The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters

Author:Vanessa Walters
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2023-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN NICOLE

Before

SHE COULDN’T remember the first time Elias kissed her—what led to it or the day it happened. Not that first day because she’d been so nervous and careful to leave before Bilal started a fuss about closing for the day. He sometimes complained to Tonye if she kept him out late. Even over the next few days she would drop by in the mornings when the boys were at school but left before the evening rush. They’d order takeout for lunch. She learned so much about Elias, the Christian Hausa man. His parents were still in Kaduna, where his dad ran a church. Surprisingly, he was an only child, something he didn’t elaborate on, but with many cousins, including Yohanna, who was almost like family but not blood-related. And it was obvious they’d had very different lives. General Ishaku had shipped Yohanna off to fancy boarding schools in the UK, then to an American university. On the other hand, Elias had attended a religious college, graduating with a degree in theology but no desire to preach. He’d moved to Lagos and found a job in advertising. It wasn’t easy surviving on those wages in the city, but his fortunes changed when Yohanna returned to Nigeria after living it up in Los Angeles for several years, giving in to his father’s insistence that he take on more familial responsibility. Nicole pictured Yohanna in LA, spending his days on lounge chairs and waking up in hotel suites with women he didn’t know, and a stern father, like Chief, running out of patience and finally ordering him home. The two bonded as Northerners in Yorubaland. Elias ended up on the Ishaku payroll, working on their philanthropic initiatives. As with any Lagosian, there were other hustles—freelance jobs, projects with other friends—but to Nicole, it seemed as if Yohanna was the main gig. Elias helped him navigate life. Accompanied him everywhere. Acted as a buffer between him and opportunists. A kind of fixer-cum-therapist. As it turned out, even an Ishaku needed friends in a city of sharks.

No, their romance began soon after Nicole’s strange encounter with Yohanna at the Wura Gallery in March. As the weather alternated between red-hot days and flash thunderstorms, they sheltered in place at his apartment, sitting on barstools at the kitchen counter, plotting how to have more time together. The gallery was a perfect cover for late meetings, and now a new Northern dairy company Elias had worked for as a graphic designer and photographer was launching a range of yogurts. They wanted Nicole to come on board as a consultant, advising them on how best to speak to middle-class mothers, and to be the face of the brand, which would provide excuses for more days, even weeknights out of town. Elias outlined his vision for a new life waiting for them, in which they would both be self-sufficient, free to live as they chose, together. Over sushi from Izanagi and biryanis from Spice Route, he made it sound like they would take over the world.

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