Tonya got up and walked into the kitchen. “I’m good. Hannah had the guesthouse cleaned and fully stocked by the time I got here.”
“You know Miss Thang is up on everything. How is she?”
“Ecstatic.”
“That’s because she’s married to one of the finest brothers in the Big Easy. I’m not looking for a father figure, but if I met someone like St. John I’d be all over daddy-love like flies on a meat skin.”
Tonya laughed. “I had no idea you liked older men.”
“Not really, but I’m tired of guys my age who refuse to grow up. If they’re not trying to shack up with a woman because they need someplace to lay their dusty asses, then they’re living like a mole in their mama’s basement.”
She grimaced at Nydia’s acerbic declaration. When Nydia had announced she was “so done” with her longtime boyfriend, Tonya was skeptical the thirty-one-year-old would keep her promise. “I’m glad you’re finally getting your love life together.”
“Right now I don’t have and don’t want a love life,” Nydia admitted, “and for the first time in a very long time I’m enjoying my own company. That never would’ve happened if you hadn’t offered to let me sublet your apartment. I come home, close the door, and shut out the world. I don’t have a nosy-ass landlady watching to see who I invite over. Some of my cousins keep asking when they can come and see the apartment, but I’ve been putting them off because I know they’ll want to use it as a hangout. And that’s not going to happen, because every time I turn around they’ll be in my face. Enough talk about me. How’s the weather down there?”
“It’s not bad. It was in the low sixties this afternoon.”
“That’s a lot better than it is here; it’s snowing. They’re predicting at least a foot before it’s all over. This is when I envy you and Hannah. You don’t have to deal with the cold and snow.”
“You wouldn’t have to deal with the cold and snow if you decide to come on down and work with us.”
“Give me a couple more snowstorms and I’ll definitely start thinking about it. Luckily, I don’t have to go out until the weekend, and hopefully by that time most of the snow should be cleared away.”
“Have you heard from Jasmine?” Tonya asked.
“She called yesterday to tell me she has the flu. I asked her if she wanted me to bring her some homemade chicken soup, but she told me to stay away because she’s been barking like a seal.”
“Has she seen a doctor?”
“Yes. He told her to stay in, get some rest, and drink plenty of liquids. He did give her a prescription for cough medicine, but she claims the codeine makes her feel loopy.”
“Call her back and let her know you’re going to order from Grub Hub and have them deliver soup and whatever else you think she needs to keep up her strength, because we know she eats like a bird.”
“That’s a good idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“It’s because you’re not a mother who’s had to take care of a sick child.”
“You’ve got that right. I’m going to hang up now and call a restaurant close to her place, and hopefully they’ll deliver in this weather.”
Tonya wanted to tell Nydia that blizzard conditions slowed down the city, but did not shut it down completely. “Tell Jasmine to call me once she feels better.”
“I will.Adios, mija.”
“Good-bye, Nydia”
She disconnected the call and began the task of cleaning up the kitchen. After stacking dishes in the dishwasher, she turned off the radio, and settled down to watch television. The large flat-screen sat on a shelf in the massive, ornately carved armoire. When Tonya first saw the two-bedroom guesthouses, she likened them to luxurious suites in some upscale hotels. They were furnished with exquisite reproductions that only an expert in antiques would be able to authenticate. The electricity had been updated to include cable and Internet access.
Hannah had shown her the architect’s renderings for the café and supper club, and Tonya was caught completely off guard with the incredibly beautiful depictions of her new restaurants. He had divided the café with an area for dining and another into a parlor with chairs, loveseats, and sofas where guests could relax before or after breakfast.
The supper club was designed for intimacy, with loveseats instead of individual chairs at more than half the tables. There was a dance floor and a raised stage for a band. He decided to keep the wood-burning fireplaces and replace the chandeliers with hanging fixtures resembling late-nineteenth-century gaslights. The kitchen, streamlined to provide optimum dining room space, was to be equipped with top-of-the-line commercial appliances. The architect’s specs also included a central cooling unit for each building. The supper club was configured with a capacity to seat forty at any given time. Once the club was open to the public, she planned to offer open seating Tuesday through Thursday, and reservations for Friday and Saturday.
Hannah planned for nine of the eighteen bedroom suites in the mansion to be set aside for guests, which meant at any given time Tonya knew she would have to prepare enough food for no more than twenty-five if the inn was filled to capacity. Seven suites were doubles, and the two remaining suites were triples.
She watched the news on CNN, then picked up the remote device and began channel surfing and saw thatThe Best Man Holidaywas scheduled to begin in ten minutes. It was one of her favorite movies. The highlight for her was the scene when Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Terrance Howard, and Harold Perrineau danced to New Edition’s “Can You Stand the Rain.” Their smooth dance moves never failed to make her smile. Once the movie ended, Tonya turned off the television and made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth and shower. No more sitting up late watching movies and talk shows or reading because she had to get up early to go into Chez Toussaints to bake bread.
Patting the moisture from her body with a thick velour towel, she walked on bare feet into the bedroom. How different, she mused, her new, although temporary, home was from her East Harlem apartment. She didn’t have to walk up four flights of stairs or share the fifth floor with three other apartments. Tonya rarely encountered her neighbors, and when she did they usually acknowledged one another with nods, smiles, and not much more. They, like most New Yorkers, were in a hurry to get where they were going.
Opening a drawer in the mahogany chest-on-chest, she took out a cotton nightgown and pulled it over her head, and then climbed into the four-poster canopy bed draped in white mosquito netting and dotted with tiny embroidered yellow butterflies. Whoever had decorated the room favored butterflies, which were stamped on the window seat cushion and the padded bench at the foot of the bed. She thought of the bedroom as romantic and whimsical.
Although she had settled comfortably into the house, she still needed to unpack two more boxes that were in a corner of the smaller bedroom, boxes filled with books and magazines she still had not read. Reaching over, Tonya turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness. In her second day as a transplanted Louisianan, she was involved in preparing the dishes that made Chez Toussaint a popular eating establishment. Spending hours in the restaurant kitchen reminded her why she had made the decision to become a chef. Although the activity was not as frenetic as it had been for her when working in larger, fully staffed restaurant kitchens, she still had to bring her A-game. Despite being professionally trained, she had a lot to learn about authentic Cajun and Creole cuisine with its unique flavors and textures.
Her day had begun with and ended with Gage. There was no doubt he was shocked to see her when he opened the door to her ring. And her day had ended with him when they shared cooking duties, dinner, and a dance. It wasn’t vanity that communicated to Tonya that he was interested, if not intrigued, with her. There was something in his personality that reminded her of Cameron Singleton when he had questioned her about Jasmine. And it was obvious that if either man saw someone or something they wanted, they wouldn’t allow anyone or thing to deter them, even if it meant it wasn’t good for them.
Tonya recalled her grandmother’s warning:What may be good to you may not be good for you.Her grandmother was right when she flew up from Florida to New York for her granddaughter’s wedding to Samuel Alexander. Grandmamma Martin took one look at Samuel and tried to dissuade her from marrying him, even though she was carrying his child. In hindsight, she wished she had taken her grandmother’s advice. She’d grown up when she had the option of terminating the pregnancy, bringing it to term, and/or choosing whether to marry or become a single mother.
She closed her eyes, smiling and wondering if becoming friends with Gage Toussaint was good for her. Tonya knew she had to be very careful or she would find herself succumbing to his captivating presence. He made her think about things that had nothing to do with a shared passion for cooking. Sleep was slow in coming, but after tossing and turning, she finally fell asleep.
