senhora carter
THIS CHAPTER HAS A SOUNDTRACK
Light Workby Elmiene
julian
I'd workedthrough every February fourteenth of my adult life, same as any other day. It was a couples' holiday, and I didn't do couples, so I'd never given the date a second thought. Never booked a table, never ordered a flower. It came, it went, and ignoring it had never cost me a thing.
It was February eleventh, and I was sitting at a red light when a florist's van crossed in front of me, side panel done up in red hearts.
Farm fresh flowers. Valentine's Day delivery. Order now.
I clocked it the way you clock a billboard for something you don't need. Then it caught up to me.I have someone now.
I sat there with my foot on the brake, running the math on a holiday I'd never once had to think about. It was three days away, and I had no plan. The whole day was about to slide past me on autopilot. I idled there thinking about what Alyssa would want, what she'd say she didn't want, where I'd even start?—
A horn went off behind me. The light had turned green. I lifted my hand in the mirror in apology, and drove. The rest of the way to the office I thought about Alyssa, and about what would have happened if I had forgotten. She'd downplay it. I knew that the way I'd come to know most things about her. I'd watched her do it with everything else. She'd brush it off with the same voice she used to wave off anything that came to her looking like more than she'd asked for.
I don't need that. It's not a big deal. You don't have to do that.Like wanting athing and not getting it was the worse of the two outcomes, so she'd cut it off at wanting it.
She didn’t get that smooth at not wanting things by accident. She got there by being disappointed enough times that she stopped reaching. I didn't need her to spell it out to know that more than one February fourteenth had probably gone by with her as nobody's first thought, even when she was married.
I wasn't going to be another man who let it pass because making a fuss took work.
I got to the office before anyone and didn't open my laptop. I sat there and thought about her instead. Cataloguing every offhand thing she'd let slip in the eight months I’d known her.
I thought about one of the things she’d told me she missed about Jersey. A restaurant she used to frequent. Bacalhau that made her cry. Little cardamom pastéis after.The chef knew my order before I sat down. That's the thing I actually miss, if I'm being stupid about it. A restaurant. The simple version sat right there: fly her home, book the place she missed, give her the whole weekend in Jersey. I thought about it for about a minute. Then I thought about whathomewould actually mean: her mother's table, three sisters, a houseful of people who'd have her the second she landed, every one of them needing a piece of her. I didn't want to give her a trip with built in obligations. I wanted to give her one night that didn't belong to a single soul but her. So I'd bring the neighborhood to her instead.
She'd never told me the name. She'd told me about the food, the coffee, the chef who knew her. Not the name. I called the one person who'd have it.
Raschad picked up on the third ring. “What’s good, Jules.”
“There’s a restaurant Alyssa loves back in Jersey. Portuguese-Ethiopian fusion or something. What's the name of it?”
He paused, then let out a short laugh, understanding where this was headed. “The Adega. Old Marcos still runs the back.”
“Thank you.” I was already writing it down. “And don't tell Simone, I asked about it. You know she can’t hold water.”
He laughed again, “Don’t do Peach like that. And… I won’t say nothing.”
“One more thing. What are y’all doing with Zhaire and Zaria on the fourteenth?”
“She asked Aunt Lorraine to keep them overnight. Why?” He caught it and laughed again. “You're a whole menace. Go 'head, bruh.”
I hung up and texted Aunt Lorraine
Auntie, I need a favor for the 14th. Calling you after my meeting.
AUNT LORRAINE
Valentine’s Day? Whatever it is, YES. You taking that girl somewhere, aren’t you? This makes me so happy!
Okay Auntie, calm down. It’s no big deal.
Praise the Lord!
I shook my head and chuckled, as Glory buzzed in with her pad, expecting the usual Monday. I gave her something else.
