I smile and motion for him to take the guest chair. “Please have a seat. I’ll be right back with your project files and we can review them together.”
10
~ Evelyn ~
The shrill cry of a monkey echoes through the thick green jungle habitats that lay just ten miles from the urban chaos of Times Square.
“Looks like the zoo is a huge hit,” I say as I approach the picnic table where Avery directed me to meet her and a couple of her friends when I arrived.
“I’m so happy you made it, Evelyn.” She greets me with a hug and a bright smile. “Who needs amusement park rides when you have animals and all this space for kids to run?”
All around us, happy families stroll here and there along the paths while hundreds of excited, chattering children race from one exhibit to another in the large section of the zoo that’s been closed for the community center’s private party.
Avery gestures to the pair of attractive women sittingat the table with her. “These are my friends Tasha Lopez and Lita Frasier.”
I smile at the petite, visibly pregnant Latina mom who’s holding a sleeping toddler girl in her lap, and the curvy, tattooed woman with bright teal hair seated across from them. “Nice to meet you both, Tasha and Lita. I’m Evelyn Beckham.”
They offer me warm smiles and friendly welcomes as I join them. Tasha adds in a whisper, “This little hellion is Zoe. You’re catching her in a rare moment of recharge. Normally, you can’t get her to slow down for anything.”
“Just like her mama,” Avery says, then glances at me. “Tasha and I used to work together at a restaurant on Madison. It’s not far from your boutique, in fact.”
“Really? Which restaurant?”
“Vendange. Do you know it?”
I laugh. “That happens to be one of my favorites in all of the city. My friends and I must end up there for lunch or dinner at least once a month.”
Tasha nods, tilting her head and studying me. “You look really familiar. I’m sure I’ve seen you there a few times. Or maybe somewhere else . . .”
“Tasha’s been managing Vendange for about a year and a half,” Avery interjects. “Before that, she and I tended bar there.”
“Yeah, we bonded over our shared misery of working for the misogynist jerk who used to manage the place,” her friend says, her brown eyes continuing to watch me over the top of her sleeping child’s head. “Then Ave met Nick, he bought the restaurant, canned our old boss, and put me in charge.”
Avery nods. “If you ask me, one of the best businessdecisions Nick’s ever made.”
Seated beside me on the picnic table bench, Lita grins, making the diamond stud in her nose twinkle. “I’d say he’s done all right in the art appreciation department too. After all, Nick spotted your talent before anyone else was smart enough to realize what a gifted artist you are.”
“Look who’s talking about having a gift,” Avery replies, then glances at me again. “Lita and I, along with another friend, Matt, have been sharing studio space in East Harlem for about as long as I’ve been with Nick. I still can’t paint worth a damn anywhere else but next to her.”
Lita bats her lashes like a vixen, an odd juxtaposition with her heavily inked skin and multiple piercings. “What can I say? I am clearly a great and powerful muse.”
I laugh, finding it easy to get swept into the camaraderie between the three women. “What kind of art do you do, Lita?”
“Metal and mixed media sculpture. I’ve dabbled with paint, too, but I’d much rather smash things with a hammer or bend them to my will using a blow torch. My shrink used to tell me I had anger management issues.” She exchanges a private look with Avery. “I wonder what she’d say now.”
As Lita talks, I’m reminded of a local business article I read a few months ago about a Brooklyn technology firm that had commissioned an original metal art sculpture for their corporate flagship’s lobby. I didn’t recall the female artist’s name, but the company’s billionaire CEO, Derek Kingston, is a perennial hot topic for the press, given that the handsome, very eligiblebachelor made his first fortune with a string of hit songs and sold-out rock concerts all over the world.
“Are you the sculptor who’s creating the piece for DekTech’s new headquarters?”
Lita’s face seems to blanch a bit. “Not anymore. I tore up the contract.”
“Oh.” I sense it’s a touchy subject, and since I’ve only just met her, the last thing I want to do is make Lita uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. I hope everything is okay with that.”
She gives a subdued shrug that speaks volumes. “It’ll be fine. I always land on my feet somehow.”
An awkward silence begins to fall over Avery and her friend. Tasha’s the first to break it. “Am I the only one who’s starving right now? Ever since we sat down, I’ve been smelling something amazing cooking on a grill somewhere.”
“That’s our catering,” Avery says. “I don’t think I mentioned it to anyone yet, but Nick managed to persuade Gavin Castille to cook for our party today.”
