by Mona Shroff
Maybe her parents were right. Maybe she just needed to settle down with someone dependable. Someone from a good family who was friendly and easygoing and didn’t have a weird relationship with beverages and children. Someone like Sajan. Love would grow, just like it had for her parents. And they were perfectly happy.
Naya shrugged. “Glad to hear it.” She walked into her room, then walked right back out. “You know what was really great?” Annika swore there were stars in her cousin’s eyes.
“Do tell,” Annika sighed as she walked to her room.
“He just sort of got me. Without really trying. The other guys were kind of weird. But Ravi grew up here, like we did. And he just—understood.”
A pit grew in Annika’s stomach as she nodded. “I know what you mean.” It was what she had felt when Sajan had stopped by. The ease with which her family got to know him. The ease her parents felt around him. The fact that he automatically understood her reasons for becoming a teacher. It was refreshing. All the more reason to stop whatever she was feeling for Daniel. Even if she had continued to see Daniel, her family would never approve. Her dad would never understand Daniel’s reasons for becoming an NP as opposed to a doctor. It was too hard going against your family all the time.
So why the pit in her stomach?
“Annika. Did you hear me?”
“What?”
“My parents are hosting a party of some sort this weekend, and they’re making me attend. Come with and make it bearable.”
Still distracted by thoughts of Daniel, she nodded. “Sure. Whatever you need.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DANIEL
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Dear Lance,
Thank you so much for doing this! The children will be thrilled. There will be twenty children, me and four parent chaperones. The school administration has arranged for our bus to arrive by 9:30 a.m. Does that work for you?
Please let me know if you need any more information.
Thanks again!
Best,
Annika Mehta
* * *
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Annika,
Looking forward to it!
Thanks to Daniel for setting this up!
Lance
Daniel read and reread the email thread. He had arranged for Annika’s class to visit the fire station as he had promised. It was easy enough, since he and Lance had saved more than one life together.
He continued to analyze her email for the slightest sign that she may have thawed some, but he swore that even her emails were terse and carried her anger and sense of betrayal. It was what he deserved, so when she refused to even glance his way when he went to the bar to put the finishing touches on the cabinets, he tried to shrug it off. Easier said than done, as he couldn’t ignore the way his heart skipped a beat when she entered the bar, or the fact that he smiled when he heard her laugh. In fact, he wouldn’t have thought it possible to be more aware of her now that she was ignoring him, but he was.
Whatever, he’d finish up these cabinets, and then he would no longer have a reason to show up at the bar. It was for the best, he told himself. He didn’t need to be involved with someone he would end up hurting in the end. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that there had been something more in that kiss. Never mind. She was probably convinced he was some sort of creepy stalker, anyway. She was better off without him. Definitely. She’d told him how badly she’d wanted her baby; she clearly wanted to be a mother someday. That was the deal breaker. He should have backed off right then. He was better off, just trudging along alone.
Sure he was.
A child’s wailing caught his attention, and he went to open the door between the kitchen and the bar. A mother was desperately trying to calm her distraught son. Annika walked around to the front of the bar, holding a bubbly pink drink in a plastic to-go cup. She knelt down to the child, offering the drink and speaking quietly to him.
The little boy sniffled and his chest heaved, but he eyed the drink. Daniel found himself smiling as Annika handed the Shirley Temple to the little boy. She had a way with kids, that was for sure. He was frozen to his spot as Annika leaned against the bar and waved goodbye to mother and son.
Bobby was drying glasses behind the bar. “You’ll make a great mom one day.”
She turned to face him, and Daniel’s heart skipped a beat at the look of joy on her face. “I certainly hope so.” She grinned at Bobby, then caught Daniel watching her.
Heat blazed through him, powerful and unnerving as he caught her gaze. Her eyes hardened as her smile faltered, and she busied herself with collecting used glasses. Daniel noticed that she still had a small bandage on her left hand, but the splint was gone. The dressing looked fresh, so he was confident it was clean and without infection. Had the infamous Sajan re-dressed it? Jealousy, green and ugly, boiled in him for a moment. He shook his head. He had no right to be jealous. Annika was not his.
Daniel took his cue and turned back to his work in the kitchen. She would make a great mother one day. A pit formed in his stomach as he shut down the whisperings of what could have been.
He would never have her.
Because he would never be a father again.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ANNIKA
ANNIKA PUSHED ASIDE thoughts of Daniel, yet again, as she walked into her aunt’s house without knocking. She just hadn’t expected her reaction to him when she caught him watching her at the bar. She was angry at him. There was no reason for her heart to leap like that when she saw him. And there was certainly no reason for her to be able to feel his eyes watching her, making her sweat like a teenager.
To his credit, he did not try to talk to her, which was probably smart, so the disappointment she felt was quite unreasonable. If Daniel had already lied to her—and he had—then the future could bring only more of the same. She shook her head as if she could physically knock out thoughts of him.
Sounds of laughter and music and the scent of freshly fried samosas greeted her like a childhood friend, cocooning her as she entered and took off her shoes. There were matching shoes to every kind of Indian outfit there was, but as soon as Indian people got anywhere, they took off said shoes. Yet she and Naya always had to have the perfect shoes to match the outfit.
