Page 24 of Rafael

“Wow.” Lena looked out the same window asGisele. “Couldn’t you go to work for another company?”

“Once you’re blackballed on Wall Street, you’re toxic. I sent out hundreds of resumes.” She shook her head. “Nothing. Not even a kiss my ass.”

“Is that when you came back to Bayou Mambaloa?” Lena asked.

Gisele shook her head. “I refused to leave New York City with my tail between my legs. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But you didn’t have a job,” Lena said. “What did you do?”

“I did what I do best.” Gisele’s lips curved upward. “I became an independent day trader, buying and selling stocks, determined to prove to those bastards I didn’t need them. Once I had a sizable portfolio that was generating a good flow of money, I bought a rundown shop on Main Street, sight unseen, packed my bags and left on my terms. No regrets.”

Lena’s lips twisted. “Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine? Here you are telling me to go swim with the sharks. What? Don’t you like me?”

Gisele chuckled. “Sounds all gloom and doom, but it wasn’t. I got to travel, to live in a vibrant city and learn the business. But most of all, I got to know myself and what was important to me.”

“Sounds like a lot of effort just to end up back here. I could skip all that and stay right here.”

“I had to leave and almost lose myself to find thereal me. Had I stayed in Bayou Mambaloa, I might’ve come to the same conclusion, but it would’ve taken a lot longer for me to realize I’ve been who I am all along. As hard a lesson as it was, I wouldn’t do anything differently. There are worse things I could be than the Voodoo Queen’s granddaughter. At least I could hold up my head and be proud.”

Lena’s lips twisted. “I’m still not convinced that leaving home is what I want or need.”

Gisele patted her arm. “You have time. Finish your degree, start a career and know you aren’t stuck in that field for the rest of your life like the silent generation was. You’re free to change directions. But start somewhere. Get out and live.”

“I’ll think about it,” Lena said.

“And I’ll go pay a visit to YaYa.”

“Lucky,” Lena muttered. “I might have to sign up for one of her yoga sessions just so I can get a glimpse of her new tenant.”

Gisele collected the package the delivery man had left with her by mistake and crossed the alley to duck between the women still standing around, waiting for the men to pass through yet again.

The slim and fit forty-five-year-old YaYa, dressed in her signature yoga pants and sports bra, stood with a middle-aged woman who was busily scribbling information onto a form attached to a clipboard. When the woman was done, she handed YaYa the clipboard and a personal check.

“See you tomorrow morning at the seven o’clock session,” YaYa said. “You’re lucky. You were the last one I could add to that time slot. It’s now full.”

“My friend who lives close to the old boarding house told me that your new tenant jogs every morning about that time.” The woman, probably in her fifties, leaned closer to YaYa and added, “And he jogs shirtless.”

“I like to think you’re coming to the morning session, not just to watch a man jog by without a shirt. You should come to yoga to improve your overall health.”

“Oh, but I am,” the woman said. “Every time that luscious hunk of a man jogs by, my heart rate will increase and fill my system with endorphins. The yoga is a plus. See you in the morning.”

The woman sailed off to join her friends lining the alley as a couple more men carried boxes from the truck around the corner of the building.

Gisele recognized Remy and Gerard.

“I’ve heard of goat yoga.” Gisele’s lips quirked. “Is there a new trend in alley yoga?”

YaYa shook her head. “When news got out that I’d rented my upstairs apartment to the guy who jogs from the boarding house through town and back, women started showing up from all over town and some from neighboring communities.”

Gisele laughed. “All because you rented your upstairs apartment to a man?”

“Yes. I know it sounds crazy.” She tipped her chin toward the ladies lining the alley. “They arrived at the same time as the truck. I told them that they'd have to sign up for yoga if they wanted to stand around the building. Needless to say, I’ve had a steady stream of women signing up for the early morning yoga class.”

“How did they know what time the truck would arrive and that you’d rented the apartment?”

YaYa gave her a conspiratorial wink. “I might have let it slip on social media to Bayou Mambaloa’s biggest gossip.”

“You amaze me,” Gisele said with a grin. “Which one of the Brotherhood Protectors did you rent the apartment to?” She turned to find Valentin coming toward her, followed by another man. Valentin blocked her view of the other man’s face.

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