Priya in Heels (Entangled Embrace) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Sunday morning. People, strangers and neighbors alike, waved. This neighborhood was safe, friendly, and within a short distance from the gym, a riverside park, work, and the clinic. The near-outlandish rent for the apartment was worth it.
    The wind picked up, cooling the perspiration on my skin.
    The phone rang as soon as I entered the apartment.
    “Hi, Mummie. How are you?”
    “Fine. How are you? What are you doing? Have you eaten yet?”
    “I’m well, just getting home from the gym, and will eat oatmeal after my shower.”
    “How can you eat oatmeal? That’s disgusting. Don’t you have any nastho left?”
    Mummie made snacks and food from scratch every time I visited my parents. On my last trip to Austin, Mummie had made a huge batch of breakfast treats, which was made up mainly of fried noodles and lentils swimming in spices. Mummie ate nastho with cha every morning, but the fried food didn’t agree with me. Imagine an Indian who couldn’t eat Indian food!
    “I have some, but oatmeal sounds good today.”
    “We spoke with Manuk’s parents this morning. They’re coming to visit on the nineteenth. It’s a Sunday, so you have the day off. I believe you have the following Monday off, too?”
    I cringed as I walked into the bedroom. “I’ll check my planner to see if anything’s going on.” I didn’t, and Mummie knew that as well. She asked for my ever-changing work schedule every month to plan out visits.
    “If it’s not work, it can wait, right?”
    “Of course.”
    “You can come Saturday night, after work. I bought a beautiful sari for you to wear.”
    “You didn’t have to.”
    “Nonsense, beti , this is an auspicious meeting. You are going to look so pretty, huh?”
    “Thanks.”
    “The sari is yellow and pink, so if you have some jewelry you want to wear with it, bring it. Maybe shoes, too. I don’t think we’ll leave the house, but you never know. Maybe you two want to go for a private walk around the neighborhood?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Sound happier! I went through a lot of trouble to arrange this.”
    “I thought they asked about me first.”
    “Okay, they did. It wasn’t too much trouble. They’re very excited. Manuk is, too. I think he is the one.”
    “Great.” The idea of getting engaged was as thrilling as picking out light fixtures, except the latter could be changed if the need arose.
    We said our good-byes. After a shower, I found a lazy, just out-of-bed Vicki in the kitchen in baggy sweat pants and a thin T-shirt.
    “How can you work-out so early?” she groaned.
    “It’s hard, but I feel so much better. You should come more often.”
    “Not likely. I’ve come to terms with my pudginess.”
    I poured hot water from a kettle over instant oatmeal and added a bit of milk and sugar. “Guess what my mom called about.”
    “Oh, yeah. I wondered. Hmm . Late at night and not bad news?”
    “Depends on your definition of bad news.”
    “Death is always bad news, and so is an illness. Aha!” Vicki beamed. “Another suitor?”
    “Why does that make you so happy?”
    “Because I guessed right. Who is it this time?”
    “Manuk—the dentist from Dallas.”
    “Sounds nice.”
    “She doesn’t understand that I’m not interested in getting married yet.”
    “At least you have an excuse. Residency is pretty much like you’re still in school because you are still studying.”
    “She has it planned out: get engaged next year and get married right after residency, move to Dallas and work there.”
    “My parents hassle me every time they talk to me. So nice they live in Dallas, you know? Far enough that we don’t see each other all the time, but close enough to drive to. I wonder if they know Manuk. Probably, right?”
    I nodded. “How have you avoided getting roped into initial meetings?”
    “I told them the truth. I don’t want to get married yet and they should relax.”
    “And they accepted it?”
    “What are they going to do? Drive here, tie me up, and force me