Marley continued to stare at him. But then something happened in her eyes. A softening. And then a tiny nod. “Okay. Let’s try. Call Lydia, see if she can convince Reid’s to let me style you from home. I can probably do everything but travel with you. I can get a colleague to bring clothes from the store.”
Nikhil exhaled. There. He’d fixed it. He was going to help her. And she would be helping him, too. This was perfect.
CHAPTER TEN
Marley
Marley was completely, 100 percent positive that this harebrained idea to have Nikhil move in and nurse her through her surgery recovery was beyond ridiculous, but she and Shayne stayed at Nikhil’s family’s house to hammer out a recovery/personal styling plan for the next hour. The excellent chai and dhokla helped. Nikhil then called Lydia and told her that he’d spoken to Marley and that due to a medical leave, she wasn’t able to travel with him, but she could still style him from her home in Toronto. He asked Lydia to call Reid’s and insist that they let Marley work with him while she was away from the store. Of course, Nikhil didn’t tell Lydia what the medical leave was for, or that he would belivingwith Marley for a few weeks.
Nikhil also asked Lydia to send a quick NDA for Shayne, since he said Marley’s roommate might be there when he went to see Marley. He didn’t mention that Shayne already knew everything he needed the NDA for.
The next day, once Jacqueline was in, Marley went straight into her office expecting to have to fight to get the store manager to agree to the plan. But Jacqueline had already heard from Lydia and was on board. Marley walked out of Jacqueline’s office shaking her head in disbelief. The studio must havethrown even more money or promises for future business at Reid’s.
After work, Marley made the long drive to Markham for the second time in two days, this time for dinner with her parents. She hadn’t told them yet that she wasn’t coming back to their place after surgery the next day. When it came to her parents, Marley tended to withhold personal information as long as possible, mostly so she could put off the judgmental comments. And the oversharing.
“What do you mean you’re not staying here anymore? Shayne’s not going to Paris?” her mom said after Marley told them. Mom then looked at Dad. “Oh, Amin, you should call Rozmin. Now we can go to her party on the weekend.”
Marley sighed as she scooped some keema with her rotli. They were in the formal dining room, which was where they ate dinner whenever Marley visited. She had no idea if her parents ate in the kitchen when she wasn’t here… or if they even ate together.
Overall, Marley had an okay relationship with her parents. Mostly. Her biggest issue with them had always been that they were simultaneously very closed off about their lives while also oversharing personal details with others as some sort of social currency. Like, for example, they didn’t tell anyone when Marley came out as bisexual, but they blasted in the extended-family chat group that Marley was going to study fashion merchandising in community college instead of going to university like they wanted her to. Also, when Mom was first diagnosed with breast cancer, Dad insisted that no one in the family be told about it. But then when they found out about the BRCA mutation, suddenly they started telling everyone and even posted any article they could find about AngelinaJolie’s mastectomy on WhatsApp. And they told everyone that Marley was a carrier of the mutation, too.
Marley didn’t tell them much about her life anymore, because she didn’t want the whole world to know everything, but also because she knew she wouldn’t get a whole lot of support anyway. They weren’t quite narcissistic but were definitely more concerned about their own lives and how things affected them than about what their daughter was going through.
Marley often wondered if Mom resented that Marley had learned about her mutation early enough topreventgetting breast cancer. Or if Mom felt guilty that her daughter had to go through all this because of a gene she’d passed on to her. Or… who knew? Talking about hard stuff wasn’t something the Kamal family did.
“No, Shayne’s still going to Paris,” Marley said. “But another friend will be in town for a few weeks and offered to stay with me. This way I won’t have to have Ruby come feed McQueen every day.”
Dad looked skeptical. “Who is this friend? Where does she live?”
“He lives in LA.”
Mom dropped the rotli in her hand. “He! You’re having amantake care of you after surgery? You’re havingbreastsurgery. What will people say?”
Marley raised one brow. “Shayne’s a man… You didn’t have an issue with him taking care of me after surgery.”
“Shayne is gay!” Dad said. He paused. “Is this man gay?”
Marley shook her head. “No, but did you forget that I’m bisexual? By your logic, it would be a scandal for someone of any gender to live with me.” It was exhausting to have to remind her parents about her sexuality so often. It wasn’t thatthey necessarily didn’t accept her—more like it wasn’t important information to keep at the front of their mind.
Mom’s lips were pursed. Marley got that they were old-fashioned and grew up in a different time and place. But did they really think that only someone who had breasts (or who had once had breasts) could take care of someone after a mastectomy?
“I’ll be way more comfortable in my own home with McQueen than here,” Marley said. “And I won’t be a burden on you. I know you guys are busy, too. If you’re able to, you can drive me to my follow-up appointments with the surgeon.”
Mom waved her hand. “Yes, of course.” She frowned, maybe realizing she could keep her busy social life if she didn’t have to take care of her daughter. “I bought you chocolates for after surgery. And I can cook for you, too. Tell me what you want to eat… I can make lasagna? Or do you want biryani? Last week I made paella for the first time, but your father didn’t like it at all. Fifty dollars in seafood, right down the drain. But I invited the neighbors over… Did you know Sherry next door is getting a divorce? She’ll sell her house, I think. She always waters my plants when we go away. I don’t know what I’ll do then.”
Marley sighed. She wasn’t surprised Mom changed the subject to herself.
“You didn’t tell me your friend’s name,” Dad said after a while. “How do you know him?”
Marley frowned. She didn’t think this through. Her parents didn’t really keep up with Hollywood news, but they did keep up with anything having to do with Indians. Marley had no doubt that news that an Indian-Canadian actor had scored such a massive role in a blockbuster movie would have reached them.
“Devin.”
“What?”
She sighed. “His name’s Devin. I’ve known him since college. He lives in… California.”
“He works in tech?” Dad asked.
