“I lived in East Harlem for the first five years of my life, until my parents bought a brownstone in West Harlem. My father, who was a police officer, applied to HUD’s Good Neighbor Next Door program and bought an abandoned three-story brownstone. He was eligible for a low-cost loan through the program to make renovations. Mami and Papi had the contractors divide the spaces on the second and third story into two apartments, each with three bedrooms. They rented out the apartments on the second and third story, and we lived on the first. There was enough room for me, my brothers, parents, and my grandmother whenever she came for an extended visit. We finally convinced her to move out of her apartment into the mother-in-law suite at my brother’s house in White Plains.”
Lamar listened intently to Nydia as she talked about leaving home for the first time when she attended college on Long Island. Living on campus had allowed her a modicum of independence from her overprotective father.
“I moved back with my parents while I got my MBA, then left for good after passing the CPA exam and securing permanent employment. I’d rented a furnished apartment in a three-family house in the Bronx, but my landlady was so nosy she should’ve been a covert agent for the CIA. I got a reprieve last year when I sublet Tonya’s East Harlem apartment. Now I can come and go without being surveilled.”
Lamar laughed. “Good for you.”
“If you ever want to show your daughter where you used to hang out inel barrio, then let me know and I’ll have my parents put you up in their place now that my brothers are married and live elsewhere. My eighty-five-year-old grandmother will probably talk your ear off if she knows you speak Spanish. She complains that her family members, her great-grandchildren in particular, have become so American that they never speak Spanish anymore, while my mother constantly reminds her that as a Puerto Rican she is also an American and fluent in English.”
Momentarily shocked by Nydia’s invitation, Lamar stared straight ahead. There were a number of times, whenever Kendra asked him what he’d seen or done as a student, when he’d considered revisiting New York City and showing her where he’d attended college. His daughter knew he expected her to attend college, because she was bright and had the ability to become an exceptional student if she was able to remain focused.
“I’m certain Kendra would love that. Whenever I talk about New York City she pleads with me to take her there on vacation.”
“Why haven’t you, Lamar?”
He lifted his shoulders. “I must confess that I really don’t have an excuse. Maybe if I can convince my two partners to close the office for the week between Christmas and New Year’s, then we can spend the holiday in New York.”
“You own your company?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have an excuse if you run your own company with two other partners.”
“I know and don’t remind me.”
“Someone should remind you that all work—”
“Makes for a dull boy,” he interrupted.
“I was going to say something else, but I’ll keep it to myself.”
Lamar’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “You’re not one to bite your tongue, so spit it out.”
Nydia laughed. “Oh, so you noticed.”
He stopped for a red light, stared at Nydia, and then burst into laughter. “Of course I noticed. Has anyone ever told you that you don’t have a filter?”
“Plenty of folks,” she said proudly. “I’ve never been one to sugarcoat a situation or predicament. What you see is what you get when it comes to Nydia Stephanie Santiago.”
“I happen to like what I see, Miss Santiago, because at thirty-eight I’m much too old to play head games.”
Nydia wanted to tell Lamar that at thirty-three she also was too old to play head games. She had become an adult at eighteen, but it was only over the past year that she’d actually felt as if she had reached the full potential of the responsibilities of being an adult. She stared out the side window at the passing landscape. There were abandoned properties interspersed with one-story structures with young barefoot children playing in the yard.
“Thank you for offering your folks’ place, but I can’t impose on them.”
“It wouldn’t be an imposition, Lamar. They love entertaining company. Whenever my cousins come up from Puerto Rico, they prefer staying with Mami and Papi.”
“I’m not going to promise anything except that I’ll think about it.”
Nydia knew if Lamar and his daughter decided to celebrate Christmas with her family it would become an event they would not only enjoy but remember for a while. This year her brother Nelson had offered to open his house for the festivities.
“Were you affected by Hurricane Katrina?” she asked Lamar as he drove along a one-lane unpaved road.
“No, but many folks were not so fortunate. The area was flooded, and the homes built on the ground sustained a lot of water damage. Some folks were able to rebuild while others were forced to relocate. I try to patronize the businesses here rather than in the French Quarter because they’re still struggling to survive.”
“Do you ever take your dates to places in the French Quarter?”
Lamar’s hands tightened noticeably on the steering wheel. “No. I don’t date.”
