beau? You mentioned that he helped before.”

I nodded. “To be honest, I haven’t gotten that far. I guess I was hoping that if I ignored it, it would just go away on its own.”

“Good plan,” he said. “That usually works well.”

“I know, I know. I need to talk to Beau. See if we can figure out some kind of strategy.”

An SUV going about ninety swerved into the lane in front of us, causing Cooper to slam on the brakes and honk, but the oblivious driver of the SUV simply coasted into the next lane and sped away. “Welcome to New Orleans,” I said.

“I’ve been driving in LA for the last few years. Nothing could surprise me.”

I leaned forward and knocked on the fake wood on the dash. “You haven’t seen me behind the wheel yet.”

“So you’re finally driving?”

“Not yet. I’m not ready, but Beau’s been teaching me and thinks I’m ready for the interstate.”

Cooper nodded slowly. “So, you and this Beau Ryan. Are you... a couple?”

I shook my head more forcefully than necessary. “No. Absolutely not. He has a girlfriend, Samantha—Sam. We just work together.”

He looked at me and I realized I was still shaking my head and made myself stop.

“Is there... anyone else?”

I thought of Michael. “No and yes. It’s a long story—I’ll tell you later. But no, I’m not in a relationship with anyone.”

The GPS told him to take exit four onto Franklin Avenue, and he flipped on his blinker. Despite the Louisiana license plate on his rental car, the use of his signal confirmed his identity as a nonlocal. As someone who was currently learning how to drive and was studying the state driver’s manual very closely, I’d been surprised to find thatdespite what I saw on the roads every day, the use of turn signals was not, in fact, optional.

As he decelerated on the exit ramp, he said, “Do you still play backgammon? I think you have yet to beat me.”

“I don’t think that’s right,” I said, even though I knew it was. “But I’m willing to pull out my board and challenge you again. I don’t think I’ve played since you left Charleston.”

“Ouch. And here I was thinking we had succeeded in skirting that particular subject.”

“Sorry. Trust me—I didn’t bring up your leaving Charleston on purpose. I was hoping we could just, you know, forget about all that.”

He stopped the car at the end of the ramp and put his blinker on. “I’m not sure there’s anything I want to forget about Charleston except having to say good-bye. I was hoping that maybe we could just start over?”

I looked at him.

“You know. As friends.”

I wondered if I was the only girl who’d heard that same line twice in as many days from two different guys.

Cooper pulled out onto Franklin Avenue, thankfully concentrating on driving, so he couldn’t see my face. Not that I’d expected anything else, but to be firmly placed in the “friend corner” hurt.

I smiled. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

We drove the remaining few blocks to the hotel, and pulled into its gated parking lot in silence.

CHAPTER 15

An hour later, Melanie, Jolene, Sarah, and I were piling into Bubba, eager to get our sightseeing started. Jack, JJ, and Cooper were headed into the Quarter to check out Bourbon Street while it was still light out and relatively safe for an impressionable twelve-year-old boy. Melanie had given Jack explicit instructions to spend no more than twenty minutes on Bourbon before heading over to the relative peace and quiet of Royal Street. My dad was on orders from my grandmother Amelia to check out the antiques shops, especially the Past Is Never Past, and introduce himself to Mimi and Christopher.