Chapter 5
Lamar led Nydia out of the ballroom, through the hotel lobby, and into the lounge. Wedding guests and a number of Cameron’s frat brothers and their significant others had claimed every seat at the bar and seating area.
He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “We’re going to have to find another place.”
“Come with me,” Nydia said. “There’s somewhat of a secret alcove between the private dining rooms. Let’s hope no one else has discovered it.”
“How do know about this little hideaway?”
Nydia smiled at him over her shoulder. “I’m staying here.”
“How long will you be here?”
“I plan to be here through the Labor Day weekend.”
Lamar quickly calculated the number of days in his head. “And what do you plan to do for the next two and a half weeks?”
“Hang out with my friends and hopefully soak up some of the Big Easy nightlife. Here we are.” Tucked in between two doors with signs indicating private dining was a padded bench seat with enough room for two. Nydia sat, patting the cushion beside her. “Sit down. I promise not to take advantage of you.”
Chuckling, Lamar sat down beside her. There was something about Nydia that made him feel completely relaxed when around her. It was if she didn’t have a pretentious bone in her body. What you see is what you get. He stretched out his legs, crossed his feet at the ankles, and folded his arms over his chest.
“Before I tell about my adventures in East Harlem, why don’t you tell me a little bit about Nydia Santiago.”
“What do you want to know?”
He turned his head and stared at her delicate profile. “What do you do that allows you a month’s vacation?”
Nydia adjusted the flowing skirt of her gown. “Right now I’m my own boss.”
His eyebrows lifted at this disclosure. “What is it you do?”
“I’m an accountant.”
“So, the pretty lady likes numbers.”
“I love numbers. They don’t talk back like people.”
Lamar laughed. “I never thought of numbers like that.”
Nydia folded her hands in her lap. “You’re an engineer, so you’re more than familiar with math.”
He sobered quickly. “You’re right about that.” One of the reasons he’d decided to become an engineer was because he’d excelled in math and science. “How did you meet Jasmine?”
Nydia exhaled an audible sigh. “We used to work together. That is before we were unceremoniously let go last May. We worked for a private Wall Street investment bank that merged with another institution, and one day we walked into the building and were told it was our last day. An hour later twenty-eight of us stood on the corner with banker’s boxes filled with our personal belongings.”
“Well, damn!”
“We said words that were a lot more colorful than that, but there wasn’t anything any of us could do about. We were given generous severance packages and paid health insurance for a year.” She paused. “Do you know Hannah DuPont?”
Lamar nodded. Most long-time residents of New Orleans were familiar with the DuPont name. “She’s now Hannah McNair.”
“At that time she was DuPont, and worked in the legal department. She had an apartment within walking distance of the bank, so Jasmine, and Tonya Martin, who is now Tonya Toussaint, and I went to Hannah’s place to commiserate over mimosas and Bellinis. It had become a strange bonding of women who never socialized outside the workplace. We all decided to take the summer off before seeking future employment, and that’s when Hannah invited us to come down here and hang out for a few weeks.
“She also told us about converting her home into a business and offered us a percentage if we decided to invest in her new venture. Tonya was the first to take her up on her offer. Once the renovations to the guesthouses are completed, she and Gage will open their restaurant on the property.”
He angled his head, taking a furtive glance at Nydia, because he didn’t want to be caught staring at her again. “What about Jasmine?”
“She’s also in.”
Lamar found himself holding onto every word Nydia was saying. “Cameron told me he met Jasmine at Hannah’s wedding.”
Nydia nodded. “He took one look at her and he lost his natural-born mind. He’s become her genie and grants her every wish.”
Lamar had to agree with Nydia. When Cameron met with him and the architect, he’d informed them to revise the plans to the house to give Jasmine exactly what she wanted. “What about you, Nydia?”
“What about me?” she asked, answering his question with one of her own.
“Have you decided to invest in Hannah’s venture?”
It was a full thirty seconds before Nydia answered his query. “Not yet. There are still a few things I have to work out if I decide to commit.”
“Does your ambivalence have anything to do with the man in your life?”
Nydia met his eyes, her stare unwavering. “Why would you think my decision would be centered on a man?”
Lamar realized he’d made a serious faux pas when he registered the cold edge in her voice. “I’m sorry I asked that.” He extended his hand as a peace offering. “And I apologize for being presumptuous.”
She stared at his hand as if it were a venomous reptile. It seemed to be an eternity before she took it. “Apology accepted. And for your information, I don’t have a man in my life.”