Annika made her way to the kitchen, which was no easy feat, as she was greeted along the way by various aunties and uncles she hadn’t seen in some time. Everyone wanted to hear how the teaching was going, how she managed living in Baltimore. Most everyone was genuinely interested in what was going on with her; after all, she had grown up with these people. If it seemed like a few of the aunties were giving her the side-eye, well, it must have been her imagination.
“Oh, here’s the stranger!” A jovial voice, paired with twinkling eyes and a broad smile, stopped her pilgrimage just as she approached the kitchen.
“Mehul-kaka!” Annika grinned from ear to ear. Her father’s younger brother always had a special place in her heart. His accent was light but ever present, same as her father’s. He had shaved his mustache, and both brothers had long since given up oiling their hair.
And when things had gone bad—he was the one who spoke sense to her father. She threw her arms around him in a tight hug. “I’m not a stranger. I just saw you at Diwali.”
“That party was two weeks ago, beta.” He returned the hug with gusto. “And you were preoccupied with a certain young man.” He raised his eyebrows with a wink.
She did an internal eye roll. You couldn’t talk to a guy around here without starting the rumor mill. “Mehul-kaka, Sajan is just a friend.”
The eyebrows came down, and he shru
gged. “Hmm. Can’t blame a kaka for trying to get information. My daughter tells me nothing.”
“When there’s something to tell, Naya will tell it.”
Mehul-kaka sighed, resting his arm around her shoulders as he escorted her to the kitchen. “In the meantime, make sure Kaki gives you hot-hot samosa.”
Annika rolled her eyes at the literal translation of garam-garam. The words actually meant hot-hot, but the connotation was fresh and hot. Her family loved the wordplay. Her kaka laughed and made eye contact with his wife. Veena-kaki’s eyes lit up at the sight of Annika. “Maybe she can bribe information from you with good food.” He chuckled and left her in the kitchen.
The kitchen was, as always, a hotbed of activity. Aunties sat or stood in small clusters around the room, depending on what part of the samosa they were working on. At one end, far from the stove, a couple of aunties rolled out the dough for flatbread that would be the outer covering. Next was the filling station, as Annika’s head interpreted it, which comprised another few aunties. The last station was the closing station, where the filled samosas were squeezed shut before frying. This task was usually given to ten-year-old girls who wanted to help. And sure enough, two young girls were sealing samosas and looking very pleased with themselves. A third girl did the work, a slight scowl on her face. She eyed the boys running around with a ball with more than a little longing. It was as if Annika was watching herself at that age.
Amid all this, small children ran around playing, marginally supervised by the socializing adults. Bollywood music played in the background, and somewhere, young teen girls giggled as they practiced Bollywood moves.
In all the time she’d dated Steven, she had not once brought him to one of these parties. It was difficult to explain the chaos and the camaraderie that was mixed in with the gossip and judgment. Though arrival and departure times were loose, children roamed freely, and people ate constantly, standing or sitting anywhere there was a spot, there were definite rules of etiquette that needed to be followed. He never would have understood, he never would have fit in, and he hadn’t really wanted to. And she had known it.
To be honest, sometimes these parties seemed more work and annoyance than they were worth, and when Annika was in her early twenties, the rebel in her took charge and she stopped going. The gossip and the judgment of her career choice was irritating, so she saw no point in it. She started coming back after the breakup with Steven and found she didn’t quite hate them anymore. There was a sense of comfort in being surrounded by people who have known you your whole life that Annika found healing.
She navigated her way around the clusters of people before finally making it over to her aunt. She hugged her tight and took in her calming scent, a combination of baby powder, Avon hand cream and frying oil. It was a scent as calming to her as her own mother’s. She deftly avoided the hot skimmer that kaki was using for frying samosas. Veena-kaki was rounder and shorter than her mother, but she and Naya shared those gray eyes that stunned anyone who saw them. She positioned her gray gaze on Annika now.
“Annika, beta. So good to see you.”
Honestly, she just saw them, but it was becoming clear that her family was worried about her.
“You, too, Kaki. Here—” she reached for the skimmer “—let me help you.”
Veena-kaki carefully moved the utensil away from her. “Nonsense. You enjoy. I have my friends here to help.” She jutted her chin toward the aunties rolling out the dough. “And your parents are coming soon.” She shoved a plate of samosas at Annika. “Here, eat a few while they are still garam-garam, before everyone else eats them all.”
“Thanks, Kaki.” She smiled to herself as the words hot-hot flashed through her mind. She couldn’t help it. Annika took the plate and moved out of her way.
Annika greeted a few more uncles and aunties while she hunted for her favorite cilantro chutney. She finally located both the savory cilantro chutney and the tangy-sweet tamarind chutney while catching up with some friends she hadn’t seen in a long time. Naya still hadn’t arrived.
Her garam-garam samosas were lukewarm by the time she finally got a small break and was able to take that first bite. She was just enjoying the tang of the tamarind chutney mixed with the spices inside the samosa when a familiar voice called to her.
