Page 48

Know Anybody?

Padma couldn’t recall exactly which route she had taken back to her office from the maintenance room, but she knew she had kicked off her heels and carried them as she ran down the hall and up some stairs. Of all the times to be without her phone.

Fuck.

After receiving The Matchmaker’s reply that Nilesh had rejected her, Padma had smashed her device against the sidewalk outside the bowling alley and had watched it bounce up in the air and then disappear down through the bars of the sidewalk grate. She couldn’t have aimed it through that gap if she’d tried a hundred times, but just her luck to have had it hit the opening on that one throw.

Now in her office, she tossed her shoes on the floor beside her desk, powered up her laptop, pulled her backup phone out of her drawer, and plugged it in to charge while she waited for her email to load. Sure enough. The fucking Fiscal Falcon—what a ridiculous name—was right. There was a message from her mother:

Padma,

The Fiscal Falcon has updated me on his spectacular accomplishment.

Given his great success, and the unfortunate debacle you have made of both your position at the casino and The Matchmaker’s efforts, we need to refocus your energy. Really, Padma. This is for your own good. To have three rejections . . .

Regardless, The Falcon is to be commended for recovering nine million dollars—that is an amazing achievement. Thank God I sent him when I did. I told you he is something else. (I wonder if he found you attractive at all? Did you wear dresses and heels? That is your most flattering look. And again, I strongly urge you to consider highlights.)

I’m sure you’ll agree he demonstrated the ability needed to run the casino, and I should not have put you in a situation beyond the scope of your skill set. It is best we abandon that plan immediately and bring you home before there is any further embarrassment.

Ensure a smooth handover. I trust you’ll take care of the loose end we talked about, and I want you back in Mumbai by the end of the week.

Your mother,

Amrita Kulkarni

Padma was incensed. She rejected Akshay, it was technically a mutual rejection on Vikash, and she only missed rejecting Nilesh first by seconds. And she couldn’t help it if she was short. It was her mother’s fucking genes. Padma slammed down her laptop. That fucking Falcon. He took her credit. He stole her job. He called her a six.

Brenda popped her head in Padma’s office door. “Everything okay?”

“Farid said my shoes say ‘come fuck me.’”

Brenda came in and sat across from her. “You know what? Your shoes could say ‘come fuck me up the butt and hang me from a tree,’ but if you want to wear them, you should just go ahead and wear whatever you fucking well want to.”

Padma’s head jerked as she took in that reply.

Brenda sighed. “Sorry. I have three sisters and we have strong opinions on this. Our mom taught us early, as women, we cannot worry about what anyone says about us, our body, what we wear, or what we do. We are the masters of ourselves. My mom says we should do and wear whatever makes us comfortable.”

“Your mom says that?”

Brenda nodded. “She sure does. That and a lot of other stuff I hated hearing as a kid, but now as a woman, and wife, it makes sense.”

Padma thought about that, then asked, “How long have you been married?”

“Ten years.”

That’s what Padma wanted. She wanted to just think about someone and get that spark in Brenda’s eyes. Padma sighed. “To be honest, heels kill my feet.”

“Then why the fuck wear them?”

Padma sat back in her chair and pondered that. Then she thought of her mother, and that fucking, condescending Farid. The Fiscal Falcon. More like The Fiscal Fuckface. She studied Brenda. “You’ve lived in this town a long time, right?”

“All my life,”

Brenda answered.

Padma tapped her fingertips together in front of her. She looked at her whiteboard mounted across from her desk and studied the words CAUSE and EFFECT she’d written there. It was time for her to cause her own effect. She redirected her gaze to Brenda and asked, “Would you happen to know anybody who does whatever needs doing?”