“So much for all my newfound confidence and not caring what people think of me,” Jia said glumly to Lakshmi.
“One, it’s your husband. You can care what he thinks of you. Two, did you miss the part where I told you it took me years of therapy to get that kind of confidence? I gave you this magical tool like two minutes ago. Have a little patience.”
Jia’s spirits rose a little. “That’s true.”
Rhiannon looked between them. “What are you two talking about? Are you friends now?”
“We’re getting there.” Lakshmi winked at Jia. “Which is good. Trying to pass the Bechdel test with only you two is tough.”
Jia glanced around the group. “Has someone else been having man problems?”
“We were trying to explain to Katrina that Jas most definitely intended her ring as an engagement ring, but for someone who loves communication, she doesn’t want to clarify things with her boo,” Lakshmi explained.
Katrina waved her hand. The diamond on it glinted. “It’s a promise ring!”
Lakshmi snorted. “Get engaged already and put that man out of his misery.”
“If you got engaged, Rhiannon probably won’t feel as bad about moving into Samson’s place,” Jia said, without thinking, then winced. “Oops. Sorry, Rhiannon.”
Katrina turned to face her best friend. “What is she talking about? You want to move in with Samson?”
Rhiannon’s lips thinned, but she sighed. “We’ve been talking about it.”
“You should do it. Are you not doing it because of me?” Katrina’s face tightened. “Rhiannon, you’re gone more often than not right now anyway. Put your man out of his misery.”
“I didn’t want you to think I was abandoning you!”
“Neither of you is abandoning me. We’re not going to stop being friends, are we?” Katrina gestured at the table. “This group is staying intact, even if we all live under separate roofs. Don’t insult me by suggesting otherwise.”
“So Rhiannon is moving in with her man, and Katrina and Jia are going to learn to communicate with theirs.” Lakshmi drained her glass. “And some day, we shall pass that elusive Bechdel.”
An imp of mischief worked its way to Jia’s shoulder, and she welcomed it after her recent misery. “If we talk about your love life, Lakshmi, do we pass it?”
“There’s no love life, so sure.”
“None?” Jia took a larger bite of her sandwich. “It doesn’t take long to move from friend zone to end zone, I’m just saying.”
Lakshmi gave a mock growl. Jia welcomed the chuckles, as well as the paper towel roll Lakshmi tossed at her. She wasn’t looking forward to asking Dev what he was thinking tomorrow, but at least for tonight, she’d be with the people who would help her if things went sour. She was a lucky girl, with or without a ring on her finger.
Chapter Thirty
DEV HAD never been an anxious person, but then again, he’d never had his new wife entirely shut down and suddenly run away. He’d texted Jia twice since she’d gone home, ostensibly to get more clothes, and her responses had been short and sweet, and delayed, like she didn’t have her phone perpetually in her hand. He hadn’t liked sleeping without her in their bed last night. When it had become their bed, he wasn’t sure.
“Something is wrong.”
He returned his attention back to his phone and his grandmother. She’d called from the beach to give him an update on Luna. “No, nothing. Let me speak to Luna.” He smiled at his niece. She was covered in sand, and dressed in a bright green two-piece swimsuit his grandmother had surely bought for her. “Hello, beti. Are you having fun and wearing sunscreen?”
“Hi, Kaka. Yes. How are you and Jia, I mean, Auntie, settling in?”
“Well,” he lied.
Luna’s eyes flickered away, clearly distracted. “Good. Okay, I’m going to go. Adil Uncle found a Frisbee. Love you!”
He paused. Had she ever told him she loved him before? He wanted her to say it again, in every language she knew, but she was already gone, his grandmother back. “She’s having fun,” he said, instead. Her skin had glowed with health and affection.
“She is. Now, tell me what’s wrong.”
His grandmother looked far too determined to put off, so he quickly told her about his problems at work, which were a problem, just not the problem.
She made a dismissive gesture when he was finished. “Good riddance. Who cares. Make your own show.”
“I can’t just make my own show. That’s not how things work.”
“You can when you’re a Dixit. You miss your old show? Make it again, set it in America, for the American market. Done.”
He stopped. It was almost exactly what Jia had suggested. “I can’t do that.”
“You shaped a number of the arcs on your old show, so you can do it creatively. You’re about to receive a large sum of money, so you can do it financially. What is stopping you?”
Nothing. He could do exactly what he loved, tell the stories he wanted to tell, in the location he wanted to be in. He could cast unknown talent, the actors Hollywood ignored. He could use his grandfather’s money for something good, to lift up people who weren’t lucky enough to be born Dixits, and entertain all classes of people. Oh, the old man would hate that. “It’s something to think about.”
“Now, what’s really bothering you?”
He didn’t want to tell his grandmother about Jia, but then he looked around his quiet flat again. “Jia went to her house yesterday and hasn’t come back.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I showed her the home I bought us, and she seemed to like it, but then she became upset and left.”
“You didn’t seek her input in buying her own house?” Aji muttered a brief curse. “I did not teach any of you boys anything. A woman wants a say in where she is going to live, Devanand.”
Oh. She had a point. Dev had never thought Jia might want to go through the tedious chore of finding a house and negotiating and closing. He rubbed his hands over his face. “I didn’t think of that.”
His grandmother’s tone turned lecturing. “Here is what you’re going to do. When she gets over her anger and comes back, you will be nice to her, you will say sorry, and you will cook her a good meal. Understand?”
“Yes, Aji.”
“Do not screw this up. You got a sweet girl. A miracle you found her, really, when you’re such a house chicken.”
His lips twitched. “Yes, Aji.”
She sniffed. “It is good I am here to give you advice.”
Dev cradled his phone. “It is good. Have you considered extending your trip?”
“For how long?”
“Indefinitely.”
Shweta gave an incredulous laugh. “I don’t belong here.”
“Says who? Don’t you like it?”
“Of course I like it.”
Dev fiddled with a pen. “I think Luna is happier when we’re both regularly in her life. She’ll probably adjust better to Jia if she could visit you whenever she wished it.”