He fell asleep as the big spoon to her little spoon.
Nikhil called Reggie in the morning to say he wasn’t coming in. It was his prerogative—this was the first day he’d called in since he started training/rehearsals. And right now, there was nothing he wanted to do more than stay in bed with Marley for as long as possible. He and Marley finally headed downstairs past noon. After Nikhil made Marley some tea and toast, they sat on the sofa and talked about everything that had happened in the last few days. Marley told him more about her meeting at Reid’s on Tuesday. He became angrier at his brother the more he heard. She’d lost herjobbecause of this… not just the personal shopping role she’d wanted for so long, but her entire employment at the store she’d worked at for years. Nikhil offered to have the studio call Reid’s and say they would never work with the store, ever, for doing this, but Marley insisted he let her deal with it.
“Lucky break that you happen to randomly meet someone who works in employment law,” he said.
Marley nodded. “Yeah. I’ll call Jaime’s office on Monday.And I guess I need to start looking for a job, too. I have no idea what I want to do now. The thought of moving up the ladder from the bottom in another luxury department store seems so daunting.”
“Is that your only option? Luxury department stores?”
“I suppose I could try smaller boutiques. I imagine with my experience it wouldn’t be hard to get into a store in Yorkville.”
“But… maybe this is an opportunity to make a change. What’s your fantasy job?”
Marley shrugged. “It’s always been to be a personal shopper. Even before I started at Reid’s, that was the end goal. I love building relationships with clients, and I love helping put together outfits for specific situations. I want to do what Erin does. That’s my fantasy job.”
He hated the idea of her putting all that effort into working for someone else. “What about freelancing? A personal stylist?”
She snorted. “That’s exactly what Ruby suggested.”
“Is it something you’d want?”
She was quiet for a few moments, thinking about the possibility. It was clear she was scared. “You don’t have to make the decision now,” Nikhil said quickly. Maybe now wasn’t the right time to be thinking about the long-term future. She was still healing after surgery. It had barely been four weeks. Actually… it had been a month today.
She nodded, then curled her legs up under her. It was a gesture he hadn’t seen her do before. He couldn’t believe how much she’d already healed, and he knew she would just keep getting better.
“Are you sure you’re okay with me going along with the studio’s plans? I’m going to be confirming I’m dating Serena. We’ll be seen—and photographed together,” Nikhil said. Ifhe’d known he’d be back with Marley, he wouldn’t have agreed to it.
“Yeah. It’s only until after the movie’s done, right? It’s probably a good idea for us to lie low for a while anyway. It would be better for my job search.”
Nikhil sighed. He didn’t want to lie low… He wanted to scream from the rooftops that Mahreen Kamal loved him. “Things would have been so different if I hadn’t gone looking for you that day I had my tooth fixed,” he said. “You’d still have a job.”
Marley smiled small. “Yeah, but I’d rather have you.”
At that, McQueen jumped onto his lap and burrowed into his hoodie, climbing into the pocket like he used to.
They continued to sit in the living room talking. They speculated as to why Serena posted that damn Instagram post. They talked about Reena’s pregnancy, and about Shayne being away so much. They talked about Nalini’s med school plans. They avoided talking about one specific topic, though: what would happen in a few months when his filming was done and he’d be heading back to LA. They had time, and Nikhil wanted to see how the next few weeks went before making any decisions. And the last thing he wanted to do was make Marley feel pressured into doing anything that wasn’t exactly what she wanted.
At around five, the door of the house opened, and Shayne came in loudly. He had a few large totes hanging over his arms and was carrying a large foil tray.
He frowned at Nikhil. “Oh.You’rehere. For the party, I guess. OMG… Are you two athingagain?” Shayne’s shoulders slumped. “Damn it—I lost my bet with Reena.”
Marley raised a confused brow. “What party? And you guys bet on whether or not we’d get back together?”
Shayne shook his head. “No. We bet onwhenyou’d be getting back together. We knew it was a sure thing. I thought you’d wait until at least the movie started shooting, but Reena said it would be sooner. You owe me twenty bucks.”
Nikhil snort-laughed. “Do you need help with that stuff?”
Shayne glanced down at the cat head poking out of Nikhil’s hoodie. “Nah, I got it. You sit with the cat. Marley, why are you in sweats? The party is in… like… half an hour. Do you still fit into that vintage zebra-print wrap dress?” He took the foil tray and the tote bags to the kitchen. “Grams made jerk chickenandcurry chicken. And rice and peas. I wanted oxtail, but she said I was being spoiled. Do you guys think I’m spoiled?”
“Yes,” Marley said without hesitating. “Now, what party are you talking about? Why did Grams make so much food?”
Shayne shook his head, looking at the tray of food. “Because she isincapableof making a small amount. I told her it was only five of us…” He looked at Nikhil. “Well, now that the superhero is back in the picture,six, but I swear, she hears the wordpartyand assumes minimum a dozen. We’ll be eating jerk for the rest of our lives.”
“Shayne! Whatparty?”
He put his hands on his hips. “Your silicone celebration! We planned it during your ta-ta-to-your-tatas party!”
Nikhil raised a brow at that.
