“I get that,” she said and told me of a reckless marriage in her early twenties and how she had settled down with a nice guy now. I hoped so. Someone with Lea’s spirit deserved a great guy. Just then my cell buzzed. The familiar voice greeted me.

“Well, hello you. Speak of the devil. Lea and I were just talking about you.”

“Just checking in. I hope you girls are ready to chuck New York and head down South.” Hearing his voice soothed me like a good cup of his homemade soup.

“Stop. I’m not coming home, and you’re not poaching Lea, but I will see you around Labor Day.” I didn’t know it would be even sooner than that.

I applied makeup the next morning the way Elle had taught me. I was meeting Gabriel at his restaurant. I was very excited but also nervous. I had spent obscene amounts of his money, and I wanted him to be blown away. I got there first and used my key. I turned the lights on and then I used the dimmer switch. Gabriel walked in. He didn’t say a word. He just stared at the walls. It made me anxious. “I was thinking—”

He placed his tanned index finger to my lips to silence me. He was content to take it all in. I never knew if these money types were just interested in a vanity project or if they cared about the details. Clearly Gabriel fell into the latter category. He uttered one word, but it was the right one.

“Ipanema.” That perfect smile appeared. “You captured my fondest childhood memory. This blue is almost exactly the color of the waters off Ipanema beach.”

“I told them I wanted a paint color in the shade of Ipanema blue. Technically it’s a little darker than the water, but I wanted all your dazzling woodwork to pop.”

“Bailey, this is it. If I ever wanted you to come to Brazil and do a restaurant there for me, would you?”

“If you fly me, pay me, and feed me, of course I will go to Brazil.” This brought hearty laughter.

“If I preferred petite, blonde, confident, opinionated, ambitious women, you would be just my type.”

“Gee, Gabriel, if I preferred handsome playboys, you would be mine.” We both laughed and agreed to meet in a few weeks. Being raised by men, I decided, had prepared me to navigate what was mostly a man’s world. It had been lonely. It had been hard. But maybe it had been necessary.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight