“If you don’t, I’m sure Priya will get you back in working order,” Heni quipped in a completely serious voice.
But Priya just laughed him off. “Oh no. I am pretty certain that Camilo has this situation handled.”
I shook my head at her knowing grin and when I spoke, it was the honest truth. “I’d protest, but from where I’m sitting, that sounds about right.”
Camilo
“Well I’m certainly glad I dressed up for this,” Ayako whispered as we walked up the street to Tom’s house for his No-Turkey Thanksgiving dinner. Ayako was more than dressed up in a gorgeous green coat, underneath which she was wearing a purple sweater dress that hugged every one of her curves.
“You look great and you know it, stop shamelessly fishing for compliments.”
She preened as we got to Tom’s stoop, then hip checked me. “You don’t look too bad yourself. Those pants are fire.”
I ran a hand over my coat as we made our way up the steps. I did dress up a bit with my very tight burnt orange sweater, some slim trousers, and ankle boots. “Tom pays extra attention the tighter my pants are, so I didn’t want to disappoint the host.”
Ayako just cackled at my shamelessness as we ascended the steps.
It’d been a couple of weeks since the day of the concert and things were going really well between us. Tom had been on his best behavior and going out of his way to show me he’d learned his lesson after that night, but it wasn’t like I’d tried to stay mad at him or anything.
Now I was here to celebrate Thanksgiving with him and his friends, and I felt nervous, worried they wouldn’t like me. Ayako bumped my hip again, yanking me out of my thoughts.
“Chicken’s gonna get cold, babe.” She pointed at the doorbell. “I also want to see this place on the inside,” she said eagerly. “You so fancy with your millionaire. Give me the food, so he doesn’t think I’m a total scrub.” She gestured for me to hand over the Jerk Chicken we’d brought as a contribution. Store bought because we were tacky and bad planners.
I turned away so she couldn’t reach the pan, clicking my tongue. “Stop, you don’t need to show up with chicken, you’re an invited guest.”
She ignored my protest and leaned to hear what was going on inside the house. “How many people are at this thing? It sounds like a party!” We could hear music and a lot of people talking on the other side of the door.
“Tom said it would be like thirty or so. Most of the guests are his friends from grad school, so expect geeky snobs from MIT.”
Ayako just rolled her eyes at my insult. “Right, like the snob you’ve been thirsting after for the last month and a half. You’ve lost all credibility with me when it comes to salty judgmental bullshit.”
I was about to argue when the door opened and a very handsome, tall, and slender man opened the door.
“Hi, you must be Camilo. I’m Henock.” He looked at Ayako and gave her a subtle, but very appreciative look, which she returned in kind. I cleared my throat and looked up at him.
“Hi, Henock, it’s nice to meet you. This is my friend Ayako.”
He extended his arms to take the chicken from me, but I shook my head and gestured for Ayako to say hello.
“Hi.” All of a sudden she was shy.
“Nice to meet you both, please come in.” He stepped aside to let us into the big study/den room right by the entrance. I hadn’t been in here much since Tom and I usually hung out upstairs when I came over.
It was a huge room with lots of gorgeous furniture in grays and dark blues. I turned to Ayako and pointed at a huge painting on the far wall. It had to be eight feet by ten and it was an explosion of color. It was a street scene with lots of brown bodies in colorful clothing huddled together, walking along a wide street. It was a little chaotic and vibrant. Blue and white vans, donkeys and motorcycles all fought for space on the road alongside the people in the image. At this time of the day, with the sun rays slashing across the canvas, it seemed to come to life.
“Isn’t it amazing?” I asked her. Ayako took it in and nodded as we walked over to it to take a closer look. Henock came up with us and explained.
“This is a scene from Addis Ababa. Tom got it a few years ago when he came on a trip home with me. I have one from the same artist at my place.”
Ayako kept her eyes fixed on it and smiled. “It’s beautiful.”
Henock beamed at her. “Tom has amazing taste, and he’s always on the lookout for good art when we travel. Well that and the art scene in Addis is pretty spectacular.” He flashed us both with a million-dollar smile that I know had to be having an effect on Ayako. “He’s gotten Sanjay and me into buying art as well. We’re going to run out of wall space soon.”
Ayako twisted her mouth to the side and I could tell she was working hard to keep from teasing him. I should’ve known better than to expect her to bite her tongue. “I don’t know about that, there’sa lotof space here.”
We all laughed as Henock got us moving again and introduced us to a few of the people in the room. There had to be about twenty of them, all in their late thirties to early forties, and it was a very mixed crowd. Tom’s friends were a very diverse group of people. After, we walked further into the room where there was a huge sideboard laden with food.
“Servers are coming around with some snacks and the drinks are on the other side.” Henock gestured at a bar area where an actual bartender was mixing drinks for guests, and there were servers moving around the room carrying trays laden with food. Ayako and I gave each other a look when we realized we were at a Thanksgiving dinner with an entire serving staff. “They’ll bring out the meal at around four. Tom is upstairs right now. I’ll go let him know you’re here.”
