“So what book will you read next?” she asked.
“I have to talk to my sister. She’ll be amazed that I already finished this one.” He shook his head.
“You and your sister are really close.”
He nodded. “She means the world to me.”
“She’s quite a bit younger, right? I remember her being just a little kid when I was tutoring you.”
“Eight years younger, yeah.”
Nimita glanced at him when no more information was forthcoming. “She’s cancer free now?”
Roshan inhaled deeply.
“It’s okay. It’s none of my business. Sorry—”
“It’s fine. She’s been in remission for a few years now.”
Nimita frowned. She didn’t know a lot about leukemia, but she thought it was a childhood thing. “She had a long battle with it?”
“Yes. Well. She had a couple of relapses. We kept thinking we were out of the woods, but we know better now. It’s—” He stopped. “Anyway, she lives with me now.”
“Is that why you went into pediatric oncology?”
He nodded. “I did a lot of research when she was sick, to understand how to help her. Being a pediatric oncologist was almost a foregone conclusion. It was all I knew, all I cared about.”
“I’m sorry.” She slipped her hand into his and squeezed. “That must be hard. Your sister being sick.”
He glanced down at their joined hands. Nimita thought about pulling away, but she didn’t want to. It didn’t seem like Roshan wanted to pull away, either.
“It can be,” he said softly. “Thanks.”
They walked in silence. The sun had finished its colorful show, leaving behind the soft blue-gray of dusk, the crescent moon starting to show itself.
“What about you?” he asked. “What’s your story?”
Nimita tensed.
“Not ready to answer?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s just not much of a story. I loved being a BME for the years that I did it. Figuring out how medical devices worked with the body was completely captivating. At the same time, I also wanted to travel, but my mom was singularly focused on getting me married. I wasn’t ready. Her philosophy was that everything you wanted to do, you could doafteryou got married.”
She turned and steered them back to the resort. “You know, she had always wanted to go to London, Greece, Africa. She talked about it all the time. She never went. Then she…was gone.” Tears burned behind her eyes. “She died three years ago, and aside from moving to the States from India, she’d never been outside of Maryland.” Nimita swallowed her tears, but they continued to burn. “After her funeral, I quit my job and became a flight attendant for Wanderlust.” She shrugged. “I…traveled.” She sniffled as the tears began to flow freely and without her consent. “She…she never did.”
Nimita had taken great joy in her travels, but she had never been without the ghost of her mother. Her mother would have so loved the food and experiences Nimita had had. At times, Nimita had been angry that her mother never took these trips, never felt that she deserved this simple joy. That anger vied for space with Nimita’s joy of traveling the world, her grief over her mother and the tug of regret and guilt that reminded her she had all but abandoned her sister and father. She paused and allowed the tears to fall for once. “And now,” she said, voice thick, “I don’t have a job.”
She felt him turn to her, but she couldn’t look at him. Roshan squeezed her hand and remained silent. They walked hand in hand in silence for few minutes as darkness draped over them. Nimita found it comforting, in the most unexpected way. Roshan did not tell her to get over it. Or judge her for leaving what was a fantastic job. Nor did he seem to pity her for being unemployed. Or even wipe her tears.
It just was.
Nimita felt a surge of…gratitude toward him. Gratitude for letting her be herself, no judgment. At least until he heard the full truth, which was never going to happen.
After some time, Roshan squeezed her hand and said, “Tell me a few of the most beautiful places you’ve been.”
She grinned into the darkness. “Here.” She paused. “As you have seen.” She took a few more steps. “Ios, Greece, has the most beautiful beaches. Bangalore has some of the best Ayurveda there is.”
“What did you love most about those places?”
