Dimple smiled halfheartedly, disappointed but eager not to show it. Maybe it was for the best that he hadn't said it. That just complicated things, didn't it? Made them so much more serious? It was crazy enough they were going to do this long-distance after knowing each other six weeks. "Me too. It's going to be hard, though, you know."
He squeezed her hand. "I know. But we can do it. I mean, we started out this whole thing with you determined to hate me."
She laughed. "True. I totally thought you were going to hold me back from winning."
"But now?" He looked at her from under his lashes, smiling crookedly, and her heart skipped several beats.
"Now I know how lucky I am to have you on my team."
His smile turned full force then, like he knew she was talking about more than just the web development aspect of it all. "Your papa is going to be so impressed when you win."
She took a shaky breath. "I hope so. I really want him to be able to use it, you know? I want him to know how much it means to me, all the sacrifices he's made."
"Like what?" Rishi said, and it was clear he wasn't just being polite. He really wanted to know more about her papa.
Dimple leaned back in her booth. With her free hand, she played with her napkin. "He had a tough start to his life, but he never talks about it. Mamma told me that apparently his dad used to drink and go into these rages. His mom, my daadi , would purposely anger him so that he'd beat her and spare Papa. When Papa was older, he tried to get her to leave, but she wouldn't. And when he got married and he and my mom decided to come to the States, he tried to get Daadi to go with them, but she refused. He didn't make very much money at first, but he still sent about half of it home to her. I guess he was hoping she'd sock it away and finally find the courage to leave his dad. But Daadi died when I was a baby. No one would tell him for sure how, though. The party line was that she slipped down some stairs." Dimple shook her head. "Papa is this soft, gentle soul, you know? The exact opposite of me and Mamma. I could see how an experience like that could change you, harden you, make you into the monster you hated. But not Papa. If anything, I bet he used it to become a better husband and father."
Rishi raised her hand to his lips. "He sounds incredible."
Dimple smiled at him, reveling in the delicious shiver rolling up her spine at the touch of Rishi's lips. "He is."
"And what about your mamma?"
Dimple shrugged, the shiver winking out instantly. "She's . . . Mamma. She believes my worth is directly tied to my beauty and my ability to land a husband. She doesn't give a crap about my personality or my brains."
"That can't be right. There's no way she sees what I see and thinks that about you."
Dimple smirked. "Maybe you need to have a talk with her. I'm sure I'm in for an earful when I go back home."
"Because we're not getting married, you mean?"
"Yeah." Dimple sighed, her mood darkening at the thought of that conversation.
"I'll bet there's a part of her you haven't seen yet."
Dimple looked up, frowning. "What do you mean?"
Rishi rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "I don't know; she's your mom, you know. I feel like if you were really hurting or really needed her, she'd be there for you without question. And maybe there's a part of her she hasn't shared with you yet that's totally not what you expect."
Dimple thought that was likely utter BS , but instead she said, "Yeah, maybe. But tell me about your parents now."
The waiter set down Dimple's steaming, fragrant plate of cod and potatoes, garnished with halved boiled eggs. Rishi's soup looked delicious, too, though Dimple thought she might've preferred it with sausage. Keeping their hands clasped between them in silent agreement, Dimple and Rishi began to eat.
"Hmm, let's see. My dad, Pappa, he had a tough start too. His parents died in an accident when he was six or seven, so he was raised by this series of relatives who treated him badly. He basically put himself through college, and when he saw Ma, he knew he wanted to marry her. He didn't have parents to go ask her parents for her hand in marriage, so he had to do it himself. And he knew it was unlikely that her parents would go for him-poor, with no family to speak of-so he just went in there and told her dad how much he cared for her. He promised to one day make enough money to give her the lifestyle she deserved." Rishi smiled and ate a bite of potato. "Her dad, my nana , became Pappa's biggest fan after that speech. He's the one who helped them come to the States. He even gave them seed money to get Pappa's first business started. It went bust, but the relationships he made there led to him coming in on the ground floor of Global Comm."