Page 15 of March

“Nice,” Kyle said.

“So, there was the sexy dancing, with the equally sexy peck of lips on skin, and then, they were talking again and almost kissing for real, but I interrupted accidentally.” Jill made an apologetic face. “Still sorry about that, by the way.”

“It’s okay. I loved our actual first kiss,” Sophie said.

“Youdidkiss her?” Melinda asked. “Not just a peck?”

“Muchmore than a peck,” she replied.

“Yeah? Describe it,” Melinda said.

“I don’t know that I can do it justice,” she said as she leaned back in the uncomfortable metal chair. “It is, by far, the best kiss of my life, but it’s more than that. It’s like… I don’t know… She tasted like…”

“Alcohol?” Jill guessed.

“A little. But not like that. I meant she just tasted like we were supposed to be kissing.”

“Not sure I get that one,” Kyle said.

“We just matched. Like we were meant to kiss one another.”

“Damn. I want that,” Jill said.

“I had it, and I lost it,” she replied. “I asked her to come home with me.”

“I get the impression that you don’t do that very often. Is that a fair impression?” Melinda asked.

“Yes, it would be a fair impression. Ineverdo that. I’m not a one-night-stand kind of person. And I wasn’t planning on it last night, but the way it felt to kiss her, and how she touched me… I just blurted it out, and I didn’t regret it after at all. I would’ve slept with her; I know that for certain. But it was also like I just wanted to keep talking. I didn’t want to say goodnightor goodbye, and she’s here on vacation, so for allIknow, she’s already gone.”

“Maybe that’s why you couldn’t find her. Maybe after the whole thing, she had to get back to her hotel to pack and catch a flight,” Kyle suggested.

“Jill, did you find out from the friend how long they’d be here?” Melinda asked.

Sophie hadn’t even thought about that. Why hadn’t she asked Jill about what she’d learned from Kelsey after spending at least an hour with her? Maybe Jill had gotten the info about their hotel or the rest of their trip or even a phone number or another way to contact Bryce.

“Did you?” she asked now, swallowing hard at the idea.

“Don’t you think I would have said something to you by now had I found anything out that might help you?” Jill asked. “I learned basically nothing from her. We talked about Bourbon Street and the best bars. She mentioned something about not really wanting to come to New Orleans because she wanted to go somewhere else, but I don’t even think she told me where she wanted to go instead. It was mostly just us small-talking our way through an awkward night. Then, some guy asked her to dance, and he and his friend joined the table after. They flirted the rest of the time while I pretended not to pay attention, but she didn’t say anything that would help.” Jill shrugged. “I’m sorry. Had I known you’d fall into lust at first sight, I would’ve grilled her for information.”

“I wish it were just lust… Lust I could’ve dealt with. I’d be telling myself right now that it was just a hot kiss and that it wasn’t meant to be. This is more than lust; we talked, too. It wasn’t like I wanted her to shut up and just take me home. I wanted her to keep talking, to only stop talking to kiss me, and then keep talking again. And, yeah, sex as well, but this feels likemy world tilted on its axis last night, and I don’t know how to right it.”

“I know that feeling,” Kyle said. “I had no intentions of coming to New Orleans and meeting Mel. I was here to find out about my family’s history. But I met her, and I just knew.”

Melinda smiled over at her girlfriend and said, “I love you, too, babe.”

“I know it sounds ridiculous and that it wasn’t really love at first sight. I’ve never believed in that as a concept, I guess. I think you start with having interest and desire at first sight, and as you get to know the person more, the love forms. Then, you can look back at that first meeting and think, ‘Yeah, that’s what that was: it was love at first sight.’ But it’s not reallylovein the very beginning, until you apply the context and examine it later, when you’re in love with this person.”

“That sounds nice,” Jill replied. “A little scientific or logical and less rom-com – running through an airport to get to the other person before they board a plane and you never see them again – but nice.”

“It does sound nice, yeah,” Kyle agreed.

“I’m kind of a nerdy, numbers person, so the science and logic behind feelings make sense to me more than the part about just meeting someone and knowing right away that they’re supposed to be yours just because you feel a certain way.”

“That soundslessnice,” Jill joked.

“It’s putting the brain in the same equation as the heart. I get it,” Melinda offered.

As Melinda, Kyle, and Jill continued to talk about things she didn’t care much about today, Sophie turned to look out at Jackson Square and the crowd of people crossing the street and walking into and out of Café Du Monde. That’s when she thought she saw something. Well, she thought she saw someone.

---