by Mona Shroff
“Um, sure.” Puzzled, Annika went to the door. She opened it to find a very handsome man standing there. Did Amazon deliver handsome men now?
Tall, with a lean muscular build and brown skin, the man seemed as surprised to see her as she was him. He hesitated a moment before speaking. “Um, hi. I was looking for Usha-auntie or Anil-uncle.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. They’re my parents.” She stepped aside to let him in.
He seemed to study her as he stepped into the house. Then his face lit up. “Annika? Wow! It’s been forever.”
Crap. She probably knew him, but she couldn’t place him. She definitely did not grow up with anyone this attractive. Her puzzlement must have shown loud and clear, because he chuckled.
“It’s Sajan. Sajan Shah. We were in that dance together, senior year of high school.”
Nope. She would’ve remembered someone who looked like him.
“Well, my senior year. You might have been a freshman?”
“Oh!” She covered her mouth with her hand. He had been awkward and skinny, and not nearly this tall, not nearly this muscular, but now that he mentioned it, she did remember those hazel eyes. “Hey, Sajan! It has been a lifetime. Whatever happened to you? I feel like we never saw you after that performance.”
“We moved to Virginia, but I work in Baltimore now, so my parents recently moved back to the area. I was on my way to see them, and they asked me to stop here and pick something up for them.”
“Ah, Sajan!” Annika’s father’s voice boomed from behind her. “So good to see you again. Come. Come in. We were just sitting down to dinner. Come join us.”
“Oh, no, Uncle. I couldn’t. My parents asked me to pick up some diya. They seem to have misplaced theirs in the move.”
“Of course, we have the diya set aside for you. But come and eat a little. I insist. And I assure you, your parents won’t mind a bit, huh?” Her father could barely meet her eyes, and Annika knew in that moment she was being set up. The question was, was Sajan in on it? She stole a glance at him, but it was obvious that he, too, had figured out what was going on, and he was just as surprised as she was.
“I’m sure Sajan has better things to do.” She glared at her father.
“Yeah, I’ll just get those diya and be on my way.”
“No, I insist.” Her father’s tone was such that there was no arguing with him.
“But Uncle, I’m on call, and I really—”
“Well, then, you should eat when you have a moment.” Annika’s mother had shown up to chime in. “And it seems you have a moment.”
Annika closed her eyes. Her dad you could argue with, but not her mom. When Mom insisted you eat, you sat your butt down and ate. She knew Sajan had no choice now but to have dinner with her and her family.
She glanced at him. He was well aware of his predicament. He bent down to take off his shoes. “Well, Auntie, who could say no to your cooking?”
“Fantastic!” Her father boomed and rubbed his hands together in victory. “Come.” He led the way to the dining table.
Clearly, Sajan’s parents and her parents thought they would make a great couple. They also knew neither of them would agree to an official “meeting,” so they had cooked up this ruse. She glanced at him again out of the corner of her eye. He definitely had a slight deer-in-headlights look about him.
Annika’s mother filled everyone’s plates, heaping extra food on Sajan’s plate, despite his protests. After the customary prayer, there was no sound, not even the clinking of silverware, as most of the food was eaten by hand. Annika was fuming that her parents would stoop to tricking her into meeting men. Even handsome men. So, she did not feel obliged to make conversation. If her parents were so keen on Sajan, they could talk to him.
“So, Sajan, your father tells me you are a physician at Hopkins.” Her father attempted conversation in the void.
Annika’s insides tightened. Seriously, he was a doctor? Could they be more cliché?
“Yes, Uncle. I’m on staff there.”
“And your specialty?” He appeared to be waiting to hear this with bated breath. As if he didn’t already know.
“Pulmonology, sir.”
“Well, that sounds exciting. Doesn’t it, Annika?”
Was he kidding? She looked up at poor Sajan and tried a genuine smile for his sake, but she knew it fell short. “Sure, Dad. Exciting.”
“I think it’s cool,” Nilay said in between bites. Of course he did. Nilay had known since he was born that he wanted to be a doctor. He relished everything about medicine.
Sajan smiled at him. “Thanks. I really enjoy it.”
“Tell me about some cool cases.” How Nilay could speak and continuously eat was nothing short of miraculous.
Sajan obliged and began describing a case. Nilay listened, rapt, and asked questions. Annika was relieved and immensely grateful to her little brother for moving the conversation along. Her parents could make her eat dinner with Sajan, but that was it. She was not going to be forced into conversation. She glanced at Sajan again and caught him looking at her, hazel eyes slightly amused. How much did he even know about her and her past?
“So, Annika. What do you do?” Sajan asked, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
Wait. It kind of was.
Okay, fine. She could go along for one dinner. After all, he was quite easy on the eyes, and her parents’ faces held genuine smiles for the first time in a while.
“I’m a kindergarten teacher.”
She waited for the surprised eyebrow raise, but it never came.
“That is something I could never do. A room full of kindergarten kids would eat me alive.” He smiled, clearly impressed.
“You just have to know how to deal with them.”
“Well, that is an enviable skill.”
“It’s because she’s childlike herself,” Nilay quipped.
