Chacha shakes his head. “We don’t have the resources. Not when we’re trying to break into other areas of art.” He guilts me by reminding me he only just agreed to let Priya do what she wants. And I don’t want to ruin that for her.
“Fine. I won’t do it again.”
“Good.” Chacha pats my knee. “You won’t have time for it anyway, with your new position.”
The one that I’m trying to avoid. But Chacha leaves before I can respond, the second man to cause strife in my life in the past half hour and then abandon me at this table. I stare blankly at the table, not having the emotional capacity to deal with either man or their news right now.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Priya sits down next to me. My eyes fly to her face instinctively, breaking my staring contest with the tablecloth. The eyes staring back at me are open wide in question. When the eyes don’t get a response, the mouth joins in.
“Are you okay? What happened? You look like Gavin stole your client from under you. Wait, did he? Do you want me to take him out?”
The question gets a laugh from me. However small it is. Because no matter how much Priya loves Gavin, she would definitely give him an earful if she thought he was interfering in Loot. I don’t know how their dynamic is going to change when the auction houses finally complete the merger, but I would put money on them still arguing over who brings in the biggest sales numbers.
And this is the healthiest relationship in my life. No wonder there’s no hope for me.
“No. It’s not Gavin. It’s Beau.” I gesture to the entrance, which is, more importantly, also an exit, sobering with the move. “And Chacha.”
“What happened?” Priya kneels carefully in front of me to take my hands. I start to tear up as it hits me that he’s gone, and I raise my head in an attempt to keep the tears inside my eyes. No one else needs to know that I’m affected, thank you very much.
Priya, showing that brutal efficiency that makes her the best in the business, stands and drags me through the curious crowd, dodging all questions, comments, and columns in our way. Before I know what’s happening, I’m in a quiet office off to the side of the event space.
In record time, Priya has me in a chair with a glass of wine in one hand and a samosa in the other. “Now tell me what’s happened?” she asks as she closes the door, muting the revelry and music from the party.
“He’s gone. Which he was always going to do anyway. So I don’t even know why I care? It’s just cut a few days out of the time we had together. And he asked me if I wanted to come with him but how would that even work? Is it bring your own horse, or will one be provided? And can I opt out of horse-related activities?”
Priya lets me ramble it out, nodding along even though I know I’m getting more absurd with each point.
“You make many good, many horse-related points,” she says. “But are you sure you want to turn down his offer?”
“I don’t know,” I wail, now glad that there’s a loud party happening behind the door. A hiding in plain sight kind of thing. “And it’s too late anyway.”
“Well, it’s never too late. Unless you wait twenty years. Then it may be too late. But I saw Beau at the beginning of this party, so I think we’re in the window. It just depends on what you want. He lives far from your home, so that’s something to consider. But you seem really cut up with him gone.” She shakes her head. “You have to do what feels right for you.”
“I don’t know what that is.”
I can’t unlearn how it felt to watch my parents’ plane fly away from me again and again. And then after airports stopped letting visitors go all the way to the gates, I only got to watch them walk away slowly, and then stand in a long, anticlimactic security line. Watch them creepily from the distance as they took their shoes off.
Why would I sign up to let someone else do that to me? But the heavy stone in my stomach contradicts me, making me think that it’s already happened. That I already care for Beau. And I just had to watch him walk away from me. Despite not being at an airport, all the same emotions came rushing to the forefront.
“And Chacha offered me a new department. But that’s just more people who can disappoint me and who I can disappoint. I don’t want the responsibility.”
“Oof. Poor timing.”
“And he told me I couldn’t do the interior decorating I was doing with Beau.”
“What interior decorating thing? Is this something you want to do?” Priya shifts to work at lightning speed.
“It doesn’t matter. There aren’t enough resources.”
“Now hold up on that—”
“I need to leave.” I stand up, interrupting. I don’t want to talk about work now.
Priya follows suit. “Alright. I’ll just tell Mom we’re leaving, and we can go to your place or mine. Or an ice cream shop, or a pizza place. Or both. We can even go to the less good cheesecake place you like best. Whatever you want.”
I’m already shaking my head at her. “Stay. You love this and someone has to keep an eye on Gavin.” I raise my eyebrows, trying to give her a meaningful look. With the tears it probably looks sad, but I tried.
“I’m not leaving you alone right now.” The only thing that could stop her from being obsessed with work is her deep loyalty to the family she loves.
