“Good work, ladies. Thank you.”
Maryann laughed. “Don’t thank me. Thank Meena and Paul. They did all the creative work. I’m only doing the peripheral stuff.”
“Oh, come on, Maryann,” I chided gently. “You did a lot more than that. You’re being too modest.” Maryann blushed with pleasure. “And don’t forget budget negotiations are going to be entirely in your court.”
“Heading back to the hotel?” Prajay asked me.
“Akka should be returning soon,” I said. “I want to make sure I’m there when she gets off the bus.” I wished both of them good night and headed out.
Naturally I wondered what Prajay was doing that evening. Was he taking the beanpole from Maryland out to dinner?
At the hotel, since I had some time to kill before Akka’s return, I went upstairs to our room and changed into comfortable jeans, pullover, and sneakers. Then I booted up my laptop and checked my e-mail.
Most of the messages were unimportant. But there was one from Ajit Baliga. He wanted me to decide on a date for us to meet. Oh boy. A date.
And he’d sent an attachment: a picture of himself. That meant he was serious about this business of us getting together. I knew Madhuri-pachi had shared my pictures with him, so he must have liked what he’d seen before starting a correspondence with me.
I opened the attachment and maximized the screen to study the photo. It wasn’t a handsome face, but there was something wholesome and forthright about it, and a sparkle that could be humor in his dark eyes. He had a nice smile and plenty of hair—assuming it wasn’t a toupee.
Was I ready to meet a man who was serious about marriage? At thirty-two he probably was. In the past, meeting an eligible man hadn’t been a big deal, but ever since I’d fallen for Prajay Nayak I was hesitant about going out with someone. No man was likely to measure up to him, literally and figuratively.
Was I seeing all these shining qualities in Prajay that weren’t really there? Was I building him up to be a hero who didn’t exist? All I had had was one hot kiss with him. What did I know about him? Maybe he really was a rough, sadistic man who liked to beat up on women, and maybe he was warning me about it. He could easily crush me with one hand.
But it was hard to imagine Prajay’s being cruel or thoughtless. To me he still appeared to be a gentle giant.
Of course, there was that small matter of his rejecting me.
I didn’t send Ajit a response. Instead I saved the message for future consideration and shut off the computer. I’d have to give the idea of meeting him face-to-face some more thought.
A few minutes later, I went down to the lobby to wait for Akka. Instead of sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs, I decided to step outside and walk around the parking lot. The air was crisp and chilly. I thrust my hands into my pockets to keep them warm. It was nearing winter. The holiday season was already being ushered in by the retailers.
Was Prajay planning on getting married in the coming year? I wondered. He’d probably be celebrating his fortieth birthday sometime in the next few months. He’d seemed eager to be hitched before he crossed that milestone.
Briskly I strode around the perimeter of the parking lot and tried to tell myself that Prajay’s birthday was none of my business. And neither were his marriage plans.
I kept walking. I’d been up early, and I’d worked all day, but I wasn’t a bit tired. I was restless. Walking was a good way to keep those antsy legs moving and focus my thoughts on my surroundings instead of other things.
A minute later, Akka’s bus arrived. I hurried to meet her.
Chapter 24
Seeing Akka looking beat and walking more slowly than usual, I escorted her to the room and insisted she take a hot bath. Fortunately I always traveled with my aromatherapy bath kit, so I threw in some soothing ginger-hyacinth bath crystals and filled the tub.
Inhaling the fragrant steam rising from the water, I was tempted to hop in myself and forget about my aunt. But she needed it more than I.
She sent me a dubious look. “I’m not used to tub baths. Maybe I should just take a shower.”
“You’ll feel great after a nice hot soak,” I assured her. “Your feet look swollen. Don’t forget there’s more walking tomorrow. The Smithsonian museums are huge.”
Perhaps because she was too tired to argue, she surrendered. While she soaked in her bath, I studied the room service menu. I called the desk and placed an order for vegetable lasagna, chicken noodle soup, and a garden salad.