Annika rolled her eyes at her brother, but he wasn’t wrong. Children made sense to her. They were honest and open, and eager to learn. She couldn’t help the real smile that appeared on her face. It was nice to be complimented on her choice of career for a change. “Well, thank you.”
Her father grunted, but said nothing. Her mother glanced around the table, assessing each person.
“You don’t approve, Uncle?”
Annika snapped her gaze to Sajan and her father. What business was it of his?
“Well, Annika was a strong candidate for medical school. She could have gained admission to Johns Hopkins. But she tossed it all away to teach small children.”
“Uncle, bright energetic teachers for young children are badly needed. What Annika is doing is very much in demand.”
That was nice of him to say, but it wasn’t anything she hadn’t already said to her father. She certainly didn’t need anyone to defend her. She tensed at Sajan’s presumption. She opened her mouth to say just that when her father answered him.
“Well, I’m glad that you see it that way, Sajan.” Annika just about fell over at the conciliatory tone her father took. He turned to her, his eyebrows raised, as if to say, See, Sajan thinks it’s great you’re a teacher. He must really want her to like this guy.
“These days, it can be dangerous.” Her mother spoke softly, but her concern was clear.
“Mom, I’ve told you. We have security precautions.” On this, Annika was patient. The world was becoming a different place, and school shootings were not unheard of. It seemed anyone who wanted to could get a gun. There had been an incident in her school a few years ago, and strict protocols were now in place.
Nilay spoke up. “Yeah, but what about that dad from the first day.” His eyes blazed as he clenched his jaw.
Annika had shared that story with her brother, and he’d wasted no time telling their parents.
“Exactly!” her mother compo
unded. “I worry about these things. Her safety—”
Annika was about to make an attempt to allay her mother’s fears, when her father surprised her.
“Usha. That is not a reason. We cannot be afraid of such ignorance. People like that exist in every facet of society.” He sighed and looked at his wife. “Don’t you remember when we tried to buy this house thirty years ago?”
Usha nodded. “Yes.” She glanced at Sajan. “Our own real estate agent told us we could never afford this house. He assumed we had very little income.”
Sajan’s eye bugged out. “What?”
Nilay chimed in. “Yep. But Papa bought the house and made it work.” He beamed with pride at his father.
Sajan stared at her. “What happened to you?”
She relayed her story. Sajan’s eyes darkened in anger, and he stopped eating for a minute.
“What are you doing about it?”
“Well, I told my principal, and I’m going to be me. I’m going to teach. All the children.”
“That’s right,” her father quipped. “Don’t let that fool scare you from what you want.”
“What kind of security is there?” Sajan’s brow was still furrowed.
“Anyone entering the building has to sign in and out. If a teacher wants to come in early, he or she has to be escorted by the officer on duty. There’s always an officer on duty.”
Sajan nodded his approval. “We have similar things at the hospital. Though it’s harder to monitor, given that it’s a hospital.”
Annika nodded her understanding. She stared at him. Then it struck her, like lightning. Her parents looked happy and relaxed. Her mother looked at her with an extra little twinkle in her eye. They had never looked this way when she had brought Steven over.
They had been right about Steven. There had been a reason they were uncomfortable around him, and it had had nothing to do with the fact that he wasn’t Indian. Annika had hidden behind that reason and had been unable or unwilling to see that Steven simply was not the man for her. It took a miscarriage and Steven leaving for her to figure that out. Unbidden, her heart ached at the thought of what she lost.
“So how long have you been teaching?” Sajan asked as Usha refilled his plate, despite his insistence that he could not eat another bite.
“Well, this is my first year with my own classroom.”
“That must be very exciting.” He beamed at her.
“It really is.” Happy to have a receptive audience and to change to a more positive topic, Annika told him all about her class and basic lesson plans.
“So, parents’ night comes up soon?” he asked.
“Oh, not until early January, and it’s during the school day, so they can see how their children spend their time in school.”
“Good luck.”
The conversation turned to Diwali celebrations and who was still in the area that Sajan might remember. The evening passed amiably and quickly, everyone seeming to have had a nice time. Even her.
After Sajan left, laden with leftovers and the diya he had come for, they cleaned up together. Everyone in the house had a job: her dad did dishes, her mom put away the food, Nilay did floors and Annika wiped the countertops.
“I told you I wasn’t ready to meet people.” She scrubbed the countertop with her back to her father and mother.
“But it wasn’t so bad, eh?” her mother replied.
“It was fine, I suppose.”
“So, you like him?” her father asked.
Annika stopped scrubbing and turned to face her parents. They stopped what they were doing and looked at her expectantly. “He’s a nice guy. But that doesn’t mean that I ‘like’ him.” She made sure to use air quotes around the word like. “There’s no...spark.” An image of Chopper Guy suddenly flashed in her mind.
“That spark will come. You’ll see.” Her mother was beaming.
“Mom. Seriously, nothing has changed.” She made eye contact with them both. “Don’t do this again.”
They weren’t listening to her. They were already envisioning how great it would be to have Sajan in their family. She saw it in their eyes. They were happy. Their happiness soothed her troubled heart.
