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  He got to Regina’s apartment early, toted dinner up to the third floor landing and waited for her on the bottom step. It wasn’t too long before she came home, and he got up to meet her at her car.

  “Can I help you unload things?”

  “No, everything for Eastern Market stays in Amelie’s car. Look, Nigel, I don’t think there’s anything to talk about.”

  “Yes, Reggie, there is.”

  He followed her up the steps, where she found the bag he’d placed at her door.

  “That’s dinner, but these are for you.”

  He took out the bouquet he’d gotten from the market—Birds of Paradise and other exotic long-stemmed flowers. They drew her in for a second look.

  “They’re beautiful. Thank you. But—”

  “They don’t change your mind. I know. That’s not why I got them.”

  She was clearly hesitant about letting them into her apartment, but she did.

  “Are you hungry now, or should we talk first?”

  She didn’t seem to want to do either, so he nudged. “Why don’t we eat now, while the food is warm and the wine is cold? Then we can talk without rushing.”

  She rolled her eyes but pointed to the cabinet for him to get out plates. Reluctantly, she followed suit and took out the silverware, napkins, two water glasses and two wineglasses. She pulled two place mats from the corner of the table and set places for them.

  “I hope it turned out all right. I don’t make lamb shanks often.”

  “That sounds fancy.”

  “No, my parents made them at home every now and then. I got six at Eastern Market, so dig in.”

  “This is a lot of food. I think one will be enough for me.”

  “Not if you don’t fill up on pasta,” he said and chuckled.

  “Nigel, we’re just delaying the inevitable.”

  “Just until after dinner. Let’s catch up on other things for a while.”

  He passed her the bread, and they began eating. Over dinner they talked about everything that wasn’t the real issue at hand: how her father was doing, how the search for a new location was going, how her art show was doing, how his work was going, what he invested in, how his cousin Michelle was doing.

  They seemed like a regular couple, but they both knew that the difficult part was still coming. While Regina cleared the plates, he refreshed their wineglasses. She came back to the table and sat across from him.

  “If I’d known we were eating in, I’d have gotten dessert,” she said.

  “I’m stuffed, no dessert for me.”

  “Me, too. Thank you for dinner.”

  Nigel leaned over the table and took Regina’s hand. He exhaled slowly and launched in.

  “You don’t want to see me anymore.”

  “No.”

  He waited for more.

  She shook her head. “I just don’t think we should continue. I can’t continue. It’s been... I’ve enjoyed our time. I just can’t let it go on.”

  “Why? What’s changed?”

  “I’ve been ambivalent about this all along. But it keeps getting muddled.”

  “What’s changed in the last week?”

  “I—”

  She started, but she stopped. He could tell that there was something that she wasn’t telling him, something that he needed to know.

  “Tell me.”

  “I can’t say. Just take my word for it.”

  “If you expect me to stay away from you, I need to know why.”

  She turned to him with tears in her eyes. “Because I think I’m in love with you. I can’t—”

  Nigel whooped out loud, broke out in a grin, lifted her from her chair and spun her around. He let her down against his chest, caressing her loose hair.

  “It’s about time you figured that out.”

  He laughed, rubbing her back. It was a weight lifted off him, a weight lifted off the evening. He couldn’t stop smiling.

  She put her hand up to his chest, shaking her head. It was then that he realized she was crying.

  “Reggie, what’s wrong? This is great. I love you so much.”

  He wrapped his arm around her and stroked her back until she broke free.

  “No, stop. I can’t do this.”

  “You love me. I love you. Where’s the problem?”

  He was mystified. He needed her to make sense of this for him. She went into the living room, and he followed. She paced a few times and then turned to him.

  “I look at you, and sometimes I remember the baby I lost. I remember the nights I cried my eyes out because my marriage never happened. I remember...”

  It made sense to him now, but he couldn’t accept it. He wouldn’t accept it as the end of their relationship.

  “Why not just see me? See where we are now. See who I am now. It’s not about going back there. It’s about being here.”

  He sat on her sofa and pulled her down with him onto his lap.

  “I love you. I can’t change the past, but I can make us a present and a future.”

  He kissed the tracks of her tears, and then he took her lips with his. He kissed her until she was kissing him back.

  “It’s always been that way with us,” he said.

  “I just don’t know. I don’t know if I can do it...again.”

  “Let’s just see where it goes.”

  He kissed her again, and she curled against his chest.

  “Is it okay if we just see where it goes with us being in love?”

  Her head was against his neck, and he felt her move slightly. She was nodding.

  Chapter 19

  Regina shifted under Nigel’s arm and put her head on his shoulder.

  It had been a couple of months since she had given in to her feelings for Nigel, since they had started really seeing one another, but it still felt new to her.

  “If I’m supposed to be giving directions, why am I in the backseat?” asked Jason.

  The group laughed.

  “Because you wanted to sit next to your love thing,” Amelie replied. “Here, give me the directions.”