He knew it was time to change the conversation; he didn’t want to say something that would further insult Nydia. Talking about his facility with Spanish was a much more benign topic. “I’d taken Spanish courses in high school, and although I could read and write it, I still had a problem when it came to speaking it. That all changed when I went to college and met Ignacio Gonzalez. We became study partners after sharing some of the same classes. One year when I decided to spend the winter in New York rather than return to New Orleans, he invited me to stay with him and his extended family.”
“In East Harlem?”
“Yes. Iggy’s grandmother only spoke Spanish, so when she spoke to me and I replied in English, she would tap the back of my hand and insist, ‘Dilo en español.’”
“Did you?”
Lines fanned out around Lamar’s eyes when he smiled. “It was difficult at first because I would search my head for the words, but after a while they came easier. She made Iggy promise to bring me back every weekend so I could practice with her. Not only did I learn to speak fluent Spanish, but I was also introduced to food and flavors I hadn’t known existed. I’d wait all week to eat maduros, tostones, mofongo, and of course perñil. A few times we would hit the clubs, and that’s when I learn to dance salsa.”
“Wepa!”
Lamar threw back his head and let out a hearty laugh. It had been years since he’d heard the expression, which translated into: All right! Oh yeah! Cool! Other than his marriage to Valerie and the birth of their daughter, the years he’d spent living in New York City were incredibly memorable for him. He’d bonded with Iggy when it hadn’t been with his roommates, and the bond surpassed friendship to the point that he thought of his former classmate as the brother he never had.
“Where were you living?” Nydia asked, breaking into his musings.
“I shared an apartment in Brooklyn with two other students.”
“Where did you go to college?” Nydia asked.
“New York University Tandon School of Engineering. I’d enrolled in the Brooklyn Tech Center.”
“How long has it been since you’ve been to Brooklyn?”
“It’s been about fifteen years.”
“And East Harlem?” Nydia had asked him yet another question.
“It’s been the same time. After we graduated Iggy got a position with an overseas company putting up homes, office buildings, and hotels in Dubai, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates. He fell in love with a woman from Bahrain, converted to Islam, and married her. They have three beautiful children who speak English, Spanish, and Arabic. And before you ask me, the answer is no, I’ve never been to Bahrain. However, it is on my bucket list of countries to visit. We keep in touch using email and Skype.”
“Thank goodness for social media.”
Lamar nodded. “It can be a blessing and a curse.”
“Why would you say that?”
“I have a ten-year-old daughter who’s addicted to social media. Lately I’ve put parental controls on her computer and phone, which limits her to how many hours she can access them. I’ve warned her over and over that she will lose her phone privileges if she doesn’t keep up her grades.”
“Did it work?” Nydia asked.
A wistful expression flitted over Lamar’s features as he stared at the toes of his polished slip-ons. “Yes and no. She passed all of her classes, but her attitude sucks. My mother convinced me to let her come to Baton Rouge for the summer to spend time with her aunt and cousins. I’m sorry, Nydia. I shouldn’t be unloading on you about my daughter.”
“It’s all right. Every once in a while Titi Nydia has to run interference between my nieces and sister-in-law.” She pushed off the bench, Lamar rising with her. “I think it’s time we headed back.”
Lamar tucked Nydia’s hand in the bend of his elbow. She wanted to go back and he didn’t. If possible, he wanted to spend the next hour talking to her about any and everything. There was something about her outgoing personality that reminded him of Valerie, although she looked nothing like his late wife.
“What’s on your calendar during the rest of your stay?”
“I’m going to visit with my friends. Why?”
“I’d like you to have dinner with me before you go back so we can continue our conversation.”
A cold shiver eddied its way down Nydia’s back, and it had nothing to do with the frigid air flowing from air-conditioning vents. Lamar asking her to share dinner with him mirrored Cameron making the same request of Jasmine at Hannah’s wedding reception. However, Cameron had had to wait five months to reunite with Jasmine, while Nydia did not have the excuse she was scheduled to return to New York the following day.
“I’ll give you the number to my cell and we’ll take it from there,” she stated. Although she’d enjoyed talking with him, Nydia wasn’t ready to commit to seeing Lamar again.
“Give me your number.”
“I’ll write it down for you once we get back to the ballroom.”
“You don’t have to write it down. Just tell me.”
Nydia stared at him and recited the number. “Are you certain you’re going to remember it?”
“Very certain,” he said confidently. “I have what’s known as eidetic memory.”
