“It’s always the quiet ones you have to watch because they usually don’t let you know when they’re coming for you.”
“I don’t want anyone to come for Danny. He’ll get his for using me to enhance his newfound superstar image. I wouldn’t be so pissed off with him if he’d told me what his publicist had planned.”
“Would you have gone along with a fake engagement?”
Nydia shook her head, and then realized Jasmine couldn’t see her. “Hell no! However, I wouldn’t have been opposed to granting an interview about how much Danny had sacrificed to realize his dream. I would’ve poured it on real thick about how he was a wonderful boyfriend and I never had to concern myself with him cheating on me. I’d end it with while he was concentrating on his singing career, mine was going in a different direction so I had to make an adjustment in my life that did not include Danny.”
“All of that is true, but the reality is during your three-year relationship you’d stopped seeing him because he refused to get a nine-to-five.”
“I’m certain word will eventually get out why I broke up with him. East Harlem isn’t that big, and everybody knows something about somebody.”
“Speaking of gossiping, now that you told me Lamar’s fluent in Spanish we can’t whisper about him in Spanish if he’s around.”
“The way we sometimes do with Cameron.”
“Cameron seems oblivious when I speak to my mother in Spanish or Tagalog.”
“Do you plan to talk to your baby in Spanish or Tagalog in addition to English?” Nydia asked Jasmine.
“I plan to have Titi Nydia teach him or her Spanish, while I’ll assume the responsibility to speak to them in their maternal grandmother’s native tongue. It’s an asset nowadays to speak more than one language.”
Nydia smiled. “That means whenever I babysit my godson or daughter I will speak Spanish to them.” She paused. “I know you don’t want to know the sex of your baby beforehand, but what doyouwant—girl or boy?”
“I really want a girl, because then I can share girly things with her.”
“Like shopping until you drop?” Whenever she and Jasmine got together it was invariably to have dinner and shop, whether for shoes, beauty products, or a small item to enhance the beauty of their bed or bathrooms.
“Bingo!”
Nydia heard a beep indicating she had another call. “Jazz, it’s my mother on the other line. I know she’s calling about my so-called mystery man.”
“Before I hang up, you have to tell me if Lamar is a good kisser.”
“Yes. Bye,mija.” She tapped the phone icon. “Sí,Mami?”
“This has to stop, Nydia! People are blowing up my phone here at the shop talking about seeing you on television kissing some man in the street.”
“I know, Mami. It’s not what you think. I’ll explain everything when I see you.”
“Cuandoiseso?”
Nydia knew her mother was upset whenever she mixed English with Spanish. Isabel wanted to know when she would see her. “Later. I’ll come by after you close.”
She ended the call and buried her face in her hands. Her mother wanted it to stop, while Nydia wanted to know when it was going to end. Hopefully this would be the last time she would have to talk about Danny to anyone. He was her past, and even if he were the last man on the face of the earth, she wouldn’t have anything to do with him. He had caused her enough pain and suffering, and they weren’t even married.
Nydia lowered her hands, got up, and walked into the bathroom. She turned on the water in the tub, adjusted the temperature, and added a generous capful of lavender bath crystals; she lit several of the candles lining the top of the vanity, stripped off her clothes, and then stepped into the tub. Soft moans escaped her parted lips when she lowered herself into the steaming bubbles. Beads of moisture quickly dotted her face.
She’d planned to fly down to New Orleans in two weeks, but this was the first time in her life that Nydia could recall wanting to escape her hometown. As she lay in the tub, eyes closed, she wondered how much longer she had to put up with being portrayed as the duplicitous woman who had taken advantage of a man who’d given her all of himself.
Nydia opened her eyes when the water cooled, and the bubbles disappeared. Reaching for a bath sponge, she washed her body and then stepped out on a thick absorbent mat. After drying off, she wrapped the towel around herself and walked on bare feet to the bedroom and went through the ritual of slathering a scented cream over her body before slipping into underwear, a long-sleeved black polo and jeans. She opened a drawer in the double dresser and retrieved the sheet of paper with her flight information.
In that instant she decided to protect her family and take back control of her life. Unconsciously she had surrendered her will to Danny the first time he’d asked to take her out, but it would end now. It took twenty minutes to book an earlier flight and pay the fee for changing the ticket.
Retrieving her cell phone, she tapped Jasmine’s name for a text message:
Please reserve a room for me. I’m coming in Friday night. I made arrangements for ground transportation. Will ring you when I arrive at the hotel.
She didn’t have to wait for Jasmine’s response.
