Chapter 2
Nydia punched the elevator button for the lobby. She’d put off taking a nap until after she’d eaten the caprese, chicken salad and mixed greens with a balsamic dressing. She then set the alarm on her cell phone to wake her at five o’clock, which gave her time to unpack and take a bath. Relaxing in the garden tub and luxuriating in the feel of pulsing jets of water on her body for the next half hour had revived her to where she was ready to reconnect with her friends and enjoy the warm camaraderie they’d developed over the past year.
At thirty-three she was the youngest of the quartet, and there was a twenty-plus-year age difference between her, Tonya, and Hannah; however, at no time had she ever thought of them as mother figures. To her they were her older sisters. Nydia still marveled that she was able to hold her own when interacting with them, perhaps because she tended to say exactly what came to mind. Jasmine accused her of having no filter, but the truth was she detested duplicitous people. She preferred folks to speak their mind, even if she didn’t agree with them.
The elevator stopped at the lobby, the doors opened, and as soon as she exited the car she saw Tonya, Hannah, and Jasmine standing together near the table with the massive bouquet. Tonya spied her first and approached Nydia. It was apparent marriage had more than agreed with the professional chef. A light-blue sleeveless linen sheath dress flattered Tonya’s toned body, while her short, gray-flecked hair flattered a flawless dark complexion radiating good health. Twin dimples dotted her cheeks when she smiled.
“Welcome back, sweetie.”
Nydia hugged Tonya. “I’m sorry I missed seeing you marry your muy-sexy Papi.”
Throwing back her head, Tonya laughed. “When I told Gage you were coming down, he said he couldn’t wait to meet you.”
Nydia had caught a glimpse of the talented musician for the first time when Hannah had taken them to a jazz club during their initial visit to the city, and she doubted that she was the only woman in the place transfixed by the handsome trumpet player’s Creole, Cajun, and African ancestry. Not only was he a gifted musician, but he was also a skilled Parisian-trained chef. Tonya and Gage Toussaint had begun a whirlwind romance once she became an apprentice at his family’s local restaurant, Chez Toussaints, and were married eight months later.
Nydia looped her arm through Tonya’s. “I’m planning to be here for a month; that is, if the heat doesn’t get to me like it did last summer.” She, Jasmine, and Tonya had cut their two-week stay short because of record temperatures and humidity.
Tonya shook her head. “After moving down here I realize I’d rather put up with the heat than the cold and snow.”
Hannah joined them. The tall blonde had put on a little weight since she’d married St. John, and Nydia had to acknowledge she looked wonderful. “Welcome back,” she drawled, smiling.
Nydia’s lids fluttered as she forced back the tears filling her eyes. She hugged Hannah, the recognizable scent of Chanel No. 5 wafting to her nose. Everyone was welcoming her back as if she’d left home. She hadn’t spent as much time in New Orleans as Tonya or Jasmine, yet there was something about the city that beckoned her to come and stay. It wasn’t called the Big Easy for nothing, because she always felt completely relaxed whenever she came for a visit.
“I’m glad to be back. And you’re looking good, Mrs. McNair.” Hannah was dressed entirely in white: cropped slacks, a man-tailored shirt, and ballet-type flats. Her silver-streaked, chin-length platinum hair was pulled off her face with a black-and-white pinstriped headband.
An attractive blush darkened Hannah’s fair complexion. “I feel wonderful.”
“Should that be attributed to married life?”
A fringe of pale lashes shadowed her cheekbones when she demurely lowered eyes. “St. John’s a wonderful husband.” Her green eyes narrowed as she gave Nydia a long, penetrating stare. “You’ve lost a lot of weight.”
Nydia glanced down at the navy-blue stretch capris she’d paired with a white tank top. “Not so much that I lost my booty.”
“Stop playing yourself,” Jasmine said, as she gave her a you have to be kidding me look. “I didn’t say anything earlier, but I wanted to tell you that you look a hot mess. And I’m going to make certain as long as you stay here, you’ll have regular meals and gain some of that weight you lost.”
Nydia wanted to tell her friends that the pain before the appendectomy had been so debilitating she had almost stopped eating altogether. Once she was discharged from the hospital she’d refused to take the prescribed opioid because she feared becoming addicted, so she endured the lingering discomfort as she waited for the incision to heal. However, in recent weeks she had regained three of the fourteen pounds she’d lost.
Tonya dropped an arm over Nydia’s shoulders. “I’m with Jasmine. Every day Mama’s going to make a special plate for you and have someone bring it over to you.”
