“You know you’re going to have to put your money where your mouth is,” Hannah teased. “Maybe one of these nights you can make us a traditional Latin dinner.”
“Consider it done.” Tonya wanted to tell Hannah that Nydia moving in November rather than January proved beneficial to them both. Nydia didn’t have a landlady clocking her every move, and she had more privacy and a lot more room than she had had in the studio apartment.
“How is she making out with her boyfriend?” Hannah asked.
Tonya shook her head. “I wouldn’t know, because she’s never mentioned him again after she moved in. And if she’s not seeing clients, or spending hours doing their books, then she’s visiting her relatives, who happen to live within walking distance.”
“I’m glad everything’s working out for her.” Hannah pushed to her feet. “I’m sitting here running my mouth when you need to settle in and unwind. If you want to hang out together, then send me a text. St. John and I are hosting a Super Bowl party this year, so I’d really appreciate it if you can give me suggestions for a menu. I want something different from the quintessential wings, guacamole, and chips.”
“Why don’t you have Eustace cater it?”
“I would if he didn’t have several other parties he’s catering the same day. However, he did say he would stop by later.”
Tonya smiled. “Not to worry. I’ll come up with something a bit more unconventional. How many are you expecting?”
“Twenty have committed to coming.”
“I’ll make enough for thirty.”
Hannah held up a hand. “I didn’t ask you to help so you’d have to—”
“Stop, Hannah,” Tonya interrupted in a quiet voice. “I want to cook because it’s free advertising for once I open the supper club. How will folks know what I can do if they don’t get the opportunity to sample my dishes?”
Hannah’s pale eyebrows lifted slightly. “You’re right about that. You can do the cooking, but only if you allow me to pay you. I need you to give a shopping list, and I’ll make certain you’ll have whatever you need.”
Tonya bit down on her lower lip. “If you mention paying me again, I’ll cut you.”
Throwing back her head, Hannah laughed until she nearly lost her breath. “Now you sound like me.”
“Do you think you have a monopoly on threatening to cut folks?” She remembered Hannah threatening to cut her when she attempted to pick up the check for a restaurant dinner they had shared with Jasmine and Nydia, and then again when they threatened to sleep with St. John if she did not marry him.
“I really wouldn’t have cut anyone.”
“Neither would I, because I don’t like violence.” Tonya’s mind was working overtime as to what she would put together for the Super Bowl gathering. “Give me a few days to come up with a menu you like, then we’ll go shopping together.”
“You’ve got a deal, partner.”
Partner. The word lingered with Tonya long after Hannah walked out. After drawing all the shades in the house, she picked up the weekender and removed a bag containing bottles of bath gel, shampoo, conditioner, and body moisturizer. After a shower, she planned to brew a cup of coffee with plenty of milk, then get into bed and read. Some people watched television before going to sleep, but Tonya found reading a lot more relaxing. Although she had downloaded many books onto her tablet, she still liked holding a physical book. There were some nights when she fell asleep and woke to find the book had fallen off the bed onto the floor.
Forty minutes later she climbed into bed, pulled the sheet and lightweight blanket over her shoulders, and went to sleep, knowing when the sun rose she would mark her first day as a transplanted Louisianan.
* * *
Tonya woke, slightly disoriented, and then she remembered where she was. Stretching her arms above her head, she smiled. Today marked the first day in her journey to fulfill her destiny. Although it would be months before she opened the restaurant, she felt as if she had been wrapped in an invisible cocoon of peace and happiness she had not experienced since she held her infant daughter in her arms for the first time.
Turning over, she reached for her cell phone on the bedside table. It was minutes before four. It was apparent her body’s circadian rhythm was still in the Eastern time zone. And although she had not had to get up early since being downsized eight months earlier, old habits were hard to shake. Then she had to be at the bank at six to help prepare breakfast for the employees or their elite clients. She had worked long hours, but she was generously compensated for what would routinely become twelve-hour workdays.
A silent voice told her to stay in bed, but Tonya had never been one to laze away the morning. There were boxes to unpack. She had packed and shipped all of her clothes and personal items to DuPont House two days before she left New York to drive to Florida, leaving several outfits she would wear during the week she spent with her parents. She had also called Eustace to inform him that she was returning to New Orleans and she would stop in and help him prepare dishes for Chez Toussaints’ lunch crowd.
Sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the four-poster bed, Tonya flicked on the bedside lamp and walked out of the bedroom to the bathroom.
The sun was up and the Garden District was alive with activity when Tonya got into her car and drove to Tremé. It had taken her less than an hour to unpack the boxes and put everything away. She had brought several heavy jackets and two winter coats despite the fact that the temperatures rarely dipped below fifty degrees.
She managed to find the restaurant without using the Honda’s GPS and pulled into the parking lot behind the building. It was six thirty, and there was one other vehicle in the lot along with the two white vans. She recognized the SUV immediately. It belonged to Gage. Her brow creased in worry. Had something happened to Eustace since their recent conversation?
Tonya did not want to think the worst when she got out and rang the back doorbell. The door opened and she came face-to-face with Gage Toussaint. It was obvious he was surprised to see her as he stared at her for several seconds.
She met his gray-green eyes, wondering what was going on behind the luminous orbs. “May I come in?”
