Chapter 17 #2
I was expecting to feel freaked out or uneasy about meeting Easton’s parents, but as we waved at the bailiffs who greeted Easton as if he were their favorite person, that feeling of protectiveness took over again.
I grabbed his hand as we walked onto the rainy sidewalk and hurried along the two blocks to Nesto’s restaurant.
The temperatures had risen since the snowstorm the week before, but the rain still felt like ice on my skin.
Easton didn’t say anything but tightened his hand around mine. “You’re so quiet tonight.”
He looked at me and I could see again just how tired he was.
“It’s not because of my parents. I’m always like this after we wrap up a trial.
I sort of run through everything all over in my head a dozen times, trying to figure out where we fucked up.
It’s how I keep my expectations in check.
I need to be prepared for disappointment because I have to face the families after, and I can’t go to them in anger or feeling like the outcome came out of nowhere. ”
“I get that, I hope that jury does right by her.”
After a second, Easton lifted his head and glanced up at me. “How are things at work? Are things still good?”
I nodded, glad to see the restaurant was near.
“Yeah.” The meeting with the dean had gone a lot better than I thought.
He’d basically called me in to ask if I wanted to be involved in a task force looking at implicit bias in the faculty, which I did not expect.
“Task force thing is moving surprisingly fast.”
“Good,” Easton said as we arrived.
Nesto, as expected, had drawn a crowd. I knew Jude and his best friend Carmen had been helping him with the planning, and the place looked great.
It was almost packed when we walked in. The usual crowd of college students and young professionals that frequented OuNYe had been replaced by very wealthy-looking and older people.
As we walked in, I once again took a moment to look around my friend’s restaurant.
The place was lit by vintage lamps hanging from the high ceilings.
On the red walls were enormous aerial photos of the islands Nesto, Camilo, Juan Pa, and I came from.
I glanced over at the gigantic photo of one of my favorite places in Haiti, the old fort on the northern tip of the island called Cap Haitien.
I was still bowled over by what Nesto had done and how he was honoring all our roots with this place. Nesto had built all this with his hard work and being a tenacious bitch. Like he always said, we really were our ancestor’s wildest dreams.
Easton let go of my hand as he took his own look around and pointed his chin in the direction where Nesto had placed a coat checker. We spotted my best friend, too, and as soon as he saw us, he grabbed Jude’s hand and made a beeline toward us, a big grin on his face.
He came in close to give me dap as Jude smiled at us, waiting for his turn to say hello.
Nesto gave Easton a pat on the shoulder and angled his head in the direction of the courthouse.
“I heard you kicked ass in court today. Cindy’s around here somewhere; she came in buzzing about how she’s going to make you run for DA.
” Easton groaned as Nesto and Jude both grinned.
“If you’re not up for it, you better let Cindy know now, Easton, because she looked like she was going to make the official announcement,” Jude said with humor.
“I feel your pain, too. Cindy’s like an older version of Carmen, pushy and selectively hard of hearing when people don’t want to do what she says.
” Jude’s commiserative tone pulled a smile out of Easton, who lifted a shoulder before answering.
“I’ve been handling Cindy since I was fifteen. The key is waiting her out,” Easton said with a grin, but the way he looked, I knew he wasn’t amused about Cindy talking about it publicly. Before I could ask, Nesto pointed the drink he was holding toward me.
“You haven’t met Cindy yet, P?” he asked with a glint in his eye that made me think that was probably a good thing.
“Not yet,” I said as I bumped Easton’s shoulder. “But I’ve heard a lot about her.”
“I’m not even going to ask if any of it was good, because I know how this demon likes to slander me.
” The voice came from somewhere behind me, and when I turned around, I saw a tall and slender middle-aged woman with a crew cut and no-nonsense pantsuit giving me an impish smile.
She extended a hand to me at the same time that she put her arm around Easton’s shoulders.
“You must be the man that’s brought my best prosecutor to distraction. Cindy Grey.” I almost laughed at Easton’s pained groan and extended my hand to her, unsure of how to respond.
“Patrice Denis.”
Cindy rolled her eyes at Jude and Nesto, who were standing there looking incredibly entertained. “Oh, I know who you are. Believe me,” she said, giving Easton, who was beet red, some side eye.
