Page 61 of January

“Share the chair with you, yes.”

“Yeah, okay. Should we clean up first?”

“No.” Melinda shook her head a little. “In a minute.” She walked over to the chair and turned, waiting for Kyle.

Kyle stood, pushed in her chair, and walked over to the chaise. Then, without words, she knew that Melinda wantedher to sit down first, so she did and leaned back, spreading her legs. Melinda’s heart did a little flutter, and her stomach flipped as she swallowed hard, picturing them in a very different scenario, with Kyle’s legs spread before her. She refocused her mind and moved to sit down between them, wrapping Kyle’s arms around her waist instantly and looking out at the garden.

“This is nice,” she said after several minutes of silence.

“It is,” Kyle agreed, placing a kiss where Melinda’s neck met her shoulder. “I’m glad we did this.”

“We’re still doing it,” Melinda reminded her. “And we have beignets to look forward to still.”

“I think I could fall asleep out here.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah, with me holding you, looking up at the moon.”

“That sounds nice, but I’d probably get a little cold.”

“I can grab blankets. All of them, if you want,” Kyle whispered into her ear.

“You’re making it hard to resist.”

“That’s kind of my point. Can we skip beignets and just stay out here all night? I’ll–”

Before Kyle could finish that thought, though, the chair beneath them gave way, and the metal screeched as they fell to the ground below.

“Oh, my God!” Melinda said, laughing as Kyle still held on to her, now more for protection than for romance.

“Well, I guess I no longer have to wonder what happened to the other chair,” Kyle said, smiling at her.

Melinda’s laughter grew in volume as Kyle joined her. Then, as she looked around, Melinda saw rust and missing screws. It was likely the chair hadn’t been taken care of out here and that if there had been a second one, it had also broken and was tossed out.

“Beignets?” Melinda asked through her laughter.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Kyle said, looking around. “Are you okay?”

“My butt is a little sore, and I think my dress will likelyneed to be dry-cleaned, but I’m fine. You? Got any metal pieces stuck in places they shouldn’t be?”

“No, thankfully,” Kyle replied, tossing a few pieces to the side on the patio.

“We should get up,” Melinda suggested.

Kyle stood, held out her hands, helping Melinda stand up, and then she looked Melinda over, checking for cuts and bruises.

“Do I need a tetanus shot?” she asked, looking down at her own body to be sure.

“I think you’re okay,” Kyle replied. “And I’m so sorry. I should’ve tested it out before we sat down.”

“There’s no way you could have known that chair was about to take its last chair breath,” Melinda told her.

“Should we clean up now?” Kyle asked.

Melinda laughed again, unable to hold it in for some reason, and Kyle stood there, watching her laugh, until Melinda took her by the hand over to the table, where her laughter finally quieted, and they brought the dishes inside. After cleaning the few they used together, Kyle went back outside to at least make sure there weren’t any rogue metal pieces lying around where someone could get hurt. Melinda heard her working as she moved into the parlor, which was next to the library. It had two old-style straight-backed chairs and a love seat that matched. There were small tables and a wet bar along the wall, again with nothing in the old glassware.

“I think this was where the men had their brandy and cigars while the women did the dishes,” Kyle said. “But it also has this old record player, and it actually works.”

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