Page 91 of August
“Twenty-one?” Elisa interjected and stopped walking. “You’re making me hang out with someone who’s not much older than my kids?”
Myra stopped and laughed with Elisa.
“She’s mature for her age, and Enid is older than her. It just worked out this way. Mel met Kyle. Then, Bridgette met Monica. It went on from there, really. Monica knew Sophie from work. Sophie met her girlfriend, Bryce. I met Kyle and Melinda right when Kyle moved here and inherited a house from her grandmother. I helped them redo it. It’s probably one of my favorite remodels that I’ve ever done, and I get to spend time there with them, which is really nice. Asher and Linden are both wedding planners, so that’s how I met them. They’re working on the dueling weddings.”
“The what?” Elisa laughed.
“Oh, that’s what we call them. There’s not really a duel or any issue. Mel and Bridgette have known one another forever and just got engaged around the same time. Asher and Linden are planning their weddings. Linden met Rory at a work event. Rory knows Candace. Candace hired Logan. See where I’m going with this?”
“You’ve mentioned someone named Enid. What’s her origin story?” Elisa joked as they started walking again.
“No clue. She’s nice. I know she and Caroline just met a couple of months ago. Oh, there’s also Jodie and Viv, but I don’t know them at all. Viv used to be Caroline’s roommate, and Jodie is Caroline’s friend. The two of them are dating, but that’s all I know. They’re not usually here and only show up sometimes. Then, there’s Jill.”
“Jill, who is also a tour guide?”
“She manages the place, too, now,” Myra replied. “And she’s dating Willa, who is a teacher.”
“Jill and Willa,” she said. “Okay. I will forget most ofthis, so stay close and feed info into my ear.”
Myra laughed and said, “You’ll do fine. No one would expect anyone to remember all of that.”
Elisa stopped them once more just as they arrived at the open bar door and said, “Wait. They all have someone.”
“Sorry?”
“They’re all dating someone.”
“Yes.”
“And it was just you?”
“What do you mean?” Myra asked.
“That you were the only single one.”
“Oh. Sort of. I mean, Jill met Willa last month. She was single before that. But it’s not like we spent a ton of time together. I don’t have a lot of free time to hang out.”
Elisa smiled and said, “But tonight, you get to walk in the door with someone, too.”
Myra smiled wide and replied, “I do. And that someone looks really, really beautiful tonight. I am incredibly lucky.”
“So am I,” Elisa said before she leaned in and kissed her quickly. “Okay. I’m ready to go in and forget everyone’s name the instant they introduce themselves.”
Myra walked through the door first, and Elisa moved to stand next to her once they were inside. Elisa hadn’t gone out much since arriving in New Orleans. Gwen had walked her around the Quarter, but that had been at about five o’clock in the afternoon when things weren’t busy. Gwen had pointed at the bars for her to avoid, ones for her to check out should she be interested, her favorite drink, the drink she hated the most, and that was about it. They’d only walked into a couple of bars that Gwen liked so that she could show Elisa where the bathrooms were. That was her thing: Gwen always needed to know where the bathrooms were in places, and she rated them based on a few key factors. She’d explained that process to Elisa that day, which had made Elisa laugh, but it also made a lot of sense, and now, she knew where the best and worst bathrooms were on Bourbon Street.
“Myra, hey.”
“Hey,” Myra said as a woman walked up to them. “Mel, this is Elisa. Elisa, this is Melinda.”
“Hi. It’s so nice to meet you,” Melinda said and put her hand out for Elisa to shake.
Elisa let go of Myra’s hand and shook it.
“You too. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.”
“Really? You have good things to say about me?” Melinda teased Myra.
“A few,” Myra replied.
