Page 16 of Happy Endings

“Gumbo.”

Xavier nodded. “Cornbread, too?”

“Can’t have gumbo without cornbread. I’d never hear the end of it.” Especially from Mrs. Harris, who lived across the street from him.

“I had to make sure you didn’t go hipster on me and serve some sort of vegan, gluten-free shit.”

“You’ll have to go two blocks up for that.” Andre nodded his head in the direction of District Market. “Keisha put you on cornbread duty, so you’re welcome to make it however you want.”

“Hell no. Keisha would kick my ass if I changed the recipe.” His best friend shuddered. “As long as I don’t have to stand over the stove for an hour and stir a vat of roux, I’m good.”

“Nope.” A mixture of fat and flour, roux took patience and constant stirring until the flour turned dark and a nutty smellfilled the air. His mom’s gumbo called for a deep-brown roux. “I’ll let you in on a secret. We make it in bulk every week and freeze it.”

“Seriously? How come Keisha threatens to put me on roux duty when I don’t do as she says?” Xavier pursed his lips. “In that case, I got time for another Coke.”

“You got it.” Andre would do anything for his childhood friend, not just fill him up with free drinks. Having Xavier in the kitchen was a godsend. No matter what happened, Andre vowed to continue Monday dinners for as long as he could.

“Thanks, man.” Andre’s voice cracked. “I appreciate you.”

“You all right?” Xavier studied Andre. “Pile of bills looks bigger than usual.”

“They keep coming.” Andre sighed. “Keisha wants to try something new to compete with the new restaurants...”

“I sense abuthere.”

“She wants Mama Hazel’s to host a sex toy pop-up shop.”

Xavier choked on his soda. He coughed and sputtered. Andre stifled a laugh and smacked his friend on the back.

“That was my reaction, too. But she’s got a point.”

Xavier raised an eyebrow, still unable to talk.

“I meant about the ‘something new’ part.” While his friend recovered from inhaling his soda, Andre recounted the bachelorette party they’d held last month. The wild women doing shots and raving about fried chicken. How Mama Hazel’s had made more that one night than they had the previous two weeks.

“You’re leaving out the most important part, Andre.”

“What do you mean? I just told you it was the best night we’d had in a while.”

“The toys, man.” Xavier shook his head. “You had a restaurantfull of inebriated women talking about vibrators and you didn’t call me?”

“Girls only. Me and Luis were the only guys here.”

“You’re killing me.” Xavier groaned.

Andre shrugged. He’d barely noticed any of the women that night. Except for Trixie, once they had their “reunion” and he realized she was a vibrator rep. Watching her stand in front of all those women and confidently talk about sex—fuck, it was a huge turn-on. No matter what had happened between them, his body missed her.

“Whoa, Andre—” Xavier snapped his fingers in front of Andre’s face. “Did you get laid that night? Because you have a shit-eating grin on your face.”

Andre immediately scowled.

“Don’t keep me hangin’, bro. Please tell me you finally got laid.”

“Even if I did, I don’t kiss and tell.” He held up the soda nozzle. “Another soda?”

“Fine. I thought we were friends.” Xavier held out his glass for a refill. “Was the woman selling sex toys hot at least? Were you like, yeah, baby, let me tap that—hey!”

Andre tipped the nozzle up. Soda sprayed all over his clean bar and Xavier. “Shit, sorry, man. I didn’t mean to—”

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