“I’m glad to listen,” he replied with another kiss. “Where should we eat today?”
“Let’s go to the Blue Shoal Inn. I miss it today more than ever. I need to go there—it feels like I’m closer to Dad. He used to come to the inn every couple of weeks to have lunch. I thought at the time that he was doing it to check on the inn, but now I know he wanted to see me. I’d do the same thing for Camden if I lived closer to her.”
“I need to talk to you about something before we go,” Andrew said.
Taya leaned against her desk and crossed her arms. “Shoot.”
Andrew paced to the wall and back again. It piqued Taya’s curiosity — she’d never seen him so unnerved. It must be something serious.
His brow furrowed, and he stopped pacing. “Do you remember our discussion about my wife’s death?”
“Of course.”
“The same people who killed her are harassing my parents.”
“Oh, no. I’m so sorry!”
He shook his head. “They’re getting older, and they’re afraid. There are death threats, and someone broke into their house. It’s escalating.”
“I don’t understand why anyone would do that.”
“It’s about religious differences. As you know, we’re Hindu, and there is another religious group in the area we’re from who take issue with our beliefs. It doesn’t make any sense, but it happens more often than you might think. Anyway, I’ve asked them to move to Australia to live with me, and they’re coming next week.”
Taya blinked. “Wow, really? That’s very sudden.”
He shrugged. “We’ve been planning it for a while.”
But he hadn’t said anything to her about it. Her stomach did a flip. Why had he kept something so big to himself? They’d been dating for over a year, and yet he kept her at arm’s length so much of the time. He rarely opened up about his feelings or what was going on in his life. She had a moment of clarity — when they were together she did most of the talking. How had they gotten this far without her knowing him better?
“Okay, well, I think that’s great. They’ll feel a lot safer on Coral Island.”
“I think so too,” he said. “We’ve already applied for a permanent residency visa, and they’ve received provisional approval.”
“So, you’ve been working on this for a long time, then?”
“Yes, like I said, a while.”
She pressed a smile to her face. “How wonderful.”
“The thing is,” he began, his gaze firmly on the floor, “my parents are very traditional. And they wouldn’t like our relationship.”
“Oh.” Taya’s smile faded. “I see.”
“They’ll be new to this country, afraid, nervous… They’ll take up a lot of my free time. I’d like us to cool things off, until I get everything sorted out. When they’re established and they’re used to the lifestyle and culture here, maybe we can restart where we left off.”
Taya’s heart plummeted into her stomach. Cool things off? “You’re breaking up with me?”
“Temporarily,” he replied, finally meeting her gaze.
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know.” She was numb. Her head spun. She sat with a huff.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Fine, fine. I’ve got to finish this email, though, so I’ll talk to you later this afternoon.”
“I thought you wanted to grab lunch around noon.”
She looked at him, her eyes narrowed. Did he think he could break up with her and then eat a nice lunch together? “Uh, no, not today. Maybe another time. As I said, I have a lot to do.”
