continued...
Day 11...
Suprisingly, we had both awakened before the eight AM alarm sounded, Marni starting the coffee pot brewing while I showered first. Noticing the several hickies and bite-marks that covered my boobies as I dried, Marni checked her own before getting in the shower, announcing, "Looks like we were attacked by a pack of small dogs."
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" I chuckled in response, both of us eyeing our naked reflections in the bathroom's mirror, numerous red marks on both of our bodies.
"Wonder if we left any marks on Gayle?" I mused as I began applying a small bit of makeup to my face.
"Don't know how we couldn't have," Marni replied as she vigorously washed under the shower, "and if we didn't, its not because we didn't try."
"True dat, girlfriend," both of us chuckling at the truth of the statement.
Keys dropped off to Slyvia after we had triple-checked the duplex for forgotten stuff, we were leaving Gulf Shores in our rearview mirror by nine o'clock that Wednesday morning, beginning our drive to New Orleans.
"I'm fucking starving, Jules, let's grab some breakfast, okay babe?" Marni implored, her suggestion finding agreement from my grumbling stomach. Spotting a small 24-hour grill called The Waffle House, I pulled into the lot.
"You're okay, right?" Marni asked before letting me open my door, her hand on my arm.
"Yeah babe, I'm very much okay...you?" I replied.
"If you're okay, then I'm great," She answered with a sweet smile of relief.
"Yeah, you are, sweetie," The agreement pleasing my 'girlfriend'.
Her phone sounded just as we placed our order, and looking at the screen, she scrunched up her face a bit, saying, "Huh, its Sue, wonder what's up?"
"WHAT? Oh Jeez, Sue, I'm so, so sorry," Marni said with a face reflecting concern, "Is there anything we can do?...I know, I know...Don't be silly, Sue, of course not...Yes, we have all of your information and yes, we will stay in touch...yes, and Sue? Please give our condolences to Susan will you? Of course...yes, love y'all too, and again, we are so sorry for Susan's loss," Marni's end of the conversaton producing looks from me of 'What? What's up?'.
"Susan's mother passed away this morning...heart attack is what the docs think," Marni informed me after disconnecting with Sue.
"How awful," I said, shocked a bit at the news, Marni nodding, "It was sweet that Sue thought to call us, you know, with all the confusion and drama that must be going on at their place."
"Yeah, it was," Marni said in agreement, "Well, sweet-cheeks, looks as if we need a plan 'B'."
"We could still 'do' New Orleans," I suggested, "we were talking about doing it before we met the Sues."
Marni was already on her IPad thanks to the WiFi signal she was stealing from a source near the grill, searching hotels.
"Want to stay in the middle of the French Quarter?" She asked, looking up, "Just found a deal at a boutique hotel and they have private parking...wouldn't need to drive once we get there if we just hang in the Quarter."
"Do it," I agreed just as the waitress delivered our order, small bowls of 'something' placed next to our plates of bacon and eggs.
"What's that?" I asked with a nod towards the small bowl.
Looking at me as if I had just stepped off of a Flying Saucer, she replied, "Them's grits!" then, seeing the confused look remaining on our faces, added, "Y'all aren't from around here, are y'all?"
After adding salt, pepper and butter, the 'grits' weren't half-bad, we thought...
The drive on I-10 was pleasant, the day bright with sun in a cloudless sky, and the sun-roof of the Beemer opened. We made pleasant, mindless chit-chat, our speed actually a few miles per hour under the limit, this day of travel for us unrushed since our destination was only a couple of hours away.
"This has been a great trip, Jules, you have no idea how happy I am that you asked me to come along for the ride," Marni remarked casually.
"When I began thinking about it, the trip, my first thought was to ask you," I answered, "must've been Fate pulling the strings."
"Yeah, kinda' what I think, Fate..." Marni mused wistfully, but not in a bad way, "Fate seems to have wanted us together on this trip."
"I'm not complaining," I said, "Glad She was on our side."
"Me too, Jules...me too," and leaning towards me, Marni gave me a sweet cheek-kiss that turned loose fluttering butterflies within me...
Our hotel 'fronted' Bourbon Street it turned out, though the check-in entrance was located on a side street, around the corner, where the valets unloaded us and parked our car while we checked in.
The room was furnished with period furniture, heavy and massive, and tall, floor to ceiling, patio doors that opened to a balcony overlooking the famed street, providing a 'bird's-eye' view of the walking traffic below.
We quickly unpacked and was downstairs joining the early afternoon tourist parade walking along Bourbon. With a hotel-provided map of the Quarter in hand, we decided to do our own walking tour.
"Over there, Jules, we ought to try 'em," Marni suggested, referring to a service window of a bar that was serving drinks and beers to pedestrians, Bourbon blocked-off to vehicle traffic for several blocks we were to find.
We had noticed many cups of what appeared to be Bloody Marys in the hands of our fellow walkers so that's what we ordered, both loving the fact that walking around with alcohol in hand seemed to be the norm here in The Crescent City.
"Damn, girlfriend, this is seriously good," Marni opined after her first sip of the potent cocktail, the sign having proclaimed their Bloody Mary to be a French Quarter 'walking meal', loaded with celery sticks, olives and what turned out to be, sticks of pickled Okra and green beans.
The strolling was festive, the two hundred-plus years-old buildings pleasing to the senses. We were making our way towards the Margaritaville Cafe for a mid-afternoon 'Cheeseburger in Paradise' and were walking on Royal Street, passing high-end Antique shops along the way.
One had a large, black ribbon tacked across the double-doors of it's entry, a sign proclaiming the store to be closed due to a death in the family.
"Must be Susan's place," I opined, "too much of a coincidence for it not to be," Marni nodding in agreement. Peeking through the windows we could see that it was, indeed, a 'high-end' Antique shop as Susan had said.
Our thought was that a mid-afternoon meal would help diminish the buzz we had going, and it probably would have had we not downed two huge Margaritas with the meal.
We found our way to our hotel, both with our third Bloodies in hand, the buzz having returned to us.
"Don't remember the last time I was this buzzed at four o'clock in the afternoon," Marni giggled, a cute, small, drunk-giggle, walking into our room ahead of me.
