Chapter 17
“So you’re really ready to date a man with a ready-made family?”
Nydia gave Jasmine an incredulous stare as she drove into the parking lot behind the bowling alley. “What’s wrong with dating a single father?”
Jasmine shifted into park and turned to look at her. “There’s nothing wrong with dating a single father, chica. I only asked because I want you to think of the possibility that you could be a stepmother.”
“Time out, chica. Lamar and I have had exactly one date and you already have us married.”
“Would that be so terrible?” Jasmine questioned.
Nydia shook her head. “I haven’t thought that far ahead. At this point we haven’t even slept together.”
Jasmine lifted her shoulders. “It will come. At least you know he can make babies.”
“Stop it, mija! I haven’t even slept with the man and you’re already talking about him swelling me up.”
Jasmine rested a hand over the bump under her loose-fitting blouse. “This little boy or girl will need someone to play with, and the sooner the better.”
“Hannah would have a bitch fit if we both ended up pregnant within months of each other.” The owner of DuPont Inn had promised an extended maternity leave for her partners. Instead of six weeks she had offered six months because she knew how important it was for a mother to bond with her newborn.
“It would be different for you, Nydia, because you can always work from home, while Hannah and I will alternate working the day and night shift.”
“Don’t forget LeAnn and Paige,” Nydia reminded Jasmine. “They’ll be living on the premises, and they’ve committed to helping with guests checking in and out.”
Twelve suites in the mansion were set aside for the inn’s guests, and the remaining six would have been occupied by Hannah, LeAnn, Paige, Jasmine, Tonya, and Nydia. But things changed when Hannah married St. John and moved into his house in Marigny. Tonya married Gage and lived with him in the Upper French Quarter, while Jasmine didn’t plan to move into the inn once she married Cameron, and that left Nydia and the DuPont cousins to occupy three of the private suites in the historic mansion.
“I’m not going to marry Lamar, so get that out of your matchmaking head.” She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “It’s time I go in and get ready to shock the hell out of these retirees.”
A hush fell over the alley when Nydia walked in, carrying the bag with her ball and shoes, with Jasmine, and she ignored the stares directed at them. “Be ready,” she said under her breath, “when the shit hits the fan.” The words were barely off her tongue when a tall, dark-skinned man with graying dreadlocks blocked her path.
“This league is for retirees tonight.”
Nydia gave him a lethal stare. “Are you discriminating against me because of my age? And how do you know that I’m not retired?”
He blinked once. “I don’t.”
She flashed a saccharine smile. “Then I suggest you step aside so I can pass. And for your information—good black don’t crack.”
Jasmine, waiting until they walked away, said, “I didn’t know you had black people in your family?”
Nydia rolled her eyes at her friend. “Mija, you should know that Puerto Ricans have everything in their gene pool. That’s why we call ourselves the rainbow people. My great grandparents on my father’s side of the family were black, and my mother’s mother is half black.”
“I stand corrected,” Jasmine said under her breath.
Nydia did not like having to explain to people what she was, and whenever she was asked she just said Puerto Rican, and her racial makeup did not make her any less than a puertorriqueña. She waved to Hannah when she spied her at the far end of the alley. She and her cousins were already wearing bowling shoes and had selected their balls. She exchanged air kisses with the world-weary cousins and then Hannah.
Sitting, she opened the bag and wiped off the ball with a soft felt cloth and set it on the belt with the others. Nydia glanced up to find her bowling partners staring at her. “What’s the matter?”
Hannah pointed to the colorful hand-painted ball. “I can’t believe you put graffiti on your ball.”
Nydia slipped her feet into her shoes. “It’s called art.” She’d had her custom-made ball decorated with the New York Yankees’ logo, the American and Puerto Rican flags, and street signs from East and West Harlem. “I have to rep my set,” she drawled with a wide grin. “In New York when someone calls out ‘BK stand up’ any and everyone who lives in Brooklyn will stand up to let you know they’re in the house. For me it’s Harlem.”
“I like the art,” LeAnn said.
“Me, too,” Paige agreed.
