Simone Broussard & Hector Alvarez

Simone had come to New Orleans from Detroit in her twenties and had never left. Hector had grown up in Chalmette, the son of Honduran and Cajun parents. They both worked evenings, which had made dating almost impossible for years.

Their first proper date was at 2 a.m. at a small po-boy counter after her last set. It became a tradition. Once a week they would meet somewhere in the Marigny or the Bywater after his last table and her last tune, and they would walk the quiet, slow streets until the sky shifted toward morning.

They were married in a backyard in Uptown with a brass band and a second line that went three blocks. Hector cooked a single dish — his mother’s arroz con pollo. Simone played two songs and then handed her horn to a friend.