“I’ve just been under a lot of stress,” she added lamely. “With the wedding and everything.”
Shikha turned then, her incisive gaze slicing into her daughter. “With the wedding?” she queried. “The wedding you’ve made zero effort to plan? When I ask for your opinion on arrangements, you shrug and say…wait what was it…oh right…you say ‘whatever.’”
Tani flushed. She took the mug from her mother and sipped, scalding her tongue in the process. “You’re better at this stuff than I am anyway,” she muttered. “I trust your judgement in all of it.”
“Most brides have an opinion on their wedding lehenga, at the least,” Shikha snapped.
“I don’t care, Ma,” Tani said. “You choose. You have the best taste.”
Flattery was going to get her nowhere if her mother’s expression was anything to go by.
“What do you want from me, Ma?”
“The truth.” Shikha stepped closer, concern in her eyes as she scanned her daughter’s face. “Do you want to marry Jay, Tani?”
Tani laughed nervously. “What a silly question,” she muttered.
“And one that you’re not answering.” Shikha was giving no quarter this morning. “What the hell is going on, Tani?”
A sound by the door had them both turning. Karam stepped through the front door, smacking his hands together and blowing on them to warm them up.
“What were you doing outside?” Shikha asked in surprise.
“Kabir wanted to borrow my bike to go back. Apparently, his manager has scheduled a surprise festive season performance for them in Mumbai. The band’s flying in today and they need to get some practice in.”
“He’s gone?” Tani asked through numb lips.
Karam nodded. “Yeah.” He noticed her shocked expression and his own softened, “Don’t worry, sweetie. He promised to attend all the wedding functions. Although,” he frowned, “the show is the evening of your wedding so he said he’ll have to leave immediately after it’s over to make it back from Il Cuore in time to perform.”
“I want to live my life, I want to move on, and I can’t do it if you’re around. I need to not be where you are. I need you gone.”
Her words from the previous evening echoed in her head, tangling with the memory that wove through her dream, and his words to her the previous day.
She might be his worst mistake, but even now, Kabir Kashyap was giving her exactly what she asked for.
I need you gone.
Her breath caught as her chest caved in with the weight of her grief and anguish.
“Tani?” Shikha’s sharp question had her looking up at her with dull eyes.
“A wine red brocade,” she said, the words choking her.
“Excuse me?”
“The wedding lehenga…I want a wine red brocade lehenga with a gold choli.”
Shikha’s eyes creased with worry at whatever she saw in Tani’s face. “We’ll go shopping together,” was all she said when she spoke.
Tani nodded, clutching her mug of coffee, and walking out of the kitchen, avoiding her parents’ concerned gazes.
Her phone buzzed in her pajama pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at the display. A single message with just two words.
Goodbye Bug.
CHAPTER 13
KABIR
