Chapter Thirteen
Nimita fell into a routine where she would bring Finn to walk with Molly.
She really enjoyed the woman’s company and couldn’t remember the last time she had made a connection like this that felt like a real friendship.
Molly was funny and smart, and she could not stop moving.
Nimita could not remember the last friend she had made.
She certainly had not planned on making friends here in PB.
She had been more focused on repairing her relationship with Reena.
But Molly was light and fun, and it was nice to spend time with someone who didn’t know anything about what Nimita’s past looked like.
So yeah, Nimita was making friends and had reached out to her old boss. Baby steps, but maybe she was getting her life back together.
“You’ve never traveled?” Nimita asked Molly. It seemed so unlikely, the young woman was vibrant and so full of life. It was Saturday, and Molly did not have to rush off to school, so they lingered on the walk with Finn.
Molly shook her head. “I mean we moved here. But that was it.” They passed a small fair on the beach that had rides. Her face lit up, and she grabbed Nimita’s arm. “Come on. I’ve never been on these rides.”
“What?” Nimita allowed herself to be dragged, Finn running alongside. Molly approached the amusement park and stopped.
“I don’t know what to do first.” She looked like a child at a fair. It occurred to Nimita that Molly actually was a child at a fair.
“You have seriously never been on these rides?” Nimita asked.
“I have never been on any rides,” Molly said. “I wasn’t allowed.”
“Why not?”
Molly kept her focus on the amusement park and shrugged. “Strict family.”
“Really?”
“Oh my god. Yes, really. They never let me do anything.”
“Why?”
She sighed as she continued to look longingly at the rides. “I was…fragile as a kid. Bruised easily, broke some bones.”
“But you’re all grown up now. And they’re not here.”
Molly grinned at her. “I knew I liked you.” She glanced at the roller coaster. “Come on. There’s no line. We can tie Finn right here, he won’t mind waiting outside.” She pointed to the small booth where the operator stood.
Nimita looked up. The ride, the Giant Dipper, appeared to be a bit rickety, but wasn’t that the fun of it? She tied up Finn and followed Molly.
The roller coaster was about forty-five seconds long, but Molly was thrilled to pieces. “That was the most terrifying and exhilarating thing I’ve ever done. Again!”
They checked that Finn was okay, and they went again. Then they did the spinning cups and the train. They rode the rides until Finn started getting antsy and the crowd got denser. Molly talked about nothing else the rest of the walk back to her place.
“I’ll come by in the evening?” Nimita asked.
Molly nodded her enthusiasm. “Please do!”
Her phone buzzed as she walked back to the house.
Reena’s face showed up on her screen. Her sister was at the office today, and Naya was at daycare.
“Where are you?” Reena demanded.
“On my way back from dog walking.” Nimita kept her voice even. Any joy she’d had with Molly completely evaporated.
“Papa has an appointment today. Like right now. The office just called me wondering why he isn’t there.”
Damn it! With the amusement park and hanging out with Molly, Nimita had forgotten that she was supposed to take Papa in today. “Oh. Shoot. I’m sorry. I’m on my way.”
“Don’t bother. You won’t make it.” Reena didn’t sound annoyed, she sounded disappointed. Which felt, somehow, even worse. “I rescheduled for tomorrow. They had a cancellation. I thought I could count on you. I thought this time would be different.”
“It is. It will be. I really am sorry, Reena.”
“You always are.”
So much for getting her life together.
* * *
“We’re going to need a new rule for guys’ trip,” Vishal announced.
“No meeting women on the guys’ trip,” Karan said.
Roshan shook his head at them. “What?”
“You are clearly in love—”
“Whoa. No one said love. I was with her for five days. We argued the first two.” Roshan waved them off. They were the best five days and the first two might have been his favorite. “I don’t even know where she lives.”
Vishal looked up from his phone, a grin on his face. “What if you knew where she lived? Or at least where she was right now?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Roshan said. “It wasn’t real.
” And did he really need to bring someone into his world?
He played off like Simmy hadn’t mattered, but she did.
And she wasn’t a bad person, she just never understood his relationship with his family.
It might not be the healthiest relationship, but he loved them, and it was what he had.
He couldn’t imagine bringing Nimita into his world only to have her leave as well.
Saying goodbye this time had been hard enough.
