Page 22 of The Dating Prohibition
The restaurant was quiet during a lull of the dinner service and Kendra found herself sitting at the bar with a glass of wine,
clicking away at the keyboard of her MacBook. She haphazardly reached into a dish of Marcona almonds that had been tossed
in olive oil, rosemary, and salt. “These are so good––I love that y’all put these on the menu.” She crunched.
“I’m trying to convince my wife to take things in a less traditional direction, switching out the almonds for Brazil nuts.”
Logan stood in front of her. When they were kids, all their friends wanted pizza or McDonald’s. Logan was obsessed with trail
mix. Kendra used to tease him that he was part squirrel––80 percent of him was made up of Brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, and
other roasted favorites. On occasion, he even enjoyed roasted edamame.
“Well, it’s just a preference. I think almonds will probably sell better, so I’m with your wife on that one.”
“Yeah, okay. I kid, I kid.” He grinned playfully, extending his chin toward her laptop. “What’s going on here?”
“Eh, I’m checking out some things that are on short sale, just to see if there’s something in my budget that could fit my plans.
I might have to give up the idea of having the business in a historic building and instead just go for what I can afford without a loan, you know?
Maybe I could make it work with a portion of a warehouse that is being sectioned off into a food hall—like maybe if I could have one of the bigger spaces so that the bar portion is out in the open and the speakeasy supper club is in a private room behind.
Exploring all possible options for now.”
Logan thought about that. “Yeah, I think there’s a building like that over in Union Market. I don’t think those spaces are
for sale, but they’re available for lease though.”
“Well, then, it’s really a matter of what they’re charging, because if I can’t get funding, I’ll have to see what I can sustainably
manage in terms of a lease. I do like the idea of a short sale at least—there’s a chance that I might be able to just buy
something outright and then not have to worry about that monthly situation, you know?”
“Do you have enough for a short sale on your own?”
Kendra shrugged. “I’ve got some good savings.”
Logan smiled cryptically. “And what are you going to buy supplies with after you do your short sale?”
“Um.” She grimaced nervously. “I mean, that’s a good question—it’s completely valid and that’s why I’ve been working here
for you just to save up some extra. I’m also hoping the property would be the leverage the bank is looking for to approve
my loan proposal.”
“Well, good, because you’re not going to make enough working here to be able to pay for supplies and, you know, what if your
space needs to be refurbished and all these things?”
“Okay, you’re asking a lot of questions right now and, you know, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do because I thought at first that I would have our family sup port the way that you did.
” She pulled back in her mind, but her words came out sharper than she intended them to.
“I’m sorry, I could have said that with a little more tact. ”
“No, you’re right. I definitely received family support that you didn’t, which I can’t explain.”
Kendra sighed. “You’re the golden child, bro. Always have been. First born, pride and joy, blah blah. You came out first,
so clearly the sun shines out of your ass.” She rolled her eyes playfully.
Logan cracked a smile. “Tell me how you really feel, sis.”
Her face sobered. “I just... I want to be able to get the same chances you have and I’m not. I don’t want them thinking
I’m going off of the deep end just because I’ve chosen to pursue this. I know it’s not going to be an easy road, but that’s
why support is so important.”
“Well, Shonda and I needed less too because we had a dual income.” They both had been high-level executives in tech but somehow
never met at an industry event—they randomly met at a friend’s house party.
“Right, so now it’s my fault because I’m single,” she sighed dramatically. “Kick a girl while she’s down, brother.”
“I didn’t mean that.” He gave her his brotherly glare that signaled she was being annoying. “I’m just saying, you know, what
if you were to go back into the tech world for a while and stock up some more? You’ve got a good amount saved, but since the
property is going to be the hardest piece and you’re missing collateral, you could give yourself a little more time. You could
work remotely, keep staying in the studio downstairs and just stack your chips for a minute.”
It wasn’t that Kendra hadn’t considered this––she had, but every bone in her body wanted a clean break from Silicon Valley.
“I don’t want to go back into that world.
It’s not for me. I’m good at it, but it’s hell.
All of the bureaucracy that comes with these start-ups, and then there are a lot of unstable people that I’ve had to deal with––they have all of this anxiety because they are worried that their business isn’t actually going to amount to what they dreamed it could be.
