Chapter 28 Rupi
Twenty-Eight
Rupi
There’s going to be no time for a bridal shower,” Mamma says with some regret.
“And Rupi wants only two events for the wedding, just the ceremony and the reception. No sangeet, no haldi, no mehendi. No nothing. So, I thought a small family party would be fun.” She turns to Simi. “What do you think, Simi, beta?”
It’s strange how tongue-tied Simi gets around a woman who emanates such kindness.
I widen my eyes at Simi. Say something. The woman just asked you a question. Show her who you really are!
It’s a lot to communicate through eye contact alone, yet I do a pretty solid job. Simi just sits there, speechless.
Mamma pats her shoulder. “You are Rupi’s sister.” She tries again. “I want to know what you think.”
“I think it’s a good idea?” Simi says finally, turning it into a question like a teenager. “If that’s what you want?”
We are drinking chai in the kitchen while Prem and Saj go over some paperwork for the new restaurant location. I widen my eyes at her again, for all the good it’s doing.
“It’s a done deal, then,” Mamma says, then throws a loaded glance at the table, where Saj and Prem are sitting. “Saj, beta, is the law practice not going well these days?” she asks, tongue firmly in cheek.
“It’s going fine, Auntie-ji.” He slides me a glance. “Why do you ask?”
“I’ve seen more of you these past few weeks than I’ve seen you in the past year.”
Saj’s color heightens the tiniest bit. I hate that I notice.
Before he can answer, Mamma winks at me. “What do you think, Rupi? Aren’t we seeing a lot of Saj these days?” My cheeks are starting to warm when she throws a suggestive glance Simi’s way. “Has Saj asked you out on a date yet, Simi, beta?”
I focus hard on taking a sip of my chai without choking.
My stupid sister grins at me, as though the joke is suddenly on me instead of her.
“Rupi, did you talk to Saj about it like I asked you to?” Mamma asks.
Saj is watching me across the kitchen with those black-on-black eyes instead of being a good lawyer and watching those papers. “I did, and he’s excited.” I smile my sweetest smile.
“Of course he is. He might be a hotshot lawyer, but how is he going to find a wife on his own if he frowns that much? He needs help.”
“You’re right, Auntie-ji. I’m told the assassin vibe doesn’t work for everyone.” Saj raises a brow at me, and my cheeks warm.
“What do you think, Simi?” I ask, then turn to Mamma before she answers. “My sister is so sweet and shy and so hardworking, she seems to have no time for dating. I don’t know what to do with her. I think she needs to spend some time with you, so you can teach her how to dive into the moment.”
Mamma grins and pats my cheek. “You’re right.
Simi is too sweet and shy. Not at all like girls these days.
” She walks to Prem and ruffles his hair.
He’s looking even more distraught than usual.
“But don’t worry. I used to feel like that about my Prem too.
So old-world like. But see, he found your sister.
Opposites can attract. You think Saj is nice, don’t you? ”
“I think he’s really nice,” Simi says pointedly. “I actually don’t see the assassin thing at all.” She throws me a look that’s neither sweet nor shy.
“You’re exactly right!” Mamma says with some jubilation. “And he’s Prem’s best friend. The four of you can do everything together. Have a foursome.”
Simi’s eyes dance with laughter. “I think that’s what Rupi is hoping for.”
I kick my sister under the kitchen island. My cheeks are well and truly flaming, and my stupid sister’s shoulders are shaking with laughter.
Prem and Saj are also cracking up.
I point a finger at Simi. “Shut up,” I mouth, making her perk up even more.
“Hah,” she whispers to me. “So much for not complicating the situation more.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say, then turn to Prem’s mom. “Mamma, Simi’s saying she’d love to go out with Saj.”
This time Simi kicks me under the table.
Mamma claps her hands. “I have an idea, why don’t the two of you go for a walk? The weather is lovely! When Pankaj came to see me for the first time, our parents sent us on a walk, too, and look at us now. What do you say, Saj?”
“That’s a great idea,” Saj says. “Actually, Pankaj Uncle wanted to go on a walk. Why don’t the four of us take him out?”
My heart does the oddest squeeze. The last time we spoke, I asked Saj to take Prem on his date with Simi. He was also there when I talked to Prem about taking Baba out.
Mamma deflates a little. “Oh, you know Pankaj doesn’t like to leave the house.”
“Actually, he did really well with the wheelchair on TASha’s birthday,” Prem says. “And he wants to. Ask Rupi.”
Mamma wrings her hands together. “Rupi?”
“He’s been asking for a week now. I talked to his doctor. She’s fine with it. Just a short one. Just to the park.”
“And Simi is here.” Prem looks at Simi. “We have a nurse with us. In case something goes wrong.”
Mamma turns to Simi.
“I can take his vitals before we go. I’ll stay with him the entire time.” For the first time, Simi sounds like an adult around Mamma. Like a professional.
Mamma hurries to Baba and demands to know if we’re telling the truth. Baba’s excited grin is a thing of beauty.
As promised, Simi takes his blood pressure and pulse and listens to his lungs. Baba lifts his hand and pats her cheek when she’s done. Then Prem and Saj put Baba in his wheelchair. I wrap a shawl around him, and he gives me my favorite thing in the world: his thumbs-up.
We take the ramp out of the house and make our way to the sidewalk.
Prem pushes the wheelchair, and I walk next to him.
