Chapter 14
Mariah sat across the table opposite James Sorenson, heir to a prosperous conglomerate and the most handsome man on this side of the East Coast. She was petrified, shaking in her boots as thoughts went through her mind about the real reason he had come to her place of work.
She had followed him to the table, sat down, and waited for him to get straight to the point, instead, he smiled and observed her in silence. She had to break the silence and speak.
“So… before you talk, I want you to know that I’m so sorry for keeping you waiting. I had no idea you were coming, or I would have hurried through the meeting. I’m also sorry I have not gotten your complete building designs for you yet. It’s just been a lot lately. If you think I’m moving too slowly, I could assign it to someone else, who would be faster--”
“Mariah,” James cut in, a confused look on his face. “What in the world are you talking about?”
Mariah stared at him, at a loss for words. “I… I thought that—you were mad with me about the project.”
“For what?” James broke into a smile. “On the contrary, I’m rather fond of you and have no intention of giving your job to someone else. You have a strong connection to this project, as much as I do.”
“Oh…” Mariah let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Right. So, I was off course here?”
“Way off course,” James laughed. “But it was hilarious to see you lose your cool though.”
Mariah’s features broke into a smile, and she laughed. James still believed in her and she was so grateful to him she could jump up and hug him. Since she couldn’t do that, she sat and grinned weakly at him.
“So…to what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked him.
“Lunch,” he responded in a heartbeat. “Allow me to take you to lunch.”
“Lunch?” Mariah repeated after him. Unsure she heard correctly. James Sorenson wanted to take her out for lunch. A queasy feeling began blooming in her stomach and she knew her butterflies were beginning to wake again. She had to douse their energy before they made her do or say something disgraceful.
“I know it’s a bit short notice, but it should be lunchtime,” he glanced at his leather watch and said, “in less than an hour. So, I’m asking now if you would go for lunch with me?”
Mariah stared at James with shocked wide eyes. Her gaze shifted from his beautiful face to her colleagues who were doing a terrible job at pretending not to eavesdrop, as they had not dispersed very far.
“Well… I, um, I have a lot to do here… at the office,” Mariah groaned internally at her response. At the same time, her eavesdropping colleagues gave shocked gasps.
“I knew you would say that,” James shook his head in a chuckle and reached underneath the table. Mariah gasped when he sat back up with a large black bag in his hands. “So, I brought lunch to you, just in case. Surprise!”
“Wow,” she half laughed and gasped. She couldn’t remember when last someone went through so much trouble for her. “I’m surprised indeed. I might just count today as one of the best days of my life!”
“I like that I’m part of one of the best days of your life,” he said and dropped the bag on the table. He began unzipping it. “Get ready for today to get even better. You are about to eat the best Indian food on the East Coast—you do eat Indian food, right?” he asked her and she nodded.
He continued, “Good. My friend Ranver Kumar runs the best Indian restaurant in DC. A really high-end place too. I should take you there sometime.” As he spoke, he pulled out small black containers and arranged them neatly on the table. When he was done, he dropped the black bag on the third unoccupied seat at their table and offered her a small smile.
The scene melted Mariah’s heart. He looked like Prince Charming from Cinderella who had come alive, with his immaculate clothes and warm green eyes. And she felt very much like Cinderella, unfit yet enchanted by him. The feeling made her squirm and she shifted in her seat.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his hands ready to pull one of the plastic covers off. “Or are you just excited to eat?” he teased.
“Excited,” she answered. But not with the food. “I have not eaten a lot of Indian food, but if it”s as rich as Mexican food, I’m willing to give it all a try.”
“Excellent!” James smiled and pulled the covers off one by one, filling the room with a mouthwatering aroma. She thought that the food would be as tasty as it smelt and her stomach rumbled. The butterflies were now hungry for both food and for James.
She scooped out colorful rice first onto a plate James handed her, then added chunks of meat and vegetables. James called it Biryani and said it was perfect for beginners like her as it was not too spicy. Then he proceeded to explain the other dishes.
