Chapter Two
Roshan woke in the morning in Vishal and Karan’s room. They had two king beds, and Roshan was sprawled in one of them. He was sore and bruised but otherwise okay. His friends had explained everything to him after the paramedics cleared him. Thankfully, nothing was broken, and no concussion.
The three of them put on their bathing suits and T-shirts and went down to get breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The air was already warm, the sun high enough in the sky to flood the open-air hotel with blinding light. Roshan donned his aviators and tried not to limp.
“She really got you, huh?” Karan asked, trying to hide his smirk.
Roshan groaned. “I actually held back.” His jaw hurt when he spoke. “A text would have been nice.”
His friends were unusually silent. He sighed. “You each thought the other sent the text.”
They both shrugged.
As they entered the restaurant, Roshan grabbed a copy of the newspaper and tucked it under his arm.
“I need coffee.” What he really wanted was comforting chai, but the coffee would have to do.
They entered the restaurant, and he made a beeline for the coffee bar.
He nearly bumped into Nimita, also getting coffee.
She was adding artificially sweetened creamer to her mug.
“You’re polluting your coffee.”
She brought the cup to her lips and sipped, turning to him without a word.
“Apology accepted,” he said to her.
“I didn’t apologize,” she said, making eye contact. “I thought there was a strange man entering my hotel room. Hit first, ask questions later. I’m a woman, alone in a dark room, and someone enters silently, without turning on the light or announcing himself—”
“Why would I announce myself to what I thought was an empty room?”
“Why wouldn’t you turn on the light?”
He met her gaze and found himself looking into familiar brown eyes he hadn’t seen in decades. Odd sensation. “I was tired from delays and work and I wanted to sleep in what I thought was my empty room.” He threw a glare at his friends.
She sipped her polluted coffee. “There is nothing I need to apologize for.”
“I’m bruised all over.”
“I’m a black belt. You’re lucky nothing is broken.” Nimita glanced at his friends. “Enjoy your day.” She started to walk away but nodded at the paper. “That’s yesterday’s paper.”
“I like the comics in the Sunday paper.”
She shook her head at him like he was a nuisance and walked away.
Honestly, an apology wouldn’t kill her. Though he hadn’t ever bothered to apologize to her, even when he’d had fifteen years to do so.
“Wait—Nimita!” Vishal called out.
What was his friend doing? Let her be on her way. She was a weapon.
“I got you,” she said, handing her phone to Vishal. “Give me your number.” He did as she asked and handed it back. She tapped away at her screen for a moment, then said, “There.” Vishal’s phone dinged. “Everything you need to know.”
Why was Vishal giving Nimita Chaudhary his phone number? What was going on? And why did Roshan seem to care so much?
“What the hell, Vishal?” Roshan asked.
“She’s a flight attendant,” Karan said as if that explained everything.
“Okay,” Roshan said as Vishal elbowed Karan in the ribs as if to silence him.
“She knows her way around Hawaii,” Karan said, either oblivious to Vishal’s attempts to shut him up or doing a good job pretending to be.
Roshan narrowed his eyes at Vishal. Okay, that did explain everything.
“She just gave you an itinerary, didn’t she?
” He narrowed his eyes at his friends. He flicked his gaze to Nimita, who shrugged enigmatically.
“You were supposed to already know that stuff. You were supposed to plan. That was the deal. I pick the place. Karan does flights and rooms. You do sightseeing and food.”
He paused and turned back to Nimita. “Wait, flight attendant? I thought you did biomedical engineering at Purdue?” He tried to sound like any other person in their graduating class. Everyone knew where everyone else had gone to college. Didn’t they?
She sighed, leveling him with a look that was usually reserved for nosy aunties. “I did.”
“Then why are you a flight attendant?”
She shrugged. “BME didn’t work out.”
“I had a bunch of huge cases come up…” Vishal tried to defend himself. “And anyway, I’m sure Nimita gave us everything we need to know, huh?”
“She shouldn’t have to pay for the room then,” Roshan said.
“She’s not. Chill,” Karan said.
She cocked a half grin which somehow lit up and softened her face all at once. “I appreciate that. But I can pay—”
“A deal is a deal,” Roshan said, being sure to glare at Vishal.
“He is grumpy. Now I remember.” She shared a smile with Vishal, and something ugly stirred in Roshan.
“You would be, too, if you’d had the you-know-what knocked out of you,” Roshan said without looking at her.
“Ignore him. He’s always grumpy,” Karan said.
“Not true,” Roshan insisted.