Nydia curtsied to Hannah’s dark-haired, dark-eyed, petite first cousins. “Thank you very much,” she said in her best Elvis Presley imitation.
Shaking her head, Hannah rolled her eyes upward. “I just hope that ball brings the Innkeepers good luck.”
Nydia tied up her shoes, which were decorated similarly to the ball. “You worry too much, Hannah.” A loud, nasal, buzzing reverberated throughout the alley as pins were lowered, signaling the start of the first game. “We’ve got this.”
When it was her turn, Nydia pulled on a leather driving glove before picking up her ball. It was as if she had stepped back in time to when she’d bowled on average once a week. She threw the colorful sphere and knocked down all ten pins for a strike.
She curtsied to Hannah. “Counselor. I rest my case.” Nydia executed a fist bump with Jasmine as she sat beside her. “I still got it, mija,” she whispered.
Jasmine nodded. “No lie.”
LeAnn and Paige nearly matched her prowess as they threw doubles, while Nydia managed a turkey—three strikes in a row. Hannah came in fourth bowling a 145. At the end of the night the Innkeepers were first in the standings among the ten teams.
Hannah looped her arm through Nydia’s as they were leaving. “You did good, baby girl.”
Nydia laughed. As she was the youngest of the innkeepers, Hannah was old enough to be her mother. “You did have your doubts.”
“I must say I did, but after your first strike I became a believer.”
“You didn’t do too bad yourself. If we keep winning like we did tonight, then we may have to hire bodyguards to walk us to our cars.”
Throwing back her head, Hannah laughed loudly before she placed a hand over her mouth. “I did see quite a few glares thrown our way.”
“I prefer to call them stink-eyes,” Nydia said. “They’ll learn soon enough that the Innkeepers will not yield to intimidation.”
“You’re right, Nydia. My cousins joined the Freedom Riders when they were college students, and were so militant that folks crossed over to the other side of the street when they saw them coming. I don’t know if it’s true, but there were rumors that they were always armed.”
“That’s what you call pistol-packing mamas.” She stopped at Jasmine’s minivan, waiting for her friend who’d lagged behind talking with Paige and LeAnn. “Will I see you and St. John Sunday at the Toussaints?”
“We wouldn’t miss it. Whenever the Toussaints are cooking you can count on me being there. Are you bringing your gorgeous beau?”
“If beau is an equivalent to boyfriend, then yes. I invited Lamar and his daughter to come with me.”
“Good. I’ll see you there.” Hannah waved over her shoulder as she made her way to her car.
“I’ll drive back,” Nydia said to Jasmine. She’d noticed her friend’s attempt to smother yawns behind her hand while keeping score.
“Thanks.”
Nydia slipped behind the wheel of the minivan and adjusted the seat. She programmed the hotel’s address into the navigation and backed out of the parking lot. It was her first time driving in the city, and she knew it would take a while before she was familiar with the streets in the different neighborhoods.
“Honey, we’re home,” she intoned when maneuvering into Jasmine’s reserved parking space at the Louis LaSalle.
Jasmine moaned softly as she unsnapped her belt. “I think I stayed up past my bedtime.”
“What time do you usually go to bed?” Nydia asked her.
“Between nine and nine-thirty.”
“Let’s go, Sleeping Beauty. It’s after ten.”
Nydia entered her suite and stored the bowling bag in the closet off the entryway. Though Jasmine was exhausted, Nydia was energized from the excitement of bowling again. The first time she walked into a bowling alley at six years old with a group of young children whose parents were police officers, Nydia found herself mesmerized by the clashing sound of pins after they were hit by a ball hurtling down the lane. Her love of the game never waned as she grew older, and by the time she celebrated her fourteenth birthday, she had become what some people called a bowling phenom. The league was only six weeks—enough time for her to revive and hone her skills before returning to New York.
* * *
Lamar sat in the conference room with his partners, waiting for word they’d come in at the lowest bid for the Shreveport shopping mall. He glanced across the table at Omar Robinson, who was doodling and making interlocking circles on a legal pad. Omar had always been the most aggressive of the trio even when WPR Engineering was in its infancy. When Lamar first shared a class with the civil engineering major, Omar had sported distinctive dreadlocks ending midway down his back, but he decided to cut his hair when his hairline began receding. He now shaved his head, and with round, black-rimmed wire glasses he appeared quite professorial.
