The Trouble with Hating You

by Sajni Patel

  I could do nothing except stare at him. Was he actually this annoyed with me for not having answers, or was he upset over the whole dinner fiasco? I glared at him, but he didn’t seem fazed. He went on, a definite tick in his jaw, but I didn’t come this far to get my panties ruffled because of Jayesh Shah.

  Everyone gathered their things at the end as Jay concluded, “Thank you all for coming and for your contributions.”

  “You’ve got to work on how you handle people,” Sam whispered when he leaned toward me.

  I released an exasperated breath as Sam filed out of the room behind everyone else. Jay sat down and shuffled his papers together, sticking them inside a black briefcase. We eyed each other as I walked around the table toward the door just to his right. As I did so, he slowly stood up, way up. The man was well over six feet tall. He buttoned his suit jacket with one hand, his chin high, his hooded eyes boring into mine. We both gave each other the slow look-over.

  His look lingered on my legs, longer and leaner thanks to the pumps. When his gaze swept back up, he pressed his lips together, and a shallow dimple deepened in his cheek.

  “Don’t stare too hard, you might be late to your next meeting,” I said.

  He shook his head and took two strides to reach the exit. Placing his hand on the door above my head and slowly moving it back to open all the way, he shrugged and said, “I’m not frivolous with my time.”

  He moved past me, bombarding my senses with a mild hint of cologne and a lot of arrogance. I decided not to fume, because why bother? He’d learn not to mess with me soon enough.

  I found him facing the elevators and regretted not giving him more of a head start.

  “Couldn’t stay away from me, could you?” he asked, his focus on the metallic doors as they slid open and we stepped inside.

  “Please don’t let your inflated head blow up in here. I don’t want to die today.”

  He pressed a button and asked, “Which floor?”

  But I’d already leaned past him and pressed the button for the fifth floor. “I don’t need you to press my buttons.”

  “Looks like I already do.”

  “Are you always this irritating?” I crossed my arms in spite of not wanting to give Jay the satisfaction of knowing how much he got to me.

  “Are you always this mouthy?”

  “Yes.”

  “You should put that mouth to better use.”

  I gawked at him. “Excuse me?”

  He shook his head, his features and tone softening when he replied, “I mean by being nice.”

  “Don’t patronize me by telling me to be nicer. I’m kind to likewise people. You don’t fall into that category.”

  “Because I called you out for being late to my meeting?”

  “First of all, I apologized for that. Not that you asked, but I was late because everyone kept stopping me in the hall to congratulate me on my promotion. I couldn’t just run past them without a word, could I?”

  He scoffed, eyeing the floor numbers on the wall. “This coming from Liya Thakkar.”

  “I neither asked for nor care about your opinion, just like at mandir. You should comport yourself better.”

  “Yeah,” he grunted, “because I was such a tool.”

  “Your words, not mine.”

  “Let’s not compare your opinion of me at mandir to my view of you walking out on our dinner.”

  “What?” I asked, tight-lipped.

  He chuckled. “Inviting us to your parents’ home and then running out without a word. Not even an apology after bulldozing me, much less an apology for leaving everyone, especially my mother and your parents, in a state of shocked embarrassment.”

  “Let’s not assume I invited anyone to anything.”

  “But you did run out. In fact, you literally ran right into me, and still, you didn’t say a word. Why was that?” he asked, his tone inching toward annoyed.

  I sucked in a deep breath. I had two options: argue for the sake of arguing, or apologize. But the dinner situation wasn’t my fault to apologize for, and I was too tired to argue with some hotshot lawyer who was sure to make my work life a living hell. So I stayed silent.

  The elevator slowly came to a stop. I exited without another word, but Jay said, “See you next week, Ms. Thakkar.”

  “With bells on.”

  “I’d like to see that…”

  I growled beneath my breath. Did he always have to have the last word? Worse than that, I didn’t have a snappy comeback.

  But I did have an onslaught of messages from Momma, which I carefully perused back at my desk. With my head down and focused on my phone, Wendy didn’t ask how the meeting went. Or maybe I actually had fumes coming out of my head.

  After closing the door and calming myself, I paced the small office.

  And finally called Momma.

  My resolve had been to stand my ground, but the moment her shaky voice stammered across the phone, my heart broke.

  Apologies came tumbling out. From both sides, surprisingly. Not from Dad, of course. Never from Dad. But I broke down, like a little girl, for my mom. Not because she was disappointed in me, or because I was sorry for walking out, but because Dad had said horrible, abusive things to her. Because of me. Because she couldn’t control me.

  “Oh, Momma…” I muttered into the phone, my voice shaking with rage and my nails digging into my hand. “I’m so sorry. But…it’s not all my fault. Dad took things too far. Have you ever thought of standing up to him?” I asked, knowing full well that leaving him, in our community, was out of the question.

  “Don’t ever say such a thing,” she whispered.

  Chapter Four

  Jay

  Liya was everywhere. How could I have gone all this time from never having run into her to having to deal with her at mandir and at work? But why did she bother me? Why was I still thinking about that hardheaded woman? I had the right to be upset with her. There was no getting over how she had made Ma feel.

