Incense and Sensibility (The Rajes #3) - Sonali Dev Page 0,87
stubborn heart had taken to feeling heavy and achy, and no amount of breathing was making it go away.
“You doing okay? You’ve been working around the clock,” China said.
India let her knees go and crossed her legs and took a long ujjayi breath. “You know I love my work, and it’ll settle down soon enough.” Her clients wanted to make up for the time they’d missed when she’d taken time off, and Tomas had his CPA exams and had asked for a few weeks to study for those. “Someone has to teach Mom’s and Tomas’s classes.” India was incredibly grateful for the workload.
“Mom thinks she can get back to it soon.”
They both smiled. That was Tara.
Her treatment had just started. Trisha had stopped by last week. When she’d seen Tara, and studied the liver scans, she had referred her to a hepatologist friend whom Dr. Kumar endorsed wholeheartedly.
It turned out that Dr. Ung had gone to middle school with Sid, and Dr. Ung’s father had been the surgeon who’d performed the cleft lip surgeries on all three of them. Mom had taken this as a sign from the universe and instead of resisting it was now fully on board with Dr. Ung’s treatment plan. They had started with a hepatitis C drug regimen. It was going to be a long road, but with Tara’s heart in it, India felt like they were halfway there.
This morning Tara had declared that the bovine injury from thirty years back might have sparked the chain of events that led to her getting sick, but her lifestyle had kept it from killing her years ago, and that meant something.
India agreed that the universe had a plan for them. Until that plan showed itself, India had emptied out her accounts to make the first payment. The next one was due soon with no possible way in sight to make it.
This studio is prime real estate.
Why had she said those words to Yash? Words that had shaken him. Words she should never have spoken out loud because the studio was part of their family. How could anyone separate from something that was their identity?
“I think Mom’s right. She’ll be teaching again soon enough. Everything going well with the show?”
Even though China and Song were still spending all their free time holed up in China’s room, this was the first time in weeks that India was bringing up China’s work. Her sister was an adult and India had decided to treat her as such. She might even have avoided China, because, one, she was in pain, constantly, and she didn’t want China to see it. Two, respecting Tara’s wishes and not telling China and Sid about the insurance situation was becoming harder as India grew more and more desperate.
Do you ever ask for help?
Why had Yash asking her that bothered her so much?
Maybe it was time to ask China for help. But China already covered part of the mortgage.
China cleared her throat and Chutney stretched between the sisters, offering her head to India and her belly to China for a rubdown. Both sisters complied.
“Remember how you said you were proud of me?” China said, her voice suspiciously small.
“Cee, I’m more proud of you than I am of anything else in this world.”
“Even so, I guess it’s a good thing that you’re sitting down for this.”
Okay, that was not at all what India wanted to hear.
Her sister opened her mouth, then closed it, which was so not a China move.
“You’re scaring me,” India said.
China reached over and took India’s hand. “You know how I’ve always wanted to travel the world?”
Since when? China was famous for the words, “Is there a world outside Northern California?” She had refused to take a job on her favorite talk show because it was shot in Chicago. Her only explanation for refusing the job had been, “But it’s not in California.” She didn’t even like to go to L.A.
“Okay, that was a joke. But you know how you’ve always said I should expand my world? How I should take some time to travel?”
“I said that because I wanted you to come with me to Costa Rica last year for the yoga retreat.”
“How does it matter where I travel to? So long as I travel.”
“China, to repeat myself, you are scaring me.”
“I’m moving to Seoul.”
“To where?”
“Seoul, it’s the capital of South Korea.”
“China!”
“Okay, fine. I’ll stop being an idiot. But I’m only being like this because you’re intimidating me with your disapproval.”