Chapter Six
Roshan was soaked through. It wasn’t that big of deal, as it was hot, and he was in his bathing trunks. He was simply surprised, maybe even impressed, that Nimita had been able to get Vishal and Karan to do her bidding.
Apologizing to Nimita had been cathartic. Forgiveness would be a bonus, but the apology was what had been required; he’d needed to take responsibility for his own actions. In the process, he hoped that she got some closure on a bad situation.
He dried off and got in the passenger seat of the car. Nimita spared him a glance as Vishal and Karan climbed into the back, still laughing.
They reached Hana, a remote and tranquil town. Many called it the “real Hawaii.” A quick vote and they were headed past Hana toward Hamoa Beach.
She kept flicking her eyes toward him. Already, she seemed more relaxed around him.
“Why do you keep looking at me?” he asked.
“I’m not looking at you.”
“It certainly seems like you are.”
She rolled her eyes. “Side mirrors, again. I’m not a teenage girl trying to get a look at a handsome guy.”
“So you think I’m handsome?” He grinned at her. The fact that she might be attracted to him was…attractive.
“You think you’re handsome. That is more than enough.” She shot a smirk at him but kept her attention on the road, making a tight turn as another car came around the bend. She was calm and cool, but Roshan’s heart was thudding in his throat at the closeness of the car, not to mention her smirk.
“Just answer the question,” he said, forcing his voice to be calm.
She glanced at him and chuckled as she passed her gaze over his hand which was currently white-knuckled against the dashboard. “Well, handsome isn’t everything,” she said quite calmly, but he saw the flush rise into her cheeks. She was flustered. Somehow that felt like a win for him.
She turned her focus back to the road. She didn’t have to admit anything, but a flustered Nimita was downright beautiful.
She effortlessly slowed the car as another driver appeared from nowhere, nearly sideswiping them as it passed. She was calm, cool, collected. It was as if she drove the Road to Hana every day. In spite of himself, he kept being impressed by her.
That was dangerous.
“How many times have you driven this road?”
“Counting today?” She pursed her mouth, and she continued to navigate the curvy road and all the traffic. “Once.”
“What?” he barked out. He hadn’t meant to do so, but what? He wasn’t sure if he was terrified or further impressed. Maybe a little bit of both. “You said you’d done it many times!”
“I said I’d been on the road many times. I’ve been on tours here. So I know what the roads look like and where to go—”
“You said you had experience—”
“As a passenger on a tour,” she said it like this was obvious, as opposed to her actually withholding information.
“But driving this road seems—”
“Challenging?” She smirked at him. “It is. Relax. I’m a really good driver.”
Roshan stared at her. He thought about what his sister would do if he perished on this island. She’d have their parents, but she’d be alone.
“Seriously. My dad took me driving everywhere in the six months leading up to my driver’s exam. Rain, I drove. Blizzard? I drove. Fog, yep. He took me on every sort of terrain possible and made sure we knew how to handle it before we took our license exams. And I did the same for Reena.”
“Oh?” he asked her profile.
Nimita shrugged one shoulder. “I taught her how to drive.” She calmly moved to the side to allow the oncoming car more room. But there was a change in the air, and her expression had hardened. He noticed that the smile was gone from her face.
“Why was that?”
She pressed her lips together like she regretted saying anything. “My dad was…sick,” she stated, matter-of-fact.
“What happened to him?”
She sighed, flicking a quick glance his way. “You don’t have to make conversation with me just because you apologized and I’m showing you all around. We don’t have to be friends.”
He frowned. “I wasn’t trying to be friends. I was… I’m a doctor. I’m just curious.” Though he was curious to know what the deal was with her dad. But she didn’t seem open to it, so he just smiled and mock-shuddered. “Wouldn’t want us to become friends.”
“As long as we’re on the same page.” She cracked a small smile. Silence floated between them again. “What about you, who taught you how to drive?” she asked as they hit a rare patch of wide road.
“I thought we weren’t going to be friends.”
“We’re not, but conversation helps my concentration. And those two are asleep.” She nodded toward the back seat. He turned to see Vishal and Karan sleeping again, their heads tilted toward each other. He grinned and took a picture.
“Those two have always slept like that.” He chuckled. He literally had twenty years of photos to prove it.
