His Enduring Love

Chapter 3

3

“HI, my name is Hector.”

The boy who fell into step beside her as she walked out of her Financial Econometrics class was clean-cut, tall, handsome, and almost as dark as she was. If she hadn’t already known of him, she might have mistaken him for one of the few other black students taking the course with her. But as it was…

“I know who you are,” she said, throwing him a teasing smile. “Everyone does.”

He glanced sideways at her. “And who do you think I am?”

She had to fight hard not to laugh. “Hector Mendez, Jr.” She didn’t add the obvious, that he was the only son of Hector Mendez, Sr., the head of New Jersey’s Dominican mafia. “I don’t live under a rock.”

But if he minded her laughing at him, he didn’t show it. Instead he smiled back at her. “You say it like that’s all I am, my father’s son.”

“No insult meant or anything,” she said. “Back in West Trenton, just about everybody knows me as Antoine Cofi’s daughter. You see, he owns this Cajun food restaurant, kind of a hole in the wall, but it’s pretty popular. So that’s mostly what people see when they look at me. I think they were surprised when I got into Rutgers, like I’d been born to work behind Cofi’s counter all my life.”

Hector nodded. “People expect me to follow in my father’s footsteps, too. That’s part of the reason I came to Rutgers. My father didn’t even graduate high school. I’m hoping to do better for myself.”

“Mine didn’t either,” she said. “But he’s still the smartest person I know, even if he didn’t get a degree.”

“I see you’re a daddy’s girl.”

“I am,” she admitted. “My mom died when I was little, so it’s always been the two of us. He worked hard to raise me right and make sure I didn’t have to work at the restaurant if I didn’t want to. It’s hard not to admire him for that.”

“He sounds like a great man. I’d like to meet him some day.” Hector flashed her a smile and held out his hand. “You know my name. But you still haven’t told me yours.”

She smiled back at him. “Tasha Cofi. It’s nice to meet you.”

And being the friendly girl she was, she took his proffered hand, having no idea she was shaking hands with the devil.

The sound of a horn blaring behind her jerked Lacey out of the memory. She looked up and saw that the light had turned green. She made a left onto the road leading to the Starry Sky campgrounds, and chastised herself. “Get it together, girl.”

She’d barely had time to make it back to the hotel to shower and change clothes before it was time to get on the road. And even then she was only just going to make it to the outdoor picnic brunch that would kick off Parent’s Day. She didn’t have time to let her mind wander, especially back to a life she could never have again.

She shook off the memory as she parked her car in the grassy lot and dashed toward Starry Sky’s main field.

But even in such a distracted rush, she found it hard not to flash back to what had happened the night before. The mysterious Asian man had been a complete stranger, but the way he had run his hands all over her body that last time in bed, touching her in all the right places, like he already had her memorized…

“Mom! I’m over here!”

The sight of her beautiful twelve-year-old daughter, Sparkle, broke her out of her second reverie of the morning. Sparkle wasn’t her real name, of course, and not one she would have chosen for her daughter, if it had been up to her. Yet another casualty of her previous life, which made her push both Hector Jr. and last night’s encounter out of her head as she jogged over to her.

When she reached her, Lacey was taken aback by how much her daughter had grown since the last time she’d seen her during Christmas break. Also, she was a few shades darker, which meant her program leaders must have forced her to take time off from playing the piano to get out in the sun. Sparkle wore a wrinkle-free camp t-shirt tucked into khaki shorts, both of which she was certain Sparkle had freshly pressed herself that morning. And her shoulder-length dreadlocks looked much neater than Lacey’s own. While Sparkle tended to hers every morning, re-twisting the roots with the big tub of shea butter Lacey had sent in her last care package, Lacey was once again wearing hers in a messy bun.

“Girl, you are a sight for sore eyes,” she told her daughter with a big smile. “I’m going to give you a hug, a huge one, okay?”

“If you must,” Sparkle answered.

“Yes, I must,” Lacey responded, pulling her daughter into her arms and kissing her on top of the head several times for good measure.

“I don’t know how my father will feel about the hugging,” said another voice nearby.

Lacey looked over Sparkle’s head to see an Asian boy with glasses and a severe buzz cut standing nearby. He spoke in the same succinct and practiced way as Sparkle and didn’t make eye contact, which was enough of a clue that, like her daughter, he had Asperger’s. Of course, this wasn’t a big surprise considering the kids were at a camp for high-functioning autistic children.

“Hi,” she said to him. “And you are…”

“I’m Sparkle’s best friend, Kenji,” he informed her.

“Her best friend,” Lacey repeated.

