Chapter 5
Tonya climbed down off the stepladder and walked over to the bedside table to answer the telephone. She had spent most of the morning going through closets and selecting unused and outdated clothes and accessories she planned to donate to a neighborhood charity. She glanced at the display; the call was from her attorney’s office.
“Hello.”
“May I please speak to Ms. Martin?”
“This is she.”
“Ms. Martin, this is Ms. Stewart from Davis, Keen, and Harris. Mr. Keen has given his approval for your agreement with Mrs. McNair. You’ll get an email confirming this, along with the attached agreement. Do you have any questions?”
Tonya sat down on the side of her bed as her heart pounded a runaway rhythm. “No, I don’t.”
There came a pause from the other end of the connection. “Congratulations, Ms. Martin, on your new venture.”
“Thank you so much.”
She placed the receiver in the handset and fell back across the bed. It had taken her and Hannah several days to discuss the terms of the partnership agreement before she was willing to commit to invest in the DuPont Inn. Tonya wasn’t able to compete with Hannah when it came to the legalese; however, the business courses she had taken in college had given her an advantage as they revised the contract that would make her a part owner. Once approved by her attorney, Tonya would electronically transfer the agreed-upon amount from her bank to Hannah’s.
She picked up her cell phone and tapped the messages icon.
Tonya: It’s official. I’m now an innkeeper.
Within seconds, she got a reply from her daughter.
Samara: Congratulations! We’ll celebrate when we get together. Late for class. I’ll call you later
Every Thanksgiving she drove to Atlanta to pick up her daughter before traveling south to Florida, where they shared the holiday with her parents. Now that she was going to move to Louisiana, the drive would take hours instead of days.
Tonya slipped off the bed and made her way to the smaller bedroom her daughter had decorated like a studio apartment. An off-white sofa covered with Haitian cotton converted into a full-size bed, and a desktop computer and printer sat on a computer table. Bookcases packed with books and magazines spanned one wall, while another was decorated with framed movie posters and photos of Samara’s favorite movie and recording artists.
She sat down at the desk, booted up the computer, and then switched on the printer. As soon as she typed in her password to access the Internet, she saw the message from her attorney’s office. Tonya downloaded the cover letter and document, electronically signed and dated the agreement, and forwarded the signed document to Hannah for her signature before printing it.
When she had broached the subject of Nydia subletting the apartment, Tonya realized she had been somewhat premature, but now with the signed agreement she hoped her former co-worker would move in. Nydia had promised to come over later that afternoon to decide whether she wanted to sublet it for the following year. Rent for two bedrooms in the renovated East Harlem walk-up was high, but not as prohibitive when compared to other neighborhoods on the Upper West Side and East Side of Manhattan.
Tonya made two phone calls: one to her parents and the other to Darius. Her mother was overjoyed that they would be able to see each other more than two and occasionally three times a year. And instead of Tonya making the drive to Florida, the elder Martins planned to put New Orleans on their travel itinerary. After their retirement, her parents had sold their home in a New York City suburb, relocated to Daytona Beach, and moved into Ronald Martin’s ancestral home. However, the aging structure needed major repairs. He updated the three-bedroom house, sold it to a young couple, and then moved into an upscale fifty-five-and-over gated retirement community with onsite amenities that included a nine-hole golf course, swimming pools, tennis courts, resident medical personnel, and an in-house chef.
The call to Darius went unanswered, and Tonya left a voice mail message for him to call her. It was time she let the man she had been seeing for more than a year know that she planned to relocate. She exhaled an audible sigh and felt as if she had been released from an invisible prison. The instant she was told that her position as an assistant chef at Wakefield Hamilton had been eliminated, her mind had gone into a tumult.
Although she was given a generous severance package, that still did not belay her anxiety about her future. And despite her experience, Tonya loathed having to update her résumé and contact former co-workers about available positions.
It was only after Hannah invited her, Nydia, and Jasmine to join her at her Manhattan high-rise apartment for an early brunch that a strange calmness came over Tonya, as she was reminded that she was a highly skilled chef and her life was totally unencumbered. She had mailed off a check for Samara’s last year at Spelman College, she was debt-free, and the money she received in the severance package was enough for her to maintain her current lifestyle for more than a year.
Hannah inviting her, Jasmine, and Nydia to her apartment changed everything: her association with the other women, and now her future. Once Tonya had revealed she planned to take the summer off before looking for another position, Hannah invited her to come to New Orleans, and after some urging Nydia and Jasmine agreed to accompany Tonya and her daughter. It was during her first visit to New Orleans that Hannah asked her about investing in her business venture of converting DuPont House to DuPont Inn. She made Tonya an offer she found hard to refuse. If she invested in the inn, then she would maintain a twenty-five percent ownership in the business, along with operating an onsite café exclusively for inn guests and a supper club for the general public.
Hannah talked about a tentative opening date of next February, but her decision to install an elevator in the two-story house pushed back the opening until late summer or early fall. Tonya did not mind the delay, because it would give her more than enough time to acquaint herself with the local cuisine and interview, hire, and train her kitchen and waitstaff.
She left the bedroom and headed for the kitchen. She had promised Nydia she would prepare dinner for her. She decided to prepare several Caribbean-inspired dishes: Cuban black bean soup, rice and pigeon peas, and chicken in a garlic sauce.
Tonya had just finished setting the table in the dining area when the intercom chimed through the apartment. She walked down a narrow hallway to the front door and tapped the button on the intercom panel. Nydia’s image appeared on the small monitor. She tapped another button, disengaging the lock on the downstairs door. One of the many perks in renting an apartment in the renovated building was security. Closed-circuit cameras were integrated within the intercom system and allowed tenants to see who was ringing their bell.
Tonya opened the door to her apartment and waited for Nydia to walk up four flights. A knowing smile parted her lips when she saw her friend momentarily stop midway up the staircase before continuing. “Shame on you,” she chided. “You’re too young to be winded.”
Nydia exhaled an audible breath as she slowly made her way to the landing. “I’m not used to walking stairs. I can’t believe you do this every day.”
She opened the door wider. “Sometimes I do it several times a day. Come in and sit down before you collapse.”
Nydia blew out another breath as she slipped her arms out of the straps of her leather backpack. She placed the backpack on the floor, hung her jacket on a wall rack, and kicked off her shoes and left them on a thick mat by an umbrella stand. “I see why you’re so slim,” she remarked as she walked the length of the hallway to the living/dining area. “Four flights aside, I must admit that you live on a wonderful block.”
