The Vibrant Years(92)



Now the memories pinched at those pain centers again, raking up the powerlessness, and loss, that had erased the life she could have had in its entirety.

As quickly as she could, she put the flowers back into the envelope, then the letter, unread. She pushed everything back into the box and shoved the box back into the closet.





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE


CULLIE


Poornima will always be the best thing that ever happened to me. But it was also the best work anyone involved in the film ever did. That rare magic that happens when real life intersects art, and the two become married into one indivisible thing.

From the journal of Oscar Seth

In for four, out for six. In for four, out for six. Cullie counted her breaths as she made her way up in the elevator of the building she’d worked at for five years.

Adrenaline was buzzing through her, but she had a sense of rightness about Appiness. She no longer had the urge to consume copious amounts of her grandmother’s desserts to fill the hole in her heart. Her heart felt quite filled up, thank you very much. But activities customized to boost your mood were a game changer, and her initial pitch to CJ had reinforced her confidence tenfold.

Rishi had spent the past two weeks with her in San Francisco as she put together her presentation for the board. Their time together had proved three things. One, the man was not, in fact, puritanical about sex. Two, he tended to get recognized in San Francisco a lot and was absurdly charming and gracious when fans took selfies with him. Three, when he’d promised her he wouldn’t pressure Binji, he’d meant it, which had made it impossible to not fall even more in love with him.

Bharat and Sam had come to see them last weekend, and Bharat, brat that he was, hadn’t been able to stop laughing at how unabashedly smitten Cullie was.

When Cullie got out of the elevator, she was feeling a little bursty with happiness.

She was smiling at the super-cheesy selfie Rishi had texted her of him wearing a shirt that said KNOCK ’EM DEAD, BADASS when she ran into Steve.

Like, actually ran headlong into him. He grabbed her elbows and smoldered at her with what he had to think was sincere concern.

It was hilarious.

She took his hands off her elbows.

“You okay, Cullie?” he said as though he saw something about her that she couldn’t. Oh, and he said her name exactly right.

“I will be as soon as you stop following me.” She started walking away from him.

“I’m so excited about your new project.” He fell in step beside her.

A laugh spurted from her and didn’t stop.

“I get that you’re angry. I should have supported your decision to keep Shloka subscription-free. I messed up. Let me make it up to you. You know we made magic with Shloka.” Had he just made his voice breathy on the word magic? “Let’s do that again. You know I can help you take a project to market better than anyone else.”

Had he always sounded this simpering? “I would love to drag out your miserable groveling. But I’m feeling generous, so I’ll save you the trouble. I just told CJ that I’m not making a deal with NewReal if you’re still working here. So I’d start packing my bags.”

Then, before he could respond, she put a hand up in his face. “This is business, Steve. It’s not personal.” On that note, she went into the conference room and let the door slam on his face.



Cullie and Rishi had flown down to Florida to spend time with family before Rishi went back to Mumbai for a few weeks. They had decided to figure out how to be together one step at a time.

They were having dinner with Binji and Lee and Cullie’s parents. The six of them, comfortable around a table laden with food. Not the extravagant Goan feast Binji had produced before, but just some xacuti and rice. Mom had brought serradura. Ashish, Lee, and Rishi had marinated fish and chicken and were throwing it on a grill Lee had put in the lanai (possibly to get Binji to stop hanging her bras there to annoy the coven). Cullie had found Goan port.

They chatted easily as they ate and drank, and then moved the party to the couch.

Mom filled everyone in on the lawsuit. She’d had a great conversation with a YouTube arts and entertainment program that was catching fire. They were courting her pretty hard, and it was a beautiful thing to see her negotiate from a place of power.

“I’m proud of you, Mom,” Cullie said, tucked into Rishi’s side on the couch. She raised her glass. “I’m sorry you lost an opportunity to interview Meryl Streep, but I’m sure there will be another chance.”

Rishi sat up. “Did you say Meryl Streep? What does she have to do with all of this?”

Cullie explained how Mom had almost had and then lost the segment she’d always wanted.

“You’re kidding,” he said, pulling out his phone and starting to tap at the screen. “You do know that Auntie Meryl is my honorary godmother.”

A laugh burst out of Cullie. “Auntie Meryl? Really? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It didn’t come up. And if you read the tabloids at all, you’d know these things. I just texted her. She would never do the interview with someone else if she knew what had gone down.”

Mom looked like she was going to explode. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I think she has the right to know,” Rishi said.

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