“I’m quitting too then,” she says.
“You can’t quit. Your parents will throw a fit if you quit after you spent most of your life in another country away from themforthis job.”
Sonia shrugs. “They made that choice, thinking it would be a good opportunity for me. They can’t get mad that I’m taking whatever opportunities I want.”
Sonia still sounds a little bitter about that, which is fair. I can relate to her a little on the subject of withholding parents. Well, withholding parent; Mom’s great.
Sonia puts more food on my plate, despite me not having finished the amount she initially gave me. “I still can’t believe Chacha would do that. I know he’s stubborn, but I’m genuinely shocked that he doesn’t listen to you more. You’re his best employee.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I say, despite it clearly mattering very much. Mattering so much it’s the reason I spent all day watching TV instead of at work.
“So. Are we going to Sotheby’s or Christie’s? Let me know so I can get a head start hating the other side. And getting the swag made.”
“Don’t do anything yet. And don’t give up anything for me. I might decide to give it all up and go back to school for something else. Maybe I’ll be an accountant this go-around.”
Sonia looks at me in silence for two beats. She’s remembering how much I hated math growing up.
I cave. “Okay. Maybe not that. But there’re plenty of other jobs between accountant and auctioneer.”
“Actor, if we’re working alphabetically.”
I lift my plate back up, picking at the food. I can’t imagine doing anything else but working at an auction house. The ache in my stomach that developed after Dad’s revelations and ending things with Gavin gets deeper at the thought of not doing what I love.
“Now that work is out of the way, should we talk about what else has been happening to you?” Sonia asks.
I know exactly what she wants to know. “There’s nothing to tell. I had a fling. A weeklong fling. And it’s over, which I knew was going to happen from the beginning.”
“That sounds really, really reasonable. But you’re sad about it,” Sonia points out gently. “So I’m not one hundred percent sure that’s accurate.”
“You’re not supposed to bring it up.”
“I’m here for you.” She indicates the food. Which I didn’t even want, it should be noted. “But I’m not going to lie to you. Now why can’t we have the funny, charming, sexy man who is smart and into us?”
“Ew. Royal we.”
“Answer the question, avoiding April.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Sonia stares me down for a solid minute. I don’t know what she’s looking for, but I squirm under the intense gaze.
“Fine. I’ll table it.For now.” The emphasis warns me she isn’t going to let it go forever.
We eat in front of the glow of the TV for a bit. But I can still feel her thinking about how much she wants to interfere.
“It wouldn’t work because we’re enemies,” I say to get ahead of her not being able to control herself.
“Right. But—”
“I know what you’re going to say,” I interrupt her.“But you quit, Priya. You’re just an unemployed person with no auction house to fight for.”I imitate her voice. Not flatteringly, if her scowl is anything to go by.
“That’s a good response I came up with,” the real Sonia says.
“Sure. But it’s really annoying the way everything just works for him, and he skates through life collecting accolades he doesn’t have to struggle for. Doesn’t even work for! Really annoying. Especially when some of us put in eighty-hour weeks.”
“Yes, but—”
“All right. I know he works hard! Harder than Ajay, that’s for sure. And I guess I can’t blame him that he has family support and connections. Oh, and sometimes his dad is very Kabir Gupta about things, too. So I guess he knows a small fraction of what I deal with.”