  “Oh, no,” Regina said. “Amelie got us lost going to Prince George’s Plaza.”

  The group laughed again.

  “How is the little one?” Nigel asked.

  Ellison looked at Kyle, who was in the backseat with them in a child safety seat.

  “After all the food and rides today at the amusement park, he’s out like a light again. We’ll have to wake him for dinner.”

  They’d rented a minivan for the drive back from Ocean City, where they’d spent the Labor Day weekend. Jason, Ellison and Kyle were in the third row; Amelie was stretched out by herself in the middle; and Regina was up front with Nigel, who was behind the wheel.

  They’d driven up on Thursday afternoon and walked the boardwalk that evening. Friday and Saturday they’d hit the beach and done some shopping—at least Regina and Amelie had. Kyle had gone with them, and the men had played miniature golf. Both nights they had gone to the movies and to dinner.

  Sunday they had slept in, hit the beach and gone to a nightclub (except for Amelie, who stayed to watch Kyle). Monday was the amusement park, and it was all about little Kyle. They were driving back late that afternoon, early enough to get rested for work the next day.

  Regina’s body was still vibrating from all of the love she and Nigel had made. Even after last night, they still stole an hour to be with each other again when they were supposed to be packing to leave. Everyone was waiting for them in the lobby and teased them when they got down.

  They stopped for lunch halfway to DC and finished the last leg of the three-hour drive in one straight shot.

  “Hey, whose idea was this trip?”
Ellison asked.

  “Nigel’s,” Regina said.

  “Props. It was a blast. We have to do it again.”

  “I’m in,” Amelie said.

  “Me, too,” Regina echoed.

  “Hey, put on some of that old school you had on during the drive up.”

  Nigel plugged his MP3 player in, and the guys started talking about the song, singing with it and telling its history. Regina started to pull away because Nigel’s body had become animated, bouncing her head, but he pulled her back and settled down a bit.

  “Sorry.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Did we wake Kyle?”

  “Nope,” Jason said, “he yawned and kept on sleeping.”

  The group laughed.

  “I think I need some sleep, as well,” Regina said.

  “I know why,” Amelie said. “Something’s keeping you up nights.”

  “Hush,” Regina said.

  “Too late,” Ellison said. “I heard it, and I concur.”

  Regina turned into Nigel’s shoulder for a moment. Nigel, perhaps to save her further embarrassment, steered the conversation elsewhere.

  “You know, it’s a good thing we’re in DC already so I don’t actually need directions.”

  Everyone laughed again.

  “I told you,” Jason said. “I shouldn’t be in the back.”

  “Look,” Amelie said. “It’s our old place. It’s all changed. Can we stop and look?”

  Regina lifted her head to see. Her spirits fell at the same time.

  “What kind of business is it now, a restaurant?” she asked.

  The structure itself was different. The building had been entirely redone. There was a larger first floor with wide windows and a raised ceiling, and there were two regular stories on top.

  “Yeah, let’s stop,” Jason said.

  “You okay with this?” Nigel asked her.

  “Sure.”

  Looking at the old place without a new one in sight brought her down, but she didn’t want to spoil it for the others.

  They parked out back and walked around to the front, Nigel leading the way.

  “Hey, it’s open,” he said.

  “Let’s go inside,” Amelie said.

  Inside, Jason found the lights.

  Regina looked about, feeling like a thief. Then she got confused. Along one wall was a station that would be perfect for beads: a counter of inset bowls, a wall of pegs for strings of beads. The front was set up for displays.

  Regina took another step inside and stopped. A long display case in the middle of the room was already stocked. Regina’s eyes flew open. She recognized Amelie’s jewelry right away, and next to those pieces were her own mosaics—pieces that Amelie was supposed to have in storage for their booth at Eastern Market.

  Regina’s head was spinning as she tried to make sense of it all. These were her things. Somehow, they’d gotten back the space. Somehow her dream for this place, for her art, had come true. Her heart was filling up with hope. It was too good to be real. Had they really gotten the space? How?

  “What have you done, Nigel?”

  Amelie linked arms with her and pulled her farther inside, almost squealing. “Come look.”

  “You’re in on this, too?”

  Amelie couldn’t stop talking. “Look, there are windows for display cases big enough to be spotted from the street, brand-new counters and workstations, two large classrooms.”

  “What have you guys done?”

  “Look.” Amelie pulled her toward the back. “There’s even a small separate room for your ceramic kilns and my pewter kiln. There are boxes of supplies piled in the classrooms. All you have to do is say yes.”

  “Look at your new sign,” Jason said.

  She gave him a look. “Why would all of you gang up on me?”

  Ellison held a still-sleeping Kyle on his shoulder. “Consider it an intervention, honey,” he said. “Go with the flow.”

  She turned toward the front of the store and read the huge sign that hadn’t yet been hung out front—African-American Beadwork and Mosaic Arts.

  Tears came to her eyes.