Maybe she should give Sajan a chance.
Chopper Guy’s laugh echoed in her ear, putting a small smile on her face.
Maybe.
CHAPTER SEVEN
DANIEL
AT THE BUZZ, Daniel reached over and grabbed his phone from his nightstand. It was one of only a few pieces of furniture in his apartment.
The phone screen displayed a text from his sister. Are you up? Don’t forget to eat.
Daniel closed his eyes and lay back in bed. He’d been having a great dream starring the one and only Annika. His sister’s text had interrupted right at the good part, and he wanted to get back to it.
No dice. The phone buzzed again, demanding his attention. He threw a text back. Overnight shift. I’ll eat.
He got out of bed and hit the shower. By the time he got home from his overnight, it had been close to 8:00 a.m., and he had crashed.
Annika had seemed fine at the bar the other night. No need to go back again. It wasn’t as though he was looking for a girlfriend. He’d tried that already and it hadn’t worked out. Since then, he simply dealt in the occasional one-night stand. But Annika Mehta was not a one-night stand.
Though he had just promised his sister he would eat. And there wasn’t any food in his apartment. Mrs. P. seemed like a great cook. Maybe he’d head over to the bar for more of that soup. A man had to eat, right? If Annika happened to be there, well, then, she was there.
Daniel hopped on his motorcycle and took a route through the city that landed him in front of Phil’s Place. Huh. Might as well go in now. He was hungry. And Emma would be calling to check up on him anyway.
His stomach lurched in anticipation of seeing Annika again. He walked in to find the place as busy as it had been the last time he’d been in. It was almost five, afternoon was giving way to evening, and the bar bustled with happy-hour energy. In no time, Daniel scanned the room and found the ponytail he’d been looking for. She caught his eye, and at her smile, nerves that had been on edge since his last visit settled. He walked up to the bar and sat down.
“You’ll have to move over two seats.” Bobby was looking at him, eyebrows raised.
“What?”
“Move over two seats—” he indicated the desired stool “—and you’ll be in Annika’s section.”
Daniel flushed. “Oh, I didn’t come here for... I mean...the soup the other night was so good. I thought I’d—”
Bobby stared him down and waited patiently for him to finish rambling. Sensing defeat, Daniel stood and moved down two seats into Annika’s section. Bobby’s expression did not change, but he bellowed out, “Annika, someone in your section.”
As Bobby walked back to the register, he looked Daniel in the eye. “You’re welcome.”
Before Daniel could answer, Annika was in front of him. “Didn’t have enough stare time with your bourbon?”
He chuckled. “Actually, I will have another. And whatever your next recommendation is on the menu.”
“Today, Mrs. P. is making Cubans. Hence the crowd. You may have to wait.”
“I’ll take the bourbon while I wait.”
She made a face like he was crazy and rolled her eyes, but she went to get the drink.
She placed his glass down in front of him, making eye contact. “Don’t go all wild on me and take a sip.”
Her lips pursed and those brown eyes taunted, and it was all Daniel could do to not reach out and touch her. When was the last time he’d felt like touching a woman? Not that he hadn’t touched a woman in five years, but those women were forgotten before morning. Right now, he wanted to simply touch her face, see if her skin was as soft
as it appeared.
Not that he would want to stop at that.
“Don’t you work? Or is it just the helicopter thing?”
He swiveled his glass around, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth at her tone. “I do. Just not right now.” Two could play this game.
Bobby sidled up behind Annika and leaned toward Daniel. “She’s only asking because she works two jobs.”
Annika shook her head at Bobby. “That’s not why. Just making conversation.”
Something inside Daniel flipped, excited that Annika wanted to make conversation with him. “Yeah? What’s the other job?”
“I’m a kindergarten teacher.” A gorgeous flush filled her cheeks. She was clearly proud of her vocation, but Daniel barely noticed. His head was spinning, and lead had filled his stomach. A small voice inside his head was screaming for him to leave this bar and never return to Annika Mehta. Painful images started their all-too-familiar slideshow in his head. He gripped his glass.
A crash from the kitchen jolted Daniel back to the present, and he released his hold on the glass. In an instant, Annika’s expression went from playful to worried, and she dashed to the back, Bobby at her heels. Daniel followed.
“Mrs. P., you okay?” Annika stopped midstep, and Daniel was forced to grab her arms to keep from falling into her.
“Sorry,” he mumbled as he quickly let go. Her skin was soft and warm—and as much as he might have thought he wanted to know how soft her skin was, he really did not need to know that.
Pots, pans and utensils were all over the floor. A few bowls still rolled and spun before finally clattering to a stop. Behind Mrs. P., a couple of old wooden shelves were still swinging as they held on to the wall by only a nail or two.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Mrs. P. stepped away from the chaos, lifting a shaky hand to her mouth. One of the shelves gave up the fight and fell to the floor with a thud. “But these shelves have seen better days.”
Annika went to the older woman and wrapped her arms around her. Daniel tapped Annika’s shoulder. “Mind if I take a look?”
Annika nodded and stepped back.
