Page 57 of August
“After my surprise event. And it’s special because my uncle owns the shop. He makes the best Po-Boys in town. He has all the awards to prove it.”
Elisa chuckled while Myra got inside the truck, and after Myra pulled them out of the driveway, she took a chance and reached over for Elisa’s hand. She let Elisa decide what to do with their hands now that they were joined, and Elisa kept them in her lap, resting on her thigh. It didn’t take them long to get to the parking lot that was closest to NOLA Guides, and it gave nothing away about their destination, which Myra liked. After getting out of the truck, she walked around and held out her hand, leaving it up to Elisa to take it or not. If she didn’t take it, that would be okay, but Myra really wanted to hold her hand as they walked tonight. Elisa glanced down and back up. Then, she winked at Myra and took her hand, entwining their fingers.
“Where to?” she asked as she kind of swung their hands back and forth.
“This way,” Myra replied.
They walked along the sidewalk, passing some drunk or semi-drunk people, people pointing at drunk people, and probably a few sober people, too. It was still early, but the drinking started in the AM for tourists, and that was especially true during the summer and for college students who wanted to make the most of their vacations before they went back to school in a few weeks. When they arrived at NOLAGuides, Rory was already standing outside, passing stickers to the rest of the tour group.
“What are we doing?” Elisa asked.
“Taking a tour. I hope that’s okay. My friend Melinda runs this place. It’s a vampire and ghost tour. Silly stuff, but I thought it could be fun.”
“Really?” Elisa laughed a little. “Thatdoessound like fun. I’ve never been on a tour here. Ghosts and vampires?”
“It was that or cemeteries. We could still do that one. It leaves at the same time.”
“It just left, actually,” Rory said as she walked over to them.
“Oh. Really? We’re late?”
“No, everyone just checked in for that one a few minutes early, and it was already packed, so Jill didn’t want to wait for walk-ins.” Rory looked over at Elisa. “Hi. I’m Rory.”
“Elisa,” she said.
“Nice to meet you,” Rory replied and held out a sticker for Elisa to take.
“Rory is a friend of mine. I met her through Melinda.”
“Oh, really?” Elisa looked over at Myra and smiled. “I get to meet one of your friends?”
“Two, if you want,” she replied. “Mel’s inside. You can meet her, too.”
“Actually, Mel went out with Kyle. Enid is inside, holding down the office, but only for a few minutes because it’ll close after that.”
“Enid?” Elisa asked.
“Another friend.”
“You have a lot of friends,” Elisa noted.
“I guess so.” Myra chuckled as she took the sticker Rory held out for her and pressed it into her shirt.
“I have to get back to work, but we’ll talk later,” Rory said.
“I’d like that,” Elisa replied.
Rory moved to the front of the large group, handed out a few more stickers, and then moved everyone to the side ofthe building out of the way of the sidewalk so that she could introduce herself and give some details about the tour. Myra was having a hard time concentrating, though, because Elisa had moved into her side and rested her head against Myra’s shoulder. Myra wrapped an arm around her to silently let her know that this was good. She kissed the top of Elisa’s head and let out a deep breath. She hadn’t felt this at ease in a long time. Everything was work, work, work, and the dates she’d been on since her divorce had mostly been lackluster. Now, for the first time in a long time, Myra was excited about something other than work.
“Okay. Are we ready?” Rory asked them all, sounding excited.
“If I get scared, can I just burrow into you?” Elisa whispered into Myra’s ear.
“Absolutely,” Myra replied.
They started their walk down the busy street, and Rory talked loudly because there were no headphones or anything on these intimate tours. She stopped them in front of an old Bourbon Street house and began talking about an old woman who had died there in the early nineteen hundreds and supposedly still haunted the place until this day. She made it fun, pretending to be scared for a minute as she told the story, and then suggested they all get out their cameras and try to take a photo since it was rumored that the ghost would show up only in pictures.
Myra stood there with her hand on the small of Elisa’s back, rubbing it just because she could, and she smiled when Elisa reached for her phone in her purse and excitedly began snapping photos. Elisa used the flash in some, not in others, and tried zooming in on a window to get a close-up.
