She mimed locking her lips. “I have that kind of face. People tell me things.”
“That must be it.”
They walked quietly for a moment. “You have a nice little family now.”
“Yes. I’m glad Adil Uncle could come live with us. I didn’t see him much when I was growing up. I think there was some question of him taking custody of Rohan and me when we were young, but I believe my grandparents convinced him we were better off with them.” More over-sharing. “It’s been good to have help with Luna, too.” He’d been surprised Luna hadn’t seemed overly enthused to meet or spend time with Jia earlier tonight, but he supposed that could be chalked up to shyness.
“Is Luna’s mother—?”
“Out of the picture. I don’t even know who she is. I think Rohan must have bought her off.” He didn’t know the ins and outs of what had happened when Luna was born, just that one day Rohan had been a carefree bachelor, and the next, the newspapers had proclaimed him a father. When Dev had called him, he’d refused to speak of it, merely said,Congratulations on being a kaka, Bhai, and hung up.
He didn’t know how his grandparents had felt about Rohan’s illegitimate child initially, but his grandmother at least had seemed to come around quickly. In the end, their family name had squelched the worst of the gossip.
Jia switched her purse to her other shoulder. “Luna seems to be healthy and happy, and you clearly adore her. You’ve made up for missed time, it appears.”
“Can you make up for such a thing?”
“I think so.” Her feet slowed, and he met her pace. “My roommate, Katrina, she likes to say that people come in and out of our lives, and we have to enjoy the parts in the middle. But I think it’s okay to not enjoy all the parts, you know? Things change, life changes, you change. I definitely feel like my relationship with various family members has ebbed and flowed.”
He filled his lungs with air. She was wise, but he already knew that from watching her deceptively simple videos. “Are your feet hurting? Those are very high heels.”
Jia gave him a chiding look. “Please, I can travel up a mountain in these. It’s a nice night for a walk.”
“It is.” They walked in silence for a moment. At some point,he’d have to walk them back to the garage they’d parked in. “Now that I have given you my family’s darkest secrets, tell me something about you,” he said instead.
“I’m an open book. I post my whole life online.”
“Do you? I don’t think you do. You’re different in real life.” She already knew he’d watched her videos. There was no harm in admitting that.
Her smile was faint. “I suppose my online persona is authentically real, just not all of me.”
“So what are the other parts of you?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s a blurry line, where online ends and real life begins.”
Dev nodded. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Pink.”
“Favorite animal?”
“Giraffes.”
He straightened to his full height.Giraffehad been the nickname classmates had teased him with since puberty, but if she liked giraffes... “Favorite sibling.”
She glanced around. “Did one of my sisters put you up to this? Are they going to jump out and yell at me?”
Dev chuckled. “No.”
“I love all my sisters the same,” Jia said loudly, then leaned in and continued in a whisper. “My twin, followed by our middle sister.”
“Ayesha and...” He thought for a second. “Sadia.”
“Wow, you do have a good memory.”
Only for things he cared about, but he didn’t want to spook either of them by admitting that. “It’s from years ofmemorizing lines.”
“Sadia’s the one I identify the most with, probably. She’s all married and happy now, but she bucked my parents to marry the guy she loved when she was like twenty.”
