Chapter Twenty-Two
Nimita was back on the beach in Hawaii, Roshan by her side. She was light and happy. He pulled her to him and leaned down, his mouth millimeters from hers—
“Didi! Wake up!” Reena burst into her room.
Nimita sat up as Roshan’s kiss melted away with the beach and her dream. Her heart thudded from being awakened so abruptly. “What?” Did Reena just call her Didi?
“The hospital called. Papa is short of breath and…and…something. One of us needs to get there now, and I have Naya and—”
Nimita was already up and throwing on leggings and a T-shirt. “Okay. I’m going. Can I take your car?” She headed for the bathroom. Reena followed.
“Yes. Hiral is still sleeping from being on overnight,” Reena said. “The nanny should be here by nine, then I’ll take a cab to join you.”
“Don’t worry,” Nimita said around her toothbrush. “I’ll take care of it and call if I need you.” She stared at her sister who was standing next to her in the bathroom. “I have to pee.”
“Right.” Reena nodded and left.
Twenty-five minutes later, Nimita was through the double doors of the cardiac ward.
She entered his room and found a technician rapidly typing away on a laptop.
She took in her father before she leaned over the tech’s shoulder.
He was making adjustment to settings on the pacemaker in her father’s chest.
“The settings were off?” Nimita said as she read the screen.
The tech gave her a once-over.
“I used to work on these,” she told him and turned back to the screen. “If you adjust this…” She pointed to the screen and guided the technician through the fix.
“Thanks,” he said as he packed up his laptop thirty minutes later. “This was actually helpful.”
“Just making sure my dad’s pacemaker is working.” Nimita nodded.
“You’re a natural,” her father said to her once the tech had left.
She turned to him. He still looked pale, but with the pacemaker working properly now, he should be feeling better soon.
“Oh, I don’t know about that.”
“I do. You always loved taking things apart to see how they worked. Then you figured out how to get it back together.”
He was right, of course. She had really loved her job as a biomedical engineer. Every day was a new challenge, and she had thrived on it. “Well, I applied for jobs in the area, Papa.”
Her father beamed. “Fantastic. Tell me where you applied and who got back to you.”
She sat down next to him and told him everything. “Once I get a job, I’m going to buy my own place,” she told him. “And I was thinking, Reena got to have you all this time, maybe it’s my turn now. Would you maybe want to come live with me?”
“Have you discussed this with Reena?”
“No. I wanted to see if that was something you wanted first. If it is, I’ll talk to her,” Nimita said.
“I would like that very much, Beti,” he said.
Her phone rang. Reena. She tapped it on and put it on speaker. “All is well,” she said.
“I’m okay, thanks to your sister,” her father said. “You should have seen her, telling the technician how to fix my pacemaker.”
“Okay,” Reena sighed. “I have some calls this morning—”
“Take your time, Reena,” Nimita said. “I’m here.”
There was a pause and then Reena spoke. “Yes. Yes, you are.”