I nodded. I was so proud of Vinnie. Not only was she smart, she was genuinely committed to helping people.
“So, your father hasn’t remarried?” Vir asked.
“Nah,” I said. “Mom was the love of his life, evidently.”
“He’s lucky to have had her,” he said. “It must have been hard.”
“It was years ago,” I said. “It’s fine now. We’re over it.”
“Uh-huh.” He wasn’t buying my we’re-fine line, I could tell.
“Okay, so maybe we’re not,” I said, surprising myself. Weren’t we? “I mean, how do you get over something like that?”
He said nothing, just tapped my list. “You still need a DJ?” he asked. “Hire me.”
“You’re a DJ?” I said. “What do you charge for a gig?”
“Charge?” He looked blank. “Oh, I’ll give you a discount on whatever’s the going rate. I just haven’t had a chance to, you know, cost it out.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You have references?”
“Not in Boston,” he said. “Like I said—I’m trying to get the business started.”
“You’re making this up, aren’t you?” I said. “What kind of DJ are you that you don’t even know what to charge?”
“The cut-rate kind.” He grinned. “The kind people pay with free dinner.”
I didn’t know if he was being serious or not. “I’ll think about it,” I said.
He grabbed my notepad and wrote Vir and a phone number next to the DJ line.
“I’ll do a good job, I promise,” he said. “Try me.”
His eyes smiled into mine and made me feel warm from head to toe.
“Okay, I’ll think about it,” I said.
“Let me know what you decide,” he said. “I better get going.” He turned to head off down the trail. “I’m a good DJ, remember,” he flung over his shoulder.
I stared at his retreating back, flabbergasted. (His back was also nice to look at, let’s be honest.) How on earth had I just spent an hour talking to some guy I barely knew about my mom, and my college applications, and my sister’s wedding? After letting him check my SAT score for me? I’m really not the kind of person who spills everything about their life to strangers. What was happening to me?
“Spill!” Shayla ordered over the cell phone. “You can’t just say you’re thinking of hiring that guy to DJ Vinnie’s wedding without a proper explanation. I want to hear everything.”
“Aren’t you going to congratulate me on the score?”
“Congrats. But, duh, I always knew you’d do fine! And you let him check your score? What was that about?”
“I was just scared to check it myself!”
“Why, I’ll never know! But why is he DJ’ing the wedding, again? How did this even come up?”
“Well.” I dithered. “I was making a checklist for the wedding. By the lake, you know.”
“Very romantic,” Shayla said encouragingly.
“Shut up!” I said. “Or I’m hanging up.”
“Fine, fine—continue,” Shayla said.
“And he happened to run by, and he saw me, and so he stopped to chat, and then it came up,” I said. “So he mentioned that that’s what he does, and he’s starting up here and he’ll give me a discount. That’s all.”
“But he’s starting at MIT in September!” Shayla said. “You don’t launch a DJ business the year you’re going to MIT!”
“Maybe he did DJ’ing over his gap year. To help pay for college tuition or something!” I suggested. “Not everyone taking a year off goes backpacking, you know. Shayla, he gave me his number—should I call him or not?”
“You should definitely call him. But I think he’s offering to help because—” Shayla said.
“No. I don’t want to hear it!” I said.
“—he likes you,” Shayla said, fulfilling her need to have the final say, however delusional her conclusions.
So, I went down to the Indian grocery store to pick up some supplies—a crate of mangoes, creamy Indian-style yogurt, cilantro, ginger, lentils, a few boxes of KDH spices, and freshly fried samosas from the little café kitchen they had in the back of the store. And I picked up a bright flyer for wedding horses. Apparently, it’s possible to hire a decorated wedding horse for weddings in the state of Massachusetts.
BARAAT WEDDING HORSES
by Springmeadow Farms
We provide decorated white horses for your weddings. We serve Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.
Our horses are well mannered and gentle.
Our staff is experienced, courteous, and professional.
We have provided horses for many Baraat/Hindu weddings & matrimonial events.
Safe, fun, and memorable
Fully insured
Please contact us for more information, quotes on our low prices, or for reservations.
To see more pictures of our horses, please visit our website.
“It sounds legit,” I said to Shayla after reading it to her over the phone.
“It sounds nuts!” Shayla said.
“Wait, there’s more,” I said. “It says here: ‘Elephants available on request.’”
“Elephants?” Shayla said, her eyes round like Ritz crackers. I’m guessing this, obviously, since she wasn’t actually there.
“Elephants,” I confirmed. “They have pictures.”
“Get out of here,” Shayla said.
The elephant was out, of course, because (a) Vinnie and Manish weren’t nuts, and (b) as per the rates on the pamphlet, it cost a shitload of money to rent one.
The decorated white horse, though. That might actually fit in the budget!
“Hello.” The deep voice with the British accent was Vir, all right. He sounded distracted.
I nearly panicked and almost hung up.
“It’s Mini,” I said. “Mini Kapoor. We met by Lake Waban?”
“Mini!” His voice warmed up immediately. “What’s up?”
“I’m calling about my sister’s wedding,” I said. “You said you could DJ for it?”
“Sure can,” Vir said. “If you give me the date, I’ll put it on my calendar right away. And if you like, we should probably meet to go over the music, and the lights, and the schedule of events—that kind of stuff.”
He said SHED-ule instead of SKEJ-ule—it sounded sweet.
“Um, we’re having a meeting at the venue on Tuesday with some of the vendors. Could you come to it?” I said. “My sister will be there too. We could go over everything then.”
“Where is it?” Vir asked.
“The
