Roshan snapped his head to her, eyebrows raised. “A house?”
She shrugged. “Reena doesn’t need me at her house forever. I’m looking for my own place. And Papa can come live with me.” She met Roshan’s eyes.Reena has done enough.“How was painting?”
“I’m not great at it.” He held her gaze, and she had to look away.
“You don’t have to be good to enjoy it.”
“I’ve heard that.” He did not seem convinced. “I’m trying pottery tomorrow night.”
That made her look back up, an eyebrow raised.
“Malini… Mali thinks I need a passion that is outside of work.” He paused, meeting her eyes. “Well, outside of her, really.”
“Mali is a smart woman,” Nimita said, a small smile fighting for space.
His expression was unreadable to her, and he did not ask her to join his class this time. Roshan turned back to her father. “You were telling me a story?”
Nimita groaned and got very interested in her chai.
Nimita was still thinking about Roshan’s visit that evening as she fed Naya while Reena finished up a late call. She had a good view of Roshan when he arrived in the back to tend to her father’s plants. Papa had needed an extra day in the hospital to stabilize.
Roshan was careful and efficient as he swiftly removed any dead leaves or branches, his fingers flying. He then gently drew his fingers over the ripening vegetables to check that they were healthy and insect-free. Lastly, he harvested what was ready, placing them in a basket that he had brought with him and then watered the plants. His mouth moved the whole the time; she swore he was talking to them.
She missed those hands and arms. She missed him.
“Masi! Mum-mum!” Naya demanded as the spoon Nimita held for her drifted away from her mouth.
“Oops. Sorry, Beta.” Nimita turned her concentration back to Naya.
Roshan placed the basket by the back door and started to leave, without coming in the house. Nimita bolted for the back door.
“Hi,” Nimita called. “You want to clean up?” She hoped she sounded casual and not like she had been watching him the whole time. “How are the plants?”How are the plants?What was wrong with her?
“Still alive,” he said softly as he brushed past her to enter the kitchen. He carried the scent of fresh soil and, somehow, the beach.
Naya started jumping in her high chair when she saw him. He went right over and picked her up. “Does Masi have you trapped here?” he cooed as he unbuckled her and took her to the sink to wash her hands and face. She had orange mush all over her.
“Sweet potato and dhal for dinner today,” Nimita offered in the way of explanation.
“She looks like she wore most of it.” He laughed.
“She’s not as bad as Nimi was,” Reena said as she entered the kitchen.
“What do you know about it? You weren’t even born when I was a baby,” Nimita said.
“Who said I was talking about when you were a baby?” Reena countered.
Roshan laughed, and it was as beautiful as she remembered from Hawaii. Light and carefree, she hadn’t heard it from him since then.
Because here, he wasn’t light and carefree.
Reena put out her arms for Naya to come to her. Naya burrowed her head under Roshan’s neck. Nimita melted. It was cliché, she knew, to melt when a man held a baby like that. But here she was, a cliché. She had also never been jealous of a baby before. But she would love to trade places with Naya right now.
“There is no accounting for taste,” Reena said playfully. “Come, Naya. Let Masi and Masa chat.”
Heat rose into her face, and Nimita froze mid-glare at her sister. She had literally just implied that she and Roshan were married. Maybe Roshan didn’t catch it. She risked a glance.
The heated look in his eyes told her that he had certainly picked up what Reena had dropped. And that maybe he didn’t mind…