A half hour later, Akka came out, scrubbed clean, dressed in her white cotton sari and smelling like hyacinths. “You were right, Meena. That bath was very relaxing. I almost fell asleep in the tub.”
“I ordered some dinner,” I told her. “Hope you like it.”
When the food arrived a little later, Akka and I sat at the small table-cum-desk to eat our meal. The soup was salty and the lasagna mediocre at best, but neither one of us complained. I had a feeling we were both recalling the previous evening’s delicious meal with Prajay.
After I placed the empty dishes on the tray outside our door, Akka showed me her postcards. And she handed me a gift: a navy T-shirt with I AMERICA printed on the front.
“Akka, you weren’t supposed to buy me a gift. I gave you money to buy yourself something.” Her thoughtfulness was making me cry.
“It’s a small souvenir, charda—just a token to thank you for bringing me with you and treating me like your own grandmother.”
The tears pooled in my eyes. “But you are my grandmother.” I hugged her tight.
She patted my back. “Don’t cry over a T-shirt, you silly girl. Tomorrow I’ll spend your money on something for myself,” she said with a serene smile. But she hadn’t fooled me. I could see her lashes glistening with moisture.
“You promise?”
“Promise.” She quickly changed the subject, probably to rein in her unshed tears. “The White House is out of bounds without special passes. They could not take us there,” she grumbled.
“Maybe next time around we can plan ahead so we can get passes,” I consoled her, and blew my nose. “Why don’t you go to bed early tonight?”
“Tell me about your day first,” she said, sitting on the edge of her bed and opening a small plastic jar. She scooped out some strong-smelling ointment and starting rubbing it over her foot. “Did you get to spend any time with Prajay Nayak?”
“Two minutes at the most.” I tried to sound nonchalant while I went to the table and booted up my laptop. “I worked all day with his office manager and two people from an advertising agency. We’re doing a new campaign.” After the computer warmed up, I opened my e-mail.
“Sounds exciting. When I was young, I longed to have a career, but women my age didn’t work outside the house.” Akka wore a thoughtful frown for a minute while she massaged ointment over the other foot. Then she looked at me. “You really have feelings for Prajay?”
“Unfortunately ... yes.”
“I have an idea.”
Uh-oh. “What sort of idea?”
“You should make him jealous.”
For a moment I thought she was kidding, but her expression was dead serious. “And how do you propose I go about doing that?” I asked with a chuckle. “He didn’t care one bit when I went out with a guy from New Jersey.”
“What guy?”
“A South Indian systems analyst.”
“Nice fellow?”
“At first I thought he was okay. But he turned out to be ... petty.”
“Aha, that’s the problem,” said Akka, putting the lid back on the jar and placing it on the nightstand. “That man was not true competition. If you start dating someone who is clever and has a good personality and character, then Prajay will get jealous.”
“Akka, please, this is not like your Hindi movies. It’ll never work.” I opened the saved e-mail from Ajit Baliga. On a whim I turned to her. “You want to see a picture of the guy Madhuri-pachi wants to set me up with, the one she
was raving about?”
“The boy from Connecticut?” Akka looked intrigued. “You have a photo of him?”
“He sent it to me today.” I clicked on the attachment, and seconds later Ajit Baliga’s picture filled the screen.
Akka slid off the bed, put on her glasses, and came to stand behind my chair. “Such a nice-looking boy he is. And so much more handsome than your Prajay. Madhuri was right.” She smoothed the hair on top of my head. “Now this is the kind of boy Prajay will be jealous about.”
I turned around and squinted up at her. “You think?” I wanted to believe her.
“Oh, yes. This boy is intelligent and educated and most important, he is from a nice Konkani family. Madhuri tells me he earns a lot of money and his parents are rich.”
“Rich doesn’t matter to me all that much. I just want a nice guy—someone who’s easy to get along with and has a good sense of humor.”
