“Yes. And company means no boys.”
A rush of color darkened Kendra’s cheeks. “I’m not into boys. They act so stupid.”
Not yet, Lamar thought. He knew there would come a time when she would be into them. “Not all boys are stupid,” he said in defense of his gender. “I’m leaving Friday night and I’ll be back on Sunday.”
“Where are you going?”
“New York.”
She pushed out her lips. “You promised me you were going to take me to New York.”
“And I intend to keep that promise this year. I have a friend who invited us to spend Christmas in New York with her and her family.”
Kendra caught his arm. “Who is she?”
“Someone you’ll meet once we get there.”
She let out a piercing scream that threatened to deafen him. “Whoa, baby girl. What are you trying to do? Make your old man hard of hearing?”
Kendra went on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “You’re not old, Daddy. A lot of my friends’ fathers have gray hair.”
Lamar wanted to tell his daughter her friends’ fathers were in their late forties and early fifties and were on their second and some even third marriages. “I don’t want you or your friends to give Miss Ramona a hard time or—”
“I know,” Kendra interrupted. “I won’t be able to have company for a long time.”
“Or I won’t let you go and visit your friends.”
She nodded. “I know, Daddy.”
“I’ll let you get back to your homework. Don’t stay up too late.”
“I won’t. Good night.”
He smiled. “Good night, sweets.”
Lamar closed the door, walked across the hall, and entered his bedroom. It took less than twenty minutes to pack a carry-on with what he needed for the weekend. It was only when he put a toiletry case in the bag that he questioned what he was about to embark upon. He was planning to fly up to New York to provide comfort to a woman he’d met three times. The first was when he’d stared at her like he’d been shocked with an electric current and unable to move. The second was Cameron’s wedding, when they danced together. And the last was when he’d taken her to Ruby’s.
And with each encounter he’d found himself becoming more and more enthralled with Nydia Santiago. He’d made the decision to go to New York because he felt compelled to be there for her, but the underlying reason was to discover why she’d crept into his thoughts when he least expected. As CM, or construction manager, for his company, he was responsible for the oversight of all new and ongoing projects. Their company had been awarded several contracts to build commercial office buildings and military substructures. He’d accepted the offer to oversee the renovations on Cameron’s future home because it was personal. Once the former warehouse was converted and decorated for family living, he knew it would become an award-winning showplace.
Lamar returned to his home office and sent an email to his partners informing them he would be away over the weekend; he was scheduled to be out of the office for the next two days inspecting the construction of a medical building in Abita Springs and the restoration of an antebellum mansion on the Great River Road.
He spent the next two hours reviewing the plans for both projects, and when he finally climbed the staircase to ready himself for bed he noticed there was no light under Kendra’s door. She’d gone to bed without his telling her.
He’d found Kendra different after spending the summer with his sister’s family. It was as if she’d stopped challenging him, and he wondered if she needed to be around more children her age. And it wasn’t for the first time that he regretted not giving Kendra a sister or brother. He and Valerie had talked about having more children, but she wanted to wait until Kendra was two. By that time Valerie complained she wanted to go back to work.
He’d broached the subject of increasing their family once Kendra celebrated her fourth birthday, and it wasn’t what Valerie said but what she did not say: she preferred her career to motherhood. After a while, Lamar dropped the subject, and he thought he was fortunate to have been blessed with one child.
It wasn’t quite ten o’clock when Lamar climbed into bed after showering and brushing his teeth. He had to be up early and on the road to meet with the construction foreman before his crew began their eight a.m. shift. His last thought before he surrendered to sleep was the expression of shock on Nydia’s face when a reporter shoved a microphone at her. There was no doubt she needed a friend other than her family and those who were familiar with her and her deceitful ex, and he hoped when he returned to New Orleans she would no longer be harassed by the newshounds and paparazzi.
Chapter 9
Nydia was startled when the buzzing of the intercom echoed through the apartment. She glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was almost eight-thirty. Lowering her feet, she stood up and walked to the door. The intercom rang several times a day since the fiasco at El Rincon, and whenever she activated the video feature she saw a face that was totally unfamiliar to her and suspected it was a reporter.
Pressing the button on the panel, she gasped when Lamar’s face appeared on the video intercom. He’d said he was sending her a surprise, and Nydia never would have guessed that he would deliver it in person. She pressed another button and disengaged the lock on the door leading into the building’s vestibule.
Nydia still did not want to believe all that had happened in the span of five days: she’d been blindsided with a shocking marriage proposal; stalked by reporters and paparazzi looking for gossip about her and Danny Ocasio; and footage of her as his runaway fiancée had appeared on prime-time and cable entertainment news stations. Now she was reluctant to leave her apartment because she didn’t know who was waiting to snap her picture or ask for an interview.
Her parents wanted her to come and stay with them, but she’d refused their offer. Her stubborn streak had surfaced when she told her mother she wasn’t going into hiding. She would remain at her apartment until all of the hoopla died down.
