She actually looked a little disappointed. “Oh. Well, anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something. I heard you’re the best of the best app developers at TechLogic.”
Now Rishi was on full preservation mode and cycling up his mental ammunition. An apology, an offering of coffee, and now flattery? “That’s interesting you say that.” He would not give in to her honeyed words. The phrase “sickly sweet” existed for a reason.
“Come on!” She elbowed him in the side, which made him tip over and almost take the barstool with him. “You don’t have to be shy with me.”
“I’m not being shy—I’m being cautious.”
“Rishi, I told you I was sorry. I wasn’t myself that day.”
He sighed and turned to face her. She did look a little hurt, but was that the real Emma, or was the doughnut-hoarding bully the real one? “Okay, but that day and this day are all the Emma I know.”
“That’s fair.” She pressed her lips together and nodded. “But the good news is that we’ll get to know each other a lot more. And I promise you: you’ll see that I’m not that other person.”
“What do you mean, we’ll get to know each other more? A lot more?”
“Well, you know the Helix app, of course . . .”
Rishi opened his mouth to say, Yes, that’s my project, but she overran him before he could get a word out.
“I’m going to be leading the team!” She smiled big, like it was his birthday and she’d just given him a giant piece of shit wrapped up in a lovely box and topped with a sparkly bow.
“What?” he asked, but it came out like a roar.
“The app-dev team for Helix. And I want you to be my star dev!”
A sick feeling twisted its way up his sternum. “What are you talking about?”
She smiled brightly at him. “Well, I’m going to move to Bangalore for a year to lead the Helix app project, and I heard you’re a rock star app dev, and I’m hoping we can make it awesome. Together.”
Rishi blinked at her, at a loss for words and wondering if the clouds in his mind would clear. Was she crazy? Was this some trick? That project was his to run. Not hers.
“Are you already dedicated to another project? I really want you to be on my team. I can talk to Jas . . .”
He coughed a little to clear his throat. “You know Jas?” His apparently traitorous boss.
“Sort of. We’ve been on the same conference calls before. This all happened suddenly.”
“What do you mean, suddenly?” Rishi tried to stay calm, tried to maintain a cool watery surface while sharks and killer whales fought it out in his chest. His sister had told him how vicious those killer whales could be. They lived in the waters near Seattle, didn’t they? Maybe Emma was one of their spawn.
“My manager, Maria, just assigned me the new project, and I’m moving to Bangalore in a few weeks to launch it.” She took a sip of her coffee, like this was just ordinary news.
“Bangalore? Whoa, wait.” He had to pause. Did he just travel through one of those alternate-reality wormholes? “I think you’re confused. Jas is my boss. I’m leading this project. And in Seattle.” Was his world just flipping on his head? None of this could be real.
Her eyes narrowed, and the woman from the other day emerged. “Me, confused? Uh, no.”
“That project is mine. That’s been the plan all along. I’m here to finish my current project, and then I’m transitioning to lead the Helix app development. That’s why I came to your meeting. There must be some misunderstanding.” He had to talk to Jas. He chugged the coffee, which burned his throat as it coasted down. But that burn was nothing to the one he’d just received from Emma. Or Jas. Or the company. Wherever this story of hers had originated. He just hoped it was wrong wrong wrong.
“I don’t understand how it can be your project if they gave me the assignment yesterday. I’ve got a letter and everything . . .”
Rishi jerked his gaze to hers. When he’d mentioned the app in her meeting, she hadn’t even known about it. Did she run to her boss and tell her she wanted it, stealing it from under his nose and ruining his plans? His family’s chance at happiness? Fuck! He wanted to scream.
“I have to go.” He slammed his cup down and raced back to the office without turning around, ignoring Emma calling out to him. He had to talk to Jas and figure out what the hell was going on.
The small conference room was the closest thing Rishi could find to a sanctuary in the zoo-like cubicle layout of the office. He needed to be alone, he needed a phone, and he needed to stay hidden away from Emma. He looked up Jas on the company’s instant messenger. Did he care that it was ten at night in India? No, not really. At this point, any faith he had in his manager or the company or his job had been corrupted like some badly written code, and Rishi was more than ready to hit delete.
Jas wasn’t online, so he punched his cell number into the office phone. He answered immediately, as Rishi expected he would at seeing the corporate number pop up.
“Hello? Jas here.”
Rishi was ready to let his voice pounce out of his mouth and attack, but he needed to stay calm. After all, maybe Emma was crazy. “Hey, Jas, it’s Rishi.”
“Rishi, hi. How are you?” But Jas’s voice wasn’t cheerful, happy to talk. He sounded guarded, cautious, like he knew some bad news was on the horizon. He hadn’t asked why Rishi was calling him so late at night. All of this said something. Any sliver of hope he’d been harboring vanished.
Best to just come right out with it. “I’m not great. I just had someone ask me to be on the team she is leading for the Helix app. As in, the project I was supposed to lead. And that the team was in Bangalore, not Seattle. And you were her manager.”
Silence.
“Jas?”
“Rishi . . .” Jas’s voice was a little creaky. Rishi could imagine him hesitating, trying to select the right words to soften the blow.
