Page 89 of The Dating Prohibition
“Oh, that could be fun! Not that you’ll be home all that often to use it, but when I am home, I could see myself coming overand using it quite a bit.”
Kendra shook her head as she laughed. “True. Okay, let’sstart unloading these boxes.” She decided to ship some of her things to make life easier on her. She didn’t have enough furniture to justify hiring movers. “I shipped boxes of books through the post office, and I’ve got a couple of boxes of clothes coming, but other than that, almost everything that I have is here. I’ll buy furniture pieces bit by bit—I think my bed is being delivered tomorrow, so we’re going back to Auntie Mack’s tonight.”
Lani nodded. “Bet. Let’s get it.”
Chapter 23
?Two weeks later, Kendra squinted her eyes and snapped the photo. “Okay, that was perfect. Thanks, guys, lunch is ready fory’all!”
The construction workers nodded at her, having spent the past week reconstructing the bar to her specifications and they wereset to start working on the floors the next day. She’d set out platters of sandwiches and her aunt’s famous potato salad,along with fruit and bottled water.
“This is really coming together.” Her eyes swept the room, looking at everything from the exposed brick to the heavy woodsliding door that partitioned off the bar and lounge area from the speakeasy supper club dining room. High above, there wereexposed wooden beams and updated light fixtures giving a warm light ambiance. Strands of Edison lights hung above the barand new custom shelving had been installed earlier that day.
“Your whole dream is coming true, cousin.” Lani admired the bar, running her hand across the glossy wood plank cut from thecenter of a tree trunk. “I love the natural edges and how it’s, like, glossed over the bark. It’s so pretty.”
Kendra grinned. “I love that too. I feel like a proud momma!”
“Now remind me, what are they doing to the floors? Are they going to be wood?”
“No, I decided to go a different direction—cheaper route.” Kendra laughed. “They’re going to be pouring cement and then it’sgoing to be painted and polished and I’m super excited about it. It’ll be easy to clean and it can stand a lot of wear andtear.”
“Sounds dope! So tell me about some of these seating plans.”
“You know, when BJ and I were looking at different properties, he had been pointing out different things that he knew werecommonplace from the Prohibition Era, but we also talked about some of the ways that the different clubs and speakeasies upin Harlem were furnished. And so, there’s going to be those really beautiful round booths that face this open table seating,which can be moved at times when we have live music. For those occasions, we can allow the booths to be reserved. And if there’sa large group, of course, we could always have some of the other tables reserved too.
“There is going to be one big communal table where anyone can sit. It allows patrons to mingle and maybe build some community.There will be some pub tables with stools and then there’s going to be those great leather stools up against the bar. Thehost stand is being custom made by one of Auntie Mack’s neighbors, who apparently owes her a favor.” Kendra tilted her head,inquiring with her eyes.
“Oh, you mean Terrence,” Lani shared. “Yeah, he owes her several favors.”
“Oh, well good, because maybe they’ll keep helping me. She’s been saving me a shit ton with all the people she’s connectedto here.”
Lani rolled her eyes but she couldn’t hide her smile. “That’s Mom . . . Are you feeling this financially yet?”
“Not as badly as I could, but it’s definitely a humbling thing to watch how quickly money flies out the door. And then youalways have unforeseen things—we had some unexpected electrical issues, but we got them under control. And it’s not like Ican call someone else who’s responsible for fixing these things—it’s all on me, so it’s a lot, but it’s also my baby. I can’tbelieve it’s really happening.”
Lani looked up at the high ceilings. “It was always going to happen because you were always going to make it happen.”
Kendra put a hand on her cousin’s shoulder. “Thank you for believing in me.”
“Are you kidding? You’re always going to be a good bet. I’m so proud of you.”
“I’m so grateful for you. You helped me to keep my sanity through all of this.” Kendra grasped Lani’s hand. “None of you letme give up.”
“Never gonna happen, cuz. You deserve the world. And I think more than anything, we just wanted you to see that this was possible.”
Kendra nodded. “I definitely see it now.”
“So what’s next?”
“After the floors, I have some guys that are gonna help me bring a lot of the inventory and stuff over. Then the furnitureis being brought in and the booths will be installed. So, for right now, we really just have stuff to do from home—orderingthings, connecting to people. I’ve got to send invites for the launch.”
“Are you inviting everybody?” Lani gave her a knowing glance.
Kendra nodded. “Yep. There are no hard feelings when it comes to BJ and all that stuff. If he wants to be here to support, I would be happy to have him.”
Lani blew out a relieved breath. “That’s a good mindset, cuz.”
“It’s the honest truth. He’s helped by talking me through a lot of things, and honestly, he hyped me up a lot. So, I am gratefulfor everything.”
