Naya started to fuss, raising her hands to indicate that she was ready to get out of the stroller. Nimita bent down to check on her.
“Nasi, out!” Her niece demanded. Nimita had not taken into consideration that Naya might want to walk.
“Okay.” She unbuckled Naya and took her hand. “Papa, you push the stroller. Here, I’ll hold your cane.” She juggled her father, her niece, the cane and the stroller, until she had it all under control.
Nimita exhaled. This was working. Naya was holding her hand, walking the same pace as her father. She chuckled to herself as she recalled hearing something about the youngest and oldest in society having things in common.
All seemed fine. Until they hit a slight downward slope in the road, and the stroller got away from her father.
“Let go!” she told him. “Let the stroller go.” She grabbed his hand just as the empty stroller rolled away.
Nimita watched in helpless horror as the stroller rolled down the sidewalk and turned into a driveway, hitting the car that was parked there with a small thud. She and her father both winced, and she handed him his cane.
“Damn it.” She didn’t need this right now. Maybe Reena didn’t need to find out about this. It took a few minutes to reach the stroller, and she was so focused on the well-being of her niece and her dad that she didn’t recognize the driveway at first. Then she noticed the gorgeous deep yellow-orange flowers along the walk and the shrubs with reddish blooms by the house.
“Everything all right there?” Roshan was strolling toward them from the direction of the beach with a wet Finn in tow and a thick book under his arm.
She snapped her head to him. Of course it was his driveway. And of course he was walking up right at this moment. And of course he looked completely tantalizing. “Yes. The stroller just got away is all,” she said, taking him in. “Roshan, this is my father. And this…” she picked up Naya “…is my niece.”
“Namaste, Uncle,” Roshan said, bowing his head slightly. He turned his attention to Naya, and his face lit up. “Hi.”
That was all it took, and her niece was enamored, her giggles floating on the breeze. Not that Nimita could blame her. Roshan fresh from the ocean was one of her favorite looks. Though he usually wasn’t wearing a shirt when she pictured him in her mind.
She knelt down to greet Finn, who wagged his tail in delight, nuzzling her father as well. Naya screeched in just as much delight as Finn sniffed her.
“Papa.” Nimita cleared her throat. She could introduce Roshan as her boyfriend to her father. She was thirty-three years old for god’s sake. “Roshan and I are seeing each other.”
Roshan froze for a second in his play with Naya and caught her eye. If Nimita hadn’t been paying attention, she might not have noticed. She widened her eyes at him. Roshan was important to her; she wanted him to meet her family.
“Ah. So this is the young man who has occupied your free time.” Her father was teasing her. She relaxed. “Didn’t you used to tutor him in high school?”
She flushed. “Yes, Papa. I used to tutor him.”
“I am sorry about the car,” her father said to him. “The stroller got away from me on the slope.”
“No problem, Uncle.” Roshan’s smile was genuine, and his tone was warm and easy. “I’m sure it’s fine.” He moved the stroller away, and Nimita saw a scratch.
“So sorry. I’ll pay for it,” Nimita said.
“I’m not concerned.” He turned that easygoing aura on her, and she melted just a bit more.
“You should be.” Her father looked closely at the scratch. “That will rust, and then your whole car will be ruined.” He always had been a stickler for every little car thing.
“So, you think it’s worth fixing?” Roshan looked at her father for his opinion, and she loved him for it. When was the last time anyone had asked him for his opinion onanything?
Her father stood a bit straighter. “So-taka. And you make sure you send us the bill.”
Roshan nodded with that warm smile again. “If you insist, Uncle.”
“These flowers are beautiful,” her father told him. “Tell me, Beta, who planted that garden?” Her father pointed to a small area on the side of the house where vegetables were growing.
“I did. Come see.” Roshan escorted her father to the garden, walking at his pace as if he had nothing else he wanted or needed to do. Roshan showed her father all the vegetables he had planted. Her father was clearly impressed.
“How about some chai, Uncle?” Roshan offered.
Her father grinned. “I will take a rain check. All this activity, I will be needing a nap.”
“Of course. Why don’t Finn and I walk you home with the stroller, and I’ll tell you about the garden?” Roshan suggested.
