“Okay.” Sudhir-mama eyed the tool. “Not sure why you need a screwdriver to tile, but you go for it.”
“Sure thing.” Sam came down the ladder.
“Let me know if the kids are a problem.”
“Uh-huh.”
Sam continued working for the next hour. Just as he debated getting the kids ready to go with him to Maya’s uncle’s house, he heard a car pull up. He washed up and waited in the kitchen. Sam poured two cups of coffee, adding just a splash of cream to Maya’s.
Maya rushed into the kitchen, and looked startled when she saw him standing there. “You’re here early. I didn’t think...”
He grinned with an ease he did not feel. “Of course I’m here. Somebody has to do your job when you show up late.” His relief at seeing her had him almost giddy. But her eyes were swollen and red, her hair was trapped in its ponytail and she was fidgeting.
She shook her head. “Of course, the kids, and the tiling...of course you’d be here.” She faked a smile, but it didn’t hide the question in her face.
“Maya, I’m here early because I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to come over to your uncle’s house. But if you hadn’t shown up, I was coming to get to you.”
“Oh, I thought...after last night...you wouldn’t want...” She threw her hands up. “I mean... Deepak-mama’s unreasonably strict, but he’s just doing what he thinks my mom would want...”
He crossed the room and was by her side in an instant. “You thought I’d bail because Deepak-mama glared at me?” He couldn’t believe Maya thought there could ever be a reason he wouldn’t want to be with her.
She met his question with a small shrug and big, questioning eyes. “It’s not easy, going out with me.”
“That is true.” He cupped her face in his hand. “But since it took me weeks to get you to go out with me, I can’t waste all that work.”
A small giggle escaped and her body relaxed. “True, you did beg.”
Her laughter calmed the storm within him. “Persistent. I was persistent.” Sam handed her the coffee. “Drink this. Tell me what happened.” Sam took her hand, enjoying the perfect fit of it in his. He led her to the sofa, and when she sat down, he pulled her legs onto his lap.
Maya sipped her coffee. “Perfect. How did you...?”
“I pay attention.”
Sam was rewarded with a small smile before she stared down into her coffee. “Sam—” she flicked her gaze at him before returning to her conversation with her coffee “—my mother has pretty much forbidden me to see you. Like, ever. Like I have to quit this job, ever.”
The roiling in his stomach returned with a vengeance. “She can’t do that...”
“Well, she can.” Maya lifted her chin, her lips forming a tight grimace, but her eyes blazed. “But I don’t have to listen. And that’s what I told her.” Her face brightened. “You have to understand—my mother was hurt very badly by my father. So her way of protecting me is to try to keep me from making her mistake. Which basically involves her deciding when and who I’ll be in a relationship with.” Maya paused for a sip of coffee. Her crooked smile took over her face.
“She wouldn’t pick me?” He smirked, already knowing the answer.
Maya shrugged. “I told her you were different. She insisted it was a mistake for me to be with you.”
“Maya, I would never do anything...”
“I know.” She brought his hand to her lips. “I told her you were my mistake to make.” She searched his face. “I don’t know where this is going, but—”
“I can’t give you up.” The words fell out of his mouth, but it was the truth.
“I can’t give you up, either.”
“What are you saying, Maya?” Sam had to hear her say it. His heart was quite literally paused, waiting for her to either push Play or Stop.
“I’m saying that I told her I was going to continue seeing you and that I wasn’t quitting my job, and that I would be home at the end of the summer, like we’d planned. She can’t keep me sheltered my whole life. She’s not happy with me.” Maya shrugged. “But she’ll deal.”
“Are you okay with that? I mean, you and your mom—you’re so close...”
“What’s the matter, Sam? Trying to get out of this?” Amusement colored her words.
