“You’re still tiny. A perfectly formed body.” I smirk.
“I’m more than my body.” She shoots me a sideways glance.
“You’re also the most hardworking person I know.”
She winces. “Now you’re making me sound so boring.”
“You’re anything but. You and your family are a lot of fun, Dinky."
She smiles. "I think so, too. They can be a little extra, though. Comes from the East Indian heritage on my mother’s side, but they are a lot of fun."
"Your mother is from the subcontinent?" JJ asks.
"She moved to the US when she was five. My grandparents came to LA with very little. They started a restaurant and brought up my mother and her sister without wanting for anything. My mother met my father when she was very young. He didn’t want anything to do with the running of my grandparents’ restaurant."
"You’re not close to your father, I take it?"
"He left and married someone else. He has his own family now. It’s my mother who brought us up, while running my grandparents’ restaurant."
And I don’t need a psychologist to tell me my Daddy issues arise from having been abandoned by father.
"How many siblings do you have?" JJ asks
"Three. Seema, my oldest sister, is studying to be a doctor. Then Mira, who’s training to be a chef, then me and finally, Josh who’s eleven months younger than me. He leaves for his first tour this summer."
"Ah, a soldier." JJ stares at the chess pieces, but I’m sure he’s tracking Lena’s reaction. The asshole has the senses of a snake, or a spider. He knows everything happening in his vicinity. He’s so damn switched on, nothing ever gets past him.
"Is your mum worried about him leaving?" JJ taps his fingers on the table.
Lena knits her eyebrows. "She is, of course, but she’s also proud of him. She always told us to follow our instincts. As long as we’re happy with our chosen professions, she wouldn’t dream of interfering. She’s always been very supportive of our choices."
"And does she approve of Isaac?"
I scoff. "JJ, really?"
She hesitates. I turn to find Lena scrutinizing my features. She leans in close enough so her lips are just a hair’s breadth from mine. "She thinks I could do worse."
"Oh yeah?" I tug her forward. She yelps and loses her balance and crashes into my chest. I rise to my feet with her in my arms. "Gotta go, old man, I need to show my girlfriend just how good a choice I am for her."
"Isaac, what are you doing?" Lena hisses.
I glance down to find her cheeks are red. How cute. The fact that she still blushes is such a fucking turn-on.
I turn and head for the doorway.
"Isaac," JJ calls out.
I pause and swing around to glance at him.
"Good night."
He sits there in his armchair, cigar clamped between his lips. His jaw is rigid. A nerve throbs at his temple, like he’s pissed off about something. His features, though, wear the same emotionless mask I’ve seen so many times growing up.
"Night." I turn and walk out.
I’ve only reached the stairs when the sound of something crashing to the floor reaches me.
I pause.