Chapter 26
The mid-August night was abuzz with breezes and the banging of drums. Zack had stepped out of Kansas the moment he handed the valet the keys to his Corvette.
When the emerald green and gold kurta showed up on his doorstep, Zack was beholden to going to Sita’s wedding. Silly me, thinking I was coming with Rachel. Zack had forgotten Indian Weddings 101. Rachel had spent most of her day with the bride, enjoying a lush henna session and swapping stories of what wedding nights were like.
Zack barely knew Sita. He didn’t know her groom at all. When Rachel sent him directions to the wedding hall, he assumed someone would be around to show him what to do and what not to do. Because if growing up rich had taught him anything, it was that saving face was the most important thing. Particularly in front of cultures that could be considered world economic powers. They need steel in India, right? When Zack turned down his father’s invitation for a small family dinner and told him why, he was shocked that Isaiah didn’t suggest he use the wedding as an excuse to network on behalf of Feldman Steel.
He received a text from Rachel swearing that she would be there in a few minutes. Zack hung outside the venue, wondering why Rachel hadn’t responded to the selfies he sent in this comfortable kurta. Did he get to keep it? He might offer to buy it by the end of the night.
The drumming grew louder. Security had cleared the street in front of the venue for the groom’s party to round the corner, the illustrious groom whom Zack did not know riding atop a chariot pulled by two of his whining groomsmen. They were flanked by a small posse of men banging the drums.
People on the sidewalk and inside the venue erupted in applause and shouted encouragements in Hindi. Or Zack assumed it was encouragement, since there were smiles and claps aplenty. He joined in on clapping and hoped he wasn’t committing some terrible faux pas.
Just before the groom’s party arrived, Rachel appeared at Zack’s side, dressed for an Indian wedding.
That scheming Sita and her little sister Parvati had undoubtedly conspired to dress Zack and Rachel in complementing outfits. Zack’s deep green and gold-lined kurta went well against Rachel’s sapphire blue saree and the golden jewelry generously hanging on her body. Bangles, chains, and large hoop earrings embellished her hair and skin in ways that almost took Zack’s attention off the intricate designs covering her hands and arms.
“About time you showed up,” Zack said with a fake sigh. “The party’s starting and I thought I would have to enjoy it alone.”
“Sorry. I was at the mendhi ceremony all afternoon.” She showed off the spirals, flowers, and dotted lines on her skin. “It was girls only. Sorry.”
Zack looked over her outfit once more, taking in the way her subtle curves filled out the blue saree clinging graciously to her body. “You’re stunning in that. I hope you know it.”
Rachel blushed and turned her head away. “You don’t look so bad yourself. Surprised you figured out how to put it on.”
“Excuse me? It’s a shirt.” What Zack wouldn’t tell her was that he looked up instructions online to be on the safe side. Suuuure it looked like just a shirt, but with his luck he’d pull it over his head and discover some pocket, some strap that he never knew was there – and subsequently ripped. Best to err on the side of caution and have an embarrassing search string in his Google history. “Besides, you…”
The groom and his party arrived to the crashing of drums and the cheering of everyone behind them. People parted to give the groom in his red and gold outfit passage to the opening of the reception hall. Rachel frantically patted Zack’s shoulder to get him out of the way the moment Sita and her immediate family appeared in the hall.
The happy bride’s smile was as ruby red as the rest of her, the translucent saree swiping shades of pink and light red in the overhead lights. Gold hung from her ears, wrists, and nostrils. Beside her, Parvati wore a neon orange saree bedecked in gold sequins. Their mother likewise wore a bright amber that bridged the colors between her daughters. Tears fell from her cheeks as her daughter approached her groom with a garland of flowers in her hand.
“It means that they consent to marriage,” Rachel whispered into Zack’s ear. “Although if you ask my allergies they would have to be fake flowers.”
Zack could barely take his eyes off the exchange of extravagant flower garlands. “Where’s your hay fever now?”
“Hiding behind fifteen pills.”
