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 outifI 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 eatmaduros,tostones,mofongo, and of courseperñil. A few times we would hit the clubs, and that’s when I learn to dance salsa.”