It was the first time Nydia had met someone who’d admitted having a photographic memory. “Your IQ must be off the charts.”
“No comment.”
She smiled. “I like a man who’s not ashamed to exhibit a modicum of modesty.”
“I can assure you that I’m not that modest.”
Lamar’s modesty wasn’t the only thing Nydia liked about him. He projected a confidence she rarely found in the men with whom she had been involved. She’d only had two romantic relationships: one as a graduate student and the last one with Danny, and the two men were as different as day and night. She’d made the drastic mistake of sleeping with her taxation professor, who’d conveniently neglected to tell her that he was married and that his wife was living in California caring for her elderly, invalid parents. In that relationship not only was she his appetizer, side dish, but also the deceitful man’s dessert.
She knew very little about Lamar other than what he’d shown her. He was a father who wanted the best for his daughter and had made education a priority for her. Nydia had asked him many questions, despite telling Jasmine she didn’t want to get into the man’s business, because she enjoyed listening to his speech pattern validating he was truly a New Orleanian.
The frivolity was still in effect when they returned to the ballroom. The DJ was spinning upbeat tunes, the dance floor was crowded, bartenders were busy pouring and mixing drinks, and there were lines two deep at the dessert stations. Nydia scanned the crowd for Jasmine but failed to see her.
She eased her hand from Lamar’s elbow. “I’m going to see if I can find Jasmine.” The corners of her mouth lifted as she smiled. “Thank you for the dance, and I really enjoyed talking with you.”
Lamar’s lids lowered, hiding his innermost feelings from her. “Can I count on a repeat?”
“Dancing or talking?” she teased.
He suddenly appeared startled by her suggestion, but then recovered quickly when he said, “Talking. And if that goes well, then I wouldn’t mind dancing with you again.”
“Call me and if our schedules don’t clash, then perhaps we can work something out.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire, the voice in her head taunted her as soon as the words rolled off her tongue. She’d told herself that she doubted whether she would ever see Lamar Pierce again, yet in a moment of madness she had not only given him her phone number but also permission for him to call her.
Lamar inclined his head. “Thank you.”
Nydia smiled up at him through a fringe of lashes. “You’re welcome. And I bet you’ll forget my number.” She turned her back on him, not seeing his startled expression with her unexpected departure. She had said all she wanted and needed to say to the single father who apparently hadn’t let go of his dead wife, because he continued to wear his wedding ring. Lamar was someone she would think of as a friend, but nothing beyond that.
Her life was still too unsettled to even consider dating. Nydia realized she had until the end of October to decide whether she would take over the lease in Tonya’s apartment, which meant she wouldn’t be able to invest in Hannah’s DuPont Inn. She also needed to secure employment with a salary and benefits package commensurate with her education and work experience. Even after she secured permanent employment, she would continue to maintain the books of the three restaurateurs. The money she earned from the part-time gig she planned to invest in her retirement fund.
During her convalescence she’d had her father drive her to each of the restaurants to meet with the owners to set up a computer program where they would electronically input the work hours on each of their employees for her to generate computerized paychecks. Nydia had also recommended a system where payroll checks would be directly deposited into the workers’ bank accounts. However, much to her disappointment, too many of the employees did not have checking accounts but relied on check cashing companies that charged them what she considered excessive fees.
She found Cameron laughing and talking with his frat brothers. She managed to get his attention, and he excused himself. He’d shed his tie, tuxedo jacket, and undone several buttons on the dress shirt. His deeply tanned face was flushed with high color, which made his blue-gray eyes appear lighter than usual. Prisms of light from an overhead chandelier reflected off the silver in his light-brown hair.
“I’m sorry to pull you away from your friends, but I’m looking for Jasmine.”
“Jasmine left and went upstairs a few minutes ago. She said she’s exhausted. And please don’t apologize, Nydia. I’ve never said this, but I have to you to thank for this day.”
A slight frown appeared between her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Jasmine told me if you hadn’t encouraged her to go out with me when I sent her that text, this night would’ve never happened. I knew she was special when I first laid eyes on her, but I didn’t get to know how special until our first date. Jasmine and I have decided if we have a girl we’re going to name her Nydia.”
Nydia shook her head. “You don’t have to do that. Becoming godmother to your son or daughter is an honor I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
Lowering his head, Cameron pressed his mouth to her hair. “Thank you.”
“It has been a long day for Jasmine, and I know you guys are flying to Cabo San Lucas in the morning, so tell her I’ll see her when you come back. Congratulations again. I’m also going to turn in. Buenas noches.”
