This time, Jamie’s smile was genuine. “Yes, ma’am.”
A few minutes later, a waitress replaced Jiya on the floor, allowing her to untie her apron, toss it on the table and plop down across from Jamie. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you, even looking like shit—”
First there was a gasp. And then Mrs. Dalal came out of nowhere. Had she unfurled herself from one of the heavy golden drapes that hung in the front window? “Mind your language in our place of business, Jiya.” The older woman laid a hand on her chest. “Hello, Jamie. You are here to eat and not just to distract my daughter, I presume.”
The familiarity of the scene had Jamie felt better already. “Definitely eating, Mrs. Dalal. It’s been far too long since I’ve eaten your food. I’m going through withdrawals.”
She inclined her head. “Are you still teaching?”
“Yes. Economics.”
“Does that challenge you?”
He hesitated. “Yes?”
Jiya snorted. “Now give her the real Jamie Prince answer.”
Jamie gave a slow wince. “Not much challenges me.”
Mrs. Dalal hooted and waved her hand between Jamie and Jiya. “Perhaps this dinner meeting should be about humility.”
“Ahh, you know I’m your favorite Prince.” Jamie gave Mrs. Dalal his best smile and watched her battle her own. “I still drink my cans of Coke with a straw because of you.”
Jiya’s mother was not a woman given to sentimentality and was already walking away muttering, leaving Jamie and Jiya trading a silent laugh across the table.
“So what’s going on with you?” She gathered her long black hair together and secured it with the thick scrunchie she always kept around her wrist. “Don’t tell me a good book kept you up late. You read classics and they’re not exactly riveting.
“Agree to disagree.” He nudged her under the table with his foot. “Did you read the Amelia Earhart biography I gave you?”
Only two subjects tended to put stars in Jiya’s eyes. One was Andrew, though she would probably deny it with her dying breath. What? You’re crazy. We’re best friends. The second subject that made her wistful was flying. Since they’d met as children, Jiya had always wanted to learn to fly a plane and never stopped saving up for lessons. Every summer, she had the same goal but never quite reached it with her tips for waiting tables.
“Yes,” she sighed, patpatpat’ing the center of her chest with one hand. “I read it the week you gave it to me. Did you know she had her own clothing line? She put little plane propeller buttons on the jackets and everything.” Jiya leaned forward. “Now stop changing the subject. You should be at work right now. Instead you’re here, so there must be something on your mind that you can’t tell your brothers. Which means it’s about…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Sex stuff.”
Jamie gave her a golf clap. “You’re good.”
“I know.” She shrugged and cozied her way back into the chair. “Spill.”
He dragged his hands down his face. “I did something last night I shouldn’t have. With someone I definitely shouldn’t have.”
“Better details, please. I’m giving up my break for this.”
Jamie blew out a breath. “Marcus. The Castle Gate bouncer.”
“What?” She screeched. “I didn’t know he was an option.”
Once again, Mrs. Dalal appeared out of thin air, this time holding two cans of Coke with straws in her hands. She inclined her head at Jiya and spoke to her in a cacophony of Gujarati before adjusting her shawl and strutting back to the kitchen. “I’ve been advised that I sound like a choking ostrich.”
“Wow. So specific.” Jamie took a sip of his Coke. Until the cold liquid slid down his throat, he hadn’t realized he’d forgone food or drink all day. “Anyway. It’s…”
Jiya widened her eyes. “It’s what?”
Jamie laughed without humor. “I don’t even know how to describe the situation. Staying away from each other is hard, but he’s not ready to be out in the open. That’s always my cue to cut things off and I never have a problem with that. But I can’t this time. Or rather, I couldn’t cut things off before.” A sharp pain caught him in the jugular. “I’m pretty sure they’ve been severed after last night.”
“Why?”
“He, um…” Jamie swallowed. “Got weird afterward. And he was right to be weird, because I knew better. I knew he wasn’t ready to go there and I stayed anyway, let things get out of hand. Worse than that, I was kind of…”
Jiya was leaning so close, she was almost halfway across the table. “Don’t stop now. These are the kind of details my intimacy-starved brain pines for.”
“I went kind of intermediate level on him and he’s as beginner as it gets.”
“Thanks for breaking it down into gamer terms.” Jiya propped her chin on a fist. “I might be clueless about sex, but I know Xbox.”