Girl Gone Viral (Modern Love #2)(53)

Doodle flopped down at Andrés’s feet and Jas narrowed his eyes at the canine. It had taken Doodle a day to show him even a fraction of this adoration.

“Do you like tea?” Katrina asked.

“I like chai.”

Katrina moved briskly to the cupboard. “I think I saw some masala in the supplies Bikram brought us. I can make that.”

His grandfather’s mustache quivered. “Can you make it well, though?”

Katrina gave him an amused look. “I can make everything well.”

Andrés harrumphed. “We’ll see. Not much cause for a fancy rich lady like you to be making her own tea.”

Jas straightened, but Katrina only smiled. “If I don’t make it, who will?”

“Hardeep would have never made his own tea.”

She put a pot on the stove to boil, and pulled out milk. She picked up the takeout bag Jas had brought from the buffet and examined it.

“I brought you some lunch from the restaurant while I was out. Forgot to tell you,” Jas explained, the tips of his ears going red as his grandfather’s sharp gaze fell on him.

She glanced at him and nodded, replacing the food. “Thank you. Sit down, please.”

Andrés settled into a seat at the kitchen table. Unsure of what to do with himself, Jas sat opposite the man. A tense silence settled over the kitchen, though Katrina hummed as she bustled around. When she was done making the tea and had arranged the freshly baked cookies on a plate, she finally came to sit down and gave Andrés a smile of challenge. “Let me know if it’s to your satisfaction.”

Jas’s grandpa took a sip of the tea and a bite of the cookie, then nodded. “The tea could use more sugar. The cookie is perfect.”

“Noted.” She wrapped her hands around her own mug and leaned forward. “I thought Hardeep was a family friend, but it sounds like you didn’t like him much.” Her words were light, but her eyes were sharp.

Andrés sniffed. “His grandfather started this farm with my father. It didn’t last long. The man was young and wasn’t cut out for hard labor, he returned to India. The Aroras established their roots there in jewelry.”

“I see. You kept in touch with the family.”

“My dad was sentimental. He forgave his old partner quickly and they exchanged letters for years. Hardeep visited here with his grandfather from the time he was a child. He continued to drop in as an adult occasionally.” Andrés’s nostrils flared. “His flashy lifestyle might have been attractive to some people, I suppose, but I’ve never been impressed by money. We didn’t have much for a long time.”

Oh, come on. This revisionist history was ridiculous. “You live in a massive home and have for the last thirty years,” Jas said bluntly.

“And before that, our family lived here, for almost seventy years. My parents built this house,” Andrés explained to Katrina. “Nikka ghar, we call it now. Our little house.”

“I noticed the photos on the stairs. What history.”

His grandfather’s eyes brightened. “You like history?”

“I love history.” Katrina rose. “How about some peach cobbler? It’s cool now. That’s a fruit, so it’s good for you.”

Jas shook his head. “He’s not supposed to be eating—”

Andrés growled. “I’m not a toddler, to have my food monitored.”

“You’re certainly not.” Katrina moved to the windowsill and brought the cobbler to the table. She took a small amount and placed it on Andrés’s plate. “Try that and tell me what you think.”

His grandfather drained his tea first and then took a bite. He closed his eyes and sat in silence for a second, then opened them, eyes a little wet. “My wife used to make something like this. It’s got a little spiciness to it.”

Katrina indicated the living room. “I found an old cookbook on the bookshelf. Perhaps it’s the same recipe she used.”

Andrés sniffed and took another bite.

“It sounds like you objected to Hardeep’s lifestyle more than to him,” Katrina said softly. “He was a good man, and I loved him.”

Jas shifted, impressed, though Katrina’s diplomacy and brains had never been something he’d questioned. She’d disarmed his grandfather and sweetly and firmly stated her defense of her late husband, via a nice cobbler. “He was a good man,” Jas agreed.

Andrés was silent while he finished the rest of his dessert in a few bites. “You will come to dinner at the big house. We will go over now,” Andrés announced.

“That’s not possible. Katrina needs to stay tucked away, for security reasons,” Jas lied, giving her a complete and total out.

Not to mention giving himself an out. Dinner with his grandfather was only moderately bearable. His grandpa spent the entire night lobbing pointed remarks, and he responded in kind.

His grandfather shot him a frown. “Did I raise you to let a woman speak for herself or not? Besides, there will be no threat to her at our house.”

“That’s not the—”

“It’s okay,” Katrina interjected. “Jas hasn’t told anyone much about me, I suppose. He’s excellent at security. Very tight-lipped.”