His gaze shifted to Kirk Wallace, who had closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. Lamar thought of Kirk as the calm and collected partner. He rarely raised his voice and most times had become the voice of reason during in-house negotiations. His appearance hadn’t changed much from their college days. His curly black hair was shorter and he occasionally sported a short beard. But all of their lives had changed since college. They’d married, fathered children, and their professional focus was growing their partnership.
The telephone on the table buzzed, and everyone sat up straight. Lamar tapped the intercom button. “Yes, Suzanne.”
“I have Mr. King on the line.”
Lamar met Omar’s eyes across the table. “Put him through.” He activated the speaker feature.
“Gentlemen, I wish I had good news to tell you, but you didn’t come in as the lowest bid. But you were very close.”
Lamar managed a wry smile. “It’s encouraging to hear that.” He tried not to let a thread of disappointment creep into his voice. “Let us know when the next project comes up for bid.”
“I definitely will. You guys have a good one.”
Omar frowned. “What the hell does he mean have a good one,” he spat out within seconds of Lamar ending the call. “We just lost the fuckin’ bid.”
Kirk lowered his arms. “It’s done, Omar. There’s no need crying over spilled milk.”
Pushing back his chair, Omar stood up and stalked out of the conference room. Kirk and Lamar exchanged glances. They knew he would sulk for a few days and then settle down to concentrate on their current construction projects.
Lamar looked at his watch. “I’m going out for an extended lunch.” He had to get out of the office to escape what could become a toxic environment. Omar was a brilliant civil engineer, but there were times when he found it difficult to deal with his dark moods. He was aware that Omar and his wife weren’t getting along; the issue was child rearing, and he wondered whether, if Valerie had survived, they would have experienced a similar problem when it came to raising Kendra.
He left the conference room and entered his office. Although he’d agreed to submit a bid on the strip mall, deep down inside Lamar felt a sense of relief that they hadn’t come in lowest. He still did not feel comfortable leaving his daughter for extended periods of time. He picked up his cell phone, scrolled through the directory, and tapped the number to Cameron’s private line. It was answered after the third ring.
“What’s up, Pierce?”
“Can you get rid of your ball and chain to meet me for lunch at Casey’s?”
Cameron’s chuckle came through the earpiece. “Say no more. It’s been a while since I’ve gone there, and I’ve had a bitch of a morning with clients fighting me tooth and nail about where they want to invest.”
“What time, Singleton?”
“Give me twenty minutes. I’ll meet you there.”
“You’re on.”
Lamar ended the call, tightened his tie, and called Suzanne to inform her he was taking an extended lunch. He wanted and needed to talk to Cameron about his wife’s best friend, because he was having ambivalent feelings when it came to Nydia. He liked her a lot, but part of him didn’t want to, because he did not know where it would lead. Six months after losing his wife he’d begun sleeping with a woman, knowing it would never evolve beyond sex. There would be no declarations of love nor were they to be seen in public together. Once he told her of his intention and after seeing her pained expression, he decided to end it. She accused him of using her, and he had for his own selfish motives.
The next woman turned the tables on him when she proposed they have a sex-only relationship. They would meet at a motel once a week and after spending several hours together go their separate ways until the next time. Lamar’s male pride was wounded, but he managed to get over it because of what he’d done to the other woman.
However, it was different with Nydia. Not only would they openly date, but he was uncertain as to where he wanted their relationship to go. He wasn’t in love with her, but knew it would be so easy to love her. Everything about her appealed to him. It was as if he had been waiting for a woman like her to come into his life. He likened her to the bubbles in wine that turned it into champagne. She tickled his nose and his palate. Lamar slipped his arms into his suit jacket, walked out of his office with its views of the Mississippi River, and took a back staircase down to the street level.
Although it was late September, the heat and humidity made it feel like the height of summer. One of the many things he’d enjoyed about living in New York was the change of season. The first time he’d experienced an appreciable snowfall he took the subway to Central Park and asked a kid if he could use his sled to go sledding. The young boy gave him a strange look until he explained that he came from Louisiana, and it was a rare occasion that it snowed there. And if it did, it disappeared within hours.
