Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (The Rajes #1)(88)

“Then why didn’t he say that? He says things when he feels them. He’s not one of those uncommunicative men.”

“Sweetheart, your husband’s coming home to you earlier than he had planned to. That’s a good thing.”

Except, shit, what were they going to tell Neel about Nisha not being home?

“Caught on, have you? I’m in your condo. I’m four days away from this trimester being over, and he lands in a couple hours. What are we going to do? I have a terrible feeling about all this!”

“What? Are you Esha now?” But Nisha had had a terrible feeling about everything recently. “Nothing is wrong with someone coming home early.”

“Trisha, his ex lives in London!” Great, now she’d said it. And now they had to deal with it.

“Nisha, I want you to take a deep breath. Are you listening to yourself? He’s coming home, not staying longer.”

“Something has happened between them. I can feel it.”

“Did Esha infect you or something? Neel is the most solid man I know. He worships you.”

There was a long pause where Trisha could practically hear Nisha breathe through processing those words. “You have to go get them at the airport,” she said finally. “He’ll be expecting me. Think of something.”

“I’ll think of something, I promise. Do not freak out.” Although that ship seemed to have left the harbor some time ago.

Nisha grunted. “Did you get my muffins?” she asked much more calmly.

Trisha looked down at the carnage of crumbs and tried to salvage—and count—the unravaged ones. “Yes. But Naomi only had a dozen.”

“Everything okay with you?” her sister asked when Trisha couldn’t quite stop her voice from wobbling.

It felt like she would never again be okay. It felt like she had never before truly understood that question.

She assured her sister that she was fine and let her discuss the fund-raiser for a while.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Julia Wickham was back in town?” Nisha asked suddenly.

“What, you’re spying on me for HRH and Ma now?”

“Shasha.” Nisha used her big sister voice. The one she used when she was spying. “Has she contacted you?”

Trisha snapped. “What is wrong with you people? Julia Wickham is too damn smart to contact me. She knows that I will never let her hurt our family again. Apparently, she’s the only one who knows it.”

“Don’t be dramatic. You know why I’m asking. Now don’t sulk. And drive safely.” With that Nisha hung up.

As a matter of fact, Trisha had no frickin’ idea why Nisha had asked. Why they all kept asking. For a moment she wondered if she should have told Nisha that DJ and Julia knew each other. The idea that she might be repeating the worst mistake of her life jabbed at her. Was she doing it again, protecting an outsider at the risk of harm to her family? But there was no artifice in DJ. If he had meant to get close to her and harm her family, she had just presented him with the perfect opportunity to do it.

Pain scraped at her insides at how that had gone.

For all that she had got wrong about him, there was not a speck of evil in him. She wasn’t seventeen anymore, and that much she knew without a doubt. When she had kept Julia’s secret, Julia had already betrayed her and then used their friendship and Trisha’s fear of being a bad person against her. This was not the same thing.

No, she couldn’t bring herself to be the cause of her family firing DJ. Not until she had figured out what the hell Julia was up to with him.

He might think she was too self-absorbed to care about anyone but herself. But then he’d already proven that he didn’t know her at all.

TRISHA’S BROTHER-IN-LAW HAD one of those boyish faces that made him look like he was still in high school. He sported a goatee and wore rimless glasses from the last century to make himself look more mature, but none of it stopped him from being regularly subjected to those “whom are you kidding with that judge thing” looks. They were his favorite stories to tell. But today Neel looked so exhausted he could have been a hundred years old. At least that’s how his eyes looked.

Trisha’s first thought when she saw him was that Nisha was right, something was very wrong. Neel hadn’t just decided to come home early for nothing.

Naturally, he looked surprised when he saw Trisha. “Where’s Nisha?” he asked, searching over her shoulder.

Yup, definitely something going on with that look.

Mishka body-tackled Trisha. “Trisha Maushi! I missed you so much!”

For the first time that day, Trisha didn’t feel like she wanted to lie down and die. “I loved London. We have to go back. You and Mom and me. We’ll take Aji, too, and Ashi Maushi. Everyone there talks like Aji. Did you know?”

“Come to think of it, you’re sounding kinda funny too.” Trish tucked a lock of wild curls—a prettier version of her own hair—behind Mishka’s ear and tried not to think of DJ saying Are you bloody joking? in that accent of his.

“Am I now?” Mishka said, hamming up her swanky London accent. Then like Neel she, too, seemed to register that Nisha wasn’t here. “Where’s Mom? Dad made me come home early. I didn’t want to! It was so unfair!”

Trisha’s heart sank.