“I did. Been waiting in Hawaii for the flight,” Nimita said, feeling only a little bad about the fib.Ran into an old friend, had a great time. And now I miss him. They used to be the kind of sisters who told each other everything, but that had changed when their mother died. “Smells amazing. Like Mom’s food,” Nimita said.
“I learned from the best.” Reena shrugged. What hung in the air was what she didn’t say. That Nimita had never bothered to learn to cook. But her eyes said it loud and clear.
“Where’s Papa?” Nimita asked.
Reena glanced at the clock. “He’s napping. Or he was. I’m sure Naya took her pineapple in to show him.” She pulled out a familiar small stainless steel pot. “How about some chai?”
“I can make it.” Nimita stepped forward.
“No. That’s fine. I’ll do it,” Reena said.
“I can make chai,” Nimita insisted. She went closer and examined the pot. “This was Mom’s.”
Reena nodded. “You just got off the plane. I’ll make the chai.” She filled the small pot with water and set it on the stove on medium heat. She added chai masala and tea leaves and let it simmer. “Papa insists chai only tastes good from this pot.” She gave Nimita a small smile. “He’s probably right.”
“He’s absolutely right,” Nimita agreed. She didn’t really drink chai anywhere else. It was always coffee.
Reena leaned against the counter next to the stove and waited for the water to boil. “So. What’s going on?”
Nimita sighed. She had been hoping to put this conversation off. But there were no distractions, and her sister wouldn’t stop until she had answers. Nimita inhaled whatever courage there might have been in the air and blurted out. “I’m no longer employed by Wanderlust.” If she told Reena she had quit, her sister would want to know how she could do that before she had another job lined up, and Nimita wasn’t ready for that discussion. Baby steps.
Reena paused in her chai making to meet her eyes. “You said that.” Her tone suggested that she didn’t think it was that hard to be a flight attendant, so how could you get fired?
Nimita stared at her sister, her chin jutted up. “I spilled a drink on someone when a colleague pushed me—it’s complicated. There were some videos people posted online, maybe you even saw them?”
Reena looked at her sadly. “I saw them.”
Nimita sighed. “Great.”
“Not a great look for you,” her sister said.
Nimita tensed. Just like Reena, waiting for her to screw up. Reena was actually the younger sister, but she was definitely mistaken for the older sibling more often than not, and it had little to do with how she looked.
Reena stared at her for a beat, then shrugged. “So when are you calling Tom?”
“Tom?”That was the last thing she’d expected her sister to say. Hadn’t even realized Reena remembered her old boss at the engineering firm.
“To get your old job back?” Reena wasted no time.
“I don’t know if that’s what I want right now.” Though losing herself in an engineering problem had a strong appeal. But that was still escaping what she had to do.
“Nimita. Look, I get it. We’re all still grieving for Mom.” Reena paused. “But life goes on. You have to move forward.”
“Moving forward does not mean compromising.” Though engineering was her first love. She just wasn’t sure she was willing to go back.
“Seriously? When you’re a grown adult, sometimes it does.” Reena glared at her. She leaned in. “Especially if you have an ailing parent.”
Guilt swept over Nimita. She hadn’t seen her father in months. And Reena was carrying the burden while Nimita worked around the world. Still, she wasn’t sure that going back to engineering was the right thing for her.
Whenever Nimita had wanted to doanything, her mother had insisted she wait until she got married.
Once you are married, go do whatever you want. Just get married first.The words from their arguments echoed in her ears.
She shook her head of it. Dwelling never did anything good. “I’m staying home for a bit. I’ll do whatever you need,” Nimita vowed to Reena. “This is why I’m here.”
Reena pressed her lips together, clearly doubtful. But she nodded. “Fine. Dad has an appointment tomorrow for physical therapy.”
Nimita nodded. “Got it.”