  She turned to Amelie. “Our paperwork isn’t even in yet. Even with full drafts, we still need...”

  “A location. Here it is.”

  “You’d been procrastinating so long getting the info to Nigel that I was worried that you might be thinking of backing out.”

  “Back out nothing! We found a private lender, honey. Look at it. There’s even an extra floor upstairs; you can have a real home now. Or we can rent it out.”

  “I bet I know who the private lender is.”

  She turned to Nigel.

  “I said that I wanted to help. I’ve wanted to tell you so many times so that you’d stop worrying about finding another location.”

  “We made sure we were with you in case we needed to talk you out of a good place,” Amelie said, “but one never materialized.”

  “How did this happen?”

  Nigel stepped toward her and put his arm around her shoulder.

  “We were able to get it back from the person Mr. Lundstrum sold it to before any remodeling was done. Then we got an architect who could get all the paperwork done and redo the place the way you wanted it.”

  “I told him what we talked about and helped with the plans,” Amelie said. “The whole place had to be demolished. I hope we got it right, Regina. We couldn’t ask you exactly what you wanted.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “We couldn’t,” Amelie said.

  “Every time I tried to bring it up, you got defensive, Reggie. In the end, I thought I should just pursue it on my own. At worst, it would be an improved property to put back on the market, and you’d hate me for trying. But at best, you’d have a good location that you can afford in the condition that you need it to be in.”

  Nigel was still trying to gauge her reaction. Amelie was almost giddy. Jason and Ellison were hanging back, looking around. She was still trying to take it all in and get her bearings so that she knew what her reaction should be.

  “It’s beautiful. But I don’t know if I want to owe you money, Nigel.”

  “It’s him or the banks, honey,” Amelie said. “Guess which one is more likely to pull a fast one. Actually, it’s him and the banks.” She turned to Nigel. “Can I tell her?”

  “Tell me what?”

  “Our paperwork is in to the bank. It went in a long time ago, and we have an angel investor.” Regina caught Nigel giving Amelie the head-chopping signal about the last part; Amelie wasn’t supposed to have said that.

  “I know what an angel investor is,” Regina said.

  “What is it?” Ellison asked.

  “It’s someone who provides capital for a business just starting out,” Jason answered, “or who agrees to pay on a loan if you default.”

  “Look, we have an agreement from National Bank,” Amelie said. “That’s not even included in this.” She opened her arms to indicate the location.

  “Reggie,” Nigel said, “new companies are less likely to fail if they have angel investors.”

  “You can use it for advertising,” Ellison said.

  “And if you sign these,” Nigel said, taking papers out of the cash register, “you won’t be a renter here, you’ll be the owner. The bank loan has to be paid on once you sign for it, but you’ll have as much time as you want to make good on this place. No strings attached—to anything.”

  “Please, Regina,” Amelie said. “We have our dream back. We’re not going to find another location like this that we can afford.”

  She walked around and ended up in front of Jason. He drew her in for a hug, and then she stepped back to look up at him.

  “It�
�s up to you, kiddo,” he said, “but it’s a good opportunity.”

  She went back to Amelie and Nigel.

  “It’s just what we wanted,” she said to Amelie. She looked at Amelie and then at Nigel. “I’ll do it.”

  Amelie squealed and hugged her, and they started bouncing up and down, and soon both of them were crying. Linked arm in arm, they started circling the room again, seeing what it was now that it was theirs.

  In the end, she stood before Nigel.

  “Nigel, could you really afford to do all this? Didn’t it empty your bank account?”

  “Yes, I could, and no, it didn’t.”

  “Thank you so much, Nigel. I’ll pay you back every penny.”

  “It was my pleasure, Reggie.”

  She put her arms around him and hugged him. In response, he dipped his head down and kissed her.

  “I just want to see you happy, Reggie. And I want your talent to get recognized.”

  “I can’t thank you enough.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. Just get to work,” he said and chuckled.

  Gratitude filled Regina’s heart and filled her eyes with tears. Nigel was kidding, but what he had done—this gift—would change her life. She didn’t know what to say. She reached up to his cheek and ran her fingers along its curve while tears ran down her face. He took her hand and put her fingers to his lips then pulled her into an embrace.

  She looked up at him, and he leaned down and kissed her again, first soft then strong. Their lips spelled out the tenderness that had grown between them.

  “Ahem,” said Ellison. “Shall we see the apartment upstairs?”

  Everyone else laughed, and they broke the kiss.

  “Yes,” Nigel said, “let’s.”

  They locked up downstairs and headed out back, where Ellison handed Kyle to Jason for the climb upstairs. The apartment was fully new and partially furnished. Now it opened into the living room with the kitchen off to the left.

  There were brand-new appliances, a dinette set, a sectional sofa and matching end tables, an entertainment center. It was all clean and empty.

  Regina tapped Nigel on the arm. “You had your designer pick stuff out, didn’t you?”