Asha waved her hand.
“This is so messed up,” Kamila said, getting angrier as she thought about all their interactions over the last few weeks. “The things he said to Jana! That stupid game of Never Have I Ever! And he drew me into it, too. I need to apologize to her. He was using me to get back at her or something. Ugh. Here we were for weeks thinking we were all friends…Poor Jana. Anil is the same as the rest of them. I don’t want to do that big party for his incubator thing on Saturday anymore. Or take his organization as a long-term Emerald client.”
Kamila bit her lip. That didn’t matter anyway. Emerald, as it was now, wasn’t going to exist much longer.
“I’m profoundly disappointed in them both,” Asha said.
“No, not Jana.” Kamila shook her head. “I mean, she’s the same old Jana—snooty, condescending, and kinda crabby—but I have no doubt Anil manipulated her. Hewantedme to think Jana had an affair with her boss, when it was him the whole time! What a complete dingus! How could he say those things to the mother of his child? He’s the utter worst…He makes Octopus Dane seem like a saint.” Kamila slouched in her seat. “I’m so done with men right now. All of them.” She took a gulp of her drink.
“You’re welcome to join our team,” Nicole offered.
“I tried that in college. It was quite lovely, but it didn’t take.” She took another gulp. A long one. She looked at Potato playing next to her. Why couldn’t people be more like dogs? Dogs never had secrets or ulterior motives. Nothing but complete, earnest devotion. She wiped an errant tear that had escaped.
Asha said softly, “Kamila, what happened earlier tonight?”
Kamila exhaled. “Other men have been lying to me, too.”
“Rohan?”
Asha knew her. She knew few people could upset her this much.
Kamila sighed. “Not just Rohan. Dad too. I don’t even know how to think about what they told me tonight.”
She told Asha and Nicole everything. The fact that Dad had been planning for months to sell his HNS shares and close Emerald. The fact that this plan was already in the works when Kamila made the deal with him to take on Anil’s account so Dad would go part-time. All that had been just a “placate Kamila” project—they didn’t care if she could secure the Aim High project or not. They just wanted to shut her up so they could continue to close Emerald without telling her. And they assumed she would be happy about it.
They hadn’t trusted her to know what she wanted with her own life.
Asha was as shocked as Kamila had been. “I’ve seen how dedicated you are to Emerald! To everything you do.”
“Yeah, well, apparently the men in my life think I’m a flighty, frivolous, worthless nothing.” She exhaled. “I get it, sort of. Dad has a lot of guilt over how Mom treated me when I was a teenager. He thinks everything I do for Emerald is out of loyalty to him. And now he thinks he’s releasing me from that burden. The worst part…” Kamila sniffled. “The worst part is Dad ishappy. He’s really happy. He’s healthy, and his stress is low. I wanted him to go part-time, but maybe an early retirement is even better. I never imagined he’d be willing to do this, but it could be great for him. How can I be upset?”
“Kamila, you have every right to be upset. They should have discussed this with you. They should have asked you what you wanted,” Nicole said.
Kamila shrugged.
“This is just like men of his generation,” Asha said. “Always underestimating their daughters. It’s why I barely speak to my own father. Your dad should be giving Emerald to you, not closing it. Are you sure you don’t want to work at HNS?”
Kamila shook her head. “Absolutely sure. I hated it when I worked there before. Not all the associates there are men, but most are. I’m just not interested in working in a vat of testosterone…I’d rathernothave to fight to be heard every moment of my day. And I love Emerald. I just helped Ink Girls secure that loan to open a new location, and Maricel and I are ready to start submitting grant applications for her puppy school.” Ugh. She couldn’t imagine Maricel or any of her clients going downtown to the financial district to meet with their accountants. “The worst part is Rohan. He…” She looked down at her hands. “Maybe everything he did for me and Dad was just so he could get Dad’s HNS shares.”
“I don’t think that’s true, Kamila. Rohan’s the person you were talking about earlier, right?”
Kamila nodded.
“And that kiss a few weeks ago wasn’t as meaningless as you claimed it was?” Asha asked softly.
“Wow, wait,” Nicole said, eyes wide. “You and Rohan kissed. Like,kissedkissed?”
Kamila snorted through her tears. Man was she glad she’d come here. She looked at Asha. “Do you and your wife ever talk when you’re alone?”
Asha shrugged. “We’re newlyweds. We mostly have sex when we’re alone. So, you finally admit you have feelings for Rohan?”
Kamila sighed. “Yes. But…it’s one-sided. Even if he cared about me, he doesn’tseeme, not really, or he wouldn’t have done this. He was just tolerating whatever ‘kooky Kamila’ did next.Ikissed him…twice…He’s never initiated anything. I call him more than he calls me. He’s never even invited me to his condo. Jana has been there, but not me. He doesn’t care, not like I do.” She wiped her eyes and took another sip of her wine.
“And what about you?” Asha said. “Are you sure? Are you really in love with him?”
Kamila closed her eyes. She remembered a few hours ago, when she’d wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him. She remembered the way she could just look at his face and be three hundred times happier. How hard she worked to get him to smile. How comfortable she was sleeping wrapped in his arms. She remembered his forearms, and his low chuckles while they made momos together. Her delight at seeing him in his bed when she’d video called late at night. And she remembered his mouth all over her body.
This wasn’t a new thing. She’d always loved him. But something changed in the last month. She’dfallen in lovewith him. And Kamila didn’t know what to do with that.