She escorted him into the separate hall already filled with half a thousand people gathered to watch the nuptials take place. Rachel made sure to astutely point out that Sita and Parvati’s family had rented out the whole event hall, meaning they could have a separate ceremony in one room and the after-party in another. The way she said it made it sound like most Indian families didn’t have that much forethought, but Zack was already imagining his mother’s own parties taking place in a building like this. In fact, he knew that he had been here for galas and award ceremonies that drove him to the open bar.
Rachel warned him that the ceremony could take a while. It didn’t help that signs written in at least three languages asked guests to please use the restroom before the ceremony started, for the doors would be locked and nobody allowed to leave.
“What exactly are we signed up for here?”
Rachel hustled him into a folding chair in the middle of the hall. “With few interruptions, they might get it down to an hour. I hope you’ve brushed up on your Hindi and Sanskrit while we’re at it.”
Indeed, the nuptial ceremony was not translated into English. A plethora of aunties and uncles nodded along, while younger people twitched from cell phone withdrawal after the first twenty minutes.
Zack didn’t get what the problem was. Perhaps it was because he had never been to an Indian wedding before, so everything was new and interesting. He may not have understood what was said beneath the elaborate arch, nor did he know the couple very well, but he did know that this was already the best wedding he had been to since his best friend Seth got into a fist fight with Miguel a year ago.
(He had been to two other weddings since then.)
“So what do you think?” Rachel whispered forty-five minutes in. “Lost your mind yet?”
Zack hadn’t wanted to say anything, but everyone else around him muttered about whatever ailed them even though the ceremony looked like it was wrapping up. “No. It’s quite nice, actually.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
An elderly man stood up to stretch his legs. A woman let out an exasperated sigh and turned to someone else to chat – in English – about how much she practiced for the dance number. A child, asked to sit still for way too long, broke out in silent tears.
“I don’t think everyone shares our sentiments, though.”
Rachel grabbed his hand. “Fuck them. Who cares? It’s one of the nicest weddings you’re ever going to see.”
“Trust me when I say that I’ve been to plenty of ‘nice’ weddings in my life. This tops them all. Although…” He knew exactly what he was doing when he said it. “I like to think my wedding one day will be pretty loose and casual. Definitely don’t want a wedding ceremony that lasts longer than a few minutes.”
More blush. Rachel tried to yank her hand away, but Zack held the power now. There was no way he was letting her warm hand go. You dragged me into this wedding, Rachel. I’m not going to let your hand go until the couple rides off in their carriage or in their limo or whatever. He was going to hold true to that, too.
The groom placed red powder on his bride’s forehead and fastened black beads around her neck. The hall erupted into applause. Rachel announced that it meant Sita was now a married woman – oh, and it was time to follow the couple to the reception hall. That was the real party! Rachel told him that he better know how to bhangra.
Zack was mostly ecstatic to stretch his legs and join the throngs of happy people praising the decorations, the DJ, and the food set out at four different stations. Rachel insisted that he try out the Indian ice cream before the party really got underway.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the MC announced from the middle of the squared off dancefloor, “allow me to introduce to you the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Patel!”
A loud, boisterous song erupted from the stereos. Clapping commenced above everyone’s heads. Cheering, yelling, and shouts in Hindi bounced off the walls as the newly married couple bounded out from a side door wearing their change of clothes: matching Western attire of a white tuxedo and a creampuff-looking cocktail dress that twinkled beneath the twirling disco lights.
“Oh my God,” Rachel said. “This is going to be amazing. Everyone’s been practicing their choreography for months.”
Zack had half a piece of flatbread in his mouth when the couple busted out their practiced dance moves to the tune of a familiar song. “Wasn’t this song playing in that movie we went to see in the park?”
“Yup! It’s the big dance song!”
“This is awesome.” Zack had to hand it to Sita and her groom. They didn’t have dancing bones in their bodies, but the amount of practice they put into their elaborate Bollywood routine shined through the four minutes they were on the floor. Their smiles were bright enough to blind the crowd. But not bright enough to scare off their immediate families, who stepped onto the dancefloor at the end of the first song and joined them for the second. “I need to come to more Indian weddings!”
