Cherish Hard
Page 47

“Yes. Raj. The man I told to shut up because I didn’t want his brain.” Nayna sounded like she was smashing her head against the top of her desk.
“Hey, hold on! What’s he doing going out to meet prospective wives while he’s picking up women at parties?” Ísa was outraged on her best friend’s behalf.
“Er, Ísa, there were two of us tangoing at that party,” Nayna pointed out. “But he’s not a slime. He convinced my parents to give us a couple of minutes alone at the start. When I walked in, he had his back to me and said that he was sorry. His parents had set up this meet last minute, before he could tell them he was pulling out of the whole arranged-marriage thing because…”
Ísa was on the edge of her seat. “Because?”
“He never finished telling me why! He turned around as he was speaking and saw me standing there and, well, the nightmare of awkwardness began.”
“Oh God.”
“He scowled at me the entire time.”
Ísa winced. “Did he say anything?”
“Oh yes, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Quiet had plenty to say once our parents joined us. He asked me if I enjoyed going to parties.”
“What did you say?”
“I didn’t have to say anything. My parents jumped in, laughing and saying he didn’t have to worry about my being a party girl.” Nayna ground her teeth together. “Meanwhile, Raj sits back and says, ‘Oh’ in a certain tone.”
“Tell me you got back at him.”
“Are you kidding? I smiled like the perfect Indian princess, asked him one sugar or two and put in seven. You should’ve seen his face when he had to choke it down or risk insulting my entire family.” Total evil satisfaction in her tone.
Grinning and delighted for her friend, Ísa said, “You know there’s one good side to this—you’ve found a man you’re madly attracted to and your family approves of him.”
Nayna’s return words were a growl. “I can’t be attracted to a guy my parents introduced me to—that goes against all my principles now that I’ve decided to break free.”
“I actually understand that nonsensical statement.” Ísa stopped at a traffic light. “But principles aside, do you think it might work?”
“I don’t know,” Nayna muttered. “All we have between us is that stupid scene at the party where I basically told him to keep his mouth shut, I was only interested in his body.” More head slamming. “And honestly, that was probably a one-night type of attraction on his part. I don’t know what my parents were thinking matching us—he’s the kind of man who could walk into a bar and have his pick of the women there.”
Ísa didn’t tell Nayna she was beautiful. Her friend had grown up with an astonishingly stunning sister who was always the center of attention; Nayna had certain hang-ups even a best friend couldn’t erase. “So have you responded? Or have they responded?”
“He texted me this morning,” Nayna confessed. “Said we should go out for lunch and have a proper talk. That there was no point trying to make a decision about the rest of our lives when we just had a few minutes together.” A pause. “He also added that, of course, that was only if I was interested in his brain now.”
Ísa winced again, but she was actually starting to like Raj. He was the first one of Nayna’s suitors who’d taken the initiative and was actually attempting to get to know the woman behind Nayna’s lovely face. “Are you going to go?”
“My parents would find it shocking,” Nayna said, “but since I’m being a rebel now, what do I care? I want to know what the hell Raj thinks he’s doing coming to my house for an arranged-marriage meeting when he’s so clearly not the kind of guy who would be happy in an arranged anything!”
“Um, Nayna,” Ísa murmured, “you went along with your family too.”
“That doesn’t count.” Nayna huffed, completely illogical for such a logical woman. “I guess I’ll find out what he’s up to at lunch today.”
“Call me as soon as it’s over.”
“I will. Anyway, enough about me. Did you get up to anything interesting last night? Maybe with the hot gardener?”
Ísa told her about Catie, reassured her best friend that Catie was all right. Then she spilled the rest. “I’m terrified,” she admitted afterward. “So scared that I’ll never be anything but a peripheral part of his existence.”
“Don’t judge him just yet,” Nayna said quietly. “He stepped into the breach this time, didn’t he? Maybe you can make it work.”
Yes, he had. Magnificently. But— “It’s not the moment that counts, it’s the long-term commitment to being there, day after day.” She swallowed down the knot of worry as she approached the parking lot for Crafty Corners. “Getting back to you, give this Raj guy a chance too, okay?”
“We’ll see,” Nayna said in a noncommittal tone before they hung up.
Ísa was walking to her office when she saw Ginny doing a wheelie, her wheelchair tipped up off the front as she spun it around. Ísa’s lips kicked up. “Since when is that acceptable corporate behavior?”
Her assistant grinned. “Since I just joined my local wheelchair basketball league.”
“Didn’t you tell me you don’t understand the appeal of putting a ball in a net?”
“When the league is coed with some superhot players for me to ogle, it’s all details, details.” Waving insouciantly, Ginny said, “Jacqueline wanted to see you as soon as you got in.” She came closer, dropped her voice to add, “Thought you’d want to know that she’s changed Harlow’s internship program. It’s way tougher than the usual.”
“Thanks, Gin.” Ísa dropped off her satchel before going over to Jacqueline’s office.
She found her mother in the middle of a phone call. Seeing her, Jacqueline held up a finger to indicate that she would only be a minute. Ísa shut the door behind herself and walked over to look at a large concept plan that was sitting on an easel to one side of Jacqueline’s office.
It was a design for a mega Crafty Corners store in the central part of the city.
Jacqueline still wasn’t sure about the economics of the possible expansion, so it was all very conceptual right now. If and when her mother did decide to move ahead, she’d have worked out every financial angle in advance.
“So Catie’s fine?”
Turning at Jacqueline’s statement, Ísa nodded. “Clive’s been dodging my calls, but I left messages. He’ll call Catie this morning if he knows what’s good for him.”
“Fortunately,” Jacqueline replied, leaning back in her chair, “Catie is far more practical and clearheaded than you were at her age. She might hope for more from Clive, but she understands the reality of his personality.” Raised eyebrows. “You, on the other hand, always expected your father to change and become the kind of father you needed.”
“Head in the clouds,” Ísa said, echoing something Jacqueline had said to her more than once.
“Too sensitive.” Jacqueline picked up her fountain pen, tapped it against the side of her desk. “I wish you hadn’t been born that way—and God knows where it came from—but it’s who you are. It’s what makes you so good with the people who work for us—they follow me because they respect me. But they’ll follow you because they just like you.”