Page 3 of The Dating Prohibition
His head bobbed as he smoothed a hand over his facial hair. The top half of his dark, shoulder-length locs were twisted andtied back away from his face as he regarded her intently. “Thanks! Yeah, it’s been good so far, but I’m on sabbatical thissemester. I need to do some research for my next book proposal.”
BJ taught courses on historic preservation, focusing on heritage conservation, architectural history and preservation, urbanplanning, and adaptive reuse. Most of it went over Kendra’s head, but she loved that he focused a good amount of his workon Black heritage tourism. The way that he highlighted the importance of transforming abandoned sites to frame and highlightpivotal points in history had always been a source of inspiration for her.
Kendra tilted her head. “About that, actually, maybe I can pick your brain about something later. I’ve got something brewing businesswise, and it’s right up your alley.” She tappedhis arm with her fingers and admired the results that his hard work in the gym had developed.
BJ’s eyebrows rose, but Lani slid across the floorRisky Business–style right into Kendra’s arms before he could respond. He nodded brusquely and sauntered back toward the bar, where Loganwas installing some shelving.
“Bitch, you made it!” Her cousin squeezed Kendra tightly before stepping back to assess her appearance, a wrinkle formingbetween her eyebrows. Lani was all about vibrant colors, and Kendra’s palette was much more neutral, so she was always beingbullied to step outside of her comfort zone and into prints that she found too busy, too bright, too attention-grabbing. Laniwas in a pair of ripped, acid-washed blue jeans and a loud color-blocked sweater with bright red sneakers. She narrowed hereyes at what she would consider to be low frequencies emanating from Kendra’s look.
Kendra dropped a hand onto her hip and posed. “Don’t play me, I know I look good.” Her coffee-colored duster over a whitecropped tee and white high-waisted jogger pants hugged her curves and made her feel clean, like fresh air after a hard rain.She’d pulled her thick, silk-pressed tresses into a sleek ponytail, and per usual, her shades sat on top of her head likea headband. Kendra ran her fingers through her ponytail, curling the ends around her index finger, and popped her tongue playfully.
Lani leaned forward, her eyes wide. “Mmm-hmm. And a certain someone noticed too.”
“Who? Stanley? I wouldn’t exactly describe him as a chocolate drop. Maybe more like a hazelnut latte.” Kendra tilted her head, assessing the occupants of the room. There was Logan and Shonda, BJ, Auntie Al, Shonda’s sister Bree, Kendra’s parents, and Stanley, who was staring at Lani like she stole somethin’. Logan had a team of people that he’d walked back towardthe kitchen, who Kendra assumed were the new restaurant staff. BJ was carrying cartons of wine and spirits down to the basement cellar. Kendra’s mom and Aunt Alisa were pretending to wipe down the counters, but they’d been hovering over the same spot at the bar pointing at Kendra and whispering.The family motto should be: “Subtlety? We don’t know her.”
Stanley’s tall and lean build was squeezed behind some shelving that he was putting together for a wall display. Kendra’sdad, Braxton, was reading the assembly instructions aloud to Stanley, whose attention remained trained on Lani, who seemedcompletely unaware. Kendra made eye contact with Shonda across the room, gesturing slightly with her chin toward Stanley,and Shonda’s smile grew wide. She nodded slowly, steepling her fingers like a mastermind with an evil plan. Kendra winkedin response.
“Not Stanley, silly. BJ was asking about you,” Lani whispered, her arm entwined with Kendra’s to keep her from slipping again.
BJ?Kendra’s face screwed up into a giant question mark. “Huh? Why?”
Her cousin shrugged. “I’ve been clocking it for the last week. Anytime your name was brought up, he was all ears.”
“I mean, we’ve known the guy a long time, so that doesn’t feel out of the ordinary to me. We haven’t seen each other in years.”Kendra’s last post before her travels was in Silicon Valley. She often returned home for the holidays, but BJ always wentto be with his parents in Charlotte. When Kendra had been laid off from her role as a chief data officer for a thriving startupthat was absorbed by a tech giant, she’d taken her generous severance package and savings to do some soul-searching aroundthe globe. BJ had checked in once in a while to ask where she was and how she was doing. He’d always been thoughtful in thatway.
After visiting family in Thailand and the Philippines, Kendra went to parts of Europe and finished off her trip in New Orleans spending quality time with her Granny. Each destination brought her new adventures and lessons in the culinary world and in determining what tools she would use to pave her path. Everyone in the family had built a legacy in their own way, and it finally felt like Kendra’s turn.