  Ma, who still texted me daily to ask if I was okay, and if I’d heard from Liya.

  Ma, who still tried to figure out why Liya had left. And ninety percent of Ma’s guesses circled back to something against our family.

  Ma. Distraught and confused and more stressed than ever.

  Liya did that to her.

  Nothing mattered more in this world than family. I’d protect them from anything, including a woman who could turn my proud and fierce mother into a quivering mass of doubt.

  I grunted and tossed a miniature plush basketball from one hand to the other in my temporary office. It was just two floors above Liya’s. I had to work to get this place into shape instead of spending the entire morning simmering over the meeting with her. The rest of the day flew by in a blur. I needed to organize a game plan for these legal woes.

  “Hey,” my colleague, Nathan, said at the door. “Did you get the files I sent?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s the next step?”

  I rubbed the crook of my nose. “I don’t know.”

  “You better know quick. With all the MDR lawsuits being filed, physician and patient complaints, we need every detail of every product under recall. The only way we can even try to save this company is if we have something solid to stand on. Worst-case scenario is fighting and losing, or closed-door settlement, which will look better for you and the law firm. The shareholders knew this when you were brought in.”

  I almost laughed. Private settlements? That was what they thought of me? The best that I could do? “You keep talking about shareholders like I should be concerned with them. I’m a lawyer, not the board.”

  “Yes, but they’re paying you big bucks to keep this company out of the courts.”

  “They should’ve paid attention to other parts of this place.”

  “True. I could agree with you until the sun comes up, but you should talk to the bio lead about these issues to prevent the press from stampeding over him. Because the press will be after
anyone with any sort of position here.”

  “Her.”

  “What?”

  “The bio lead is a woman.”

  “She could be a starburst for all the press cares.” Nathan huffed out the door, probably in a hurry to get to the next issue.

  I slackened my tie a fraction as I took the stairs down to Liya’s floor. She’d only recently gotten her position—certainly no one had told her how close the entire place was to shutting down during interviews. Maybe I had even been a little hard on her. It was definitely not her fault that her boss threw her into a sinkhole. She couldn’t have all the answers, not yet. And maybe she didn’t deserve my anger. At least, not the Liya Thakkar I had to work with. The Liya I saw outside of work, though? Well, there was no way we’d be friends.

  According to Wendy, her assistant, Liya liked late afternoon breaks across the street at a café, where I found her at a small corner table sipping from a delicate porcelain cup and nibbling on a scone. Her head was bent over a tablet. Dark hair fell loose from her bun and framed an intent face.

  She didn’t seem to notice my approach, but glanced up when I asked, “Are you busy?”

  Her perfect lips opened in surprise, as if I’d unearthed a secret hiding spot. If she meant to keep this time to herself, then she should mention so to Wendy.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  Right. I needed a reason to be here. Lawsuits, remember? And apologizing for being a jackass wouldn’t hurt. I touched a chair opposite of her. “May I sit?”

  “I suppose. Unless you hunted me down to elicit another fight for no reason.”

  I sighed and sat down. “My job is to keep this company from drowning in lawsuits. You know that I’m only here to help, don’t you?”

  She nodded, albeit reluctantly, as her focus wandered toward the window to my right. She tucked back some of the more wayward strands of hair behind her ear.

  The café wasn’t busy, and we were far enough away from others that I was able to explain. “Reinli is on the verge of getting hit pretty hard. The company’s diagnostic reagents failed on many accounts, at many levels. The press will likely come after you, after anyone working here, and especially those in management and high up. Be prepared to answer or not answer. Once the company starts to fall apart, your department will be first to shut down.”

  She stiffened and glared at me.

  “Your department is the meat and bones of the company. Once that goes down, the rest follows. Do you see why I’m here now?”

  “How do we fix this?”

  “Maybe you weren’t paying attention during my meeting?”

  She scowled. “Listen, jackass, I asked for your opinion, not your sarcasm.”

  “Placing certain people in charge of various areas. Going over every detail from the lab with a fine-tooth comb to pinpoint errors. I need everything I can get to solidify our defense. Get this place together, correct all the issues that happened over the past few years so there are no cracks in our defense when we hit court. Every employee will have to work very carefully, meticulously, and managers will have to oversee every detail.”

  She groaned. “Micromanage and be micromanaged?”

  “Yes.”

  She laughed. “Good luck with that.”

  “That’s why we need all managers supporting the strategy. If employees see someone they trust supporting the effort, they’ll feel more comfortable working under a microscope. Especially if this department sees you on board and working with them.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You were one of them just last week.”

  “I’m not going to lie to them.”

  “No lies. We’re about to get hit hard, and everyone needs to do their due diligence even more so than ever. Otherwise, we all lose our jobs.”

  “Except the lawyers.”

  I straightened my tie and replied calmly, “It’s because of guys like us that you even got this far. This company would’ve crumbled a year ago.”

  “And yet it’s about to crumble anyway…”

  “We have a chance to keep this company afloat, to keep people employed.”

  “So, you’re asking me to keep up morale, rally up the loyalists, work my butt off another two hundred percent, micromanage, dig up research, and do my own work for the possibility of keeping my job at the end of the year?”

