Because Sam Uncle looked a hell of a lot like Dr. Lopez, the man who’d interviewed her in Toronto just a few days ago for the job at Think Canada.
Jana felt a hard thud in her chest as she took a step back from the others. She quickly asked her mother to keep an eye on Imani and escaped before the man saw her.
With legs like rubber, Jana rushed down a hallway behind the check-in counter and found a little seating alcove decorated with elephants: Dark chairs carved into elephants. Elephant-print cushions. Even an elephant-print area rug. Jana sat and put her head in her hands, willing her heart rate to return to normal.
This wasn’t possible. How—and, for that matter,why—was Dr. Lopez here?
“Are you all right?” a voice asked.
Jana looked up. Asha and her wife, Nicole, had found the little elephant corner. Perfect. Nicole was an ob-gyn…and while Jana was pretty sure this problem had nothing to do with her vagina, a doctor was a doctor. “Nicole, do the malaria-prevention pills cause hallucinations?”
Nicole frowned, then shone her phone flashlight into Jana’s eyes. “Anything is possible. What are your symptoms?”
Asha looked around the room. “Are you seeing elephants? Because I’m seeing a lot of elephants right now.”
“What about dizzy spells or headaches?” Nicole asked, putting the back of her hand against Jana’s forehead.
“No. I thought I saw someone I knew. But it’s impossible. He lives in Toronto.”
“More than half of us at this wedding live in Toronto,” Asha said. “Who do you think you saw?”
“The executive director for an organization that interviewed me a few days ago.”
Nicole cringed, putting her hand down. “Seriously? Like, a job interview?”
Jana nodded.
“Ouch—that’s awkward,” Asha said, plopping on an armchair with elephants on it. “It really is a small world. I once bumped into my literal next-door neighbor in Istanbul. This is a big resort, though. You can avoid them. If it’s them. Which it probably isn’t.”
Jana shook her head. “Ican’tavoid him. I think it’s Sam Uncle. The uncle with the red-haired aunty.”
Nicole squeezed in next to Asha on her chair.
“Silver Fox Uncle?” Asha asked. “We can find out if it’s him. Kamila had lunch with that uncle and aunty last month.” Asha’s text tone went off then. She checked her phone, then snorted. “Kamila just sent a dick-dick pic again.”
Jana’s eyes widened. “What?” How exactly did she ever think she’d fit in with this group? Were they twelve years old? “She sent you a picture of apenis?”
Nicole laughed. “Not adick, adik-dik. It’s a small antelope native to this area. Kamila and Asha are adults, but they think penis puns are hysterical.”
Asha held up the phone so they could see the picture of the, frankly, adorable Disney-worthy antelope. “Dik-diks are better than dicks, in my opinion. Let me ask Kamila about Silver Fox Uncle.” Asha texted Kamila something, and soon Kamila, and the other two bridesmaids, Shelina and Yuriko, joined them in the tiny elephant room.
“What’s the bridesmaid emergency?” Kamila asked. “Should I get Elsie, too? Do we need another doctor or a lawyer? Because I can grab Jerome or Marc.”
Jana closed her eyes for a second. Did theyallneed to be here? Couldn’t she have her little crisis in private?
There weren’t nearly enough elephant seats for all six of them, so Kamila and Yuriko squeezed on an ottoman while Shelina took the last chair.
“Jana thought she recognized Sam Uncle,” Asha explained. “She thinks he interviewed her for a job. What’s the uncle’s full name?”
Kamila shrugged. “I don’t know. Rohan calls him Sam Uncle. I can ask Rohan.”
Jana shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. It can’t be him. The man wasn’t Indian.”
“Neither is Sam Uncle,” Kamila said. “He’s from Mexico.”
Jana frowned.Crap. Dr. Lopez had told her that his own focus had been Mexican and Central American development. “Why does Rohan call him Sam Uncle if he’s not Indian? Zayan said he used to make parathas and achar for them!”
Kamila gave Jana a sideways look. “He calls himUnclebecause he’s married to Rohan’s aunty. Or theyweremarried, at least. Also, parathas are delicious, so not sure why Sam Uncle isn’t allowed to make them.”