Akka leaned forward and studied Ajit’s picture more closely. “You will not know what kind of a boy he is unless you meet him. And that will not happen if your only contact is through the computer.”
“I guess you’re right.”
She went back to her bed, took off her glasses, and put them next to her foot balm. “So, why don’t you at least meet him and find out?”
“Maybe I will,” I said with a slow smile. Akka had a point. Despite everyone’s skepticism, she’d helped in Maneel’s case. And wasn’t I the one who’d seen the wisdom in her supposedly inane idea? Besides, what did I have to lose? If things worked out well with Ajit, and even if I never succeeded in Akka’s preposterous plan to make Prajay jealous, at least I’d be seeing an eligible guy, a man endorsed by my family.
One thing I was sure of: I had to find a husband. I couldn’t sit around brooding over Prajay for the rest of my life. I certainly wanted to get married sometime in this century. And if Ajit Baliga was part of my destiny, the least I could do was meet him halfway.
Akka picked up her toilet kit off the dresser and headed for the bathroom.
I sent Ajit a reply: How about if we meet somewhere in NYC this weekend? I’m in VA on business at the moment & will be returning to NJ on Fri.
He must have been on his computer right then, because within minutes I received a response: NYC sounds good. Assuming we’ll both be taking a train into Penn Station, how about meeting at a restaurant nearby for lunch on Sat? Know any good places?
Somewhere close to Penn Station was a good idea, I agreed. I thought of this cute Mexican restaurant I’d eaten at with friends a couple of times, but I couldn’t remember the exact name. I did a bit of searching on Google, managed to find the name and address, and sent it to Ajit. We agreed to meet around 12:30 P.M.
I figured if things didn’t go well, we could say a polite good-bye, and I could take the train back home before it got too dark. If we hit it off, well then ...
A mild sort of excitement began to dance inside me. I’d done it; I’d taken the first small step toward making Prajay jealous. If he was seriously seeking his Amazon in a sari, then I could go hunting for my desi hunk in a kurta. Who said life was perfect?
When Akka came out of the bathroom, I gave her the news. “Guess what, I’m meeting Ajit Baliga in New York on Saturday for lunch.”
“Good.” Akka peeled back the bedspread and blanket and climbed onto her bed. “You took my advice.”
“Only because you were so successful with Maneel.”
“And I’m wise enough to know that I will be successful with you. I know something about the human mind.”
“You learned psychology?”
She laughed. “I did not go beyond high school. Who needs psychology when God has given common sense? When you have lived as long as I have, you learn how people’s minds work.” With a wide yawn she stretched out and pulled the covers all the way up to her neck. “Remember one thing, charda. You should meet this fellow with an open mind. He should be treated with respect.”
“Of course I’ll treat him with respect. Why wouldn’t I?” I was a little puzzled at Akka’s choice of words.
“Although you are meeting him to make Prajay jealous, don’t go to the extent of breaking that boy’s heart.”
“It’s not like he’s going to fall in love with me at first sight, Akka. We’ll just meet and see if there’s any chemistry between us. Things don’t work like they did with you guys and your arranged matches.”
“Mine was not arranged,” she reminded me. “And what are you going to do if the chemistry is good for him? What if he takes a liking to you straight away?”
“Hmm.” I hadn’t thought of that, but I’d gone out with men like him before. Chemistry had been sorely absent, and there had been no hard feelings on either side when we’d wished each other good-bye and happy fishing. “I’ll cross that bridge if and when I get to it. Chances are slim that a guy starts to like a girl that much the first time he meets her.”
“Okay. You know this dating business better than me.” Before I could say anything more, she turned onto her side, facing away from me.
She’d finished saying what she wanted to say. She needed her rest.
Chapter 25
The next morning was a lot more relaxed than the previous one. When I woke up, Akka was once again dressed and ready to go. Deciding to postpone my shower for later, I put on jeans and the new T-shirt she’d bought for me and took her downstairs for breakfast.
