“That sounds about right,” she said, meeting Cameron’s eyes.
“Have you given up decorating altogether?”
“Yes. At least for now.” The elevator stopped and the doors opened and Cameron stepped out, allowing Jasmine to precede him down the carpeted hallway to her apartment. “A friend has asked me to help her decorate her apartment, but that’s still months away.” She stopped at her door, opened her evening bag and took out a set of keys. Turning, she smiled at Cameron. “Thank you again for a wonderful dinner. I’ll text you tomorrow to let you know what time I’ll pick you up Friday.” Going on tiptoe, she kissed his cheek. “Good night.”
Cameron nodded. “Good night, Jasmine.”
He turned on his heel and retraced his steps to the bank of elevators as she unlocked the door to her apartment, and once inside she slipped out of her shoes. It was then she allowed herself to exhale. She didn’t know why, but she felt as if she’d been holding her breath from the moment she recognized Cameron as he stood outside the restaurant. There was something about the man that kept her on edge, as if her nerves were stretched taut while in his presence.
He hadn’t done anything to make her feel ill at ease, so it had to be something of her own doing. And Jasmine didn’t know what possessed her to invite him to accompany her on a drive to Long Island, except that she wanted to even the playing field for his inviting her to have dinner with him at one of her favorite restaurants.
She draped the shawl over the chair next to the table in the entryway and walked on bare feet to the bedroom. It took minutes for her to slip out of her dress and underwear and enter the en suite bathroom to brush her teeth and remove her makeup. A quick shower followed by the regimen of slathering a moisturizer over her still-damp body completed her nightly ablution.
Jasmine returned to the bedroom and, opening a drawer in a chest-on-chest, she selected a floral cotton sleep tank and matching shorts. It wasn’t even ten o’clock and much too early for bed. When, she mused, had her life become so mundane? She had too much time on her hands now that she was unemployed again.
When she was laid off with more than two dozen employees without prior warning, she had been more shocked than the others because as the assistant human resource specialist, she never heard or saw anything in writing that a merger was being finalized. It had been the second time during her tenure that the bank’s executives had blindsided her. The first was when the director of HR resigned and Jasmine had assumed she would be promoted to head the department. She’d managed not to reveal her disappointment when the nephew of a board member was hired to replace her former supervisor. Then it all had become clear to her once the downsizing went into effect. Her new boss had managed to conceal every detail of the merger and layoffs because of his direct access to the board of directors.
She shook her head to rid her thoughts of the past. It had been a year since life as she knew it had changed drastically, and now it was time for her to plan for her future. Although she was unemployed again Jasmine knew she had options. She could either apply for another position as a human resource specialist, or return to her former profession as an interior decorator. Or she could accept Hannah’s offer to invest in the DuPont Inn. Becoming a part-owner of a lodging establishment was tempting because it would harken back to when she ran her own business.
A slow smile parted her lips when she recalled Nydia’s request that she decorate the apartment she was subletting from Tonya. It would the first time in years that she would take an empty space and fill it with furnishings that suited a client’s taste and their personality. Thinking of Nydia reminded her she had to text her friend to let her know about her date with Cameron.
She retrieved her cell phone, climbed onto a stool at the kitchen’s breakfast bar, and sent her friend a text message. The condo had undergone several renovations since she first purchased the unit what now seemed eons ago. She’d had walls removed to allow for an open floor plan and the expansive dining and living rooms flowed together. The kitchen had been remodeled, and Jasmine had also updated the bathroom off the entryway. Her bedroom, with breathtaking views of the East River, was spacious enough for an en suite bath and sitting area.
Five minutes later her cell chimed and Nydia’s name and number appeared on the screen. “What do you want to know?” Jasmine asked, smiling as she answered.
“How did it go with Daddy?” Nydia asked.
“Well.”
“Just well,mija?”
Her smile grew wider. “It went very, very well. I’m seeing him again on Friday, and he invited me to join him and his friends for a yacht party Saturday night.”
“Coño,” Nydia drawled. “What did you do to him?”
Jasmine laughed. Nydia would regularly intersperse English and Spanish whenever they were together. Jasmine grew up with her father speaking English, while her mother spoke Spanish and Tagalog. The latter she perfected whenever she spent summer in the Philippines with her mother’s relatives.
“I didn’t do anything except be myself.”
It was Nydia’s turn to laugh. “We’ll it’s more than apparent that he likes you. But, the question is, do you like him?
“I do,” Jasmine said without hesitation. “I must admit initially I felt a bit uneasy because he can come on a little too strong.”
“That’s called confidence, Jasmine. Cameron’s mature and definitely confident enough to go after something he wants.”
“And that is?”
“You,mija. He was staring at you at Hannah’s reception like a starving man who hadn’t eaten in days. And I’m certain I’m not the only one that noticed it.”
“That’s because he was curious,” she said.
“Yeah, right,” Nydia drawled. “Although I’m younger than you, I’m willing to bet that I’ve had more experience with men than you, and I’m going to say it even though you may not want to hear it.”
Jasmine went completely still when she encountered silence on the other end of the connection. She didn’t want Nydia to tell her something she didn’t want or need to hear. “What is it?”
“The man’s going to put something on you that will rock your world.”
Throwing back her head, Jasmine laughed until she could hardly catch her breath. “Do you really think I’m going to sleep with him?” she asked once she recovered from laughing hysterically.