Later, Zack would discover that these carefully choreographed performances were a highlight of most weddings, not something that only happened when people felt like it. There were entire dance studios – including right there in America! – that did nothing but prepare Indian brides and grooms for their first dance together. This is the kind of shit I want at my wedding. For the past two hours, like a stereotypical young woman with nothing else to dream about, Zack had been imagining a quiet ceremony on the beach with the sand between his feet and cool linen against his skin. Now he wondered how he could swing a private ceremony with a big party like this at the reception.
He looked to Rachel, who grinned at the dances and clapped to the beat. She was in no hurry to join in once the floor was opened to all guests, however.
Zack would have to change that.
She only put up the smallest fight before he swept her up into his arms and twirled her like a princess in the middle of the dancefloor. Her laughter overcame the blaring Bollywood music that occasionally blended in and out with the hottest Western tunes, including a powerful Shania Twain ballad that Zack hadn’t heard in years. He was so used to weddings featuring live jazz bands and lounge singers flown in from LA that he had forgotten how fun a wedding could be with a great DJ and a floor big enough for dancing.
“I didn’t know you could dance!” Rachel shouted over the music.
“I can’t! Honestly!” He only stopped dancing with Rachel when she claimed she was getting too dizzy to stand. Even after she stepped off the floor to get some punch and water, Zack continued to dance, swayed by the music.
A certain woman caught his eye. He didn’t hesitate asking Sita’s great-aunt to dance to Charli XCX.
***
Rachel only had so much dancing in her. Her weak ankles begged her to take a break before she pushed them to the point of no return, so she excused herself from Zack’s sweaty embrace and decided to refuel and catch up with some of the guests she knew.
She was not prepared to hear a group of aunties scream and point at what a stranger did on the dancefloor.
“Can you believe it?” one woman yelled in Hindi. “He got Dita to dance!”
It was no secret that Zack had a million admirers that night. But what the young single women lacked in confidence, their aunts and grandmas made up for in unabashed flirting. It was a good thing great-aunt Dita was a widow and her family didn’t follow the more rigid customs of how a widow should behave. Because that was some serious dancing she and Zack were up to while everyone clapped around them.
Parvati, in her neon orange saree and bouncing gold jewelry, nearly mowed Rachel over in excitement. “Holy shit!” she cried, ignoring the disproving looks in her direction. “I can’t believe he actually came! And look at that! Girl, you’re gonna have to beat off every North Indian auntie in New England to get close to him again!”
Rachel laughed. “He’s too charming for his own good!”
“I’ll say! My aunt didn’t even hesitate! She’s probably thinking this is gonna be the last great dance of her life!”
Great-aunt Dita had such a fantastic I dare y’all to stop this face that no one dared to separate her from Zack’s gyrating body. As soon as the music died down and suddenly boomed a hot bhangra number, two more aunties ran forward and insisted on sharing Zack for the next three minutes.
“Good thing I’m danced out. Did you try the curry yet? It’s delish.”
Parvati let out an exasperated sigh. “Girl, you brought the hottest date to my sister’s wedding! You…”
One of the aunties whispered something into Zack’s ear. He bent back up from her short stature and pointed Rachel out. Both aunties nodded in approval before going back to dancing with him.
“Uh oh.”
Rachel knew what that meant. She didn’t need Parvati to tell her.
Sure enough, a flood of aunties rolled by Rachel and Parvati, coyly suggesting that not only was Parvati the next to get married, but that Rachel might beat her to it. This was all said with knowing winks and elbow jabs to the side.
“I can’t decide if I’m happy that you’re taking the attention off me,” Parvati began once they were alone again, “or if I’m jealous that you get a guy like Zack. For a while there, I thought Sita was going to dump her fiancé and go after Zack!”
Rachel scoffed. “I don’t have a guy like Zack. It’s not like that. You know it.”
“Girl, you’re boning him on the regular.”
“We’re not having intercourse. That’s different.”
Parvati clenched her fists in disbelief. “On what planet? If you’re getting off together and touching each other’s junk, it’s sex! Hate to break it to ya.”
Rachel didn’t respond to that. She was too busy gazing at Zack and the way he danced with Parvati’s young cousin who was barely out of high school. She was so giddy with excitement that she kept tripping over his feet and apologizing for being a klutz. The ever-gracious Zack brushed her off with one of his most charming smiles. They ended their dance with a hug and the cousin prancing off before her mother could chastise her for dancing like that with a grown man.