“Hey, Annika.”
Sajan. She should have known her kaka and kaki would invite his family. The rest of town was here, after all.
Annika looked up at hazel eyes grinning at her, her mouth filled with samosa, and managed a nod while she chewed.
“I was a waiter for a while, and they trained us to talk to people just as they were putting food into their mouths.” He grinned at her.
Annika managed to chew and swallow without incident before she greeted him. “I’d say you learned very well.”
He chuckled and looked around. “It’s good to see you again. If I didn’t know better, I’d think some of these aunties were having parties just to put us together.”
“They’re bored. They need excitement.” Annika tried to laugh off Sajan’s comment, but she knew it really could be the truth. She put nothing past these women.
“Well, in any case, it’s nice to see a familiar face. I feel like I must’ve known some of these people growing up here, but it’s been a while, so I might as well be in a room of strangers.”
“Some of them you must remember from Diwali? But I can introduce you around.”
“Yeah?” He looked a bit too excited at that prospect.
“Sure. Let’s eat first. These samosas won’t last long.” She handed him one and grinned. “They were hot-hot.” She giggled, but Sajan just looked at her for a moment, confused.
“Ah—I get it.” His face lit up with understanding, but not necessarily amusement. “Garam-garam.”
Annika waved it off. The moment had passed. They both ate a few samosas while Annika pointed out people that Sajan may have known when he lived here.
“What happened to your hand?” Sajan nodded at her injury.
Annika shrugged and willed herself not to flush. Like that ever worked. “A few stitches. Broken glass. Happened right after Diwali.” She had hoped it was less noticeable without the full dressing, but clearly even a small bandage didn’t escape a surgeon’s eye. True to Daniel’s word, her hand was almost healed.
“So the stitches should be almost out.”
Annika bit into a samosa and nodded.
A few of Sajan’s friends came over and joined them in their snack. Among them was Reena, a girl who had been a year ahead of Annika at school. Reena had been one of the dancers in the group she was in with Sajan back in high school, and Annika remembered her as being quite shy. She must have come out of her shell in college, because there was nothing shy about her now—or about her interest in Sajan, to which Sajan seemed oblivious.
Annika held a beer in her right hand and popped the last bit of samosa into her mouth with her left.
“Ooh! What happened?” Reena nodded at Annika’s injury.
Annika waved her hand. “Oh, nothing. Just cut myself on some glass.”
Reena’s eye’s widened. “Enough for stitches? That must have been painful.”
Annika shrugged. “Yes, it was.” But she had been well taken care of by a certain nurse practitioner.
Reena giggled. “Was it painful or not? From the way you’re smiling, it almost seems like you enjoyed it.”
Annika curbed the smile that had crept across her face. “No. I mean yes, it did hurt.” She held up her beer. “I should probably cut myself off.”
Reena shook her head but seemed to accept that Annika’s grin was due to too much alcohol and, thankfully, dropped the subject.
Annika glanced once more at her hand, and her thoughts quickly drifted back to Daniel and his confession that he had in fact been in her room at the ER. Try as she might, Annika coul
d not remember his face. She did recall having a sense of peace and finally crying herself to sleep, but no recollection of Daniel. Honestly, she needed to move on. No way should she be involved with someone of such questionable character.
The conversation around her shifted to medicine, and she attempted to appear engaged, even as her thoughts drifted back to that kiss. Sadly, she had absolutely no problem remembering how his lips had felt on hers. Or the fact that she’d never been kissed the way he had kissed her.
She was jostled out of her daydream by a playful bump to her shoulder. Naya stood next to her, gorgeous in skinny jeans topped with a deep purple kurta top. But it was the sparkle in her eye that made her look. A very handsome man with a trim beard and nearly black eyes stood a few inches taller than Naya, his shoulder grazing hers as if he couldn’t bear not touching her.
Annika raised an eyebrow at her cousin. Naya widened her eyes. “Ravi—” she tilted her head toward him “—this is Annika.”
Ravi immediately turned his gaze to Annika and smiled broadly as he extended his hand. “So nice to finally meet the big-sister-cousin-best-friend I’ve heard so much about.”
Annika shook his hand. “Very nice to meet you, too. I’ve heard quite a bit about you, as well.”
Ravi’s whole face lit up with adoration as he turned to look at Naya. Annika’s heart melted for her cousin.
“Only the best things, though,” Annika added with a laugh.
Ravi chuckled. “I’m just thrilled she’s talking about me at all.”
Naya rolled her eyes, but it did nothing to hide her flush. Naya was completely smitten with Ravi, and clearly Ravi was just as taken with Naya.
Annika turned to Naya and hugged her close. “Where have you been?” she whispered.
Naya responded with a small, mischief-filled grin as she pulled back from the hug. She flicked her gaze to Sajan and whispered, “Doesn’t look like you were too bored. Introduce us.”
Annika treated her cousin to a small eye roll as she spoke. “Sajan, this is my cousin Naya and her boyfriend, Ravi. Naya, Sajan.”