He just closed his eyes and readied himself.
“I don’t know what to say. It just happened. The higher-ups made the decision, and I just found out. I wasn’t on the call when the decision was made. I emailed them to reverse the decision, but they said that they’d already told the new project lead . . .”
“Emma Delaney?” Rishi asked, hoping Jas would say No, that’s not it.
“Yes, Emma. And moving the project to India—that was new. That decision came from the CEO.”
How could this be? Everything that he’d pegged his hopes on for himself, for his family, just gone in a second. With just a few words.
“I’m sorry, Rishi. But you can still work on the project. She’s just overseeing it since she worked on the desktop version. And you can come home!”
How could he work with her on this? How could he look at Emma every day and work side by side with her—clarification, under her. She wasn’t even in his division, she wasn’t an app expert, and she had clearly run to her manager to beg for the job as soon as he’d opened his mouth about it.
And there was the money he would’ve made had he been able to stay in Seattle. This whole situation was thwarting the plan he’d so carefully crafted in his head to help his family. How could he give up on that so easily? How could he disappoint his sister and not try to postpone his own fate of finally having to settle down?
“Jas, do you think there’s any way I could still find something at corp? Do you know of any other project where they need someone?” His only hope to stay in the US was by transferring within the company. He had to at least know if it was a possibility.
Jas sighed. “I don’t know, Rishi. You know it’s near impossible to just get transferred.”
“What about some other promotion? Maybe some other app project I could apply to that’s not this one.” There had to be some way he could still get a raise.
“We just had those three big launches in the app space. I don’t think we have any new projects coming up—just updates and stuff. But I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
“
Okay.” Rishi groaned, picturing the next year of his life. Constantly looking over his shoulder, making sure she wasn’t trying to swipe something else from him. Trying to escape her eyes, which he was convinced doubled as laser pointers that could blind him if he stared too long into their depths. “Jas, I just can’t work under her. I can’t do it.”
Jas sighed, causing it to sound like he was on his phone in a wind tunnel. “Rishi . . . I tried to fix it, but it was too late. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to defend our plans.”
“Just to clarify, I don’t blame you. But I just can’t do this. We don’t get along.”
“What are you talking about? You get along with everyone. And I’ve met Emma. She seems nice, and she has a great reputation.”
Rishi grunted at that. Maybe he’d only had two interactions with her, but he’d seen how childish she could be, regardless of how smart she was. He couldn’t work under someone like that.
“We need you on this project, Rishi. I know you’re upset, but please hang in there. We don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose you. I’ll try to figure out how to make it up to you, okay? I promise I’ll try my best.”
Rishi had no idea what else to say. “I’ll let you go; I know it’s like your bedtime.”
Jas gave a half-hearted laugh because they both knew neither one of them slept until after midnight. As soon as Rishi hung up the phone, he pulled up the internal company job portal and searched. Jas was right: there was nothing. With the Helix app, the argument had been strong. But everyone wanted to move to the US. Everyone wanted a bigger salary. But not everyone needed it like he did.
Not everyone had an older brother whose by-product of marriage had depleted his family of their money. When Sudhar had made the decision to marry a girl from another state, another region, and another caste, Rishi had thought it was harmless. His parents, of course, hadn’t agreed with this at all; he was the only person from his family who had actually attended the wedding. But with everything that happened afterward, that wedding had not only left a stain on his family that couldn’t be rubbed out but also forced him down a carefully paved path that he couldn’t stray from.
He ran his hands through his hair and just plunked his forehead on the table a few times. This was a disaster on many levels. If he couldn’t find another job, he’d have to slog under Emma for a year. And moving back to India would mean he couldn’t provide his family with the extra money they needed. He also wouldn’t have a solid reason to postpone his marriage any longer.
Maybe he should just embrace Dharini’s philosophy about it. Work was clearly going to suck for the next year. He could devote his energy to a new relationship.
He couldn’t rely on the marriage profiles his parents sent over, though. They were in a desperate state to find someone for him. Even before he’d left, the matches that his parents had found and that filled his inbox weren’t the kind of life partners he was looking for. Now that Dharini was ready to settle down, they were going to be turning over rocks in the futile hope that a unicorn was hiding under one.
It was once again time to take matters into his own hands. Now that he was out of alternatives, it was time to find a bride. He had to get ahead of his parents’ ineffectual searches and find a wife who interested him before they spent too much time and heartache trying to find “the one.” He owed that to his family. They’d been disappointed too much already.
This time, he hoped the results of his handcrafted algorithm would surface the kind of girl he could fall in love with.
CHAPTER 7
Jeremy was on a conference call in their bedroom. Correction, his bedroom. The pizza had just arrived and was warming in the oven, and Emma wasn’t even sure if she could eat it. The smell of garlic and onions and truffle—all the beauty that was the smell of a good pizza—had filled the house, but all she could focus on was how her stomach was revolting. Staging a full-on protest, nay, an assault, on her desire for delicious pizza. Her stomach had conspired with her nervous energy against her taste buds and now demanded only wine to ease its suffering.