Cameron had surprised Jasmine several days ago when he announced he had planned a weeklong honeymoon at the Mexican resort. He’d confided to Nydia, and she agreed that Jasmine needed to slow down and not concern herself with looking for items to decorate their new home once the extensive renovations were completed.
Cameron winked at her. “Bonne nuit.”
* * *
Nydia didn’t realize how tired she was until she entered the suite and kicked off her shoes. Exhaustion swept over her like a powerful wave as she walked into the bathroom. She removed her makeup, brushed her teeth, and took a quick shower. Twenty minutes later, an audible sigh slipped past her parted lips when she crawled into bed and pulled the sheet and lightweight blanket up over her limp body. Within seconds of turning off the bedside lamp, Nydia sank into the comforting arms of Morpheus.
* * *
Lamar waited three days before he called Nydia’s cell phone. He’d synched his phone with his car’s Bluetooth feature. It rang three times before he heard her greeting.
“Hola.”
His whole face spread into a smile. “Hello. What do I win for not forgetting your number?”
“Did we wager anything?”
“No, but you did say ‘I bet you’ll forget my number.’ And knowing I was going to win I should’ve had you put up a wager.”
“It’s looks as if I was wrong about you.”
“Are you saying that I won?” he asked.
There was a pause before Nydia’s voice came through the speaker again. “Yes.”
Lamar stared through the windshield at the slow-moving traffic leading to the exit for Baton Rouge. “Do you mind if I select the prize?”
There came another pause. “No, I don’t mind.”
“I’d like to take you to one of my favorite clubs.”
“I’m game as long as it’s not a strip club.”
His chuckles echoed throughout the interior of the vehicle. “I don’t do strip clubs.”
“I’m just checking, because there are different types of clubs.”
“True. But I was referring to a jazz club. The one I’d like to take you to offers wonderful food and music.”
“Are you talking about Jazzes?”
“You’ve been to Jazzes?”
“Yes. Hannah took us there last summer.”
“The place I’m talking about is nothing like Jazzes. It’s what you’d call rustic.”
“It sounds interesting.”
Lamar held his breath for a few seconds. “So, you’re willing to go with me?”
“Sure.”
He curbed the urge to pump his fist in victory. “Are you busy Thursday night?”
“Yes. I’m teaching Tonya how to make pasteles.”
“You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m not.”
“The last time I had pasteles is when I celebrated Christmas with Iggy’s family.” The first time he had the tamales, he couldn’t stop eating them. Iggy’s grandmother packed up a dozen for him, and over the following two weeks he’d eaten one each day along with his dinner.
“I’ll be certain to save a few for you.”
“Which night are you free?”
“Friday.”
He smiled. Friday fit perfectly into his plans, because he was scheduled to pick up his daughter Sunday afternoon and bring her back to New Orleans for the first day of the new school year. Lamar didn’t want to remind Nydia that Friday was date night. “Friday it is. I’ll meet you in the lobby at seven.”
“Luego.”
“Later,” Lamar replied in English. He disconnected the Bluetooth and thought about what had just occurred. He’d asked a woman out on a date—something he hadn’t done in nearly a decade. And he had to ask himself, why Nydia? Why a woman who lived nearly thirteen hundred miles away, and one he doubted he would see again once she returned to New York.
When Lamar really thought about it, he realized Nydia was safe; she was passing through and despite being attracted to her beautiful face, intelligence, and wit, there wasn’t the possibility of his becoming that involved with her. He had two responsibilities: his daughter and his company.
* * *
Lamar maneuvered onto the road leading to his sister’s house and pulled into the driveway to the house with the architectural style that reflected South Carolina’s Low Country. Petra’s dream home’s classic design was updated with all the provisions for modern-day living. His sister had met her politician husband when she clerked for his father, who’d been appointed to the state’s appellate court. She’d moved to D.C. during the first year of her marriage, but once she discovered she was pregnant, she informed U.S. Congressman Jonathan Reynolds she wanted their children to be raised in their home state.
Lamar shut off the engine and waved to his mother as she came down off the porch. Gloria Pierce had sold the house she’d shared with her husband and where she raised her two children after he passed away in his sleep, and moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, who’d had a two-bedroom guesthouse built on the property for her. Once his mother volunteered to babysit her granddaughters, Petra went to work for a prestigious Baton Rouge firm specializing in litigation.
