Page 16 of The Lady on Esplanade
With a heavy sense of resignation, I sat down at the table, the metal chair squeaking beneath me.
“We really need to find new kitchen chairs,” Jolene said with a frown.“Every time someone sits, it’s like a baby pig squealing for his mama.”
I leaned on the table, my chin in my hands.“I haven’t committed to going to Mississippi—yet,” I said.“I’m fine staying here and eating a turkey sandwich while catching up on paperwork, and I’d reallylike to be here fixing things.I don’t want this to be like Jack and Melanie’s house, where the renovations just go on and on.”
Jaxson gave me a sympathetic smile.“I hate to break it to you, Nola, but owning an old house is—”
“Like digging a hole and emptying your bank accounts into it,” I finished, repeating something my stepmother had said often ever since I’d known her—not that it had stopped me from falling in love with old houses, because, despite Melanie’s constant disparagement of her historic home, we both understood that an old house was much more than just brick and mortar.It was a piece of history you could hold in your hand, a time capsule filled with memories that connected different generations of people who’d lived between its walls.All while at the same time being a sick infatuation with something that could never love you back with equal intensity.
“I was going to say it’s like a long-term marriage,” Jaxson said.“For better and for worse.And sometimes the worse happens more and seems to last longer than the better.So yeah, I get it.I don’t think it’s possible to live in a place like New Orleans without that love of historic spaces that we instinctively get with our first breath.Which is why I’m saying you should go to Mississippi for Thanksgiving.It’s only for four days, right?Let Thibaut and Jorge figure out what to do here, and the break will give you and Jolene time to do some creative brainstorming about making the house stunning.”
“Absolutely,” Jolene said, a little too enthusiastically.“There’s room in Bubba’s trunk for all my fabric and paint samples.And don’t forget that Mama and Grandmama can give us expert advice.I’m not too proud to say that my grandmama’s funeral home is the mostbeautifullydecorated funeral home in the entire state of Mississippi.”
“Right.You’ve said that before, and I will take it under consideration, but there’s still so much to be done before the house-blessing party in January.”Turning to Jaxson, I said, “Jolene’s already made the menu and planned the decorations, so I need to make sure the house is ready.”
“Well, my brother Luke, the priest, is still planning on invoking the house blessing, so if God and Jolene both have it on their calendars, it will happen.”
It appeared as if Jolene might hyperventilate at the thought of spending the holiday with Jaxson, but she was saved the humiliation by the sound of the front door opening and Beau bellowing my name.
We all turned as Beau entered the kitchen, his hair and jacket dripping water onto the floor, his eyes hard as his gaze found me.Before I could say anything, Beau plunked the Madame Alexander doll on the table.
“Is that a Madame Alexander Pussycat?”Jolene seemed genuinely excited.
“You know what that is?”I asked.
“Of course.Doesn’t every little girl want a Madame Alexander doll?”
I stared at her blankly.“Actually, until yesterday I had never even seen one.”
“That’s so sad.You were more deprived than I thought.My grandmama gave me my Pussycat doll when I was five, and I treasured it—at least until I burned off all its hair when I was learning how to use a curling iron, and my little brother decided it would be the perfect size for target practice.”
I was trying to process what Jolene had just said, but Beau interrupted my thoughts.“Was this supposed to be a joke?”
Jaxson leaned back on the two rear legs of his chair, the metal protesting loudly.“Yo, bro, does your girlfriend know you still play with dolls?Seriously, where did you find that?”
There was no amusement in Beau’s eyes.“In an armoire in the house we’re flipping on Esplanade.”Turning back to me, he said, “I went out of my way to bring this doll to Mimi to see if it might be worth anything, but when I returned to get it from my truck’s backseat, where I thought I’d put it, it wasn’t there.So I went all the way back to Sam’s apartment, where I figured I must have left it, but it wasn’tthere, either.And when I got back into my truck to return to the house on Esplanade to look there, the doll was in the driver’s seat—in the exact spot where I’d been sitting.”
I looked at the empty eyes, imagining something sinister in the blank stare that sent shivers tripping down my spine.Something about the corrupted innocence of childhood made it so much creepier.
I tore my gaze from the doll to look at Beau.“I have no idea how that got in your seat, but I promise you I had nothing to do with it.I have better things to do than head out in the rain to prank you.Did you ask Sam about it?”
“I did.She had nothing to do with it.”
“So you believe her and not me?”
He narrowed his eyes.“I don’t know what to think.Maybe we should be asking Cooper about it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.It seems he has a few secrets he’s been keeping to himself.”
I glanced at Jolene and Jaxson, who appeared not to be listening while actively doing so.“Well, then, he wouldn’t be the only one, would he?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jolene placed a calming hand on my arm, forcing me to take a deep breath before responding.“Look, Beau.We’re all friends here, right?Nobody’s judging anybody.I just wanted to point out that it seems pretty clear that your mom is still hanging around because there’s unfinished business.And until you accept that, she will remain to literally haunt you until you ask for her help in finding your dad, or whatever it is she needs to talk to you about.”
Beau continued to glare at me, so I continued.“We’re your friends, Beau.And we understand what kind of burden your gift—or whatever you want to call it—has been to you.But you have to understand that it doesn’t always have to be a burden.Maybe it can help you findthe missing pieces of the puzzle of what happened to your family during Katrina.”