She felt a warm glow flow through her from her friends’ concern about her. After she’d called Jasmine to tell her she was in the hospital, it was apparent she’d informed Hannah and Tonya, because they’d called to check on her condition, while Jasmine had sent her an enormous basket filled with fruit, gourmet confectionaries, cheese, crackers, and nuts from all three.
“Speaking of eating,” Jasmine said, “it’s time we head to the restaurant because everything has been set up for us.”
“Are we going out?” Tonya asked.
Jasmine shook her head. “No. I reserved one of the small private rooms here at the hotel where we can eat at our leisure. I hope y’all don’t mind that I ordered for us, because the kitchen gets real busy around this time.”
“I don’t mind,” Hannah said.
“You won’t get an argument out of me,” Nydia quipped. In addition to her friends, she missed the local dishes. She’d bought a cookbook featuring New Orleans cuisine and attempted to duplicate some of the recipes. It had taken several tries before she was able to perfect her favorite dish of red beans and rice. Even her mother raved about the kidney beans flavored with Cajun seasoning and spicy andouille sausage.
Nydia entered the room with the others, smiling when she saw the round linen-covered table with seating for four set with china, silver, and crystal. Mouthwatering aromas wafted from a number of chafing dishes on the buffet table. There were also bottles of wine, water, soda, and a large bowl of ice.
Jasmine picked up a plate. “Don’t be shy, ladies. Let’s eat.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Nydia said, smiling. There were trays of fried chicken and catfish, red beans, rice, grilled shrimp, jambalaya, and jalapeño cornbread.
“I hope that’s not all you’re eating,” Tonya said, as she stared at Nydia’s plate.
“No. As soon as I finish this, I’m going back for more.” She’d selected shrimp, cornbread, and beans and rice.
“Once you’re finished with Jasmine’s wedding, I’d like you to teach me how to make pasteles.”
Nydia nodded. She did promise Tonya to show her how to make the tamales filled with pork, chickpeas, yucca, olives, capers, and other spices. There was never a holiday or celebration in a Puerto Rican home where pasteles, perñil, and arroz con gandules weren’t on the menu. Before Tonya moved to New Orleans, Nydia had taught her to make mofongo and alcapuría.
“No problem.” Every year she joined her mother, sister-in-law, and grandmother to make at least one hundred pasteles for the Christmas holidays.
Tonya’s dimples deepened when she smiled. “Thanks. I want to put them on the menu for my restaurant’s Caribbean night.”
Nydia had no doubt that the restaurant Tonya and Gage planned to open once the inn was operational would become a much sought-after dining establishment. Tonya told her they would offer a few of Chez Toussaints’s signature dishes, and also a variety of small plates featuring international cuisine.
It appeared as if her former coworkers were busy planning the next phase of their lives, while her future was still in limbo. And she knew she had to make a decision before the end of the year when it came time to renew the lease. Nydia had talked about her ex finding a real job, but now she found herself in the same situation; she had to stop dragging her feet and seriously think about securing permanent employment.
Hannah had asked her to invest in her new business venture, which would give her ten percent ownership in the inn. Even if she did decide to invest, she still would have some money from her severance payout, and if she did move to New Orleans she would live rent-free in her own suite at the DuPont Inn. Whenever she thought about going into business with her former coworkers, the more appealing the notion had become.
She didn’t have children or a significant other to consider, and her extended family was only a couple of hours away by plane if she needed to fly up to New York. Nydia had a month to contemplate her next move, and once she returned home she would know whether to accept or reject Hannah’s offer to become an innkeeper.
* * *
Hannah touched the corners of her mouth with her napkin. “This hotel is where St. John and I reunited for our fortieth high school reunion.”
Nydia met her eyes. “It didn’t take you long to become reacquainted before you married him.”
Hannah smiled and nodded. “Remember, St. John and I were high school classmates, and when you get to my age you don’t want or need a long engagement. I knew even before we slept together the first time that I wanted to marry him.”
Tonya gave Hannah a side-eye glance. “You didn’t act like it when you came back to New York to close up your apartment. When we asked how things were going with St. John you said they weren’t, because he’d admitted to cheating on his ex-wife. And if we hadn’t threatened to sleep with your man, you would not have married him.”
Hannah lowered her eyes. “I’ll tell y’all about that later.”
Nydia knew Hannah had aroused her curiosity along with the others. She’d known with a single glance that there was something going on between her former coworker and the handsome college professor when he’d come to the DuPont House to take Hannah for their ballroom dance lesson. St. John was the total package: looks, brains, and breeding, and it was obvious the way he’d looked at Hannah that he was as enthralled with her as she was with him.