Gloria had been her deceased orthodontist husband’s dental assistant, and now at sixty-five she volunteered every other weekend at a local hospital. Jonathan always returned to Louisiana whenever Congress was in recess, and during that time Gloria and a few of her friends who’d referred to themselves as the Globetrotting Grannies took off for foreign and exotic locales.
Lamar got out of the vehicle and met his mother as she came down off the last step. She’d cut her silver hair again, the cropped strands hugging her head like a cap. His parents’ genes had compromised when he inherited his father’s height and complexion and his mother’s eye color and prematurely gray hair.
“Hi, beautiful,” he crooned, kissing her cheek. The scent of lily-of-the-valley wafted to his nostrils. He couldn’t remember when his mother had not worn that fragrance.
An attractive blush darkened Gloria’s tawny-brown face with the compliment. “You definitely are your father’s son. He was always the silver-tongued devil.”
Lamar put his arm around his mother’s shoulders and led her up the porch steps and into the house with large folding doors that had replaced a traditional front entry to completely open the central hallway. “Dad knew what he was getting when he married Grambling State’s homecoming queen, who not only was blessed with beauty but also brains.”
“That’s enough sweet talk, Lamar. That’s something you should save for Petra’s coworker who has been asking about you.”
A slight frown furrowed Lamar’s forehead. “Who are you talking about?”
“Don’t you remember that cute intern with the dimples who came to the Memorial Day cookout?”
“There’s no way I could forget her, Mom. She flirted with every man who came within three feet of her, and it didn’t matter whether they were married or single. So, no thank you.”
Lamar had told his mother a number of times after becoming a widower that he did not want to be set up with a woman. He’d given himself another eight years before he could even consider remarrying. By that time Kendra would be eighteen and off to college. And any woman with whom he would find himself involved would have to accept his daughter as her own because they were a package deal. It would be the same if he met a woman with children.
He glanced around the central hallway’s highly polished heart of pine floors and matching ceiling. The blades from an overhead fan circulated cooling air above a round mahogany table with four oyster-white slipcovered chairs. “Where’s everyone?”
“Jonathan and Petra took the girls shopping for school clothes and supplies. Kendra has grown so much over the summer that I doubt she’ll be able to fit into last year’s school uniform.”
“I wish you would’ve told me before I left New Orleans.”
Gloria patted Lamar’s shoulder. “I didn’t know what their plans were until about ten minutes ago. Then it would’ve been too late because you were already on the road.”
Lamar rested his hand over the one on his shoulder. “No harm done. I can hang out with you until they get back.”
“That may not be for a while. You know how Jonathan likes to take the girls out to eat.”
He gave his mother’s fingers a gentle squeeze. “That’s not a problem, because I don’t get to see you enough.”
Gloria nodded. “It’s the same with me. Talking on the phone isn’t the same as seeing each other in person. Did you plan to take Kendra back with you today?”
“No. I just came up to take her shopping for school clothes and supplies.”
“I’ve been running off the mouth so much that I forgot to ask you if you had breakfast.”
“Ramona prepared something for me.”
Lamar’s live-in housekeeper’s duties included cooking and looking after Kendra whenever he was away from the house. Ramona Griffin had become an integral part of his household even before Valerie’s passing. His late wife had hired the professional nanny to care for Kendra after a two-year leave from her career as a flight attendant.
“You need to learn how to cook for yourself, Lamar.”
“I can cook, Mom.”
“You put meat on a grill. That’s called grilling, not cooking. Even Jonathan has learned to put together a passable breakfast now that he’s been taking lessons.”
Lamar did not want to remind his mother that his brother-in-law worked an average of one hundred thirty days a year, so he had time to become another Martha Stewart. “Good for him.”
“Do I detect a hint of jealousy?”
“Never.” He didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Jonathan when it came to politics, and the result was he refused to get into a debate with him.
“Come with me to the kitchen. I was just getting ready to make a pitcher of lemonade. Then we can sit on the porch, and you can tell me all about Cameron Singleton’s wedding.”
Lamar smiled when his mother mentioned Cameron’s wedding. It had been a night filled with surprises. The bride and groom had deviated from the tradition of speeches, toasts, cutting the cake, and tossing the bouquet and garter. The reception had been still in full swing, ongoing revelry that continued beyond his midnight departure.
The gathering had become even more memorable when he shared a couple of dances with Nydia Santiago, spent time talking with her, and now he looked forward to taking her out for a date that he hoped wouldn’t be the last time before she returned home.