CHAPTER 28
“O kay. So, to be clear, I’m only really good friends with a couple of them,” Myra explained.
“Melinda and Kyle. Kyle is Melinda’s fiancée.
I’m at NOLA Guides a lot because I’m working with Mel on a wedding gift for Kyle, so I’ve spent time with Rory, whom you know now, Enid, and Jill, who’s the manager there, but the rest of them are sort of friends.
I thought I might be close with Asher and Linden at one point since they’re around my age, but they’re a couple, and they just got together a few months ago after ten years of friendship, so it’s not always easy to hang out with them and not feel like you’re missing all the inside jokes or just being a third wheel.
Monica, who’s also my age, is great. She’s engaged to Bridgette, who is Mel’s best friend.
She’s just always pretty busy with work, planning their wedding, and with her son, who’s in college down here. ”
“That’s a lot of names,” Elisa said, feeling a little overwhelmed as they walked hand in hand down the street toward the bar.
“I know. I’m sorry. They won’t all be here. If they are, they’ll just be in and out. Candace owns the bar. She’s Rory’s best friend, and she basically lets everyone use this as their hangout.”
“And who is she dating, again?”
“She’s engaged to Keith.”
“Is Keith a woman like Kyle?”
Myra laughed and replied, “No, but I get why you’d go there. Keith is a guy. Candace is straight. She just hangs out with mostly lesbians because of her friendship with Rory. Yes, it’s all very incestuous.”
“They never dated or–”
“No. Rory is with Logan, who is a woman and a bartender here, but I’m not sure if she’s working tonight. ”
“Rory and Logan. Okay. Got it. Rory is a tour guide.”
“And she’s getting her master’s in social work.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Enid is with Caroline, who is only twenty-one, so–”
“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 of this, 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.
“I want you to meet my fiancée, Kyle. Ky?” Melinda waved another woman over.
It went on and on like this for the first fifteen minutes.
Myra had been wrong to assume that people would be in and out.
Nearly every woman Myra had mentioned to her was already there when they arrived.
There were several tables lined up together in the bar, making one giant table to hold them all, which now included Elisa.
Elisa was sitting between Jill and Linden.
Myra was on the other side of the table, sitting between Enid and Rory.
Elisa wasn’t sure how they’d gotten separated when most of the other couples were sitting next to their partners instead of across from them, but she didn’t mind.
It gave her a chance to stare at Myra from across the table and think about the fact that she was part of a couple.
Technically, that wasn’t something new. She’d been part of a couple before and for a long time.
But it wasn’t one she was proud of. She was proud of being with Myra.
She loved holding her hand as they walked down the street.
She loved sitting here, talking to her friends, and learning more about the woman who’d made her come more times than she could count last night.
“So, Elisa, Myra told us you have two kids, right?” Jill asked.
“I do. AJ and Adele.”
“Adele? After the singer?” Jill asked.
“Oh, no,” she said with a little laugh. “But I get that a lot. My kids are eighteen. I’m not sure how many years that Adele has been famous for, but I’d never heard of her back then. It’s after my ex-husband’s grandmother. AJ is Archie Junior, technically, after his father.”
“Oh, cool,” Jill said.
“They’re about to go off to college, right?” Willa asked as she wrapped an arm around Jill’s chair and leaned over to join their conversation.
“They are. It’s interesting because they’re twins, and this is the first time they’ll really be separated for more than a day or two.”
“Different schools?” Linden asked.
“Yes. My son got an athletic scholarship to play soccer, and Adele is going to a great school on an academic one.”
“That’s great,” Linden replied. “Congrats on the successful kid-raising. If I had kids, I’m sure they’d be twiddling their thumbs right about now, playing video games, or hanging out in the Quarter.”
“If you had kids, they’d be Asher’s. Let’s be real,” Sophie said, laughing. “And Asher would’ve never let that happen.”
“In my scenario, I had these kids years ago, before Ash and I got together.”
“Yes, but you’ve been best friends forever. She would’ve basically been helping you raise them, so my point stands,” Sophie argued.
“She’s right,” Asher said.
“Soph, where’s Bryce?” Myra asked.
“Not here,” Sophie replied with a sigh. “I can’t wait until we’re done with this distance thing. I miss her all the time.”
“Where does she live?” Elisa asked.
“Tennessee,” Sophie replied.
“Okay. Refill for you,” Candace said, dropping a drink off in front of Jill. “And you.” She placed another one in front of Enid. “Rory, want another drink?”
“No, just my girlfriend. Is she off work soon?”
“Yes. She’s clocking out now and is bringing you a burger.”
“She’s the best girlfriend,” Rory said .