Fall and winter were his favorites. Lamar became a tourist when he strolled aimlessly along broad avenues peering into department store windows gaily decorated for the holiday season. He’d been transfixed by the tiny white lights threaded through naked tree branches along a stretch of Fifth Avenue, and would occasionally stop in to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to pray.
Watching the skaters in Rockefeller Center with the massive Christmas tree as a backdrop never failed to put him in a holiday mood. And now that Nydia had invited him and Kendra to join her family in New York it was something he was looking forward to, if only to relive the time when he’d been a student in a city that at first had overwhelmed him with its nonstop energy.
Lamar walked the four blocks to Casey’s, waiting outside the pub for Cameron to join him. He didn’t have to wait long until he spied the financial planner coming down the street. They shook hands. “Thanks for meeting me.”
Cameron smiled, and attractive lines fanned out around his blue-gray eyes. “You called at the right time. I usually don’t have a liquid lunch, but this is one time when I definitely need one.”
Lamar seldom drank during the day, and when he did he limited it to a single beer. “Casey’s is the best watering hole for a liquid lunch. I take it you had a rough morning.”
“No shit,” Cameron drawled as he opened the door. “It’s one I’d like to forget. Should I assume yours was equally frustrating?”
“Let’s say it has been better,” Lamar said. “I’ll tell you about it after we order.” He didn’t tell Cameron that losing the bid wasn’t the only thing on his mind, but that would wait until after he let his friend blow off steam.
The hostess greeted Cameron by name and escorted them to a table in a corner where they did not have to shout to each other to be heard. The pub was a popular eating establishment for many of the businesspeople in the CBD. It was where they’d gather for lunch and dinner to eat and watch the many muted television screens tuned to news and sports channels.
A waiter approached the table and set down menus. “Can I get you gentlemen something from the bar?”
“I’ll have a Sazerac,” Cameron said.
Lamar hid a grin. His friend had ordered one of the city’s signature cocktails. “I’ll have a beer.” If it had been later in the day he would’ve ordered a Rob Roy. The drink made with scotch and sweet vermouth was slightly less lethal than a Sazerac. The lunch-crowd bartender tended to be a little heavy-handed when it came to pouring bourbon.
The young man wrote down their drink order. “Do you know what you want to eat, or should I give you time to decide?”
Lamar stared at the menu. “I still have to decide.”
Cameron glanced up. “Same here.”
Their drinks arrived, and they touched glasses. After a long swallow Lamar felt some of his tension easing. “I take it you’ve had to go a couple of rounds with a client.”
Cameron ran a hand over his neatly barbered graying light brown hair. Although approaching fifty, he appeared as physically fit as a man decades younger. “There are times when I ask myself if I’m crazy trying to save people from financial ruin because they want to invest in some half-baked, crazy-ass scheme their friends or relatives are concocting. And when I try and tell them it’s nothing more than a hustle, they threaten to have another company monitor their investments.”
Lamar gave Cameron a direct stare. “What do you tell them?”
Leaning back in his chair, the wealth manager affected a wry smile. “I always advise them that they have a choice to stay or leave, but if they do, then I will not take them on again. My mantra is once burned, twice shy. It’s just not worth the aggravation. It was the same when I dated. Once I decided not to see a young lady again, I didn’t want to relive whatever problem we had with each other.” Cameron paused. “Speaking of young ladies, how are you doing with Nydia?”
Lamar wanted to wait before broaching the subject of Nydia, but now that Cameron mentioned her he had to open up about how he felt about her. “Friends-wise, we’re good. But it’s a slow go in the romance department.”
The wealth manager gave him a long, penetrating stare. “It will continue to be a slow-go until you take off that piece of jewelry you’re wearing on your left hand.”
Splaying his fingers on the table, Lamar looked at the ring. Valerie had placed the matching tricolor gold band on his finger at their wedding, and it had remained there to this day. His head popped up. “What’s the problem?”
