The Marriage Code by Brooke Burroughs

Author:Brooke Burroughs [Burroughs, Brooke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542025072
Google: 3at_zQEACAAJ
Goodreads: 53411134
Publisher: Montlake
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

Rishi’s phone rang, and he picked it up. Almost eleven o’clock. “Shit.” He rarely slept this late, even on a Saturday, but he didn’t even need to ask himself why. He knew why. Sudhar. Sona. Baby Sejal. Marriage. Work. Emma. Conference. Too much making his sleep restless.

“Hello?” he answered, clearing his throat.

“Why didn’t you call us after you met Radhika? Your father ran into her father at a shop this morning, and it was very embarrassing that her father knew and your father was blindsided.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t called them. He’d thought about it, but he just wasn’t sure what to say. “Yeah, we had coffee last week.”

“Last week? Why didn’t you call?” She made a clicking noise in the back of her throat, a pure sign of disappointment if he had ever heard one.

“I’ve just been busy. Work has been crazy.”

“You can’t work like that when you’re married. When will you have time to give me grandchildren?”

He didn’t even bother protesting at this point. It was early, and the flow of the conversation could play on repeat, they’d had it so many times.

“I just work hard for you and Appa.”

That always dropped the impending marriage-work-too-hard-I-need-grandchildren-now conversation. And she technically already had a grandchild she was refusing to see. But it was way too early in the morning for that conversation.

He’d done a video call that week with Sudhar and Sona so he could see his new niece. She was small and perfect and far away in Delhi. He wanted to find a time to go visit them, find out if what Sudhar had said about the failed investment was real. If his mom would just give them a chance. Emma’s advice had made so much sense, and he just needed to figure out how to bring them all together.

“I know.” She sighed, like she was sad and proud of him at the same time. Then Amma 2.0 took over. “So did you like her? What was she like?”

“Yes, she was very nice,” Rishi said.

“Her father is a good man!” his father yelled into the phone. “His brother too. They said my experience in accounting could be an asset to their textile business.”

Rishi could picture them on the ancient mobile phone they shared, hovering over the tiny device like ostriches, waiting for any morsel of information to escape from the speaker they could gobble up.

A job for his dad, who had retired early because he’d thought they’d had enough set away for old age. Until they didn’t. “That’s good news for you, Appa.” Rishi had said “good,” but he started to feel ill, a wave of nausea seeming to creep into his limbs as well as his stomach. A dull ache coasted through his core.

“Yes, very good news!” his mother said, the excitement in her voice evident. Her normally somber tone had somehow lifted into one of a jubilant young woman. The news that Rishi had found someone he’d found “nice” had buoyed their spirits into ecstasy. “Dharini will move out, and I’ll need a new daughter.

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