Saj and Simi walk in front of us. For the first ten minutes, no one says much.
The neighborhood is lush with flowers, black-eyed Susans and cornflowers rising from waves of petunias. The Kentucky sky is a blazing blue.
When we get to the park, Saj leans over and picks up the front of the chair so he and Prem can carry Baba down the stairs that lead to the path edging the pond.
As Simi and I follow, my foot hits some gravel, and my ankle twists.
I’m about to go flying face forward when Saj leaps up and catches my fall.
Strong hands grip my arms even as I fall bodily into him, finding my balance as I fist his shirt in my hand.
It takes a moment for the world to reorient itself as Saj helps me find my footing.
“You okay?” he asks, still holding me. His breath is warm against my temple. His heartbeat fast beneath my fist. He smells like spring rain on parched earth—fresh and clean, and so familiar and comforting, my entire body leans into it.
Prem clears his throat, and I look up to find Prem, Simi, and Baba watching us.
We’re still holding each other.
I pull away.
“I’m fine,” I say. “Just clumsy. Sorry.”
“Did you twist it?” Saj is still holding my hand. “Put weight on it first.”
I do as I’m told. Mostly because I don’t want to argue in front of an audience.
My ankle is fine, although for the briefest moment I consider pretending it’s broken to see what Saj will do. I imagine him sweeping me up in his arms. I can practically feel him pull me close as my arms go around his neck.
I take a step away from him, and he lets me go, an inch at a time, as if in slow motion.
I look up. I’ve forgotten again that we have an audience.
It’s Baba’s eyes that I find first. There’s curiosity there.
Then his gaze moves to Prem and Simi, who are looking at each other instead of us.
They’re standing so close, their bodies are touching.
Their bodies are so comfortable with each other, they haven’t even noticed.
Baba’s lips purse together.
“Let’s go. We’re blocking the path,” I say, and we start walking.
“I can push the chair.” I go up to Baba, but he shakes his head and looks at Prem. For the first time since I’ve met him, his eyes are inscrutable.
“Simi, why don’t you walk with Saj,” I say. I’ll give Prem company.
Baba makes a sound and looks from Prem to Simi.
“He wants Simi,” Prem says, and his voice trembles on her name.
Simi throws me a look and then starts walking next to Prem as he pushes the wheelchair.
I stand there, frozen, watching them go. Saj’s hand lands on the small of my back, then pulls away as though burned. The imprint stays on my back.
“This was a bad idea, wasn’t it?”
“The walk or the whole scheme?” Saj asks, and his hand flexes behind his back.
I start walking without answering.
“Rupi.” He falls in step next to me, and my name sounds like a plea on his lips. “There’s something I needed to tell you.”
“They were both a bad idea,” I say, cutting him off. “The walk, the whole scheme, even what you did back there. That can’t happen again. Baba knows something is wrong.”
“How can he possibly know?”
I point a finger at his face. Because you won’t stop looking at me like that. But I can’t say it.
“You wanted me to just let you fall?”
I stop and turn to him. His eyes are so intense they sparkle like a starlit night sky.
“I’m fully capable of catching myself when I fall.”
“I know.” It’s a whisper.
“The wedding is in two weeks,” I say, because that’s what this moment needs.
“I know,” he says again. “That’s what I wanted to talk about. I probably won’t see you before the wedding. I’m going to California tomorrow to get you your answers.”
And there it is. The white knighting is what he’s here for. I’m not stupid enough to not see that he’s started to care for me, but what he really cares about is those women at Curry and his poor broken justice system.
“It’s just as well,” I say.
“Yes. Yes, it is. Because . . .” He looks so tortured, I almost reach out and cup his jaw. “I can’t have any kind of relationship with a client, Rupi.”
That lands on me like a shove. I stay standing. I pull my hand back and fold my arms across my chest. “Is there a client who wants to have a relationship with you, Saj?”
He squeezes his temples. Then smiles. It’s a painful smile, but it’s there. I made him smile. This time I can’t find any joy in it.
I start walking again. “Since we are putting our misconceptions out there, there’s one I’d like to clear up too.”
“We don’t have to do this,” he says. “That wasn’t me saying goodbye.”
“It was. It has to be.” Baba might know, but no one will call him in to give testimony.
The rest of the Guptas will not be spared.
They cannot find out. “That first time we met. When you saw me naked. I didn’t know I was opening the living room door.
I thought I was opening Simi’s closet.” I don’t know why I need to clear this up, but I do. Now it’s done.
“Of course I know it was something like that.”
“Is that why you didn’t react at all?”
“You didn’t either.”
“I didn’t?”
“Nope. No horror, no fear, no embarrassment. Nothing.”
“I think I was dead inside.” I think I still might be.
He takes a step closer to me. “You weren’t,” he says. “You were more alive than anyone I’ve ever met. You’ve always been.”
“Thanks,” I say, and I hope it covers everything.
This time I do stroke his cheek. It’s quick, and I regret it the moment I do it.
His skin is warmer and softer than I expected, despite the stubble starting to darken it.
Sparks tingle from my fingers down my arm, and an electric pulse slashes my chest.
We’re back at the Gupta house. Simi and Prem have taken the wheelchair inside.
“I think you should leave from here,” I say without meeting his gaze.
He watches my face for a long moment. “You’re right,” he says finally. “Goodbye, Rupi.” And with that, he’s gone without a backward glance.