“You guys have known each other forever, huh?”
He grinned at the photo. “Since Montessori school. We were four, and all in the same class.” He shrugged.
“You know how kids are. They sit next to each other, they don’t have fears yet.
I remember Vishal coming up to me at snack time.
He sat down in the chair across from me.
He opened his applesauce and started eating.
Then he looked at me and said, ‘I am going to play with you.’ I nodded, and that was that.
We played together at recess. A month or so later, Karan started school in our class.
Vishal and I found him alone on the playground.
We went up to him, and Vishal said, ‘You will play with us.’ We’ve all been best friends ever since.
” He rolled his eyes and took a peek at the back seat.
“Vishal never lets us forget that he was the one who brought us together.”
“That’s a very sweet story. You guys are lucky,” she said quietly, her eyes still on the road. “I remember how close you all were even in high school.”
He nodded at the memories. They’d all been on the soccer team, which he had captained. More than once, Roshan had had to put Vishal on the bench for being reckless. Vishal was never happy about it, but whatever anger he might have had always dissipated quickly.
“Yes. Well, sometimes you have to find your true family,” he murmured.
Nimita tensed. It was subtle given that her gaze never left the road. It was the slight straightening of her neck, the minute lift of her chin and clenching of her jaw, but it was there to see. Even if Nimita did not think she was displaying her pain.
Silence settled between them. Not as tense, not as uncomfortable as before. “I taught myself how to drive,” he said finally.
She made a small noise, perhaps confusion or an invitation to continue.
“My dad took me out one day and showed me the basics of driving in thirty minutes.” He shrugged.
“I did the rest.” He knew that other parents took their kids out driving, made sure they understood everything.
But there had been no time for that. His father was a lawyer, and his mother was in finance.
They’d both worked full-time, and Malini was sick.
She took up whatever time they had left.
It had never even occurred to him to ask either parent for more time, for more anything.
Malini was always the priority. For all three of them.
“Wow,” she said softly.
“Have I finally impressed you?” he joked. The air was too serious. He didn’t want to her ask the next question, which would surely be why?
“Against everything I believe about you, yes. I am impressed.” She glanced at him and chuckled. But something in her face told him that she knew he was holding back and that he wasn’t ready to answer the why.
* * *
“Isn’t that the turnoff for Hamoa?” Roshan asked, and she tutted at him for passenger-seat driving.
“We’re skipping Hamoa Beach for now.” She’d made the decision on the fly. Backtracking to Hamoa later in the day would be better for their drive home. “We’ll go to the Seven Sacred Pools first, have lunch there. There’s some great hiking, then we’ll hit Hamoa on the way home. Sound good?”
Vishal and Karan sat straight up as if they hadn’t been asleep at all and agreed to the plan.
“We’ll be swimming?” Vishal asked.
“It’s more about the hike,” she told him. “The pools are generally closed.”
They all lapsed into comfortable silence.
Roshan was luckier than he even knew. Found family was to be treasured as the rarity that it was.
Nimita had certainly not found it. Not that she didn’t like her family—she loved them.
They just didn’t understand her. Her mother certainly hadn’t.
Her sister obviously didn’t. Her father…
Well, he had his own issues. MS took precedence over everything.
Her foi—her father’s sister—and her family had lived across the country when they were growing up.
Her cousins were a good deal younger than her, adorable as they were.
Her mom had been an only child. Her grandparents had lived and died in India, and Nimita had only seen them a handful of times.
Family was…hard. And Nimita had found that making connections outside the family was even harder.
When they arrived, Nimita reapplied her sunscreen and noticed that the guys followed suit. They walked for a bit until they hit the first waterfall.
“This place is…” Roshan looked around. The trails were somewhat challenging, but the falls took his breath away. He couldn’t see where they began, but one waterfall seemed to cascade into another, each dumping into the most beautiful pools. Hence the Sacred Pools. He had no words.
“I know, right?” she said softly, almost in reverence. The sound of water crashing into the river was sweet music to her ears. The scent of fresh dirt and grass was thick in the air, and the water spray was cooling.
Nimita was enjoying herself and relaxing into their company.
Maybe they were enjoying hers. Maybe…she wasn’t completely a lost cause.
* * *