Page 62 of American Love Story

“Well thank goodness for that,” he joked, stepped up to me, and smoothly closed the door to his office. His eyes looked tired, but that ever-present playfulness was there. When he leaned in to kiss me, he ran his hand behind my neck. I sighed into hismouth, tongues caressing as we came together, a reconnection after a long day.

When he pulled back, he looked back to normal again.

My sunny man.

“I needed that.” He sounded like he’d just taken a bite of the most decadent dessert. “Now let’s go to this fundraiser.”

He looked a little hesitant when he said it, and that surprised me. “You don’t want to go?”

He sighed as we made our way to the elevator, then turned to me, speaking quietly. “Of course, I want to be there. I wouldn’t let Nesto down.” His gaze dipped and when he looked up, he had the unhappy expression that appeared anytime a particular subject came up.

“Are you parents going to be there?”

He lifted a shoulder in response and we moved to get into the elevator. “I’m not sure, I haven’t talked to them, but my sister will be there. She heads all the philanthropic efforts for the winery, so they may not come. But OuNYe’s is the new hot place in town and knowing them, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re there.”

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 myhead 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 thiswith 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.”