Page 35 of January

“People drink these?” Kyle asked, sliding the drink back across the table.

“Yes. And they’re delicious.”

“I’ll stick to my beer,” Kyle said, taking a drink.

“How do you like that?”

“It’s good,” Kyle said. “Beer’s easy for me, though. I’m not a fan of dark stuff, but if it’s light, I’ll probably like it. This has a hint of orange, I think.”

“It’s not Abita. Have you tried that one yet?”

“Abita? No.”

“It’s local, and they’ve got a ton of flavors. You can buy it in the store cheaper than you’ll get it here.”

“Oh, that’s good to know.”

“It is?”

“I think we might check out of the hotel and stay in our grandma’s house instead while we’re here.”

“The Garden one?”

“No, the smaller one. We’d save a lot of money, and I have stuff I want to go through there, anyway. We found out that we own both of them, though.”

“You do?”

Kyle nodded and said, “Apparently. It’s crazy. I’m thirty years old, and she didn’t so much as send me a birthday card with twenty bucks in it, but she left us two properties and some money, too.”

“Wow. That’s great, though, right?” Melinda asked, leaning forward just as the pianos began their dance.

The music caused Kyle to have to lean forward, too, in order for them to keep talking, and with the table being so small, it meant that they were very close. Kyle stared into Melinda’s brown eyes, and Melinda stared back into Kyle’s green ones.

“It’s confusing,” Kyle told her, and Melinda wasn’t sure what she was talking about at first. “Anyway, I think I’ll wantsome food and beer in the refrigerator.”

“Oh, right,” Melinda replied. “What are you going to do with the properties?”

“We don’t know yet. We could rent them out, sell them, or keep them, but no matter what we decide, we need to go through everything there first and see what to keep, what to donate, and what to throw out. Such a hard thing to do when you have no idea what all the stuff is or how much it would have meant to her. There’s this glass cabinet thing she has of knickknacks and such, like those little Precious Moments figurines. Did she love each of them like they were her own children? Were they just novelty purchases so that she’d have something on a shelf?”

“They might be worth something. You should check that out before you donate them.”

“But what if I want to donate things to a charity she didn’t support or like? Would that be wrong?”

“Who wouldn’t like a charity?”

“I was thinking about selling things, and any money they made would go to a local LGBTQ+ charity or a shelter or something.”

“You think she’d have a problem with you donating to that cause?” Melinda asked, taking a sip of her cucumber martini?

“I don’t know because I never knew her,” Kyle told her and sighed. “But can we maybe talk about you for a bit? I feel like all we’ve done since we met is talk about me. Tell me more about growing up here or your own family.”

“Oh, wow. Well, that’s a lot. Where do I start?”

“Hey.”

Melinda looked up and saw Bridgette standing next to the table. She’d completely forgotten about the fact that her friend was on her way.

“Oh, hey,” Melinda replied. “Um… Bridgette, this is Kyle. Kyle, this is my friend, Bridgette.”

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