Chapter Sixteen
“Sonia, are you awake?” Beau whispers into my ear.
“No.” I hope that’ll be enough to make the voice go away and let me sleep. At some point during the night, we changed positions, so I woke up the little spoon with Beau curled around me.
This position isn’t bad either. And I’d like to get back to enjoying it, but the owner of the body has other ideas. And is being real vocal about it.
“You sound awake.”
I bury my head deeper into the pillow. “I’m sleep talking. Now let me go back to putting emphasis on the sleep part of that sentence.” My voice is muffled by the fabric.
“Are you sure?”
I sigh. I don’t think I’m getting back to sleep. “Is this a farm thing? Do you always get up with the sun? There’s no land to till or cows to milk here, I promise.”
“Cute. I actually have a lunch meeting and I didn’t want to leave without saying bye.”
“Oh. Well. Bye.” I raise my neck to get a kiss, eyes still closed. I get the kiss and then I feel a rush of cold to my back when Beau gets out of the bed. I bury my head back into my pillow and Beau pulls the covers back over me, tucking me back in. They still have some of his warmth, so it’s a little bit of a consolation. But only a little.
“Are you still going to be able to make it tonight?” I mumble in the direction I think he’s in, my eyes still closed.
“I wouldn’t miss it.” He drops another kiss on my lips and gets dressed in last night’s clothes. I go back to sleep—what every sane person should be doing before eight a.m. on a Saturday.
I wake up to the sound of my elevator doors opening. I sit up in bed and eye the Tiffany lamp on my bedside table, prepared to weaponize it, history be damned, before I hear my cousin’s voice.
“I hope there’s no horizontal shenanigans going on. It would be super awkward to see my cousin naked and getting it on. I’d have to charge her for years of therapy. With the best, and probably most expensive, therapist in Manhattan,” Priya yells as she stomps up my stairs.
“Leave the woman and her sex life alone, Riya. She deserves her privacy.” My cousin-in-law’s voice comes after in a more appropriate inside volume. And further away.
“You’ve only been married to an Indian woman for a short amount of time, or you’d realize how ridiculous you sound right now.” Priya lectures her husband while continuing her march to harass me.
She sails in through my bedroom door, ignoring the fact that I am indeed naked in bed, albeit not having any shenanigans, horizontalorvertical. Or somewhere in between like last night on the dresser.
“I tried, Sonia.” Gavin is right outside the door, but he has his hands over his eyes like a family member who understands boundaries. “I’ll make some chai.” He goes back down the stairs.
Priya rolls her eyes. “Mom just taught him how to make proper chaiand he’s proud of himself. He’s been making me chai all week. Even more cups thanIcan reasonably drink in one day.” Priya marches into my closet and throws some clothes at me. “Get dressed. We’ve got last minute seating chart details to go over.”
“There are labor laws that prohibit you from invading my home on a Saturday.”
Priya scoffs. “Hah! You’re salaried. And you have no union, which you should get, immediately. Plus you’re family. But I don’t think they make unions for family.” She holds up the spare key I gave her...for emergencies.
I curse the bad decisions that led me to this point but get dressed.
“Where’s the peachperson?” Priya, lacking any attempt at subtlety, snoops through the room, including spots too small to hold a human person. Like in my underwear drawer.
“He’s not here.” Technically the truth.
“What? Noooo.” She peeks in the bathroom; in case I would lie to her. Which I would. But I’m not this time.
“Because he had to leave earlier this morning to do some business things.” Okay, so I don’t let her suffer long.
“Yes!” Priya does a victory dance. Awkwardly. Because that’s what happens when you spend too much time studying like a nerd and not enough time cutting loose in the club.
“He’s also leaving next week.”
“There are planes. Trains exist. Automobile if you’re desperate and you have the time. Could put on an audiobook, get road trip snacks...”
Clothes on, I abandon the intensity behind me and go down the stairs, ignoring the fact that I deserve this after how I pushed her at Gavin.
