Page 81 of January

“Mel, get to the good part,” Jill implored. “And I found your turtleneck. It’s white, though… You’ll get that makeup all over it.”

“I don’t care. Just toss it on the bed for me.”

“Tell me what happened after dinner.”

Melinda looked out and saw Jill holding the turtleneck that was still on its hanger.

“Are you holding my turtleneck hostage until I give you details?” she asked, glaring at Jill.

“Spill,” Jill said.

“We went to her house in the Garden District, and we talked and lay out in the courtyard. She brought blankets, and we fell asleep. My phone was in the house, so I missed my alarm.”

“You fell asleep on her mouth?” Jill asked.

Melinda grunted and returned her attention to the concealer, which was generally doing its job, but she’d still need the turtleneck for at least the day.

“No, we made out.”

“I’d say so,” Jill teased. “That thing is dark. How long did she hang out there, sucking?”

Melinda cleared her throat, recalling how Kyle sucked on a completely different part of her body not all that long ago.

“It was a good night. Now, give me my turtleneck so I can get to work.”

Jill laughed and pulled it off the hanger, tossing it to Melinda.

“When are you seeing her again?”

“Tonight.” She pulled off her uniform shirt.

“Are you going to let her get to third base tonight or maybe even let her slide into home?”

There was a joke Melinda could make there about how Kyle slid in just fine, but she decided now wasn’t the time. She was already late for work, and she was meeting Bridgette later for lunch. Jill was a friend, sure, but Bridgette would get all the details before Jill would.

“We’ll see. Let’s go.”

Minutes later, as she led the tour, Melinda felt like an idiot with a white sleeveless turtleneck under her uniform polo and a smear of concealer on the edge of said turtleneck because she hadn’t been careful enough when putting it on. She did her best to pretend like she didn’t have a mess to deal with later and walked the Quarter with her first tour group. She focused on the tourists because they’d paid good money to have someone give them the history of their vacation spot, but her mind wasn’t all the way there. It was on Kyle and how much she wanted a repeat of the previous night.

During her second tour, which went through Jackson Square, Café Du Monde, and the Hurricane Katrina Memorial, she thought about how she had to beat Kyle to her apartment later because it needed to be straightened up again. Kyle had only briefly seen it, and Melinda didn’t want her to think she was a slob. Then, after her second tour, she met Bridgette for lunch at Henry’s place.

“Okay. Spill.”

“YouandJill… What’s up with spill?”

“Don’t be cagey with me. You got laid last night, didn’t you?” Bridgette asked, taking a sip of her sweet tea right after.

“I had sex last night, yes.”

“Damn. I’m jealous,” Bridgette replied.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘getting laid,’ though. ‘Sex’ isn’t right, either. It was more than sex.”

“More than sex? What did she do? Some tantric-type stuff?”

Melinda laughed and said, “No, but it was still more. It wasn’t just two people on a second date having sex because they wanted to. We didn’t plan it or even talk about it. We just kind of started slowly, and then, it was happening. And,Bridge, God, it was so damn good.”

“She’s good in bed?”