He looked at me then and smiled sympathetically, and I realized my nerves were probably showing. “I want to keep talking about opening a restaurant together, Ernesto. If that sounds good to you.”
I exhaled, lightheaded. “That sounds great. I just want to be clear on one thing. With all due respect, sir, I’m not going to be an employee. I’m not working for someone else. OuNYe is mine.”
He clapped my shoulder then and laughed.
“You don’t beat around the bush. I like a man with confidence, and I can assure you, what I’m interested in is a partnership. I want you as invested in the success of the restaurant, as much or more than I would be.”
I relaxed then and nodded. “Okay.”
“Now let’s get some coffee and walk back to my office so we can talk business. I already tried one of your burritos and can’t wait to try the others. Hopefully that lovely woman with the silver hair who was at your stand during the festival will be there next time and can instruct me on which one to order?”
“That’s my mom!” I yelped in horror.
“Excellent, when I see her I’ll congratulate her on the fine job she’s done with her son,” he said with amusement.
My dream, what I had been after day and night for the last two years, what I’d quit a good job and moved out of my home for, was finally within reach. This time I would do whatever it took to make sure I grasped it.
chapter twenty-five
jude
Nesto was late again.
I looked down at my phone and saw his smiling face flashing on the screen. It was a photo from our trip to Aurora three weeks earlier. The sky visible on either side of his face, the water of the lake sparkling behind him. Even that perfect blue couldn’t compare with the smile that had come to brighten every dark corner of my life.
Except I didn’t feel bright right now. I felt resentful and tired of waiting for him.
I exhaled and took the call, doing everything I could to erase the frustration from my voice.
“Hi. Did you get tied up with the truck?” My shoulders felt tense and the smile I pasted on, which he couldn’t even see, felt like it was going to crack my face in two.
“Babe, I’m so sorry. I got delayed talking to Harold. We’re so fucking close to locking down this contract. We’re almost there, papí. I almost have everything settled.” The excitement in his voice thawed me out a little. I couldn’t forget why Nesto was here, and how he almost lost his chance.
“I get it.” I knew I sounded tired, but I could not infuse my voice with more than this.
“I’m just going to stop over at my place for a minute to get some clothes, because I need to go see the lawyer tomorrow. Is it still cool for me to come over?”
His voice dipped then and I knew he was about to say something that would raze through the annoyance of the last hour like fire.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day. I’m gonna take my time with you tonight. I got some much pent-up energy from all this business talk. When I get my hands on you, mi amor?—”
I gasped so loudly his fevered talk turned into a husky chuckle that I felt down in my gut. The irritation of earlier turning into a want so deep, it made everything else feel inconsequential.
“Of course it’s still okay for you to come over, but would you like me to order something? I got the stuff you asked for the lasagna, but I’m not sure I can wait. I’m hungry.”
I heard him curse over the phone when I mentioned the lasagna.
He’d forgotten.
“I totally blanked on making dinner tonight. This thing with the restaurant has me so distracted. Forget me stopping by my place, I’ll come straight to you and I’ll whip something together in a minute. I can just go home after.” He sounded flustered and exhausted.
Why was I acting like I was entitled to Nesto making me dinner? Guilting him after what had been an obviously long day. Making dinner for us was something he did to be nice. He came to my house and cooked for me after spending the day making food for other people. And now I was making him feel bad because he got busy with his business. I wanted to re-do the last few minutes.
When I spoke, I tried to sound less annoyed. “No no. I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant I was hungry. I know the restaurant is the most important.”
“Jude, that’s?—”
Nesto sounded like he was going to argue, but I wanted to be done with this, to not have caused this mood.
