Chapter 1
“You’re a genius when it comes to selecting restaurants.” Jasmine Washington’s head popped up and she stared across the table at her friend. The mass of black curls framing Nydia Santiago’s round face made the thirty-two-year-old appear no older than a college coed.
“Why would you say that?”
Nydia’s hazel eyes sparkled like semi-precious jewels in a complexion that always reminded Jasmine of frothy mocha icing. “Whenever you ask me what I want to eat, somehow you’re able to select the most incredible restaurants. When I told you I wanted Brazilian, I thought you would’ve suggested Green Field in Corona.”
Jasmine smiled. It was Nydia’s turn to select the cuisine for their now bimonthly early-dinner get-togethers, and when the accountant mentioned she wanted Brazilian food, Jasmine told Nydia to meet her at Delícia, a quiet little hideaway in the West Village. “I probably know most restaurants in at least four of the five boroughs and Long Island because it’s a holdover from my former life as an interior decorator. Whenever I was referred to a potential client I’d take them out to eat and after a couple of hours I’d know whether or not I’d want to work with them.”
“What would they have to do for you to turn them down?” Nydia asked.
“I’d suggest meeting at a restaurant because for me that was the litmus test. If they ordered the most expensive bottle of wine or item on the menu I knew instinctively they would attempt to nickel and dime me when it came to my commission. They usually would go on incessantly about how I was charging them too much, and I’d smile and tell them it was obvious they couldn’t afford me.”
Nydia cocked her head at an angle. “Do you miss decorating?”
It took Jasmine, interior decorator-turned human resource specialist, a full minute to think about her friend’s question. “Yes and no. Yes, because I was my own boss and I loved the process of transforming a space into something that reflected a client’s taste or lifestyle. And no, because I’d occasionally tire of trying to placate someone I knew I could never satisfy. The end result was they really didn’t know what they wanted. I couldn’t understand whether it was a gender thing, but once I married Raymond and we went into business together things changed when it came to complaints. Some clients would question every decision I’d make or suggest, while they would go along with anything he said.”
There was a pause before Nydia said, “Do you know that this is the first time in a very long time that I’ve heard you refer to your ex by name?”
A hint of a smile tilted the corners of Jasmine’s mouth. “That’s because I’ve reached the point in my life where I can say his name without adding an expletive. I usually don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but this year I decided not to give him any energy because he’s definitely not worth it. I’ve forgiven him, although I know it’s going to take time for me to forget what he did to me.”
Nydia picked up her glass of sangria in a toast, touching it to Jasmine’s. “Good for you,mija. It’s the same with me and Danny. Subletting Tonya’s apartment was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life thus far. I don’t have a landlady clocking my every move, and now that I’m not seeing anyone I’ve gotten to appreciate my own company.”
Jasmine nodded. “I’m with you because now I really like being single. I remember when there was a time I said I wanted to be married by thirty, and that’s probably the reason I accepted Raymond’s proposal.” She and her ex-husband had had a yearlong relationship spanning more than eight thousand miles, and when they exchanged vows she did not realize she had married a stranger.
“We women do a lot of things we shouldn’t do because we truly believe in love,” Nydia said. “Speaking of single, I still can’t believe that Tonya’s going to marry St. John’s cousin.”
Jasmine swallowed a spoonful ofvatapá, an Afro-Brazilian fish stew. She agreed with her friend. During their first trip to New Orleans, their former coworker Hannah DuPont-Lowell took them to a jazz club where they saw Gage Toussaint playing trumpet with a local band. It was apparent that after Tonya Martin moved from New York to the Big Easy that she had fallen under the spell of the drop-dead gorgeous musician, and now she planned to marry him.
Jasmine and Nydia had bonded with Tonya and Hannah one day the year before, after half the staff at Wakefield Hamilton was suddenly downsized when the private investment bank merged with another company in New Jersey. They’d spent the morning and early afternoon at Hannah’s apartment talking about their futures. A generous severance package allowed them to delay seeking immediate employment, which had given them the option to take the summer off. They’d promised Hannah, the bank’s former corporate attorney, they would come to New Orleans to spend time in the city where she owned a historic plantation-style home in the stunning Garden District.
Hannah’s plan to convert the eighteen-room mansion and two guesthouses into an inn with a café and supper club was now underway. She had convinced Tonya, a professional chef, to invest in her new venture, and was still inviting Jasmine and Nydia to join them.
Jasmine had thought about taking Hannah up on her offer but it meant leaving her parents and possibly selling her condo—two things she wasn’t ready to do. And if she did become an innkeeper, then she would be responsible for overseeing employee benefits design, recruitment, training, and development.
“Wasn’t Tonya the one who claimed once is enough when it came to marriage?” Jasmine asked.
Nydia’s eyes held Jasmine’s dark-brown ones. “No.Youare the one who has sworn off marriage.”
“Do you blame me after my ex tried to screw me out of everything I’d worked for?”
“No, I don’t, but that still doesn’t mean you should swear off men for the rest of your life.”
Jasmine ran a finger down the stem of her wineglass. “I haven’t sworn off men. I just don’t trust them.”
Nydia grunted under her breath. “I think if I had discovered that Danny had cheated on me I would’ve broken it off with him sooner rather than later.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re still seeing him?”
“No! The last time I saw him was in November and that was before I gave my landlady notice that I was giving up the apartment. But once I moved from the Bronx to East Harlem without telling him, I was finally able to get rid of the bum. And I took Tonya’s advice and blocked his number. My former landlady called me last week and said he’d come by asking for me. I suppose he didn’t believe her when she told him I’d moved and left no forwarding address. A couple of days ago he had the audacity to visit my parents’ place to inquire about my whereabouts. Unfortunately for him he picked the wrong day and time because my brother had stopped by before his shift and he told Danny in no uncertain terms to stay the hell away from his sister.”
Jasmine knew Nydia’s police officer brother was very protective of her. “Maybe Danny is still in love with you.”
Nydia rolled her eyes upward. “That’s a load of shit. He never loved me. What he loved was the fact that I’d earned enough that he didn’t have to get a full-time job. He used to brag to his boys that his girl was an accountant and she made a lot of money working for a bank.”
“Why should he get a real job if his girlfriend can take care of him?”
“Well, that was never going to happen, because the only male I intend to support is my son until he’s emancipated, and we both know I don’t have any children.”
