Page 57 of Handsome Devil

She wanted the one thing she doubted had ever belonged to her. The one thing she certainly couldn’t have now.

His heart.

25

Dante helped Annabelle down from the SUV.

Without planning, they ended up matching for their date, and he considered the coincidence a good sign. He wore a white shirt and navy pants, while she wore a blue and white dress with an A-line skirt and puffy sleeves. Her hair was magnificent in a curly Afro with blonde highlights, sitting on her shoulders and framing her lovely face.

“I’ll call you when we’re ready to leave,” he said to the driver.

“Yes, sir.”

With his hand at her lower back, Dante guided Annabelle toward the entrance of the Museum of Fine Arts, one of twenty museums in the Houston Museum District and one of the largest art museums in the United States.

Since Annabelle was a collector and lover of art, he guessed she’d enjoy this first part of their night out together. The museum had scored a major coup with the acquisition of Satellite, a 24-foot-high bronze sculpture by Black artist and renowned sculptor Simone Leigh. When he told Annabelle they would be going to see the piece, she’d expressed excitement, as he’d expected.

The sculpture weighed three tons and consisted of a torso with a disc-like head and paid homage to the undervalued physical and intellectual labor of Black women. They encountered the magnificent piece near the entrance to the building for modern and contemporary art.

Annabelle gasped as she gaped at it with the other visitors. “It’s better than I expected,” she breathed.

“I see why she’s considered a star in the art world,” Dante said.

They spent time appreciating the sculpture and then went inside the museum. Slowly, they walked the wide-open spaces, admiring the other sculptures and paintings hung on the walls. They spent a couple of hours reviewing the artists’ works, whispering to each other as they analyzed various pieces. By the time they exited the building, they were both hungry and ready for dinner.

With more than 10,000 restaurants in the city, Houstonians loved to eat out, reportedly more than any other city in the U.S. As a result, cuisine choices ran the gamut from tamales to BBQ to Viet-Cajun crawfish.

Dante had chosen an old haunt in a not-so-nice part of town. The little known restaurant named Sabor was owned by married chefs—one from El Salvador and the other from the Philippines. They served a fusion of Central American and Southeast Asian flavors to create unique dishes.

“You want to eathere?” Annabelle asked, taking Dante’s hand as she descended the SUV.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

She shot another glance at the building. Peeling paint hinted at years of neglect, and graffiti marred the weathered bricks of the front facade. The neon sign flickered off and on and did a poor job of illuminating their surroundings, instead casting an eerie glow on the cracks in the parking lot asphalt.

“Have you eaten here before?” Annabelle asked, wrinkling her nose.

“Many times.”

Her eyebrows raised in surprise.

After a moment, she nodded. “Yes, I trust you.”

Dante led the way inside. The interior of the restaurant was in much better shape—cheery, in direct contrast to the forlorn exterior. There were white walls and clean, black and white tile on the floor. Pristine white tablecloths covered each table, and the scent of spices and other aromas perfumed the air.

Dante stopped at the stand in front, where a sign instructed them to wait to be seated.

“Well, well, well, look who’s here.” Ray, one of the waiters, greeted them with a big smile on his face. He was going prematurely gray, his hair pulled into a short ponytail.

Dante gripped his hand in a firm handshake. “If I knew you were working tonight, I would have come on another night.”

Ray laughed. “Don’t try to embarrass me in front of your guest. You know you love me.” He extended a hand to Annabelle. “I’m Ray.”

“Annabelle.”

Dante placed a hand on her lower back. “This is my wife.”

Ray’s eyebrows shot higher. “I heard you got married. Congratulations. Annabelle, my deepest condolences.”

---