Even on an Aspie level, Sparkle wasn’t exactly a maker of friends. She’d been obsessed with the piano since she was old enough to walk, and tending to her passion didn’t leave much time for friendships. Sparkle had never asked to bring anyone home for breaks or even dinner, much less had a best friend.

“Okay,” Lacey said carefully. “It’s really great to meet you.”

“She’s surprised because I don’t have any other friends,” Sparkle informed Kenji. “She thinks maybe you’re delusional or making it up.”

Lacey would have tried to deny it, but she knew her daughter would only argue she was denying it because she didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Though social interactions were challenging for Sparkle, she had just enough knowledge of social conventions to be truly embarrassing if Lacey chose to argue with her.

So instead Lacey smiled and said, “Like I said, it’s very nice to meet you, Kenji. Can I shake your hand?”

In response, Kenji drew his arms up close to his chest. “No, that’s not necessary. I’m not here to introduce myself but to assess that you really are pretty and it wasn’t a case of makeup and lighting in the picture Sparkle showed me.”

Having raised an Aspie for twelve years before sending her to Rise Academy, a boarding school for children with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s, Lacey wasn’t remotely phased by his refusal to shake her hand or his blunt statement.

“Okay,” she said again with a smile.

Kenji looked her over with the critical eye of a horse breeder. “She was right. You are very pretty. My father might like you.”

Lacey looked from side to side, wondering why it mattered if his father liked her or not. “Well, I hope he’s not the kind of person who judges other people on looks alone and he’ll be just as happy to meet the mom of your best friend as I am to meet him.”

“You think I would come over here for a simple introduction? No, that’s not it,” Kenji said. “Sparkle and I are working on an opera, a grand opus, which will likely take two years or more to compose. Consequently, we’ve decided we shouldn’t be apart during the summers anymore. Three months of down time is unacceptable.”

Understanding began to dawn on Lacey’s part. “Oh, I get it. So you’re both interested in composing on the piano and you want to arrange a summer visit?” she asked, although she already knew that would be out of the question.

She didn’t begrudge Sparkle a friend or what sounded like a really ambitious music project. In fact, Lacey was happy Sparkle had found someone who liked the piano as much as she did. How many other twelve-year-olds wanted to spend all of their free time composing an opera? But Lacey had barely had time to trek to Montana from Chicago to pick her daughter up, much less drive her to whatever part of the country Kenji lived in, so that they could work together during the summer.

“No, a visit still wouldn’t give us enough time to finish the opus in two years,” Sparkle answered.

“We want you to marry my father,” Kenji said.

Lacey sputtered, “Say what?!?!”

“It’s the most logical solution,” Kenji responded.

“I think you need to look that word up, because getting married so your kids have more time to work on an opera definitely doesn’t qualify as logical,” she said, using air quotes on the word “logical.”

Kenji, who had yet to make eye contact with her had the nerve to throw Sparkle an exasperated look. “She is pretty, but difficult.”

“That doesn’t mean your father won’t like her,” Sparkle pointed out, as if the object of their discussion weren’t standing right in front of them. “They could still get married.”

Lacey held up her hands. “You two do realize marriage is a big decision and a lot more goes into making that decision than whether or not your father thinks I’m cute, right?”

“Yes, of course we realize that,” Kenji answered. “We’ve already run the data. My father and you have a lot in common. You’re both very secretive, you’re both very patient, neither of you have had a long-term relationship since the loss of your respective partners, so the logical conclusion is you must be very lonely. Also, you both have autistic children. We’ve decided you’ll make a very compatible match as long as my father thinks you’re good looking.”

She shook her head at him. “How about if I don’t think your father is good looking?”

“Women don’t value looks as much as men do,” Sparkle answered. “Also, I’ve already vetted his picture and his face is very symmetrical.”

“Oh, Lord, please tell me you didn’t also tell this man you wanted us to get married!”

“No, not yet,” Kenji answered. “We didn’t come up with the plan until a few weeks ago. Also, I wanted to run it by Uncle Dexter first.”

“Uncle Dexter?”

“His partner. He’s the one who convinced my father to let me go away to Rise Academy. They spend a lot of time together, and he’s black, too, so my father might be more receptive to the idea if it came from him.”

Lacey rubbed a hand over her face. “Please do not involve anyone else in this mess. And what exactly do you mean by ‘his partner?’”

Kenji threw Sparkle a confused look.

“She wants to know if your father is gay,” Sparkle said. “She works with a few of lesbians.”

“No, Dexter is his business partner,” Kenji answered. “And that’s another thing we can add to the list of things you have in common, because Dexter is gay, too.”

“Oh, my sweet—“ Lacey cut herself off before she took the Lord’s name in vain for a second time that day. “Are you sure they’re just business partners? For all you know, I’m really not your dad’s type.”