“If you don’t lay claim to him, half of Little Mumbai is going to start praying that he marries one of their daughters by the end of the year.”
“I thought ‘Little Mumbai’ was obsessed with inter-Indian marriages only?”
“Trust me. They’ll make an exception for a rich, handsome, young stud like him. They’ll say he was sent by the gods.”
“It’s not like that,” Rachel said again. “We’re friends fooling around together. He’s seeing other people. I went on that awful date with that girl.”
Parvati put a hand on her friend’s arm. “And what happened when that date ditched you, hm? Zack swept in and you ended up fooling around some more. You told me all about it!”
She’s right about that. Rachel wasn’t able to contain herself the day after her terrible date. Parvati had assumed her friend got lucky with the lovely lady. Instead, she was treated to a story about swimming pools and the number sixty-nine. The only thing that continued to shock Parvati was the fact that Rachel and Zack had yet to go all the way.
“Do you see the way he looks at you?” Parvati shook her head in disbelief. “I’m not getting my hopes up on your behalf when I say he’s got it bad for you. That’s not the way a man looks at a woman he’s fooling around with.”
Rachel stiffened. “Then what is it?”
Parvati didn’t hesitate. “That’s the way my new brother-in-law looks at my sister.”
There’s no way he’s in love with me. Rachel would never entertain that thought. Not seriously, anyway. She knew better than to think a man – let alone one like Zack – could possibly love her in that capacity. Maybe he would love her for a night. A week, if she was lucky. A month, if they truly clicked. Let’s be real, he’s only into me because he’s holding out for PIV. Rachel couldn’t maintain the smile she had only a few minutes ago. Watching Zack sweep across the dancefloor with Parvati and Sita’s mother in her amber saree was like watching TV from another planet.
If she and Zack truly ended up together, it would end with nothing but paranoia. Every woman would want a piece of him. Rachel would be dealing with that jealousy for the rest of her life. Could there really be enough trust in the world for her to give that part of her heart to a man like Zack? What if he broke it because it was too easy for him to stray? Rich men, handsome men… they both had that going for them. A rich and sexy man like Zack was a giant catch, yes… but he was also one helluva liability to Rachel’s already fragile heart.
Besides, she would never be able to rely on him. That was like walking brazenly into disaster.
I owe so much money to the nursing home… That’s what the meeting had been about last week. And when Rachel was done crying herself out on the way home, she had allowed Zack into her bed for the rest of the night. They hadn’t done anything except cuddle and go to sleep.
See? Just friends.
Rachel caught Zack’s glance the moment the song ended and his partner wandered off to blush with her friends. A classic Bollywood love song – “Suraj Hua Maddham” – began to play. A hundred women crossed their fingers in hopes that he would ask them to dance.
He held his hand out to Rachel while Parvati urged her forward.
“Oh my God, Rachel,” she said. “This guy crashed my place of work to ask for your number! And that was weeks ago! Dance with him!”
She stepped forward and tentatively placed her hand in his.
“Out of all the women I’ve danced with tonight,” he said, taking her into his arms and swaying back and forth in time to the music, “and let me say that I’ve had my pick of some of the most gorgeous post-menopausal women this side of the Atlantic…”
Rachel squeezed his hand, the other draping across his shoulder. His grip sent shivers down her spine. “That last woman you danced with was the bride’s mother.”
“Like I said, out of all the beautiful women I’ve danced with tonight, I have to say that you’re the one I’m most excited to be seen with.”
“Those aunties are convinced that you and I are getting married. I think they’re testing me to see if they can set you up with their daughters. Or themselves. Some are lonely widows.”
“Let them think whatever they want. We came together, anyway. Or did you forget that I’m your plus one?”
“How could I forget that I came with the biggest star of the wedding?”
“Hopefully I’m not upstaging the bride and groom.”
Rachel stole a glance at the happy couple slow dancing, lost in their own blissful world. “Don’t think they mind. Now, if you dance with the bride, her husband might have to kick your ass. He’s already had his shoes stolen once today.”