“How are the renovations going on the inn?” Nydia asked Hannah, deftly changing the topic of conversation.
The former corporate attorney rolled her eyes upward. “Much slower than I’d anticipated.” She gave Nydia a direct stare. “The offer’s still open if you want to become the CFO.”
Suddenly Nydia felt as if Hannah had put her on the spot in front of the others. It was one thing to discuss the business arrangement one-on-one, but with Jasmine and Tonya already onboard she felt vulnerable. She knew her friends wanted her to relocate and join them in their new venture. “I’m still thinking about it.”
Tonya patted Nydia’s back. “Don’t think too long, sweetie. My mother used to say, ‘Opportunity is like a baldheaded man. You have to catch him as he’s coming toward you. Once your hand slips off it’s gone.’ ”
“Amen to that,” Jasmine and Hannah intoned at the same time.
Nydia angled her head as she struggled not to laugh. “Please don’t tell me you rehearsed this in advance.”
Jasmine shook her head. “There’s nothing to rehearse. We all feel that you would be perfect looking after our investments. I was really shocked when Wakefield Hamilton let you go, because the word was you were one of the best accountants they’d ever hired.”
Nydia made a sucking sound with her tongue and teeth. “I was one of the newbies, so that meant I was expendable.”
“Don’t even go there,” Jasmine drawled, frowning. “You were ten times brighter than that idiot who headed your unit, and there were rumors that you completed his monthly reports. I’d occasionally sit in on the department head meetings, and when it came time for Hank to give his report he babbled like someone under the influence.”
“That’s because he was taking meclizine for vertigo. He told me this in confidence, so I never mentioned it to anyone,” Nydia said in defense of her former supervisor.
Tonya took a sip of water. “So you covered his ass?”
“It wasn’t so much covering.”
“What else was it, Nydia?” Jasmine questioned. “You did the man’s job, and you’d think he would’ve recommended you for a promotion.” Her mouth twisted in derision. “I saw more underhanded crap I didn’t need to see working in HR.”
Hannah emitted an unladylike snort. “It was the same in the legal department, and it wasn’t until we were standing on the sidewalk with our banker boxes that I realized that more than half the downsized were female. Not only do we make less than our male counterparts for the same work, but when it comes to handing out pink slips we’re the first to be shown the door. Now talking about promotions, Jasmine, you should’ve been the one to head HR after Brian Harvey left. Instead they brought in that pimply-faced boy who didn’t know his ass from his elbow to replace him.”
Jasmine raised her goblet of sparkling water. “I agree, but that’s because they didn’t want me privy to the merger and who they’d planned to lay off.”
“Would you have let it slip about the layoffs?” Nydia asked Jasmine.
“No. Even if my name was on the list I wouldn’t have said a word to anyone.”
“That’s because you’re ethical,” Hannah stated.
Tonya ran a finger down the stem of her wineglass. “I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but Wakefield Hamilton did me a favor letting me go.”
“If they hadn’t let you go, would you have commuted to New Jersey?” Hannah asked.
“I doubt it. I’d have to be on the train at four in the morning to make it down to Trenton in time to set up the kitchen for a breakfast meeting.”
“Everything worked out for you,” Nydia said, “because you’ll open your own restaurant with your papi.” Everyone laughed at her description of Gage. Suddenly, she sobered. “I don’t know about the other employees, but it appeared as if being downsized has worked well for you guys.” Three pairs of eyes were fixed on Nydia as a swollen silence followed her statement. “What’s the matter?”
“Why aren’t you going to include yourself in that equation?” Tonya questioned. “And please don’t tell me you’re still messing with that bum who’s looking for his big break?”
Nydia’s eyes burned with amber fire as she struggled to control her rising temper. “Why can’t you believe me when I say I’m through with Danny?”
Jasmine met her eyes. “You may be through with him, but I’m willing to bet that he’s not through with you.”
Nydia glared at Jasmine. She regretted telling her about Danny seeking out her parents to ask about her whereabouts after she’d sublet Tonya’s apartment. “It doesn’t matter, because I’d given him too many chances to get his act together. And even if he did secure a record deal, I still wouldn’t go back with him. I’ve learned a lot of things about myself since I’m no longer involved with Danny. I may have been in love with him, but I never allowed my heart to overrule my head. And more importantly, I’m at a stage in my life where I believe I don’t need a man to complete me.”
