Page 101 of Happy Endings

Trixie giggled and put her arms on his shoulders. Andre waited until she was ready. He knew now that he couldn’t control every aspect of their relationship.

“Kiss him! Kiss him!”

“I guess we better give them a good show,” Trixie whispered, and pulled him in for a deep kiss.

Cheers erupted around him. He heard the knitter sniffle. “This is so beautiful.”

“I can’t believe you followed me to New Orleans,” she said when they finally broke apart.

“I couldn’t lose you again, Trixie. I had no other option.”

“But how did you know I was here?”

“I called every hospital in a thirty-mile radius to see if they’d admitted your dad. Do you know how many Kevin Nguyens live in New Orleans?”

But all those calls had been worth it. He’d found Trixie and got back the woman he loved.

Epilogue

Three months later, January

Welcome to Hazel’s Kitchen, where food is love.” Keisha raised her champagne glass. “Andre, we did it!”

“I can’t believe it,” replied Andre as he raised his old-fashioned to meet her drink. “This was all you, Keisha. Cheers.”

There was so much to be grateful for with tonight’s grand opening. Keisha’s meeting with Mike Chen went better than anyone expected. His mom’s stories of their childhood neighborhood had made him nostalgic. When he’d learned how gentrification was pushing out his friends and neighbors, he had to do something. His work in Silicon Valley had earned him plenty of money but not enough time to enjoy it.

Mike’s mother convinced him to invest his money into their old Northeast neighborhood. Instead of turning the building into condos, he proposed creating a co-op. He offered a rent-to-own agreement to any tenant who wanted to return after the fire damage was fixed. Once they worked out any hiccups with this building, Mike wanted to do the same with the rest of the neighborhood.

Keisha handled most of the restaurant redesign. For one of herbusiness class assignments, she’d designed the concept for a new restaurant. When she presented her ideas to Andre, he had been blown away. His sister had studied the current market and trends to combine them with their mother’s vision. She’d created a more modern menu served around a communal table to encourage people to put away their phones and talk to their neighbors. Her professor was so impressed, she’d introduced Keisha to a local culinary incubator, which had offered them a grant and helped them reboot Mama’s restaurant.

Three months later, they stood inside Hazel’s Kitchen. The two of them had grown up in this restaurant kitchen. The original recipes would always be Mama’s, but Keisha and Andre added their mark to the restaurant. Keisha’s was the new design and vision for the restaurant, while Andre continued to experiment with new dishes and introduced southern-style craft cocktails to the menu.

The grant they received from the incubator covered several months’ rent. Winning the grant and Mike’s “disruption” of the neighborhood had given the restaurant plenty of publicity. Combined with their agreement with Mike, they would be able to continue their mother’s legacy of free community dinners every Monday night. Once a month, the dinners would be turned into an open forum to bridge the gap between the long-established community and the newcomers.

“Thanks for finally listening to me.” She winked at him. “I knew you’d come around sooner or later. Sisters are always smarter.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about it, because tonight is a celebration,” he joked, “but brothers are definitely smarter!”

“You wish.” Keisha waved at a group of people who enteredHazel’s Kitchen. “It’s my professor! She’s walked me through the pros and cons of switching majors.”

“Go, I’ll keep an eye on everything.”

Keisha left him at the bar to go greet her professor and guests in their newly opened restaurant. Hazel’s Kitchen was a true collaboration between the two siblings. He’d finally realized how wrong he’d been to leave Keisha out of their family legacy.

“Andre Walker, this place is beautiful. Your greens better be good!” Mrs. Harris leaned on her cane as she approached, cackling. “I suppose I should give up the rivalry now that your mother has passed, but she’s probably yelling at me from up there.”

“Mrs. Harris, you called me Andre.” He was shocked.

“Well, that’s your name, isn’t it?” She gave him an exasperated look, but her eyes were teasing.

“I’m glad you made it.” Andre kissed her cheek. “Thank you for coming.”

“Of course I’d come to your grand reopening. You’re like a son to me, Andre.”

He beamed. Andre couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate his mother than with Mrs. Harris and the entire neighborhood—the extended family he’d perhaps never deeply appreciated until after the fire.

Her eyes darted around the room, taking it all in. “This reminds me of my family dinners growing up. It’s a bit more bougie than our tiny table with barely enough room for my parents and us six kids, but it was full of love.” The insurance company had declared the entire building a total loss, but they’d been able to salvage a few tabletops and the front door. Those pieces had been refinished to make their new family table.

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