“The problem is no woman is going to get serious about you when you’re still wearing your wedding ring. At least, no single woman who would even remotely think of considering a future with you.”
A slight frown furrowed Lamar’s forehead. “Is that what Nydia told Jasmine?”
Cameron shook his head. “Jasmine doesn’t discuss her friends with me. The only thing I know is that if it hadn’t been for Nydia I wouldn’t be married to Jasmine.” He told Lamar about meeting Jasmine at Hannah DuPont’s wedding and asking her out. “She told me that wasn’t possible because she was going back to New York. I took a chance and asked for her phone number because I go to New York every May to reconnect with my college frat buddies. And that was almost seven months away.”
Lamar rested an arm on the table, completely intrigued by Cameron’s story. “I take it she agreed to go out with you.”
“She did, but only after she disclosed that Nydia had convinced her to answer my text and say yes.”
“So, Nydia is responsible for bringing you and Jasmine together.”
Cameron nodded. “And I’m eternally grateful to her.” He took another sip of the Sazerac. “I can’t believe I had to live nearly half a century to finally fall in love and look forward to becoming a father for the first time.” He paused. “Now back to you, my friend. I know you still love Valerie, but I’m certain she wouldn’t want you to spend the rest of your life grieving for what was. A part of her will live on in Kendra, but what about you, Lamar?”
“What about me?” Lamar asked, answering Cameron’s question with one of his own.
“You claim you’re friends with Nydia, but do you want more? And the more is possibly a commitment?”
“I’m willing to commit to her, but I’m not certain whether she wants the same.”
“Do you think it’s because you’re a single father?”
Lamar shook his head. “I don’t believe so. She and Kendra get along very well together.”
“So it’s not about your daughter, but you. Put yourself in her place, Lamar. You’re still wearing a wedding band, which says she’ll have to compete with a dead woman for your love. Would you want to get involved with a woman who wasn’t willing to stop talking about her dead husband or ex-lover?”
“Of course not.”
Cameron pointed to his hand again. “That’s what you’re doing by not taking off your ring. Have you talked to her about Valerie?”
“Yes.”
“Did she appear intimidated?”
Lamar smiled. “Not in the least. Nydia’s not one to let anything or anyone intimidate her. She’s one of the most confident women I’ve ever met.”
“If that’s the case, then you can’t have it both ways, brother. You have to make a decision whether you’re all in or half in. Do you want a future with Nydia?”
Cameron was asking Lamar a question he wasn’t able to answer. He’d met Nydia for the first time two months ago, though it seemed so much longer. While he believed he was falling in love with her, he wasn’t in love with her, but also he didn’t want to lose her. Perhaps Cameron was right about him continuing to wear his wedding band. The gold circle was a silent signal to women that he wasn’t available, except to those willing to engage in an affair with a married man. He wasn’t married, yet he had continued to go about life as if he were.
“I can honestly say I could see her in my life.”
“Does ‘in your life’ mean eventually proposing marriage?” Cameron asked.
A sly smile tilted the corners of Lamar’s mouth. “Ask me that again in a few months.”
Cameron’s light brown eyebrows lifted slightly. “What’s happening in a few months?”
“Kendra and I will spend the Christmas holiday with Nydia’s family in New York.”
“No shit!” Cameron whispered. “You’ve made plans to meet the woman’s family?”
Lamar held up his hand. “It’s not like that,” he said quickly.
Cameron shook his head. “Don’t try and explain. All I know is when I met Jasmine’s parents for the first time she was wearing my engagement ring. It was the same with my folks.”
“That’s because Jasmine was pregnant.”
“Even if she wasn’t carrying my baby, I knew I wanted to marry her before we slept together for the first time. There was something so different about her from the other women I’d dated, and it wasn’t because she was a woman of color. Not only is she beautiful and sophisticated, she isn’t afraid to speak her mind.”
Lamar smiled. It was the same with Nydia. There were times when she’d say something that made it almost impossible for him to reply with a comeback. “Her best friend is definitely as outspoken.”
