“Who wouldn’t be?”
“Most of my friends, I mean, they’re supportive of me. It’s just, they’re like, actual professionals? Even my best friend, Mia, owns her own home. They’re already talking about mortgages and prenups, and then I talk about my TikToks . . . do you see what I’m saying?”
“I do.”
“I mean, I love my job.”
“Of course.”
“But sometimes I wonder if I’m not as ahead as I should be?”
“Hey, I get it. A few years ago, that’s all I thought about.”
“Really?” The thought of Erik — cool, collected, easy-going — experiencing anything like the self-doubt she was going through came as a surprise. “What happened?”
“What happened? I was miserable at my job. I went out, like, a lot. But I thought being an adult was just hating your job, going out to forget about it, and then repeating that process until you died. ” He halted, as if thinking about how much he should say next. “Anyways, I got really burnt out and ended up getting fired. It sucked, and I had to make a lot of life changes, but, I really like what I do now. The act of taking something old and restoring it to new makes me feel like I’m contributing something.” He shook his head, seeming unsure of his words. “Beats pricing families out of neighborhoods they’ve lived in their entire lives.”
Cierra was a little shocked. Erik’s relaxed, cheeky demeanor sounded nothing like the version of himself he was telling her about. “That sounds like it must have been a pretty serious shift.”
“It was, for sure. But what else was I gonna do? Keep doing something I knew wasn’t right for me?” he said with a shrug, getting absorbed back in his laptop.
She didn’t know where to go from there and opted to change the subject. “So, are you doing anything tonight? How’s Nadine doing?”
“I don’t think so. I have this project in Brooklyn that’s taking all my attention right now. And I’m not sure if . . .” He turned his head, distracted. “Sorry, are those just raw vegetables in a bowl?” he said, pointing to the glass Pyrex containing her summer salad.
“Um, it’s not just veggies in a bowl. It’s good, here, try it.” She handed him a scoop of the mixture; his hazel eyes attentively followed her movements as she carried the spoon over. They both laughed awkwardly as Erik took the concoction from her,as she was close enough to spoon-feed him. Cierra gloated as his face gave away how delicious he found it.
“What is this? I feel like I’ve never eaten corn before.” He took another bite. “Have you ever seen the corn kid?”
Cierra giggled. “Of course, and trust me, this recipe’sgot the juice.Everything’s farm fresh.”
Erik looked at her with enormous eyes while chowing down. “Damn.”
“See, this is what I love about cooking in the summer. The real trick to flavor is letting the ingredients do the work for you. Sometimes, all you need is to bring out what’s already there.”
Saturday ended up being the hottest day that summer. The sun beat down so hard, Cierra could see spots where the tar-black pavement was melting. Waves of swirling hot air distorted vision, adding to the sense of a fever dream. On her way to the festival, Cierra sweated through her tank top and tried her best to mask a stain under her butt with her cross-body bag.
Why did I wear cotton khakis?she lamented.
Her crew was equally miserable when she found them at their meeting point. Lisa leaned against Jess and blotted her reddish cheeks, while Mia stood slack-faced with an electric fan pointing downward into her shirt. “How close is he again?” Mia whined.
“His ETA says two minutes. I think he was only one train behind me,” Cierra replied.
“If Erik’s not here by then, I’m killing him.” Mia had now started fanning the back of her neck, her silky-smooth hair still looking like a fresh blow-out.
“Why is Erik coming again? Isn’t he your boss or something? I thought Julian was coming,” Lisa asked.
“Erik’s not my boss, he’s her brother-in-law. He’s cool, though. Julian, uh, couldn’t make it. So I gave it to him and his girlfriend.”
“So like a boss-in-law,” Mia said lazily, already puffing away with her weed vape.
“Hmm,” Lisa pondered. “You’re really getting close to this family, huh? I guess that’s good. You practically live with them anyway.”
Not wanting Julian’s ticket to go to waste, or to divulge her dating life to her sister, she’d reached out to Erik to see if he and Nadine wanted to join, remembering how much fun they’d all had together in Mexico City. Erik was one of those people you could throw into any social situation, and part of her wanted to make amends with Nadine, show her that there was nothing to be jealous of. Besides, more people always made the food festival experience better.
Cierra spotted Erik, alone, on the train platform and waved to him from below.
Mia squinted, leaning into her ear and whispering, “I’m sorry,that’swho you’re working with all day?”