“His whatta?”
“Basically, the bride’s family is supposed to steal his shoes by the end of the night.”
“This is seriously the best wedding I’ve ever been to.”
“You mean that? I would think those weddings you go to in Bali or castles in Ireland would be way cooler.”
“You’ve seen one Irish castle, you’ve seen them all. So…” Zack twirled his partner around, her blue skirt fanning out for half a second, “your place or mine tonight? Come to my place and I’ll make sure your dress is dry cleaned by tomorrow afternoon. My family has an account with the fastest, best place in the city.”
Rachel wanly smiled. “If you could drop me off at home, that would be great.”
“You’re trying to tell me that you’re at a wedding and don’t wanna get naughty afterward?”
“Wasn’t what I had in mind, no.”
He brought her closer, voice plummeting into her ear. “I could put it in your mind, if you want.”
“I’m sure you could.”
“You’re challenging me, aren’t you?”
Rachel couldn’t help but chuckle. “Maybe a little.”
“What do I have to do to get your hot ass in my bed tonight, Rachel Taylor?”
“Stop talking, for one. Sometimes your actions speak louder than words.”
Zack mimicked zipping his mouth shut before wrapping both arms around Rachel. She hesitated before bracing both hands against his broad shoulders.
See? That’s all he cares about. Fooling around. Playing pretend in front of a crowd. He’s not really…
She was dipped backward before she had a chance to protest, let alone process what was happening. When she popped back up again, it was to see his calming countenance in a sea of talking heads and chewing mouths.
Rachel had been fighting it for weeks. The attraction. The desires. The need to hold him and feel his heart beat next to her own. Basking in his warmth and even warmer scent. Feeling his body against hers, wondering when, if ever, they could become closer. Kisses and fooling around had never been enough. She knew it. He knew it. Even with a hundred climaxes shared between them, none of it was enough as long as they knew it was foreplay.
But every time Rachel entertained the idea of taking it all the way with Zack – which included calling him her boyfriend – she remembered the promise she had made to herself.
Wasn’t it curious, though, that this man walked into her life that same day?
She had been fighting it for weeks: the fact that she was pretty sure she loved him.
God, wasn’t that frightening? Loving him? Of course she loved him. Why wouldn’t she? This was the man who had been by her side for several weeks, seeing her ups, her downs, and hearing some of the sorriest stories he could ever hear. He saw me crying about my mom. He saw how scared I am of everything… not just the water, but of losing my mom and hot having the money to take care of her…
Rachel needed him as a friend more than anything else. To lose him now would be like losing a part of herself.
But she also wanted him as her lover. A lover she could see herself waking up beside for the rest of her life.
That was love, wasn’t it?
There’s no way he could ever feel that way for me.
Zack must have caught on to her energy, for he tipped her head back and kissed her.
“Nope. Can’t hold it in any longer,” he said. “I wanna talk. Talk, talk, talk.”
“You can’t stand the silence.”
“I can, if there’s something worth contemplating.”
“Like…”
Zack tightened his hold on her. “Like how much I like being with you.”
“So it’s not worth contemplating right now?”
“If you’re here, I’d rather tell you.”
The song came to an end. Rachel stepped away, teeth firmly on her bottom lip. “I want some cake. How about you?”
“I’d love to take a break from being the most sought after man at the wedding, yeah.”
His words were both silly and divinely honest. So much so that Rachel continued to reel from them even after they stumbled to one of the buffet tables and sampled the cake. Especially after Zack insisted on feeding some to her, making sure his fingers remained in her mouth far longer than was kosher for a public wedding.
“Just want to make sure I don’t get any on your nice outfit,” he said with a wink.
“I should smear some of this on your face.”
“Save it for our wedding.”
Rachel froze while he asked to sample one of the other cakes. The chef behind the table happily handed over the chocolate cake drizzled in strawberry glaze.
Our… wedding.
That was classic Zack at work again. Making jokes, never being serious… Rachel needed to loosen up and throw it right back at him.
“Wait until I tell you that I love you before you start going on about our wedding.”
