Micah stepped in, “Adam’s band is world famous, Mom. I’d love to headline a show in Japan.”
Peg poured herself a glass of some bright green concoction with floating chunks of squares I hoped were fruit—pineapples? “Micah, how could you court such a lovely young lady if you’re running all over the world?” I blushed to the roots of my hair and stared at my shoes. She added, “It’s a wonder Eden ever managed to set a date for her wedding.”
My head jerked up, and I looked from Eden to Peg. Howard had handed the camera back to Peg, and she messed with the settings again, completely oblivious of the bomb ticking down around her. If I asked her the date, I’m sure she would have told me. What could Eden do? And why shouldn’t I ask it? Eden held my gaze.
Howard broke the silence. “Peg, I don’t think the kids are announcing their wedding date.”
Peg pursed her lips. “Oh, well. We’re with family. There’s no reason to hide anything here.” She raised the camera, again. “Now, everyone smile.”
After a nice afternoon with the Sinclair family, the driver picked us up to take us to Park Slope. On the way, Micah’s phone rang, and he winced when he glanced at the call screen. “This can’t be good.” He hit Answer, “Hi, Sandy. What’s on fire?” The voice on the other end sounded like a mosquito, shrill and busy. “Right. I know, but—” He dropped his head in defeat. “Okay. It won’t.” And he hung up.
I took his hand. “Trouble?”
“My agent. She’s pissed about how I handled Jim yesterday. She said she knew about the disgruntled fan blog but wasn’t worried because nobody takes that site too seriously. And it would have blown over if I hadn’t given him anything to go back to his blog with.”
I shrugged. “FanBlogger? You probably wouldn’t even be able to find that through a Google search. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Yeah. I’m not.” His face said otherwise.
“You’re always amazing with fans. It’s not like they’ll all turn on you overnight because some people are telling stories on some remote blog.” When that didn’t seem to reach him, I added, “I can promise you it’s nothing Andy would ever want to pursue. Small potatoes.” But in all honesty, if Micah’s agent had found the story, Andy would have, too. And during a slow news week, he could very well milk a story that made Micah appear like an ungrateful brat. And he’d probably expect me to back it up.
Micah wrapped his arms around me. “Seriously. It’s no big deal.” But the air sparked with nervous energy, and we rode in silence for a while.
When his phone rang again, he sat up and spoke in monosyllabic answers.
“Yes.”
“Six.”
“No.”
“Fine.”
This time, he hung up smiling.
“What was that?”
“You have to wait and see.” The mischievous tone returned to his voice. He asked the driver to turn on the radio and started singing along with a Steve Miller Band song, ignoring my interrogating eyes. I leaned my head against him and felt his shoulders relax.
When we got to his place, he practically giggled as he unlocked the front door. Heavenly smells floated from inside his apartment, and he dragged me to his kitchen.
I followed confused. “What’s going on?”
A stranger stood in the kitchen wearing a white chef coat and chopping an onion. “Good evening, ma’am,” he said to me. “Sir.”
Micah’s glee exploded all over his face. “Josie, this is Pratosh. He’s going to cook for us.”
“Pratosh?” I tested out the rusted hinges on a gate that had closed years before and asked, “NiaMalayikunnu?” Are you Malayali?
Without glancing up from the counter, he asked, “NiaMalaya sansarikkumea?”
I tried to come up with the response, but it had been too long. “No, I can’t anymore.” Time had eaten away at another connection to half my identity and stolen another piece of my dad away from me.
Micah’s eyebrows pressed together as he tried to make sense of the conversation, so I filled him in. “He asked if I speak Malayalam. You hired a Malayali chef?”
“I thought I’d surprise you with something completely different.”
I shook off the unwanted emotional intrusion. “I haven’t spoken Malayalam since—” My traitorous voice made me sound upset when I wasn’t.