Cameron waved a hand at the same time he shook his head. “I don’t have the temperament to deal with Nydia’s candor. Jasmine is forthright, but Nydia is the personification of bluntness. She’s not afraid to call a spade a spade. When she came down for the wedding, she took me aside and said if I hurt her best friend, then she was going to get me good. At that point in time I was too intimidated to ask what she intended to do, so I just nodded my head like a bobblehead doll.”
“Please don’t tell me you were afraid of a five-foot-two woman who probably doesn’t weigh more than one-ten soaking wet.”
“Hell yeah! When she looked at me with those green eyes I knew she wasn’t playing. So, make certain you don’t get her mad before y’all go to bed together, because you may wake up not looking the same. Especially below your belly button.”
Throwing back his head, Lamar laughed loudly, causing those sitting at nearby tables to glance his way. “I’ll remember that if we do sleep together.”
Cameron gave him a level stare. “I thought you were already sleeping together, because you two looked pretty cozy at Momma’s Place.”
“I want to give her time to feel comfortable taking our friendship to the next level.”
“She’s just getting out of a relationship?”
Lamar shook his head. “Not quite. She broke up with some dude last November, but he’s still messing with her.”
“What he needs is a good ass-whooping to convince him it’s over.”
“I agree, but it’s been settled. He’s lucky her father and brother didn’t get involved, because her dad is a retired cop and her brother is currently NYPD.”
Cameron whistled under his breath. “That man truly likes living on the edge.”
Lamar didn’t want to disclose to Cameron his involvement in helping Nydia with her dilemma because his friend had admitted his wife did not discuss her friends with him. He turned his attention to the menu when he spied the waiter’s approach. He ordered grilled honey Cajun shrimp with a side dish of red beans and rice, while Cameron selected a bowl of Creole-Cajun jambalaya.
“I know you didn’t call me for lunch to talk about Nydia, so, my friend, what else is on your mind?”
It was a rare occasion that Lamar talked about work to someone other than his mother, but this time he needed an unbiased opinion. He told Cameron about Omar’s seemingly more and more erratic behavior and how it was impacting the partnership. “We’ve done quite well since going into business together, but for Omar it’s never enough.”
“Have you thought about buying out his share in the company?” Cameron questioned.
“No, and I’m not certain whether I want to raise the idea with Kirk, who is a lot more laid back than I am, so most times Omar’s outbursts don’t bother him.”
“If that’s the case, then why don’t you go into business for yourself? Of course you’ll be competing with them for projects.”
Lamar slowly shook his head. “That’s something I can’t see myself doing. We’ve been together too long to compete with one another. What Omar needs is a break from the business so that he can straighten out his personal life.”
“Why don’t you suggest that? We Singletons go through the same thing every once in a while. Right now my father is supposed to be semi-retired, but he still comes into the office four out of five days. And there are times when I have to tell him to go home and kiss his wife because he’s being an annoyance. My brothers and I finally got together to institute a four-day workweek, which gives everyone a three-day weekend. Everyone returns on Monday much less stressed.”
“That’s something to think about,” Lamar said. “We don’t have that many ongoing construction projects where we have to be in the office five days a week. We can alternate covering the office every third week. And if I have to inspect a site, then I could do that during the week I don’t have office duty. As for office staff we can change their hours to give them the option of taking Fridays or Mondays off.”
“Are you certain you haven’t been talking to Jasmine?”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because she’s a human resources specialist, and it was she who gave me the idea of shortening my family’s workweek.”
“I can assure you,” Lamar said, smiling, “that I haven’t spoken to your wife. But you did make me think about a shorter workweek.”
The waiter arrived with their lunch order. The topic of conversation turned to sports as he and Cameron talked about the possibility of the Saints becoming Super Bowl champs with their newly acquired young talent.
The impromptu lunch ended when Lamar paid the bill, while Cameron left a generous tip. They walked back to their respective offices with a promise to see each other Sunday. Both had confirmed they planned to attend Gage and Tonya Toussaint’s brunch gathering.
As soon as he opened the door, the receptionist told him that Omar had taken the afternoon off. He thanked her, went into his office, closed the door, and dialed the number to Omar’s cell.
“Talk to me, Pierce.”