“Oh, so you do love me?” He offered her a piece of chocolate cake from his little fork. “You should try this. Think you’d like it.”
Rachel turned around. “Could you be serious for a few seconds?”
Zack put the plate down and followed her through the crowded lines. “The hell did I do?”
She came through the other side with a sigh on her lips. Stop playing with me like this. Asking her back to his place. Joking about them getting married. Joking about loving her. It wasn’t fair. She couldn’t keep doing this to herself.
Because the longer she stayed around him, the more she bought into his funny anecdotes and suggestions that they could be more than friends who happened to know what each other’s bodily fluids tasted like.
I hate how I get around him. Rachel hid in the shadows, hoping her bright blue saree wouldn’t be too easy to see. She would have dipped into the women’s restroom, but it was so crowded with crowing aunties that she didn’t dare get mixed up in that. He’s going to destroy me, and he won’t even mean to do it.
“Rachel.”
Damnit. There he was.
“I’m sorry if I offended you.” Damnit, and he was still talking! “I wish you would tell me what I did this time, though.”
“It’s not you.” Rachel couldn’t believe she took this route. “It’s me. I need a little space.”
“Is this because I was joking about us getting married? It was a joke, Rachel.”
“No, I…” She shook her head. “It’s not like that.”
“Do you mean your feelings, or what we’ve got going on here?”
“What do we have?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to get you to tell me.” Zack slammed his hand against the wall. “You confuse me more than all the languages I hear spoken here. At least they’re being direct with each other.”
Rachel couldn’t respond. Her heart was racing, torn between forcing her to flee and begging her to dive into his arms again.
“You kinda drive me crazy.”
“I could say the same thing about you.”
“Why do you like me so much? Why?”
He shrugged. “Why not? Is there a good reason not to like you?”
“I’m a mess. I string you along, making half-promises that I never intend to fulfill.”
“What makes you say that? I can’t think of any promises you haven’t fulfilled to me.”
Rachel didn’t say anything.
“Does this have to do with sex?”
She still wouldn’t say anything.
“Rachel Mary-Ann Taylor,” how the hell did he learn her whole name? “You drive me crazy because I think you’re the damn bees-knees. We’re not going to question Cupid and his quiver full of arrows.”
“Why do you make jokes like that?”
“Who says they’re jokes? I’m not ashamed to say that I’m halfway to loving you.”
Rachel’s eyes widened. There was no way that he said… “What’s stopping you from committing to full love?”
“Honestly? Insecurity.”
“Inse… !”
“Insecurity that you don’t feel the same way about me.” Zack took a step back. “We guys get insecure about our feelings too, you know.”
Rachel stared at him, dumbfounded. Was it possible? That he really had feelings like those for her? But was afraid to admit them because of her… her reluctance?
That was crazy!
“You’re nuts.” Rachel couldn’t hold in the laughter. “You’re holding back because of me? That’s fucking crazy! Look at you! You could have any woman you want, and I’m the one making you insecure?”
He wasn’t laughing along with her. “Yes. I can have any woman I want. Except you, apparently.”
“Which makes you want me more. Always after the fish you can’t catch.”
“More like aimlessly hoping that you’ll take things to the next level with me. But that’s okay. I’m a patient man, if I think it’s worth it.”
Rachel still couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was like some twisted dream come true. Assuming he could be trusted, of course. “You think I’m worth it?”
“Absolutely.”
He tried to suppress an excited smile, but in the end, Zack couldn’t hold back the giddiness overcoming even a man like him. It was the closest he would get to a love confession for now. As for Rachel? She didn’t even try to suppress it. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in the emerald green kurta that already smelled of him.
She broke away from him only to track down Parvati and tell him that they were leaving early. She then hunted down the happy newlyweds and wished them the best on their new path in life. As soon as Sita took her hands in thanks, Rachel dashed off, dodging dancers and forgetting any vows she had made to herself.
It was close enough to the end of August, anyway.
“Your place!” She snatched Zack’s hand on the way by, yanking him along behind her. “Did you bring your car?”
He stammered out an affirmative as they entered the main hall.
“Good! That means it will only take us ten minutes to get back to your apartment!”
The things she was going to do him.