“Okay…what do you do for fun?” Karan challenged him.
“Lots of things,” Roshan said.
“Like what?” Vishal’s smirk could be heard loud and clear.
“I read.” Roshan narrowed his eyes at his so-called friends.
“Great. What have you read lately—for fun?” Karan’s grin was wide. Only the people closest to him got to really see it.
Roshan shot Nimita a quick glance before answering. A slight flush hit his face. “The Journal of Medicine.” Roshan raised his eyebrows like he’d just done a mic drop.
Vishal and Karan looked at each other and burst into laughter.
“What?” Roshan looked from one man to the other, ignoring that Nimita still stood there, observing this interaction.
“Academic journals do not count as fun,” Vishal explained as if Roshan was five years old.
“Says you,” Roshan clapped back.
“Forget it, V,” Karan said, shaking his head. “Roshan wouldn’t know fun if it hit him in the face.”
“I’m getting ready to hit you in the face,” Roshan grumped.
“You would have to catch me first.” It was no secret that Karan was the fastest among them.
“Roshan’s idea of fun is studying more, even now,” Vishal explained to Nimita.
“Just because I chase excellence, and some people sit on their Harvard degrees,” Roshan smirked.
“You wish you had a Harvard degree,” Vishal retorted.
Roshan rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee.
“Enough with the Harvard degree, V.” Karan nudged him.
“What? He brought it up.”
“What’s the big deal about Harvard?” Nimita asked.
“It’s the only school that Roshan didn’t get into. And Vishal went there for law school,” Karan explained.
“So where did you go?” she asked.
“University of Maryland for premed.”
“Huh.”
He felt his hackles go up. “It’s a good school. I chose to stay close to home for—” He cut himself off. “Anyway, I went to Johns Hopkins for med school.”
She raised an eyebrow at Roshan, who shrugged one shoulder as if he didn’t care. Her other eyebrow rose, and Roshan heated in shame. He had proved to her once before that being on top was his most important priority.
Karan shook his head. “Pull up the list Nimita sent you.”
Vishal glanced at his phone. “Nimita, this is amazing. You should come with us.”
“Ha. No, thank you. I’m good.” She turned a blank face to him.
Karan was looking at the itinerary over Vishal’s shoulder. “Detailed and specific. Even Roshan will be impressed.”
Roshan sipped his coffee and wrenched his gaze away from her. He had always been impressed by her. There didn’t seem any reason why that might have changed now.
* * *
Nimita walked away as Vishal and Karan discussed the list she had made. Bickered was more like it.
“We should kayak first,” Vishal stated. Talk about bossy.
“No. Surfing—it’s right here at the hotel.” Karan was the more diplomatic of the three of them.
“What about that hike? That looks amazing,” Vishal noted.
“We might need to rent a car for that.”
Her phone buzzed, and she paused to look at it. Reena. There was no avoiding it; her sister would simply continue to call and text until she answered. Not that Nimita blamed her. She had dropped a bomb in her last text.
“Hey.” Nimita tried to sound casual as she moved farther away from the guys. They didn’t need to overhear any of this.
“Hey, yourself. Where are you, and what is this text that you no longer have a job?” Reena was on high alert, as always.
Nimita sighed. “There was—it was a whole thing. They let me off in Hawaii. As soon as I get a flight, I’m coming to San Diego.” She let that hang between them.
“You’re coming home?”
Well, San Diego was not her home, not really.
She had never lived there, but when Reena and her husband, Hiral, bought a house there, they’d designated one of the rooms as hers.
Nimita needed it now. And not just because she was out of a job.
She had plans she needed to set in motion.
She almost said something more, something about wanting to build some bridges, but Reena’s curt tone stopped her.
“I’m coming to San Diego,” Namita repeated instead.
She heard her sister’s heavy sigh. “Your room is ready for you.” She paused. “You have to help with Dad.”
“Of course.” Nimita said it like she hadn’t simply run off three years ago.
“Like it’s that easy.” Reena’s irritated sarcasm came through the phone clearly. Nimita could picture the disappointment in her eyes. Her baby sister was not going to make this easy.
Nimita bit back her retort. Mostly because in her heart, she knew Reena was right. She hadn’t been around for more than a few days here and there to help with their father.
Reena continued, “When will you be here?”
Instead of relief, Nimita was filled with dread. “I’m not sure,” she said, and then kicked herself. She wanted to see her family, to start setting things right. But she was also anxious about it.
“Whatever. Text me your flight info when you figure it out.” A baby cried in the background.