“I know that now.” Nydia had only admitted to Jasmine that she’d stayed with Danny because of sex. But after a while even sex wasn’t enough to keep them together.
“You said there were media people at the restaurant, so do you think footage of his proposal will end up on television?”
“It probably will. Danny said he now has a publicist, so I’m certain everything was staged in advance. I’m not going to worry about it because I’m leaving New York by the end of the year.”
Milagros gasped. “So, you’re really moving to New Orleans?”
“Yes.” Nydia had told her cousin about Hannah’s offer but at the time hadn’t reached a decision as to whether she wanted to invest or leave New York.
“I’ve always wanted to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but whenever I tried to get a hotel room near the action my travel agent confirmed they were all booked up.”
“You won’t have to worry about that next year, because I’ll save a room for you at the inn. Or you can share my suite.”
“Thanks, Nydia. Once next year’s vacation schedule at my job becomes available, I’m going to take off and come down to Nawlins to hang out with my favorite cousin.”
Nydia chatted with Milagros about her future plans before ending the call. She still did not want to believe that Danny had set up the entire scenario where he would be recorded proposing marriage to a woman he’d purported to love. Not only was he devious and duplicitous but also so overconfident that she would take him back because he had made it.
Even if she had thought about a possible reconciliation, she couldn’t, because she didn’t trust him. She remembered Hannah saying trust in a marriage supersedes love. And if Nydia ever fell in love and married, then she would have to trust the man even more than she loved him.
* * *
Nydia’s worst nightmare was manifested three days later when she walked out of her apartment building and was accosted by a reporter recording her on a cell phone. The woman wanted details behind her relationship with Danny, whose single had become the most downloaded song for the past three weeks.
“No comment.” It had become her pat response. Turning, she walked up the steps and back into the building. There were more than a million people living in Manhattan, and someone from the media had found her address. What she found odd was her name wasn’t even listed on the building’s lease. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but she suspected the taxi driver who had been conveniently double-parked outside of the restaurant had also been a plant.
Nydia knew if she were now face-to-face with Danny, she would tell him exactly what she thought of him. That she wouldn’t allow him to use her for salacious gossip just to enhance his newfound image. It wasn’t happening, because she refused to become a pawn in a scheme concocted by his publicist who wanted to project a good-guy image for his client by urging him to propose marriage to his longtime girlfriend. So many male celebrities were seen with a merry-go-round of women, while others were content becoming baby daddies, so it was obvious the publicist was playing a new angle.
Danny had made the grievous mistake of not taking the time to really know who she was when they were dating, because then he would have known she didn’t need a man to define her.
* * *
Nydia waited two days before attempting to leave her apartment again, only to encounter this time a man who’d been sitting in a car across the street from her building. He was a lot more persistent, but when she threatened to call the police and charge him with stalking, he got back into his car and drove away. Then she did something she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do again: she called Danny and left a voice mail message that she was going to sue him for harassment if he didn’t stop the press from invading her privacy.
He didn’t call back later that night, and she knew why. Footage of their meeting in El Rincon, and the subsequent encounter with the reporter waiting for her when she’d left her building, were featured onTMZ.
Her cell phone had rung constantly throughout the afternoon when friends and relatives revealed they’d viewed the segment with her and Danny. She literally had to talk her police sergeant brother off the ledge when he threatened to tune up Danny for shaming his sister.
“No, Nelson. I don’t want you to lose your job with the NYPD because of that clown.”
“I wouldn’t do it myself.”
“I don’t care. He’s not worth it. Now, promise me you won’t do anything to him. Nelson?” she asked, when encountering silence.
“Okay, sis. Only because you asked me. Pops is so mad that Mami threatened to leave him if he went looking for Danny.”
Nydia did not want to believe the men in her family were ready to end Danny’s professional singing career before it had begun. “I’ll call Papi later once he’s calmer.”
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right, because I can have some of my men drive by your place to make certain you’re not being harassed.”
“They’ll probably leave me alone now that the videotape is out.”
“I hope that’s true.”
Nydia didn’t feel as confident as she sounded, but hoped she was right.
* * *
Lamar was sitting in the family room watching television, while Kendra sat on a window seat talking on her cell phone, when the image of Nydia and the man she assumed was her ex appeared on the screen. He was transfixed seeing her expression of shock and distress once she realized she was being filmed by a popular syndicated entertainment and gossip news program. He’d tuned the television to the station because Kendra told him she wanted to write a report to compare different entertainment news programs for her English class. He took a furtive glance at his daughter. It was apparent she was more interested in talking to her classmate than focusing on the television screen.