He smiled when hearing the familiar greeting. It took less than two minutes to outline to his friend and partner the plan Lamar had presented to Cameron. “It’s just something to think about,” he added. “I haven’t said anything to Kirk, but after I hang up I’ll talk to him about it. What do you think?”
“I like your suggestion, Lamar. I believe we’ve all been pushing too hard and perhaps even overextending ourselves. I do need time off to take care of my home, which is now in crisis.”
“Take as much time as you need, Omar. The company’s not going to go under if you’re not here. And plan to go away or do something with your wife and kids during the week of Christmas when they’re out of school. Think about booking a family cruise to the Caribbean.”
“I’m glad you called, because when we hang up that’s exactly what I intend to do. I’m going to research sites and then discuss it with Layla.”
“Let me know what you decide.”
“Will do. Thanks, buddy.”
Lamar smiled. “Anytime.”
He ended the call, feeling much better than he had with Omar’s outburst. At least his friend and partner recognized when he had to correct a problem. Layla had assumed the role of disciplinarian while Omar had become the overindulgent father. Anything his children wanted he gave them without questioning whether it was good for them, which made his wife the bad guy.
He’d listened to Omar rant about his wife being too hard on his sons and daughters without offering commentary or an opinion. After all, he was a single father with his own set of problems with a young girl whose moods changed from one day to the other. Nydia had mentioned his daughter’s fluctuating hormones, and he hoped they would soon level out so she wouldn’t keep him off-balance whenever he said something to her. Lamar recalled Nydia’s suggestion of giving Kendra a Halloween-themed birthday party and decided to ask her if it was something she’d want.
* * *
Lamar knocked on Kendra’s bedroom door and then waited for her to answer. He’d noticed she’d begun closing the door once there were noticeable changes in her body, and the last thing he wanted to do was invade her privacy.
“Yes?”
“May I come in?”
“Yes, Daddy?”
He opened the door wide enough to poke his head through. “I wanted to ask you if you want a birthday party.”
Kendra glanced away from her desktop. “No thanks. I’m getting too old for kiddie birthday parties. The next party I want is a Sweet Sixteen.”
“Are you sure?”
Kendra smiled, and in that instant Lamar thought he was staring at a younger Valerie. His daughter’s resemblance to her late mother was uncanny. “Very sure, Daddy. Taylor and Morgan said their mother is planning a Halloween party at her house for our class that weekend, so she’s probably going to call you to ask if I can go and spend the weekend.”
He smiled. Now he knew why she didn’t want a party. “I’ll let you go if you promise not to participate in any spin-the-bottle kissing games.”
“Stop it, Daddy!”
“I’m just teasing you, sweets. Don’t stay up too late.”
“I won’t.”
Lamar closed the door and retreated to his bedroom. His daughter was enrolled in the same school he and his sister had attended. It had earned the reputation of being an elite private school with small classes that gave students the attention they needed to excel.
He lay across the bed and contemplated what Cameron had said about him continuing to wear a wedding band despite being a widower for the past four years. He wanted a relationship with Nydia, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen until he let go of his past. Lamar remembered asking her to save him a dance at Cameron and Jasmine’s wedding and she’d said, I will, but only if Mrs. Pierce doesn’t mind you dancing with me. It was obvious she did not want to dance with a married man unless his wife approved.
Sitting up, he twisted the band of gold until it finally came off his finger. Lamar stared at the lighter band of skin, which hadn’t been exposed to the sun. He exhaled an audible sigh as he placed the ring in a drawer in the bedside table. He sat on the bed and closed his eyes. Taking off the ring was more symbolic than he realized. He had let go of the past in order to look forward to embracing the future with a woman who made him laugh when he didn’t want to laugh.
Lamar did not know why his path had crossed with Nydia Santiago’s but decided to enjoy the journey as long as it lasted. But more important, he wasn’t looking for a mother for his daughter, yet it was something he could not ignore. He didn’t know if Nydia would be willing to assume the responsibility of caring for a preteen stepdaughter, or whether Kendra wanted to share her father with another woman. The doubts and questions assaulted him like flying missiles until he wanted to shout and tell them to stop. What he had to do was be calm and let things unfold naturally.