Kenji frowned. “I hadn’t considered that.”

Then he abruptly walked away.

“He’ll be back,” Sparkle said in response to Lacey’s questioning look.

Lacey shook her head at her daughter. “Wow,” she said. “When you decided to finally get a best friend, you just went all out, didn’t you?”

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or giving me a sincere compliment.”

Lacey smiled and resisted the urge to give her daughter another hug. Sparkle could be a nut, but she was her nut and she had missed her terribly this past year while she’d been away at boarding school. “I’m just happy to see you, sweetie,” she said, deciding to drop the subject altogether.

“Dad, are you gay?” Kenji asked Suro, coming to stand with him, Dexter, Andrew, and Andrew’s wife, Roxxy. Her newborn baby girl was strapped snugly to her front and snoozing comfortably against her mother’s chest.

Suro had been listening to Dexter, Andrew, and Roxxy talk about how well the inaugural four-day camp, which had wrapped up Rise Academy’s school year, had gone, when his son, Kenji, had approached him and asked this question out of the blue, without so much as a prefaced hello.

“Hello, Kenji,” Suro said, giving him a small bow.

His son, who didn’t speak Japanese, but liked the formality of bows, gave him a much bigger bow back, as was the custom between a father and son who hadn’t seen each other for an extended amount of time. He also gave smaller bows to Dexter, Andrew, and Roxxy before asking Suro again, “Are you gay?”

Suro could see the other adults working hard to suppress their laughter.

“No,” he answered, knowing from long-experience it was easier to answer Kenji’s questions, rather than ask him why he was asking them in the first place.

“You and Dexter aren’t boyfriends then, just business partners?”

Dexter lost the fight not to laugh. “Naw, man! Your dad’s cool and we’ve made a grip of money since going into business together, but it ain’t like that. Plus, he’s not my type.”

Kenji gave them a satisfied nod. “Okay, I’ll go tell Sparkle’s mother.”

“Who’s Sparkle?” Suro asked.

“His little girlfriend,” Dexter, who had worked security pro bono at the camp answered. “They been thick as thieves since before they got here.”

Roxxy ran a hand over her sleeping daughter’s silky brown curls. “And begging us for an electric outlet to plug in their keyboards the entire time,” she added with dry amusement. Her singing days happily behind her, the former rock star now ran the Starry Sky summer camp, so she had intel that Dexter didn’t. “I don’t think they were quite on board with the whole no-electricity part of camping.”

“We liked it here, but we would have liked it more if the tents had electrical outlets,” Kenji told her. “You should put them in the for next year, then your camp will be perfect.”

“That defeats the purpose of camping,” Roxxy started to say.

But the always affable Andrew cut his wife off with a chuckle. “Thanks for the suggestion, kid. We’ll take that under consideration.”

“But let’s get back to this Sparkle girl,” Dexter said. “Why you asking about all this? Did her mom say you two can’t date if your dad’s gay?”

“We’re not dating. We’re best friends and co-composers of an opera we plan to debut in two years. But we won’t be able to make our deadline if we have to keep on spending summers and school breaks apart.” He turned to Suro. “That’s why you have to marry Sparkle’s mom, Dad. That way we can all live in the same place and it will give Sparkle and me more time to work on our project together.”

“What?” Suro said, showing true surprise for the first time in years.

Now Dexter wasn’t even trying to contain his laughter. “Aw man, you got your twelve-year-old son trying to set you up. Consider what that says about your love life!”

Suro ignored his partner. “Perhaps, you should introduce me to this woman,” he said to his son.

“I’m coming with you,” Dexter said. “I’ve got to see this.”

Less than a minute later, Suro and Dexter were following Kenji through the crowd of parents and students at the brunch social toward the breakfast buffet where his son guessed Sparkle and her mother would be.

He had no further plans than to introduce himself, apologize for his son’s pushiness, and extricate himself from the situation as quickly as possible, but then his son pointed to a little black girl standing at the buffet.

“There’s Sparkle,” his son said. Then he pointed again. “And there’s her mother.”

Suro slowed his pace. From behind, the girl’s mother looked just like…

“She looks good from behind at least,” Dexter said. “Not too skinny. I hate when women let themselves get too skinny.”

“Sparkle! Sparkle!” Kenji called out, waving his arms to get their attention.

And when both mother and daughter turned around, there was no mistaking it. The mother actually dropped her paper plate of food, she was so surprised to see Suro.

Sparkle’s mother, the woman Kenji wanted him to marry, was the woman from the bar, the same one he’d had unexpectedly hot s*x with the night before.