“Dallas.”
“Ohh. That’s where your fiancée lives, right?” Paul grinned widely and a bit too knowingly. “Nice. No wonder you’re so tired.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Karthik said in a clipped tone. “We had to go to a party. It went late and it was…well, kind of a disaster.”
Paul’s grin stayed on his face. “The best parties are.”
“Not this one.”
“What happened?”
“Honestly, it’s too hard to explain.”
Paul rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t be more complicated than what happened at last year’s Sigma Delta homecoming party. My girlfriend wouldn’t text me for a week after that one.”
“What does it mean…” Karthik stopped, surprised he had actually said the question out loud. He almost let it go, but decided to soldier forward. “What does it mean if she’s not texting me back?”
Paul leaned back in his chair, adopting the solemn air of an expert. “What did you send her?”
“A joke.”
“What kind of joke? Something dirty?”
“No. Just a pun.”
“Like a dad joke?” Paul asked, slightly horrified. “No wonder she’s not responding.”
“She likes jokes like that,” he said defensively. “She collects them on T-shirts.”
Paul gave him a look. “Sounds like a match made in heaven.”
“And she had a rough night,” Karthik said, continuing as if Paul hadn’t said anything. “It probably has nothing to do with the joke.”
“She had a rough night and you decided to send her a joke?”
Paul made an annoyingly good point. But there was nothing Karthik could do about it now. There wasn’t any way he could take it back. He would just have to deal with it. At least he had a week before he had to see Meghna again. A week to put some distance between them. Maybe she’d respond by then. Or even better, maybe she’d completely forget he had ever sent that joke at all. He found himself desperately hoping for the latter.
—
It had been one week since Meghna had caught her best friend and her brother making out in a public restroom, and she was still ignoring their calls. She wasn’t ready to face them yet. Wasn’t ready to hear their explanations. Thankfully, she had a reason to be out of town for the next few days and would be able to avoid them for a little bit longer. She was almost looking forward to being in New York for the weekend. Her only hesitation was that it meant being around Karthik again.
She wasn’t sure what his problem was, but it was clear that there wassomeproblem. Or at least some kind of disconnect between them. At Ankita’s party, there had been moments when he’d almost been…kind. Considerate, even. But then he’d made those comments about ice cream and sent that joke and she just couldn’t figure it out. Couldn’t figurehimout. Had he been making light of the situation? Mocking her? Or just trying to make her laugh?
This was the kind of thing she usually discussed with Ankita.That shewantedto discuss with Ankita. But that wasn’t a possibility right now. Meghna wasn’t ready to wade through her feelings about what she had seen. She loved her best friend. She loved her brother. But the two of them together? When Ankita had seemed so happy with Rishi? She couldn’t believe that neither of them had told her. She told Ankita everything. That apparently didn’t go both ways.
She shoved her hurt feelings to the side and smoothed her yellow sundress, adjusting the pleats that fell right around her knees. This retirement brunch party was going to be held outdoors, at some rooftop restaurant, and she didn’t want to melt in the hot sun. She was used to the boiling temperatures in Texas, but sometimes New York struck her as just as hot. She theorized that it was because the heat soaked into the concrete, making it radiate all around her.
She couldn’t vouch for the scientific accuracy of that theory, but as she walked to the restaurant, she became even more convinced she was right. The heat rose from the sidewalk beneath her, as if she were trapped in an oven. She entered the building, strands of her hair sticking to the nape of her neck. She hoped her sweaty appearance could be mistaken for a radiant glow.
She was meeting Karthik an hour early, before the party started, so they could go over their respective stories. Karthik had described his boss as incredibly inquisitive, and he wanted to be sure they had a response to anything she could come up with.
She rode the elevator to the very top and walked onto the roof, thankful for the fans blowing cool air all around her. She spotted Karthik and was walking in his direction when a sudden gust of air swept through her skirt. She grabbed her dress in a hurry before it could fly up, quickly realizing the pose wasn’t half as glamorous as Marilyn Monroe had made it look.
Karthik stared at her for a moment, then jumped up and led her over to his table. She shot him a thankful glance and sat down on her dress, finally pinning it in place.
“Tell me about your boss,” Meghna said once she was settled.
“She’s retiring.”