Easton exhaled and looked at her with an equal mixture of fondness and frustration. “Cindy, why?” I actually cracked a smile at his exasperation. “Also, what are you doing out, aren’t you supposed to be resting?”
That got him another look of fond exasperation, “I’m here with Lorraine. We wanted to stop by, and support this wonderful event,” she said as Nesto preened. “We’re heading out soon.”
She leaned in closer to me, as if to share a secret, but when she spoke, everyone could hear her. “I don’t know what you’ve been doing lately but keep it up. This one’s practically skipping into the office these days. I might actually get him to agree to run for DA.”
This elicited another groan from Easton and a laugh from the rest of us. “I’ll try.”
Before she could embarrass Easton any more, she waved goodbye and walked off toward the door where a short woman with white curly hair was waiting for her.
Jude shook his head and smiled, watching them leave the restaurant. “She’s playing hardball with the DA thing, Easton. She might wear you down.”
I looked over to see his reaction and noticed he seemed uneasy. I wasn’t sure if it was about Cindy, the DA thing, or about his parents. “She’s been on me about it for months.” He lifted a shoulder then and gave me a look I was not entirely sure I understood. “We’ll see.”
When we’d talked about it weeks ago, he didn’t seem very into the idea and the way he was still looking at Cindy made me think he still felt the same way.
I wondered if he hadn’t talked more about it with me because he thought I’d be put off by it.
If I was honest, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
Thankfully, before I could go down a rabbit hole of worry over something I had no control over, Nesto spoke up.
“P, did you talk to Ari today?” Nesto’s face had the concerned parent look he got anytime we discussed Ari.
I shook my head as I glanced around the room, trying to spot my mentee. “No, I left early for campus and didn’t see him.” I wasn’t going to say that I’d stayed at Easton’s for the fourth night in six days, and that I didn’t even make it to my place this morning.
“That’s cool, man,” Nesto said. “No big, he’s just staying with Jude and me this weekend. Last weekend at the Farmer’s Market for the season, and he wants to be close to the kitchen since he’s in charge of the truck now.” Nesto always talked about Ari like a proud dad.
I nodded and looked at Easton, who still seemed a bit flustered from Cindy’s teasing. “Sounds good, man.”
Nesto angled his head in the direction of the kitchen. “I gotta go check on the food.” He turned to Jude then. “Baby, can you go take one last look around to see that everything’s set to go for the silent auction?”
Jude nodded and pushed up to give Nesto a kiss on the mouth. “Sure.” Those two had been together for almost two years and still could barely stand to go for a few minutes without touching. I turned to look at Easton and tried not to read too much into the wistful expression on his face.
“Thanks for coming, brother,” Nesto said, pulling me in for dap.
“Like you would let my ass stay home,” I grumbled.
He laughed as he clapped his palm against Easton’s. “True. Easton, you know you’re in your house, man.”
Jude waved at us, too, as he and his man walked off.
Easton and I stood there in a corner of the crowded restaurant, too close to not be together, but not close enough that people would label us as a couple offhand like they would with Jude and Nesto.
Those two could be on opposite sides of the room and you could see they were a unit.
It was like they had an invisible thread that tied them together.
I thought about how it would be to get there with Easton. It’s not as if I didn’t feel that drawn to him. The issue was letting it show. To let the whole world know he was mine. I wasn’t exactly surprised to notice that between reluctance and yearning to have that, the latter feeling won out.
“You’re certainly deep in thought.” Easton’s voice was curious, and when I glanced at him, I found him looking at me as if he knew what I’d been thinking.
“Nah, just looking around.” He didn’t look very convinced about my answer.
I was about to deviate the subject to Cindy’s comment about him running for DA when I saw Easton’s eyes widen and then heard him groan as an older couple headed in our direction.
The woman had platinum-blonde hair coiffed to perfection.
She was dressed expensively, almost but not quite too formal for the occasion, and was very petite, but I’d recognize those green eyes anywhere.
Easton took after his father though, because the man walking toward us could’ve been my lover in thirty years.
Easton’s entire demeanor had changed by the time they reached us. His mother spoke first, as she leaned in to air kiss him hello. “We weren’t sure you’d make it, darling.”