“How about that,” Krish murmured.
Aarthi pulled a key card from her pocket and dropped it in front of him. “We’re staying at the Intercontinental. Downtown. It’s a hike from here, but I got you a room, too. You both might enjoy it. It has a nice pool.”
He palmed the card. “Thanks, Mom.”
“I love you.” She swept away before he could respond.
Sejal lay her hand face up on the table, and he put his hand in it. They held hands for a long minute, until Krish stirred. Where to start on this debrief? “How do you feel about Isha?”
“I kind of like her? She needs to grovel a bit more, to make up for strangling you.”
He massaged his throat. “Agreed, on both counts.”
“I need to talk to Mira about her. About everything, really.”
“Perhaps we can have dinner with Mira and Naveen before we leave California.”
“We?”
Oh fuck. Had he misread things? “No, I suppose it doesn’t have to be we.”
Her brow knitted. “After this week, it would be weird not to be a we.”
His heart lifted, as did his lips. Yeah, things were still kind of messy, but that was nice to hear. “I didn’t even like it when we were separated so you could go to the storage unit,” he confessed, because why not lay it all bare?
She ran her thumb over his finger. “I bought you that salad because you saved my life and I felt grateful.”
Krish nodded. “Yes. I figured.”
“But also because I liked you.” She wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t that annoying?”
He wasn’t a man who was given to smiling big, but his grin now split his cheeks. “I kept saying we were together.”
“Huh?”
“Whenever we had to pretend to be someone else, I could have easily said we were friends, or brother and sister. But I made us a couple, every time. Dating, married, six kids. I suppose I’ve liked you from the start.” Even when he wasn’t supposed to like her.
"For the record, I don’t know if I want one kid, let alone six.”
“I’m okay with that.” He leaned down. Their kiss was long and lingering.
“So what now?” she finally whispered.
“Um, excuse me?”
They looked up to find Nina standing in front of the booth. The waitress bit her lip. “Would you like to order anything else, or...?”
Krish tugged Sejal out of the booth. She grabbed the go-bag he’d bought her and slung it over her shoulder. “No, sorry. We have an appointment.”
Krish was sure the food here was as great as the punny name promised, but they needed to be somewhere that wasn’t so tied to their respective family dramas.
Time to start fresh.
Sejal waited until they were outside, on the sidewalk. “What appointment? Because I will be honest, I’m tired.”
“Tonight the appointment is with our hotel room, the shower, and room service.”
Her sigh came from her very soul. “Thank God. I’m too old for all this.”