“How old are you now?” Hannah asked.
“Thirty-three.”
“Don’t you want to marry and have kids?”
Nydia’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “I still have a few years before my biological clock starts winding down.”
“Just don’t wait as long as I did,” Jasmine hinted with a broad grin.
Tonya turned to look at Jasmine. “Didn’t you tell me you and Cameron didn’t plan for this baby?”
Jasmine nodded. “We even used a condom.”
“Daddy must have nuclear-powered sperm to penetrate latex,” Nydia stated, deadpan.
Pinpoints of color dotted Jasmine’s gold-brown complexion at the same time Hannah and Tonya burst into laughter. Seconds later, Nydia joined them; she was laughing so hard at Jasmine’s shocked expression that her side hurt.
She pointed to Hannah. “Don’t laugh, Hannah, because you may be the next one to announce that she’s in the family way.”
Hannah blotted the tears running down her cheeks. “That’s not going to happen, because I’m finished with menopause, and St. John had a vasectomy when he was still married to his first wife.” She exhaled an audible breath. “Remember when I told you that St. John had admitted to cheating on his wife.”
“Yes. What happened?” Tonya asked.
Nydia’s shocked expression mirrored Jasmine and Tonya’s, her mouth gaping, as she intently listened to Hannah explain that St. John’s first wife had been sexually abused as a child by her uncle, who’d gotten her pregnant. She hadn’t told her aunt that her uncle was the father of her unborn child because he’d threatened to kill her if she revealed their secret liaisons. Her aunt arranged for her to undergo an abortion, and the trauma had scarred her for life so she would not permit her husband to make love to her.
Tonya’s eyes were brimming with unshed tears. “How long were they married?”
Hannah bit down on her lip. “More than thirty years.” She ignored the gasps coming from the others in the room. “It wasn’t until Lorna filed for divorce that she was able to tell St. John about her uncle’s abuse. She claimed she was afraid to say anything because she feared what St. John would do to him.”
Jasmine shook her head. “So, instead of trusting her husband to protect her from the pedophile, she denied him her body for three decades, which forced him to become an adulterer.”
“That’s a damn shame,” Tonya whispered. “If I found out that some man had abused my daughter I would’ve sharpened one of my chef knives, cut off his dick, and then cauterized it with a Firestarter and see how long he could piss out of a nub.”
“Whoa!”
“Damn!”
“No, you didn’t say that!”
Jasmine, Hannah, and Nydia had all spoken at the same time. “Why are y’all looking at me like that?” Tonya asked. “I only said what you’d be thinking if you had a daughter.”
The mood lifted when Nydia mentioned Tonya’s daughter’s surprise engagement. Samara had come to her mother’s wedding with her fiancé, and wearing a diamond engagement ring. The recent Spelman College graduate had not told her mother that she had been dating a student from Morehouse School of Medicine, who’d also graduated that spring. Samara, who was pursuing graduate studies, had recently moved into her fiancé’s parents’ guesthouse until she could rent an apartment.
Ninety minutes after they sat down to eat, while baring their souls, the four women took turns hugging one another. Nydia felt as if time and distance did little to affect the closeness she’d developed with her former coworkers. She’d thought it ironic during the four years she’d been employed at Wakefield Hamilton they’d only gotten together during the bank’s sanctioned holiday celebrations, and now fast-forward fifteen months, and they had formed a sisterhood that she was certain would impact the rest of their lives.
* * *
Jasmine joined Nydia as she took the elevator to her floor. Jasmine had promised to show her the converted warehouse where she would live with Cameron once the renovations were completed before they visited a local bridal salon to select gowns for the wedding.
The elevator arrived at the fourth floor, and they shared a smile. “Thanks again for getting everyone together to welcome me back.”
Jasmine quickly smothered a yawn behind her hand. “There’s no need to thank me. It felt good to get the gang back together. I’ll meet you in the lobby at ten.” She stepped out of the car with Nydia. “I’m going to take another elevator that stops at the fifth floor.”
“Luego, mija.”
Jasmine wiggled her fingers. “Buenas noches, chica.”
Nydia walked to her suite. A wave of fatigue washed over her as soon as she opened the door, despite having taken a nap earlier that afternoon. She usually sat up watching late-night TV, but tonight wouldn’t be one of those times. She cleansed her face of the light cover of makeup, brushed her teeth, and then secured her shoulder-length hair in a single braid. She slipped into a cotton nightgown, and within minutes of getting into bed she fell asleep.