Cameron nodded. “And I’m eternally grateful to her.” He took another sip of the Sazerac. “I can’t believe I had to live nearly half a century to finally fall in love and look forward to becoming a father for the first time.” He paused. “Now back to you, my friend. I know you still love Valerie, but I’m certain she wouldn’t want you to spend the rest of your life grieving for what was. A part of her will live on in Kendra, but what about you, Lamar?”
“What about me?” Lamar asked, answering Cameron’s question with one of his own.
“You claim you’re friends with Nydia, but do you want more? And the more is possibly a commitment?”
“I’m willing to commit to her, but I’m not certain whether she wants the same.”
“Do you think it’s because you’re a single father?”
Lamar shook his head. “I don’t believe so. She and Kendra get along very well together.”
“So it’s not about your daughter, but you. Put yourself in her place, Lamar. You’re still wearing a wedding band, which says she’ll have to compete with a dead woman for your love. Would you want to get involved with a woman who wasn’t willing to stop talking about her dead husband or ex-lover?”
“Of course not.”
Cameron pointed to his hand again. “That’s what you’re doing by not taking off your ring. Have you talked to her about Valerie?”
“Yes.”
“Did she appear intimidated?”
Lamar smiled. “Not in the least. Nydia’s not one to let anything or anyone intimidate her. She’s one of the most confident women I’ve ever met.”
“If that’s the case, then you can’t have it both ways, brother. You have to make a decision whether you’re all in or half in. Do you want a future with Nydia?”
Cameron was asking Lamar a question he wasn’t able to answer. He’d met Nydia for the first time two months ago, though it seemed so much longer. While he believed he was falling in love with her, he wasn’t in love with her, but also he didn’t want to lose her. Perhaps Cameron was right about him continuing to wear his wedding band. The gold circle was a silent signal to women that he wasn’t available, except to those willing to engage in an affair with a married man. He wasn’t married, yet he had continued to go about life as if he were.
“I can honestly say I could see her in my life.”
“Does ‘in your life’ mean eventually proposing marriage?” Cameron asked.
A sly smile tilted the corners of Lamar’s mouth. “Ask me that again in a few months.”
Cameron’s light brown eyebrows lifted slightly. “What’s happening in a few months?”
“Kendra and I will spend the Christmas holiday with Nydia’s family in New York.”
“No shit!” Cameron whispered. “You’ve made plans to meet the woman’s family?”
Lamar held up his hand. “It’s not like that,” he said quickly.
Cameron shook his head. “Don’t try and explain. All I know is when I met Jasmine’s parents for the first time she was wearing my engagement ring. It was the same with my folks.”
“That’s because Jasmine was pregnant.”
“Even if she wasn’t carrying my baby, I knew I wanted to marry her before we slept together for the first time. There was something so different about her from the other women I’d dated, and it wasn’t because she was a woman of color. Not only is she beautiful and sophisticated, she isn’t afraid to speak her mind.”
Lamar smiled. It was the same with Nydia. There were times when she’d say something that made it almost impossible for him to reply with a comeback. “Her best friend is definitely as outspoken.”
Cameron waved a hand at the same time he shook his head. “I don’t have the temperament to deal with Nydia’s candor. Jasmine is forthright, but Nydia is the personification of bluntness. She’s not afraid to call a spade a spade. When she came down for the wedding, she took me aside and said if I hurt her best friend, then she was going to get me good. At that point in time I was too intimidated to ask what she intended to do, so I just nodded my head like a bobblehead doll.”
“Please don’t tell me you were afraid of a five-foot-two woman who probably doesn’t weigh more than one-ten soaking wet.”
“Hell yeah! When she looked at me with those green eyes I knew she wasn’t playing. So, make certain you don’t get her mad before y’all go to bed together, because you may wake up not looking the same. Especially below your belly button.”
Throwing back his head, Lamar laughed loudly, causing those sitting at nearby tables to glance his way. “I’ll remember that if we do sleep together.”
Cameron gave him a level stare. “I thought you were already sleeping together, because you two looked pretty cozy at Momma’s Place.”
