Jasmine:Is everything all right?
Nydia:Everything’s good. I just decided to check out of this insane asylum earlier than planned because I need a change of scene.
Jasmine:Good for you! I’m going to tell Hannah and Tonya you’re coming in. I’ll have Cameron reserve a suite.
Nydia:Luego, mija.
Jasmine:Luego chica.
Nydia didn’t know why, but she felt as if she had been reborn. Now she knew how Tonya felt once she’d decided to break up with her on-again, off-again boyfriend and move to New Orleans to operate her own restaurant: completely free.
* * *
Nydia rang the bell to Isabella’s Tresses and waited for her mother to unlock the front door. Once the footage of Lamar kissing her aired, her cell phone mailbox filled up with calls from family members asking who the mystery man was. The blinds moved slightly and then the door opened.
Isabel pulled her in and quickly locked the door. “Come in before anyone notices that I’m still here. I keep telling my customers that I don’t work beyond closing time, but some of them just don’t get it. If I don’t draw the blinds and turn out most of the lights, they keep ringing the doggone bell.”
Nydia took the broom from her mother’s hand. “Let me sweep up for you.” She slipped her cross-body bag off her shoulder and placed it behind the receptionist’s station. She’d come after closing to avoid encountering her mother’s regular customers, who were so nosy that nothing was verboten.
“Thanks,mija. It’s been nonstop since I opened. Two of my stylists called in sick.”
“Sit down, Mami, and I’ll finish putting everything away. By the way, what happened to the woman you hired to clean up after you close?”
“I fired her today.”
Nydia stared at Isabel. “What happened?”
“I caught her stealing supplies, so I had to let her go.”
“I can’t believe she begged you to give her a job so she could have a little extra money to buy Christmas gifts for her kids, and she repays you by stealing.”
“What can I say,mija? You just can’t help some folks. Luis has promised to come by every night to help.”
“If you want I can clean up for you tomorrow.” She had yet to tell her mother she was leaving in a couple of days.
Isabel waved a hand. “That’s okay. Luis isn’t so busy he can’t help me.”
Nydia pushed the broom under each station and swept up clumps of hair. “How’s he doing with his fishing outings?”
“He and his buddies are still going out on their boat a couple of times a week. It’s become their man cave on the water.”
“That’s going to end soon, because football season starts next week,” Nydia reminded her mother. She had learned from a very early age that football was the most important thing in her father’s life, second only to his wife and children.
“It’s a good thing it’s not the type of boat where they can install a television, or they’d be out on the water in below-freezing weather with their frozen eyeballs glued to the screen. Enough talk about your father and football. Now, what’s up with you and this so-called mystery man everyone is calling me about?”
Nydia rested the broom against a wall and sat facing her mother. She told her why Lamar had come up from New Orleans and why he’d decided to kiss her. “I was just as shocked as the reporter, but apparently his ruse was successful because she assumed we were married when she spotted his wedding ring.”
Isabel’s jaw dropped slightly. “You’re involved with a married man?”
“No, Mami. Lamar is a widower.”
“If his wife is dead, then why is he still wearing his ring?”
“That I don’t know.”
“He hasn’t told you?”
“No, because I haven’t asked. Lamar and I are just friends.” Isabel’s expression spoke volumes. She didn’t believe her. “What’s the matter?”