Elisa laughed a little at the dreamy expression on Rory’s face and asked, “How long have you two been together?”
“A few months. I met her when Candace opened this place,” Rory replied. “And now, we’re moving in together.”
“Already?” Elisa asked.
A few women at the table laughed, and she wasn’t sure if they were laughing at her comment or at another conversation at the long table.
“We’ve all kind of moved fast,” Jill said. “It started with those two.” She pointed at Melinda and Kyle at the end of the table. “Love at first sight over there set the trend.”
“Oh,” Elisa said and looked across the table at Myra, who just smiled at her and shook her head.
“Logan’s apartment isn’t great, and there are… reasons I’d like her to live with me. One, I love her and want that for us, but also because of other people in her apartment building.”
By the way Rory said ‘people,’ Elisa figured she shouldn’t probe any further and just let it go.
“What is it you do for a living?” Asher asked her.
“Oh. Nothing right now,” Elisa replied. “I took a few years off work when my kids were young. Then, I got a job working in an office as basically whatever they needed, and when I decided to separate from my husband, I quit that job and focused on figuring out my life for a while. Now that I’m here, though, I’m interviewing.
The kids will be out of the house soon, so I’ll need something to do with my time. ”
“What kinds of jobs are you interviewing for?” Asher asked.
“Mainly, anything with a flexible schedule and no college degree requirement, which is really hard these days. I’m hoping to find something part-time if I can.
I want to ease my way back into things, and I just got a dog yesterday, so I want to spend as much time with him as I can during his transition to his new family. ”
“You just got a dog?” Caroline asked. “Do you have any pictures? What’s his name?”
“Yesterday,” Myra said. “And he’s a rescue. He’s very energetic and doesn’t seem to understand privacy.”
Elisa’s eyes widened, and Myra laughed.
“To be fair, we didn’t exactly close the door last night,” Elisa said, deciding to participate in this now.
“That’s true.”
“I know you’re talking about sex, and that’s great; happy for you. But are there dog pictures?” Caroline asked.
Enid just laughed at her girlfriend and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“I have a few on my phone.” Elisa pulled out her phone, found the pictures she’d just taken of Buster, and handed it over to Enid so that she could hand it to Caroline, who was a little farther away.
“His name was Buster already, and I didn’t want to change it because he responds to it. He’s also kind of just such a Buster.”
“Busta Bust,” Gwen said as she walked into the bar, overhearing Elisa. “That’s one of my new nicknames for him.”
“I thought it was Busta Rhymes,” Myra noted.
“What? You two are making up nicknames for my dog?” Elisa laughed.
“Forgive her; Elisa hasn’t ever had a dog. She doesn’t know the rules about calling them everything but their actual names.” Gwen placed her hands on Elisa’s shoulders as she stood behind her chair. “He’s good, by the way. I checked on him.”
“Thank you,” she said. “And, everyone, this is Gwen.”
“I’m the ex-sister-in-law,” Gwen said, offering a small wave. “And, really, just a sister to Elisa here.”
Myra rolled her eyes and replied, “I’m never living that down, am I?”
“Living what down?” Jill asked.
“Nothing,” Myra said.
“Myra here thought I was on a date with her girl when, really, I’ve known Elisa since I was thirteen, and I’ve got less than zero interest in having sex with her.”
“Gwen, gross!” Elisa said .
“Yes, gross. Exactly,” Gwen agreed. “I’m getting myself a drink. Anyone need anything?”
Over an hour later, some of the women had gone home for the night, but Jodie and Viv had shown up and were now sitting in a booth with Rory and Logan.
Both couples looked really good together.
Myra was talking to Sophie and Candace at the bar, and Elisa had just walked out of the bathroom.
She moved behind Myra and wrapped her arms around her.
“Hey, are you ready to go?” she asked quietly.
“Sure,” Myra said and finished the glass of water she’d started on after she had stopped drinking over an hour ago. “Tired?” she asked, turning in Elisa’s arms.
“Yeah,” Elisa replied, pressing her face against Myra’s neck. “You?”
“Very,” Myra shared and rubbed Elisa’s back over her sweater.
“But I’d still like us to…” Elisa faded out as she kissed Myra’s neck. “You’ve been far away all night, and I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Myra said and kissed her temple. “Come on. Let’s say goodnight and go home.”
Asher and Linden were still sitting at the table with Melinda and Kyle, but Kyle was on the phone, and Melinda was looking down at her own.
Asher and Linden appeared to be taking advantage of the moment and were exchanging little kisses between smiles at one another.
Normally, Elisa would have been jealous of that because she never thought she’d have that with anyone, but she wasn’t now because Myra was holding her hand, and they were going home to make love.