“What if she lived in San Diego? In PB, even?”
Roshan shrugged. “That’s not even possible.” No way did this amazing woman actually live in the same city as him. He wasn’t that lucky.
“Oh really,” Karan drawled. Roshan turned to see Vishal and Karan grinning like idiots, looking at Vishal’s phone. “You’re going to want to see this.”
Roshan rolled his eyes. Probably some surfing video that detailed how he was doing it wrong.
“No seriously.” Karan was insistent. “Look.” He turned the phone toward him. Vishal had his Instagram open, and Roshan’s sister had posted a pic of herself, Finn and none other than Nimita. The caption read me, my dog and my new friend.
His heart dropped. What in the…? Nimita and Malini were hanging out? With Finn? How was that even…? That meant Nimita was in San Diego. In Pacific Beach.
“Bruh. It’s a sign,” Karan insisted.
Roshan stared at the photo. Even through the photo, she calmed him. He wanted that feeling—he needed that feeling—of home. “I’m going home. Now,” he told his friends.
Within a few hours, Roshan was on a plane, barely able to contain his excitement. What were the chances that Nimita lived in San Diego? And that Malini had already met and liked her enough to post about it?
Maybe Karan was right, and there were signs the universe gave.
Maybe he should have told Nimita how he felt before she left.
Maybe he should have insisted on knowing where she lived.
He had no idea how she would even take this.
Maybe she wouldn’t be happy to see him, since she had her own things to sort out.
He only knew he had to find out. He had to know if she felt the same, if she wanted to investigate whatever this was between them.
Roshan’s plane landed, and he took an Uber home. His heart thudded in his chest, just knowing she was in the same town. He would go home first and then text Nimita. Or maybe he should text her now. In any case, he wanted to drop off his bags and change before he saw her.
The Uber dropped him off at his house. Malini was at work, Finn was at the sitter, the house was quiet, almost still.
Tidy, for sure but almost…sparse. Was Malini redecorating?
What if she fell off a ladder or… He stopped his spiral.
He was too excited about seeing Nimita to really think more about the state of the house.
He sent a text to the dog walker and hopped in the shower.
By the time Roshan had changed, the dog walker had responded. Roshan grabbed his sunglasses and headed out.
* * *
The sun was high in the sky, with little cloud cover, so it was definitely warm enough to be out on the beach. Neha had texted Nimita that the owner had come home early and was on their way to pick up Finn.
Instead of excitement, Nimita was sad that she would no longer have the opportunity to play with the sweet dog. She took him for a well-deserved swim in the ocean, followed by some Frisbee catch.
Maybe she should get a dog. Reena would freak out, though.
Nimita chuckled at the face Reena would make if she brought a puppy home.
Maybe when she got her own place. She’d been daydreaming about that more and more, a place of her own.
Maybe even here in San Diego. It felt right.
She smiled to herself. Maybe she could even convince Molly and her roommate to let her continue being Finn’s dog walker for a while.
She pulled out her phone to text Roshan about this little epiphany she’d had. She kept doing that, wanting to tell him about her day. But she could not. She and Roshan had ended things. To be fair, she had done her darnedest to prevent anything from even starting.
She’d never admit it out loud, but she had failed in that area. She had tried not to catch feelings, she really had. But the ache in her heart advertised that failure to her. Precisely at times like this when she automatically thought to share something with him.
Finn brought the Frisbee to her and plopped down next to her on the towel she had spread out.
Her phone was still on the towel. She could text him.
Telling him she was ready for a home of her own wasn’t clingy, right?
She wasn’t saying she wanted to move to his city, after all.
She was just sharing with him her growth that she was ready to really be here for her family.
It was the kind of thing that was shared with a best friend. She could take that risk. She stared at her phone, second-guessing herself.
The timing was wrong. She needed to figure out her life before she let someone else in on her calamity.
She leaned back on her hands and lifted her face to the sky, eyes closed, and let herself get lost in the warm ocean breeze.
That wasn’t really it. She was just scared.
Scared to put herself out there and have him reject her.
Plain and simple, she was afraid of being turned down.
Her phone dinged.
She opened one eye to check the alert, and she froze. Her heart may have skipped a beat—or two—as well. Almost as if she had conjured it, Roshan’s name appeared on her phone. He had texted her.