She had a feeling that after her conversation with Rishi and the impending one with Jeremy, it was going to be Emma: 0; all the other people she’d let down around her: 2.
Rishi was upset when he’d left the coffee shop. By the time she’d followed him out the door, he was jogging down the block toward the office, and she couldn’t catch him. She wanted to know what had happened. Maria hadn’t said anything about Rishi initially having the job—just that he was on Jas’s team. Initially, she’d dismissed Rishi as another guy trying to take over her work, but something about his eyes seemed sad. Maybe tomorrow she could talk to him again. She had to fight each battle one at a time.
She’d been texting Jordana about her decision to go. The messages had started with Nooooooooooo! Don’t leave me!
Just think about my new Instagram food stories, Emma wrote.
Food and stories without me : (
Or the fact that you could have a free place to stay if you visit.
You know my vacation time is shit.
Textiles, then? I can bring you fabric and rugs and pillows and all that stuff you like.
Emma could play dirty and appeal to interior designer Jordana instead of best friend Jordana.
Ok, if you are abandoning me regardless, I will take textiles as a consolation prize.
Well, it may not matter because there is a 60% probability that Jeremy may kill and/or maim me after I drop this bomb on him. Wish me luck.
Emma looked at the pizza she couldn’t imagine eating, even though this new place had rave reviews and an even more amazing list of ingredients. She hadn’t spoken to Jeremy in a week, and somehow this morning she thought a really good pizza would be the perfect peace offering. Something to soften the blow as she casually mentioned she was leaving the country for a year and that it would be a good idea to go their separate ways. In retrospect, an absolutely ridiculous idea.
Jeremy’s footsteps tapped on the hardwood, and the creaking floorboards let her know his call was done. He would come into the kitchen, lured by pizza smells, and what? Now that the moment was here, she didn’t even know where to start, and this wine was not helping at all. She just felt more confused, like she was enveloped in a fog of weird indecision and doubt.
You need more than luck. Duct tape, thread and needle, a balaclava and some post it notes.
As Emma tried to decode the weird list Jordana had just texted, a thud on the counter made her jump. Jeremy had set his laptop down and was taking his earbuds out. “Pizza smells good.”
She nodded and held the bottle toward him. “Want some wine?”
He bent down to look at it, his eyes examining the bottle through his horn-rimmed glasses. “If you saved some for me.” He laughed. An actual laugh. Somehow, she’d forgotten he had a dimple in his right cheek. It was like in the past week of avoidance tactics, she couldn’t even remember the details about his appearance.
“I was thirsty. But I saved the best half for you.” She smiled, feeling the awkwardness of a difficult conversation stifling the words that needed to come out. This morning she’d been confident that it was time to break up. But now? He’d laughed and made a joke. Not telltale signs of someone who was still so angry at her he couldn’t even look at her.
She took the pizza out and cut a few pieces before setting them onto a plate, which she placed on the dining table. They never sat at the dining table. He gave her a look as he sat down that said the same thing.
“Jeremy, I have something I want to talk to you about.”
He took a bite and nodded. “Yeah, this has been going on for too long. I should have been able to talk about it earlier, but . . . I don’t know . . .”
“I get it, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make a commitment to you like that. But it just took me by surprise.”
He nodded, looking at the space in front of him. “I should have discussed it with you first. I just didn’t realize we wer
e on such different wavelengths.”
When she looked into his face, there was affection there. She cared about him, but it was also kind of how she felt about Jordana. Not about a lover, a boyfriend, a fiancé. Maybe the ease of their relationship was just another piece that had been conveniently slotted into her life so her work could be the centerpiece. Now, doubt about whether she had ever loved him filled her mind. It very possibly had always just been affection and admiration.
She sighed as she tried to figure out the words she needed to say. “It’s okay. This week, while we’ve been on a hiatus, a lot has happened at work, which is what I wanted to talk about.” How could she say this so he’d understand? “Basically, there have been budget cuts, and my Helix project, as I know it, is ending.”
“Really? That sucks. What about your job?”
“Well, I have an opportunity to take a job as a project lead for a year, and I’d be switching to app development, so I’m going to take it.” Deep breath. “But it’s in India.”
“Wait, what?” Jeremy’s neck jutted forward, the veins popping in a way she hadn’t known was possible. He looked at her like she was a stranger. A stranger who’d done something unspeakable.
“It’s the only way for me to continue working on my project. Otherwise, I don’t know what I’d do. Plus, it’s a great opportunity for me.”
“You could get a job at my company, I’m sure. You don’t have to leave the country—there are a thousand tech companies here.”
“Jeremy, I think this might have come at a good time.” Emma shrank into her chair more than she had at his proposal, because she had to get the words out. In her heart, she knew it was over, and this was never easy. “Don’t you think we’re in very different places in our lives?”
His hand ran through his hair, leaving it looking crazy, though not as crazy as his eyes, which were bulging wildly. “I thought you wanted to try. I thought my proposal just came too soon, and you wanted to tell me you still loved me tonight, that you were sorry.”
“Sorry?” He wanted an apology? Maybe nothing had changed.
The Marriage Code: A Novel Page 5