  “Yes.”

  She pinched her lips. “Don’t sound so upset.”

  “I’m upset, trust me, and stressed beyond what you will ever know. Contrary to your belief, this company going under is more than just a mark on my record.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “I could lose my job, too, Liya.”

  She paused.

  “Imagine a young lawyer losing his job. It’s a big deal. You’ll find work elsewhere, because no one will think you shoved this company into the ground. They’ll know it was a long time coming and the timing of your promotion was unfortunate. But me? Not so easy.” I slid a folder across the table to her and stood. “Take a serious look.”

  She tentatively took the folder and flipped through it.

  “Congrats on your promotion, by the way. I hear it’s well deserved, although the situation it places you in isn’t. But if you ever need me, you know where to find me.”

  She glanced at me disbelievingly. “Tucked away in your little office on the top floor?”

  “Yes. You should come see me sometime.”

  She paused. And there was that annoyance that made Liya Liya.

  I smiled. “Two heads are better than one.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  I turned away to leave just as a man in slacks and a button-down shirt approached. He grinned at Liya and said, “Am I interrupting anything?”

  “No,” she replied. “What are you doing here so late in the day?”

  “Needed a pick-me-up. One of those days. Glad I ran into you, though. Wanted to see if you changed your mind about getting dinner sometime?” He flashed a smooth, devilish grin, and something inside me flickered. I had no idea why. I didn’t even like Liya.

  Say no.

  She met my gaze, and I realized how tense I’d become. It probably showed on my face because she frowned just a little.

  “Probably not, but thanks for the offer,” she told him.

  “Why do you always decline me?” he asked with a hint of amusement, and I suspected he was flirting.

  “I’m not into dating right now, Mike.”

  Good answer.

  He laughed and took a seat across from Liya. “It wouldn’t be dating, just a meal.”

  “You know what I mean,” she said with a teasing voice.

  The way she wrapped her long, wavy hair around a finger, sat up pencil straight, legs crossed, and looked up at him with batting lashes and a smoldering smile, Liya definitely knew how to bait a man. And it was amazingly difficult not to fall into her tempting web.

  I shook my head and silenced a laugh. Why would I ever be interested in a woman like her? Look at her. Flirting with another guy right in front of me. She obviously didn’t care about me at all…so then, why was I even the slightest bit jealous?

  Whatever he said and whatever she giggled over, I cut right through their sickeningly sweet conversation and said, “Take care of that, Liya. If you need help approaching anyone, let me or your director know. I’d like to take care of this sooner rather than later.”

  “Right. Thanks,” she said, her eyes glued to the guy as he stroked the back of her hand.

  I breathed harder. I wanted to knock his hand out of the way, maybe even let him know that Liya was out of his league.

  In the end, a trace of rationality seeped into my brain and slapped some sense back into me. Liya was not my type. Liya and I didn’t even like each other.

  I clenched my jaw, unreasonably pissed, and left. She could date whomever she wanted. She wasn’t my girl.

  Chapter Five

  Liya

  Reem
a yanked open my front door to let Preeti inside, and the hugs commenced. Preeti waltzed in wearing her usual slacks and blouse. She had four gears: sweats, saris, scrubs, and slacks. One of these days, I vowed to get her into a dress or skirt. And high heels. They were the bane of her existence.

  I blew her a kiss from across the open space. She shrugged off her jacket, and everyone joined me in the kitchen. We hovered around the granite island where I finished putting the last touches on a giant cheese tray.

  “Voilà! Ladies…” I bowed my head to the side and everyone oohed and ahed over the rectangular plate. I pointed to each group of goodies and explained, “Here we have the cheeses: cheddar, Brie, pecorino, Gouda, Manchego, and a lavender-and-herb goat cheese spread. Honey-glazed pecans, roasted almonds, dried figs, olives, apple and pear slices, grapes, crackers, and a mound of chocolate shavings.”

  “Looks fancy,” Sana commented.

  “We have red and white wine, and for the impeccably pure Sana, lemonade. Although I do urge you to allow me to mash up some mint leaves and pretend that you’re drinking a mojito.”

  I pouted, and she waved her hand, caving in. “Oh, fine!”

  “Really? After all these years you’re finally pretending to drink? I am definitely rubbing off on you.”

  She carried the platter to the glass coffee table in the living room while I plucked a few mint leaves from my herb garden on the patio, washed, tore, and dumped them into a flute. I added lemonade and handed her the specialty drink.

  Nibbling on chocolate, I sat on the couch, tucked my feet beneath me, and toasted, “To my girls. May fate never tear us apart. Thank you for supporting me through life in general.”

  The ladies raised their glasses, and Reema added, “You know we love you. Thanks for letting us mess up your immaculate place for girls’ night.”

  I went on. “Well, we are celebrating me, so it seems fitting.”

  “How’s the new job?”

  “Frustrating. The last person left a mess, and I have the pressure of organizing it. I only have one quarter to show improvements. No one told me this during the interview. Or when they offered the job. Sort of thrown in, sink-or-swim style.”