There was a flatbread wrapped in tin foil called Naan and a plate of Riata—a supposedly tasty dipping dish. There were freshly baked Samosas and spiced red Tandoori chicken. The last plate had little round balls he called Gulab Jamuns and they looked and smelt divine.
Mariah stared in amusement as James produced disposable utensils and two bottles of water from the bag.
She remarked, “You really did come prepared, didn’t you?”
“I try to do things exceptionally well,” he winked at her and offered her the cutlery. “My advice though is to lift your hair to ensure it does not get sauce on it. It will also keep you cooler since you are fairly new to Indian food, it might be a bit…”
“Spicy?” Mariah laughed and dropped her plate to tie her hair up. But as she looked down at her fingers that had gotten sauce on them, she hesitated, before continuing to move her hands back towards her hair. James beat her to it. He was on his feet and beside her swifter than she had ever seen him move before.
“Let me help you with that?” he offered. When he moved to stand behind her, he was so close that she felt the warmth from his body seeping into hers. She nodded absentmindedly and shivered when his cold fingers touched her neck. He gathered her curls gently to the top of her head.
She felt him stiffen and tilted her neck to the side to glance at him and said, “What?”
“Nothing,” he responded quickly, but she felt that his voice sounded rather constrained. She offered him a hair-tie and he pulled her curls through it and secured them away from her face.
She thanked him and he returned to his seat. After he sat down, Mariah felt that he deliberately didn’t look at her. It seemed like he stared at his empty paper plate instead.
“James?” Mariah waved her hand in front of his face and he sat up straight, looked at her startled for a second, and then offered her a smile.
“Shall we?” he asked, and his eyes fluttered close. Mariah followed his lead, in awe, as he blessed the food they were about to eat. When he finished, he opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Hope you don’t mind the prayer? It’s something my mother taught me and I never stopped doing it.”
“I don’t mind,” Mariah said with a smile. She couldn’t help but smile a lot in James’s presence. She just hoped he didn’t realize how much she liked him. “I think it’s a beautiful habit.”
“Thank you,” he replied, “for not judging. Now let’s find out if Indian food is your thing as much as it is mine.”
He served her some more of the rice dish first, then the chicken and samosa. She moaned in delight at the flavors that exploded in her mouth. Then the flatbread and the sweet side dish brought her sweet tooth back to life. It was the tiny balls that sealed Indian food for her.
At the end of the meal, she told James his chef friend could come give her cooking tips. He laughed at her eagerness and told her that anyone could learn to cook these dishes. Then he asked her why she had an interest in cooking.
“Well, we didn’t do a lot of extracurricular activities in the orphanage—my love for the stars only survived because of Mr. Schneider. Aside from that, the orphanage could get a bit boring. Kitchen duty had been the most interesting and if we helped out, we had been allowed to have seconds.”
“Sounds devious,” he laughed and drank from his bottle.
“And what about you?” she asked him, unscrewing her bottle to take a swig of water. “Where did you develop a liking for this food?”
“From traveling?” he said and his eyes took on a far-off look. “Every year at college, in the last two weeks of summer, I get to spend it in any city of my choice. Venice. Kyoto. Rome. Cape town. Mumbai. I enjoyed the food in every single city as much as I enjoyed the people and buildings.”
“Must have been fun traveling to a different place,” she sighed and gulped from the bottle. “Did you get to see all they had to offer? Like the architecture.”
“The architecture?”
“Yes!” she giggled. “To think that all those buildings have survived all through the years. They have history, lessons, tales, and stories of the people who lived there and how their lives were intertwined.”
“I see…” James nodded. “Perhaps you could join me this summer. I will take the last two weeks off to travel.”
Mariah dropped her bottle to the table and stared at him in shock. “You actually mean that?”
“I do,” he nodded, proceeding to pack up the empty plastic plates into the bag. “Greg comes with me sometimes and we go with some of our other friends from college, so the more the merrier.”