“There’s my ray of sunshine!” Kendra’s dad opened his arms and wrapped her into a warm hug, the scent of tobacco smoke lingeringon his jacket.
She squeezed him tight, tucking her chin for her father to kiss her forehead. “Daddy! Mmm, what cigar were you smoking? Itsmells spicy.”
“Your brother bought me a box of maduros, so we decided to have some coffee and sample them before we got started today.”Her dad’s bronzed skin and thick, straight hair was tousled with some sort of product. Born in Los Angeles to a Filipino motherand a Thai father, he was the embodiment of California, wearing a jean jacket over a light sweater and slacks. When he methis wife, Regina, at George Washington University, he embraced DC with her, setting down roots, eventually convincing AuntieAl and Uncle Ronnie to move up from New Orleans to experience all four seasons. Their time in DC was cut short as they movedback to New Orleans when they started their family––free childcare was worth the return, thanks to Granny and PawPaw.
Once Kendra and Logan were old enough to fend for themselves, Braxton and Regina moved back into their DC home, which they’d rented out while down south. Auntie Mack fell in love with Charleston, and Kendra’s maternal grandmother remained in New Orleans alone now that PawPaw had passed. Her paternal grandparents remained in Los Angeles, giving her a reason to get some California sunshinewhenever possible, but she’d caught them on their annual trip to visit family during her time in Asia.
“That’s a bold move tostartwith a maduro, but you know I like those. Especially if the coffee happened to be Irish.” Kendra shared a knowing glancewith her father as she pulled back, his arm still around her waist.
Braxton Porter kissed his daughter’s cheek, lowering his voice to barely a whisper before winking at her mischievously. “Yourbrother and I may have already had an Irish coffee or two out on the patio. Don’t tell your mother.”
Kendra giggled, raising her hands in surrender. “Your secret is safe with me.” They walked toward the bar area, which waspainted a deep emerald green with creamy quartz countertops and golden fixtures. The herringbone pattern in the cherrywoodflooring gleamed with gradients of reddish browns. “Wow, this place is gorgeous,” she gushed.
Natural light flooded in through massive picture windows dressed with velvet curtains the color of the faintest blush. Onthe windowsills were decorative vases and small plants, like succulents and snake plants—ones that didn’t require a lot ofattention. On the walls were several blown-up photographs from Logan and Shonda’s travels as they’d hit different countrieson their bucket list and sampled different cuisines to find the right balance of flavors to feature on their menu of globalfare. BJ had busied himself hanging another portrait, and Kendra studied his profile, taking in the broadness of his shouldersand the way his Henley sleeves were pushed up to his forearms, the fabric over his chest and arms hugging his physique.This man just gets better with age...
“Yo, can you chill, cuz? You are lookin’ at him like he’s a four-course meal and you wanna come back for seconds...”
Kendra froze, her neck and cheeks immediately coloring at Lani’s observation. “Say it louder, I think the kitchen staffdidn’t hear you!” Kendra hissed, her attention snapping away from the strong arms lifting a black-and-white photograph of a wine cellar full of barrels on a long wall leading toward the unisex bathrooms.
BJ glanced in her direction before returning to his task and leveling the frame. Heat crawled up the column of Kendra’s throat,her skin boiling as she stared her cousin down.
“If he heard you, I swear on all things holy that I will tell your mom all about how her favorite cashmere sweater got ruined.”Kendra wiggled her fingers like she was casting a spell on her cousin.
“You wouldn’t...” Lani’s eyes darted around in a panic. As teenagers, she and Kendra snuck out to meet some boys, and Laniswiped her mom’s ultrasoft cardigan to wear over a barely there tank top and coochie cutters. The fast heffa swore the sweateradded a level of sophistication to her look. Suffice it to say that it was St. Patty’s Day, and she spilled a green pint ofbeer on the luxe creamy knit, leaving a giant mint-colored swatch that she couldn’t explain. Instead, Lani framed the familydog and asserted that he’d dragged the sweater outside into the grass. Auntie Mack was devastated.
Kendra’s sinister smile spread like the Grinch stealing Christmas. “Try me.”
Chapter 2
“Hey, Keke, how are you doing on that mise en place?” Shonda called over her shoulder as she kept her eye on a roux that shewas toasting to a perfect chocolate brown. Two days had passed by quickly, and Kendra had fallen into step with her sister-in-lawin the kitchen. Upon her arrival, her family immediately put her to work, and they dined on menu items from the staff’s practiceruns. After, she and Shonda put their heads together to get everything just right, talking through the presentation, the garnishes,a finishing sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