And their anxiety ends up increasing my own and I don’t need it.
” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head emphatically.
“Okay, I hear you. I just want to see you succeed. You’re gonna hit bureaucracy somewhere in any profession––the restaurant
business is no different. Your sister-in-law stays up at night thinking through what else she could be doing to make things
work as they should, but success is a moving target.”
Kendra’s shoulders slumped. “You’re right. But there’s a difference in being in the field you love and being where you are
essentially a replaceable product. If I’m going to be up at night, I’d rather it be for my passion project than a day job
where I can’t leave behind a legacy.”
Logan nodded. “So what do you think you want to do? How do you feel about this short sale option?”
“It could work potentially, and it’d reduce what I need to borrow some, but how much it depletes my overall savings impacts
what I can invest into the location and how prepared I am for contingencies and payroll. I may start looking further out from
DC.”
“That changes your market.”
“Yeah, so more research to be done. There are so many moving pieces.” She rubbed her eyes.
“I hear you, and Shonda and I will help in any way we can. Anything that I can do now to help?”
Kendra shook her head. “I could honestly use a distraction.” Her mind flipped back to the other night. BJ. His lips and tongue
sampling the softness of her skin.
“Yeah, BJ told me.”
She instantly snapped out of her thoughts and stared at her brother. “He told you what?”
“Whoa, don’t get so touchy,” Logan teased. “He just told me that he was with you at a property when you heard back from Duke
and they denied your loan. He said you’d been really upset and could use something to help take your mind off of all this.”
“Yeah, I was,” she responded slowly, eyeing him. She stared, making sure there wasn’t more to the story that he was holding
back, but he left it there.
“I really thought that was gonna work out in your favor with the way that Duke was so excited.”
“Yeah, me too. And I got my hopes up and I shouldn’t have. I know that this is not easy stuff, I just don’t feel like I’ve
had anything work easily, you know?”
He nodded. “I know, but it only takes one yes.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“I get email listings of commercial properties all the time. Want me to forward you any short sales I see?”
Kendra smiled at her brother. “That would be amazing. Thank you.”
He nodded, pouring her a fresh glass of a deep red wine. He kept his hand over the label. “I want you to try this.”
The restaurant door jingled, and the hostess greeted a couple at the door.
Upon closer look, Kendra realized BJ stood there in a well-tailored suit that practically made Kendra drool.
A beautiful woman with passion twists styled to one side and swept over her shoulder was on his arm.
She wore a chic cream-colored dress. Something that Kendra would have killed to wear with its boatneck collar, sleeveless with a midi length.
It was belted with a camel-colored leather that matched her heeled boots.
The only other color evident was the ruby red lipstick she wore.
It was like she’d stepped into Kendra’s closet and out into BJ’s arms.
As they approached the bar, Kendra’s cheeks warmed and she returned her gaze to her laptop. Wow, that really was it. There had been no expectation that he was going to commit to her just because they’d had sex, but she had held out a pinch
of hope because they shared a connection and understood each other. It nagged at Kendra, tearing away another chip of confidence.
She fought for her life to keep her shoulders from drooping.
“Kenny.” BJ’s voice rumbled with a gravelly tone. He eyed her warily, acknowledging her with a nod.
Logan reached over the bar, dapping up his best friend. “Hey, man, how y’all doing?”
“Kenny, is it?” the woman asked in a questioning tone, her eyebrow raised. Logan’s and BJ’s eyes ping-ponged between the women,
BJ grimacing as his best friend clapped him on the back.
“My name is Kendra. And you?” Her tone clipped, her brother came around the bar to stand in front of her in case any feathers
were ruffled. It was a stance he took frequently when his little sister was in town. Kendra wasn’t a hothead, but she wasn’t
one to be tried either. I won’t start shit, but I damn sure will finish it.
“Oh, I apologize.” The woman’s face didn’t seem to agree with her words.
“There’s no need. It’s just a name that’s reserved for that gentleman there,” she said, nodding in BJ’s direction, refusing
to meet his eyes. Who the fuck is this chick?
“Well, my name is Katie.” She gestured to herself as if the introduction could be mistaken for someone else. “Maybe I’ll learn