After I saw her safely seated in the tour bus, I went back to the room for a leisurely shower. As I got dressed, I watched the news on TV. Since it failed to hold my attention, I picked up some notes from my briefcase and read them.
It was hard to concentrate. Just like the previous morning, I was itching to hop into my car and head for work. Deep down, I knew going to work meant seeing Prajay—even if was only for a few minutes.
It was nearly nine when I parked my car outside the office. Maryann was already on her second cup of coffee when I walked in. “There you are. Prajay was just asking about you.”
“He was?” My heart did a joyful somersault.
“He wanted to say hi and ‘bye before he left for some more meetings on the Hill.” She motioned to me to help myself to coffee.
“Has he left already?” I filled my cup and sat down in the guest chair.
“You missed him by two minutes.”
My spirits plunged. So much for taking extra care with my makeup and making the effort to press my suit. I didn’t bother to ask what time he was expected back. That would be too obvious. Instead I looked at my watch. “Shall we wait for our guests in the conference room?”
Jim arrived some twenty minutes later. He told us Jennifer was working on the drafts and that she’d be joining us in the afternoon. The morning’s session was more about prices and time frames, so the discussion was more between Jim and Maryann. I spoke only when necessary.
Around noon, instead of joining Maryann and me for lunch, Jim went back to his office to check on the status of the drafts. He promised to call us later. Maryann and I went to a nearby pizzeria to eat.
On the drive back to the office in Maryann’s car, we chatted about the company’s future. “Rathnaya’s lucky that when other software companies tanked during the high-tech slump, it managed to survive,” I said.
Maryann shook her head. “Not just luck. We were diversified. Although most of our customers are government agencies, we do different things. If space technology or defense were our only targets like some other companies, we’d have been dead a long time ago. Both those agencies have suffered deep budget cuts over the last several years.”
“I’m pretty new to the company, so I don’t know that much—only the more recent developments. Tell me more.”
“Well, we started out with those two areas, but both Prajay and Nishant decided it was dangerous to put all our eggs in two baskets, so to speak. So they went aggressively after different agencies. Besides the Pentagon and the FBI, we’ve developed software for Health and Human Se
rvices, Labor, Interior, Environmental Protection, states and counties, big and small municipalities. We handle a lot of highly classified material, too.”
Something struck me then. “If it’s classified material, shouldn’t the company be hiring only American citizens? We have so many who are green-card holders, and some even on temporary visas.”
Maryann smiled as she pulled the car into a parking spot. “Not everything we do is classified. The non-citizens work strictly on the unclassified stuff. The HR department does a thorough screening before someone’s hired.”
“Oh.” I was learning something about Rathnaya’s hiring policies.
“Background checks are rigorous for the people who work on the really secret material. If they successfully pass all security tests and get hired, they have to sign a confidentiality contract. It gets complicated.”
“Was I screened, too?” I asked with a grin as I unhooked my seat belt and climbed out of the passenger seat.
Maryann locked her car, and we started toward the building. “Absolutely. And you came up clean—an American citizen who recites the Pledge of Allegiance and washes behind her ears.” Her grin matched mine.
As soon as we entered her office, the phone rang. It was Jim. He and Jennifer were coming over in half an hour.
The drafts had very few problems. Jennifer and her crew had obviously done a fine job within the tight deadline. In spite of that, the entire afternoon was gone in dissecting the finer points. It was well after five before Maryann and I could go back to her office and call it a day. Once again, I used her phone to check on Akka. Her bus was on the way back to Fairfax.
“The day went so fast,” Maryann said, and stretched. “At least we got a lot accomplished. Now all we have to do is make sure Prajay sees the drafts. If he approves, you can take them back for Nishant’s approval.”
I went to stand by her window and studied the parking lot. “Do you think you’re going to need me for the entire day tomorrow?” My eyes sought out a silver Corvette. I didn’t see it. But then it was already dark outside.
The Reluctant Matchmaker Page 22
