Nydia lowered her arm. “It was never about your talent, Danny. It was all about you accepting responsibility for taking care of yourself that was a problem in our relationship. And it wasn’t about my making more money than you.”
“Then what was it about?”
She counted slowly to ten to compose herself; otherwise her tongue would get the best of her. And she’d promised herself after her final break with Danny that she never wanted to spew expletives at another man as long she lived. If they disagreed about something she would state her opinion and then walk away to avoid an acerbic verbal confrontation. She’d had enough arguments with Danny Ocasio to last her several lifetimes.
“It was about my not wanting to be used by you. Word got back to me about you telling your so-called homeboys that I would take care of you until you got your big break, then after that you could have all of the . . . let me get this right. All of the bitches you’d ever want.” Danny stared at her as if she’d suddenly grown a third eye in the middle of her forehead. “Are you going to deny you said it?”
Danny closed his eyes and shook his head. “No. I only said it because my boys were on me about having a girlfriend who was making crazy money.”
Nydia leaned forward. “It wasmymoney, Danny. Not yours or theirs. I gave up a social life in college because I had to study practically around the clock because I didn’t want to lose my scholarships. I sacrificed again to get a graduate degree and then study for the CPA exam. I was paid well because I’d put in the work, and all I’d asked was that you get a job where you earned enough so you wouldn’t have to depend on your relatives to put a roof over your head or food in your belly.”
“Get real, Nydia. You know how much rents are in Manhattan.”
“Of course I know, because I’m renting an apartment in Manhattan, and before that a furnished apartment in the Bronx, which if you’d had a job rather than playing gigs on the weekend you could’ve afforded. You had options, Danny. What’s wrong with working in any of the brand name stores along 125th Street? Sixteen dollars an hour for an eight-hour workday, Monday through Friday, adds up to more than twenty-five hundred a month before taxes. You’d earn enough to pay rent, and with your weekend gig you could’ve used that money to buy studio time.”
Smiling, Danny slowly shook his head. “I’m still amazed that you can compute numbers in your head.” His expression changed as his smile faded. “I guess I couldn’t see it then. I was so fixated on singing that everything else was secondary. And what I regret most is losing you. But if you give me another chance I’d like to make it up to you.”
Nydia went completely still, her breath catching in her chest as she stared numbly at Danny when he slid off the booth and went down on one knee. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and opened a ring box. The size and brilliance of the center stone rendered her mute. She could not believe he was proposing marriage. Then, without warning, someone emerged from the kitchen and pushed a microphone close to her face while the flash from a camera temporarily blinded her. It only took seconds for Nydia to reach for her bag and push through the crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle.
“Are you going to marry him?” a woman called at her departing back.
Nydia shook her head. She raced out of the restaurant as several people followed her retreat. She didn’t want to believe Danny had chosen a public place to blindside her with a marriage proposal. It had been nearly a year since their breakup, and he was mistaken if he thought she was so desperate that she would become his wife because he was a celeb.
“Miss Santiago, are you going to turn down Danny Ocasio’s proposal?”
She turned to find a man with a microphone standing only a few feet away. There was another next to the curb filming her. She clamped her teeth tightly to keep from saying what she really wanted to say. This was one time she wanted to let loose with every vulgarity she’d ever known.
“No comment,” she said, flashing a tight smile. “I wish Danny all the success he deserves,” she added diplomatically.
That said, she turned and walked down the block to hail a taxi. One skidded up to the curb and she got in, and she gave the driver her address. Nydia covered her face with her hands and struggled not to cry. Never in her life had she been so publicly humiliated. The old Nydia would have cursed Danny in English and in Spanish and behaved so badly she would have brought shame on her family. But she had turned a corner in her life, and she never wanted to resurrect the old Nydia.
She waited until she was back in her apartment before she called her cousin. “No puedo creer que él me hiciera eso,” she blurted out in Spanish once she heard Milagros’s greeting.
“What don’t you believe? Who did what?”
“Danny.” She quickly revealed her meeting with her ex and his impromptu proposal.
“Coño, prima,” Milagros drawled. “He should’ve known better than to spring something like that on you. Has he forgotten that you broke up with him last year?”
“I don’t know, but he has to be living in an alternative universe if he believes we can take up where we left off as if nothing happened. Now that he has money he can have all of theputas, bitches, hoes, or whatever derogatory names men call women.”
“And you know girls are going to be on him like stink on shit once the word gets out that Nydia Santiago turned down his proposal. They’ll be throwing panties, thongs, and G-strings at him to get his attention.”
“I don’t care what they do, Millie, but I’m through with him.”
“How big was the ring?”
Nydia smiled in spite of herself. “Let’s say it was too big for my hand.”
“Damn! Was it Kardashian big?”
“I’m no expert when it comes to judging the size of a diamond, but I’d wager it was at least six or maybe seven gaudy-ass carats.” She recalled Jasmine’s three-carat engagement ring, and the one Danny had shown her was twice as large. “What he should’ve done was save his money.”
Milagros’s snort came through the earpiece. “I would’ve taken the ring and after a few months break the engagement and then sell the bad boy. You put up with more crap from him than I would have.”
“That’s because I told myself that I loved him.”
“You may have loved Danny but I never heard you say you were in love with him. There is a difference.”
