Annika smiled in spite of herself. “I am.”

“See? Come on. Let’s go home and order pizza, eat ice cream out of the carton and drink wine out of the bottle.”

“Can I pick the ice cream?”

“Fine, but then I pick the wine.”

“What about Ravi?” Annika glanced at the house.

“I’ll text him. He’ll understand.” Naya pulled out her phone as she spoke.

The door behind them opened and Sajan stepped out. “Hey.” He looked right at Annika, a softness in his face. “Are you okay? Those aunties—” he pursed his lips, a darkness coming across his eyes “—are totally out of line. I just gave them a piece of my mind. Of course they had no idea that Poorvi Shah’s son was standing there the whole time.”

“I’m okay.” Annika was grateful, but she didn’t want to talk to him about all this. “Thanks for checking.”

“We’re having ice cream and wine. Want to join?” Naya turned toward Sajan and ignored the glare Annika shot her.

Sajan smiled. “Sounds great, but I have to get back to the hospital.” He looked at Annika. “Maybe another time?”

“Sure. She’d love that,” Naya answered for her.

“Awesome.” Sajan’s eyes never left Annika. “Well, I better get going.” He brushed past her and turned after a couple of steps. “You should just ignore them. They simply have nothing better to do.”

“Will do.” Annika waved him off. He really was very kind. And not bad to look at. Maybe she really needed to give him a chance. She shivered in the cold and started walking toward her car. “It’s freezing out here, come on.” Naya followed.

They settled into the car and started the drive to Baltimore. “You should’ve seen Sajan’s face when those aunties were talking.” Naya side-eyed Annika as she drove. “He looked about ready to punch them.”

Humph. Interesting. But instead of Sajan, it was an image of Daniel that entered her mind. Daniel comforting her at the base. She pushed it aside, too drained to think about either Sajan or Daniel. Her father’s words came to her. Love will grow over time. She closed her eyes, leaned her head back, and released a sigh.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

DANIEL

“DANIEL! YOUR GRANDMOTHER is asking you to do this.” Emma didn’t usually get bossy, and she generally accepted Daniel’s excuses to not see Charlie, but their grandmother was aging, and she asked very little. Not to mention that she had helped raise Daniel and Emma while their parents worked. “If she wasn’t eighty-four years old and nursing a broken foot, she would go herself.”

His stomach fell into knots. He really did not want to go to a wedding. “There’s no one else to go and represent the family?”

“If there was, do you think I would bother asking you?”