Jana kept her weight on her right foot and looked down, seeing two things. One, the cork wedge heel on her left shoe had come clean off. She wasn’t hurt, but her shoe certainly was. And two, there was a mound of dried, fibrous dung in front of her. Shehadn’t actually fallen into elephant poop; she’d only tripped on it and fell into dirt.
Didn’t feel like much of a consolation now, though.
“She doesn’t need the man with the gun,” Mom said. “Her ex-husband is right here. Anil can carry her. It will be like their wedding night!” She then looked at Farzana Aunty standing next to her. “They are still close, you know. You saw the picture from the airplane!”
Jana closed her eyes. She was frozen. Speechless. Standing on one foot. Near elephant poo.
Kamila and Rohan had arrived at her commotion by now. In fact, pretty much everyone was here. Staring at Jana and yelling suggestions. She even heard someone say that there was an old Sanskrit proverb that said falling in elephant excrement at a wedding meant you would be the next to marry. Jana doubted that proverb existed. The aunty was probably trying to make Jana feel better. Or Jana’s mother feel better.
By then, Jana had been standing on one foot for too long. She started to stumble again, but Anil had his hand on her arm in a second.
“It’s okay, Jana. Lean on me,” he said softly. Kindly.
She did. She had no choice. She couldn’t hear anything but her heart pounding in her ears. All her blood had swished down to her feet.
“I can get you out of here,” Anil whispered in her ear. “Will you let me help you?”
She didn’t want to think, so she just nodded.
“It’s okay…I’m going to take her to the…”Anil paused.
“The Land Cruiser!” Kamila yelled. “Elsie hid flats for the whole brigade in there!”
If there were flats in the vehicle, why were they all still in these damn wedges?
Jana sighed, still leaning on Anil for support.
“Let’s get you those shoes,” Anil said. In one swift motion, Anil lifted Jana into his arms and started walking toward the Land Cruiser as the crowd parted in front of him like the Red Sea.
Jana had been carried like this by Anil before. In London. When he dropped her on the bed there, he proceeded to peel off her clothes. She hoped he couldn’t hear her heart racing now.
He was still so strong. She pressed against his warm, firm chest. Her face was near his neck—and the scent of his sandalwood cologne was all she could focus on. She felt like she was floating. At one point, he stumbled a tiny bit—as Jana had already established, the ground was unstable—and he tightened his grip on her at the same moment she squeezed her arms around his shoulders.
When he got to the Land Cruiser, he set her down gently, and Jana supported herself against the vehicle while he opened it. She climbed in, and he followed her and closed the door before she could stop him.
And then they were alone in the eight-seat safari vehicle. Jana ignored the large man and the vivid memories and climbed into the rear row of seats, reaching behind into the trunk space to the large duffel bags stashed there. One of these should have the shoes in them. And maybe a change of clothes, because she couldn’t be sure there was no trace of poop in the dirt her butt had landed in. Thankfully, elephant dung had no smell. She found a towel and some baby wipes in a bag, but no clothes.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Anil asked. He’d sat on the seat directly in front of her. The scent of his subtle cologne was now filling the air inside the vehicle.
“I’m fine. I’m not hurt,” she said, still rooting around in the trunk. She didn’t even care that she was giving Anil a prime view of her rear end. It was probably covered with dirt, anyway.
“I don’t mean physically.”
“I’m mortified,” Jana said. “And a little disgusted.”
He turned so he was sideways in his seat and could face her. “I know you don’t like crowds. And…”His voice trailed. Jana knew what he was thinking—he didn’t need to finish the sentence.
Another memory from their past—the first time she saw Anil as more than just charm, charisma, and personality. The first time he’d rescued her when she’d almost had a panic attack in the middle of a meeting in Dushanbe. She’d been presenting her findings on the plausibility of adding a mental health unit to the medical clinic she was overseeing the opening of, and Anil had come to the meeting with his friend. Jana had presented in meetings many times before that, and she was sometimes nervous, but she usually did fine. But that day there was a man there who was constantly speaking over her, interrupting her and questioning pretty much everything she said. Jana was used to older men disregarding the importance of mental health, but something about his condescending tone and the way he talked down to her, even insulted her intelligence, triggered something. He wouldn’t let up—and she felt so…exposed. Then the room went blurry, her heart started to pound, and Jana could no longer speak. She bolted out the door, and Anil followed her. She’d talked to him a handful of times since he’d arrived in town a few days earlier, and she’d thought he was handsome but kind of annoying. Basically, he was way too…much. In fact, she remembered thinking Kamila would love the guy.
But he sat with her and helped her calm down. He asked her about her idea. He even helped her flesh out her research into a workable plan. They continued talking about it for the next few days, and she realized that Anilwascharm, charisma, and personality, but he was also intelligent, forward-thinking, and committed to the same issues as she was. And hevaluedJana’s knowledge and experience. She presented an actual plan that could be implemented in a similar meeting a few days later, this time anticipating the annoying man’s objections, making it so ironclad that no one could say no. All while Anil sat with the others, smiling at her reassuringly, and giving her strength. At the time, it felt like Anil had rescued her.
And now he’d rescued her from an overwhelming situation once again. She hated that seeing him now had dusted off all the albums in her mind of the past.
“Anil, please.” She found the shoes. They were in little fabric drawstring bags, each with a bridesmaid’s name on it. The simple cream flats were exactly her size. She laid the towel down on her seat and sat to change shoes. Then she opened the baby wipes. Anil didn’t say anything as she fruitlessly attempted to clean the dirt and pili pili sauce off her dress.
“If you’re worried I’m mad about what your mother said, I’m not,” he finally said. “I gathered she was stretching the truth a bit to her friends…Three aunties have already asked me to talk to their children about how to divorce properly.” He smiled, but it was a different smile. Not cocky. Not fake. Personal. Real.
She’d been keeping Mom’s lie from him since they’d gotten here, and he already knew? “I’m sorry. I tried to get her to stop.”