“I’d like that,” Mariah said, grateful for the offer, and helped him clear up the table. She handed the last of the plastic containers to James and then his phone beeped and he fished it out of his pocket.
He sighed and glanced at his watch. “My 2:00 PM meeting is being pushed forward. So, I must go.”
“Like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight,” Mariah laughed. “You waltz in, you impress and captivate then you disappear,” she felt satisfaction when James smiled at her analogy. “So will I ever see you again?” she teased.
“Maybe…” he laughed and rose to his feet picking up the black bag. “If my evil stepmother allows me,” he winked at her. “I’m sure we will see each other again though. We still have the orphanage to build and I have another place to show you that would give you more insight into what I’m looking for in the design of the orphanage.”
“Sure,” Mariah smiled and rose to her feet.
“So… I’ll see you around,” James said and flashed her a grin. He looked so impossibly young and childish smiling like that. All Mariah wanted to do was to reach out and ruffle his brown curls. “Later Mariah,” he waved and walked straight for the door.
“Later, James, “she whispered, following him to the door into the recreation area. She stopped by the door and watched him go wishing she could follow him, but she couldn’t. She had work and she wasn’t that close to him. She sighed and rested her head on the doorframe.
When he exited through the main entrance of the building, she pushed herself off the doorframe and returned to her colleagues. Before James’ appearance, they had been discussing work. As soon as she rejoined them, they were upon her in a frenzy of squeals.
“Was that James Sorenson?” an African-American girl with long braids said with a glazed look in her eyes. Alicia worked in the same studio as Mariah and they spent hours talking about arts, politics, music, and every fun thing imaginable.
“Of course, it is!” Marsha, their mutual friend who worked in marketing screamed as she put her hand around Mariah’s neck.
“He”s so handsome in person, and charming too,” Alicia cooed. “Just look at those green eyes. I thought I might just faint at the sight of him.”
“He’s as handsome and rich as they get, Mariah, by far one of the best this generation has to offer,” Marsha said dreamily into Mariah’s ear. “How did you get him to bring lunch to you here? I thought you only knew each other on a work basis. What is happening between the both of you?”
Mariah let out a deep sigh and gently peeled Marsha’s arms off her shoulders as she wanted to find a seat. She walked back into the reaction area, back to the table where she and James had sat. Alicia and Marsha followed.
She sat down in the seat that James had sat in and smiled at the warmth it still had. Marsha and Alicia sat down eagerly, pleading with Mariah to tell them what was going on with James Sorenson.
“I…” Mariah started to say and paused. She had never told anyone how she was feeling about James. Marsha and Alicia were her good friends. She wondered what they would think of her feelings. She was riddled with indecision but felt like she would burst if she did not tell someone sooner or later.
Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I don’t know why I feel the way I feel. I know that he’s, my client. I know the company policies against dating clients. But I find myself drawn to him. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this way about anyone,” heat crept into her face and she covered her face with her hands. “I just had to fall in love with the most unattainable guy in DC,” her voice quaked and she heard chairs shuffling before warm hands gathered her into a hug.
“Oh, I know how that feels,” Marsha cooed and Alicia echoed. “Everything will work out in the end. I am certain of it. With the way he acted today, he might be head over heels for you too.”
“You think so?” Mariah asked, breaking out of the hug.
“I know so,” Alicia grinned. “Just you watch. The boy is going to confess to you how he feels any day now.”
Mariah nodded, grateful to have supportive friends, but their words only made her wonder if James saw her as more than someone who was helping him build his orphanage, as someone who was sick and had a pitiful past. Maybe he could fall in love with.
The thought didn’t even make sense to her. Sure, he was nice to her, but he seemed to be nice to everyone. He was way out of her league. Better suited for girls like Veronica. She shook her head in defeat and sat back down in the seat, wondering why she was torturing herself so much with grand dreams of love.