Dan continued, “I talk to her almost every day, my dad once or twice a week, and my brother mostly via text.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk that much about your brother.” I handed Dan two bowls that he filled with steaming hot curry. “You’ve mentioned him a few times, and I’ve seen pictures.”
“When you broke into my flat?” he teased.
“Tell me about your brother, smart-ass.” I placed the two bowls of curry on the table and seated myself. Dan joined me a moment later with two small bowls of rice.
“What’s there to say?” he said with a sigh. “Sanjeet is great. He’s the best brother a guy could ask for. He’s smart, funny, marginally handsome…” He chuckled. “He’s a doctor, which made my dadvery happy, and he’s engaged to a doctor who is also the daughter of family friends, which made my mother very happy.”
“Why do you say it like that?” I put my spoon down and turned to face him.
“I didn’t mean to make it sound so depressing.” He swirled his spoon in his bowl, scooped up a potato, and dropped it back into the broth. “I’m really happy for my brother. Sometimes I look at his life and it makes me wonder.”
“Wonder what?”
“What if I’d followed in my father’s footsteps? Became a doctor, got married…”
The thought of Dan married to a stranger made my stomach give an involuntary lurch.
“But you didn’t want to be a doctor.” I covered his hand with mine and gave him a small smile. He met my eye and returned my smile.
“No, I didn’t.”
“So if you’d become a doctor when you really wanted to be a horticulturist, that would have made for a miserable marriage.”
“Probably.” His smile widened.
“Also, most likely not good for your patients.”
“Definitely not.”
He huffed out a mirthless chuckle and we returned to our dinner. The silence was suffocating, and I was desperate to lighten the mood.
“So are you excited about the wedding?”
“Actually, yeah. I’m excited for my brother. Mita is amazing, and I have no idea what she sees in him.” His beard twitched and his smile made me relax. “There’ll be days of parties, food, and dancing.”
“It sounds like fun.”
“Oh, yeah, until the aunties and uncles start in. ‘Why aren’t you married? Why don’t you own a house? You don’t want to wait too long before you start having children.’”
“That sounds like my family, too. My father’s side of the family is huge. Every time there’s a family gathering, all of the grown folks spend most of their time bragging about their children and belittling everyone else’s. I always felt like I was in this unspoken competition with my cousins. Who had the best grades, the most scholarships, the most awards. I was usually ‘the winner’”—I sketched air quotes—“and that comes with its own set of stressors. I always felt like I had no idea what I was doing, yet had to pretend that I did. It was like I was a passenger in a car and someone else was driving. My whole life was laid out for me, and I wasn’t even sure if it was what I wanted, but it made my parents happy and Teddy happy and…” My heart thudded when I mentioned Teddy’s name. I shot a glance at Dan, but he didn’t react negatively.
“Can’t relate, love,” he said with a smirk. “I did everything wrong. I followed my heart and chose a career that made me happy instead of wealthy. I chose a girl because I liked spending time with her and not because she had the qualities of a good wife.” Something small and green twisted in my chest at the thought of Dan liking spending time with someone else. I wanted to ask about her but couldn’t think of a way to ask that wouldn’t make me sound insecure or nosy.
“Isn’t that how life is supposed to work?”
“I’m not so sure.”
“So what happened?” I helped myself to another spoonful of curry, not meeting his eye. “To the girl? Is that why you moved here?”
“You want to hear about my ex-girlfriend?” He shot me a curious expression.
“I mean, if you want to share.” My heart was racing, but I fought to keep my emotions in check.
“It’s a very long and complicated story, but we were together for ten years. I loved her very much and I thought she loved me, but things aren’t always what they seem, and people aren’t always who you think they are. And to answer your second question, yes, our breakup is a large part of how I ended up in the States.”
“So you ran away from home?”
