Chapter 7 #3
Raj grabbed the bag and gave Jude a look before inspecting the contents, then off-handedly said, “Jude’s totally free if you want to do a late drink, they’re usually done by eight at Carmen’s.” He stopped and held up his hand, giving Jude some side- eye.
“I did grad school here, moved to the city in January. I was part of the Sunday night dinner crew for a while. He can be at your place by eight thirty, right Jude?”
Damn, Jude’s friends were mad nosy and pushy. After glaring at Raj, Jude turned to me and the agonized look on his face made my stomach sink. I almost took the invitation back, then a tiny smile appeared on his face. He fidgeted with his phone before answering and the wait felt like years.
Finally he spoke, his voice unsure. “Let me think about it, okay?”
I shrugged, trying to give him an out if he wasn’t really into the idea. “I mean only if you’re up for it.”
Raj rolled his eyes. “I’m telling Carmen about this.”
Jude turned to his friend red in the face. “Raj!”
“What?” Raj asked looking slightly contrite. This whole thing had turned a lot heavier than I intended and I needed to chill. I wasn’t trying to embarrass Jude. Maybe I’d made more of a thing out of that kiss than he had.
“Look, Jude—
Before I finished he started tapping his phone and said, “Let me make sure I have a number for you, and if I can make it I’ll let you know.”
I knew he had it, because I’d given it to him at some point on the drive home the other night, but I wasn’t going to get offended because he didn’t remember every second of the evening like I did. So I just parroted my number again and he nodded. “Yup, here you are.”
I dipped my head once, keeping my lips shut. He knew what I wanted.
Raj was about to say something when I noticed the woman who’d come to my truck that first day making her way down the aisle to my stand. As soon as Jude spotted her his face changed, his gaze turning stony as she smiled and came up to him.
“Hi, Jude, are you enjoying some of the new ethnic offerings at the market?”
Jude didn’t smile back and just pointed to the bag in Raj’s hand.
She glared at it like it was full of shit, then looked up at me. “I didn’t realize we’d have more Spanish food available at the market this season. “You’d think one taco stand was enough.”
I again tried to control my face because this fucking woman clearly came all the way here to disrespect me, and I was not giving her the pleasure of seeing me lose my cool.
“My food is Caribbean, not Spanish, but yes, we’ll be here all season.”
I grabbed a flyer from a stack on the counter. “Here you go, in case you lost the one I gave you the other day.”
She glanced at my hand and nodded without taking it. “Right, well we have the critically acclaimed gourmet grilled cheese stand on the other end of the aisle.”
Jude’s eye roll when she said, “critically acclaimed” was epic. I almost laughed in her face but decided to ignore her. After a second she turned back to Jude.
“I’ll see you tomorrow in the office. We have to talk about the proposal again. I’m just not sure how we’ll manage that first year of funding. So many startup costs, I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much.”
Great, so this must be the monster grant writer Jude had mentioned. This lady was a nuisance. I’d bet anything she had something to do with that bullshit about my application yesterday. I had to give it to Jude though, he was cold as ice. The nod he gave her was barely an acknowledgement.
“Sure Misty, we can talk then.” He turned around and gave me a shy smile, then waved at Ari and Yin who were just staring quietly as the scene unfolded.
Raj gave us a little wave as well and walked away with Jude.
I stood there seething, because I hadn’t even had a chance to properly say goodbye to him.
Why was this woman hell-bent on messing with me?
Misty looked after them, her face murderous, then turned to me. “Don’t get too comfortable. I’ve seen half a dozen of these ethnic places come and go. People in this town don’t have the palate for your type of food.”
She said the word food like she meant to say trash.
I leaned over and turned my head toward the grilled cheese stand, which was as empty now as it’d been all day.
“I’ve had lines thirty people deep all weekend, and I’ve been checking out the competition in the market.
I didn’t even know there was a grilled cheese stand, you know,” I said, as she glared at me.
“Since I’m only paying attention to the places which actually have customers.
” I knew taunting this lady wasn’t a good idea, but fuck her and her bullshit.
She sneered, then turned around and walked off without saying a word.
If she thought she was going to intimidate me, she had another thing coming. She wasn’t the first bigot to try to make me feel two feet tall or to tell me to go back to where I belonged, and she wouldn’t be the last. I had every right to be here and had the skills to stay where I was.
If anything, now I had something to prove.