“She thought I was too overprotective of Malini. She was afraid that I would do that to her as well.”
“Would you?” Nimita asked. “Be overprotective of the woman you loved?” She opened her hands out and sat up. “Judgment-free zone.”
“I would want to keep the woman I loved safe. But I would never want her to feel smothered.” He sounded tentative, then more determined when he said, “Malini wassick. That last relapse… It was terrifying. The treatment leaves her immunocompromised, andshe needed looking after. She still does, even in remission. Anything could happen. I have expectations of myself, and one of them is ensuring Malini’s safety and happiness. I guess Simmy didn’t want to be caught up in all that.”
His tone made it clear that that topic was done now. She nodded. “Okay. Tell me something weird about you. That no one knows,” she challenged him.
Roshan shook his head at her. “No.”
“No?” She mock frowned. “You owe me.”
“For what?” She’d clearly distracted him from the more difficult topic of his sister.
“For yelling at me fifteen years ago.”
He inhaled and cocked his head at her, beautiful lips in a pout. “Fine. But the guys don’t know about this.”
She leaned in, excitement building in her belly. It felt so intimate, so personal to learn someone else’s secrets. She didn’t think too much about why she wanted this intimacy with Dave.
He narrowed his eyes and hesitated, and Nimita was afraid for a moment that he would change his mind. “Every Sunday, when the paper comes, it’s not the comics I like.” He paused, clearly embarrassed. “The first thing I read about is…” he shook his head at her “…is the weddings.”
“The weddings.” She grinned. “Like who got married. How they proposed?”
He nodded, a bright flush coloring his face.
“That’s…” She studied him a second. “That’s really sweet.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“I kind of thought it was pathetic.”
“Not at all.” She grinned.
“Something about reading all those love stories. Makes me feel hopeful.” He shrugged. “If not for me, then at least for humanity. Your turn. Tell me a secret,” he said.
She waved him off. “You don’t want to hear my secrets. Why don’t I tell you instead about the time I went cliff diving in Greece?”
“You did that?” He was clearly impressed.
She wished he wasn’t. She forced a laugh. Somehow, she didn’t want Roshan to be impressed by where she had been, the things she had done. Not everything she did was commendable. “I did.”
“What is that look?” he asked, making eye contact.
“What?”
“Every so often…you look… I don’t know…sad.” He spoke genuinely.
She studied his handsome features. It wasn’t his looks that had caught her attention, though. It was the way he was looking at her. Like he cared. Like he was concerned.
She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I went off and had all these adventures…but… I missed home. I would come back from time to time.” She had found herself homesick more often than not. “My sister and I would fight. And I would leave again.” She and Reena could not seem to find common ground. “It’s like I didn’t know how to be home, and if I’m honest, the travel was…hollow almost from the get-go.” She shook head. “I know, poor little girl off having the experiences of a lifetime.” She rolled her eyes. “I know I ran off. I know my sister was holding down the fort. I just didn’t know how to make it right. So I would take whatever flights were open to me. Work a long-haul to Africa or Europe and take vacation time exploring.”
“And now you have to go home,” he said softly.
She nodded. “Iwantto go home. But I also don’t. I don’t know what I could say or do to make it right.”
“It helps to be a bit…vulnerable.”
