Five-Thirty AM - X

There are no direct flights from Toronto, Ontario to El Paso, Texas.

Mitul found that out the hard way, after scouring through every online reservation system that she knew of, for over an hour. Finally, she found one that gave her the fastest route of all and booked her tickets. Then she sent off an email to Noel with her itinerary. He’d already insisted on making her living arrangements, so she left that up to him.

That done, she dialed her parents’ home in Mumbai. She’d always been religious in calling them every week.

‘Mitul?’ her mother answered the phone. ‘How are you?’

‘Good, Ma. How are you?’ even though it was only a month since she’d seen her mother, all of a sudden she felt the need for the warmth of her mother’s hug. ‘I miss you, Ma,’ she choked, emotions rushing through her. She didn’t know why.

‘Mitul? Beta, what’s wrong?’ her mother was concerned. It wasn’t like Mitul to break down and cry on her weekly calls. ‘What happened? Why are you crying?’

‘Just missing you, Ma,’ she sniffed. ‘Was missing you a lot.’

‘Aw, my baby,’ her mother smiled and blew her a kiss. ‘We miss you a lot, too. Why don’t you come back earlier this year? It’s not like something is holding you back there, is it?’

‘No, Ma. There’s nothing,’ she said, smiling because she felt so much better after that kiss.

‘Are you sure? You haven’t gone and fallen for a Canadian, now, have you?’ her mother teased.

‘Ma! No!’ she exclaimed. ‘I haven’t. I’ve just been very busy working.’ Thank god her mother couldn’t see that blush!

‘I know. I met Joyce at the Sinha’s the other day, and she says you’re really doing a great job with the book,’ her mother sounded proud as a peacock about her little chickie.

‘That’s very sweet of her, Ma. But she’s a real slave-driver, you know. Puts deadlines on me,’ she complained. ‘I’m a writer, I get writer’s block. Deadlines kill me,’ she said dramatically.

‘She keeps you on the straight and narrow, Mitul,’ her mother countered. ‘Or else you’d be sitting and watching TV all summer long.’

They both laughed at that, knowing Mitul’s love for the idiot box. What her mother didn’t know about, of course, was a certain actor whose career Mitul had followed avidly, and who of late, had started occupying a great deal of her thoughts.

‘Okay, tell me,’ her mother continued. ‘What news of your maasi’s family?’

‘They’re fine, Ma. I went to their house day before yesterday, for Piya and Jiya’s birthday. And Anuj proposed to Piya, but they’ll have the formal shagun and roka and all that much later. Maasi will probably call you in a day or so and tell you all about it.’

‘How is Piya’s fiance? Is he a nice boy?’

‘Oh, he’s a great guy, Ma. We all had gone out to cottage country and I had a great time with them!’

‘And?’

‘He’s good looking too, and best of all, loves Piya a lot. It’s funny, you know. Piya is the one with the big mouth, and Anuj is quiet. Jiya is the quiet one and Rajan is so out-going. They chose exact opposites!’

Her mother laughed and said, ‘They say opposites attract. Listen, do you have any pictures of them from your trip?’

‘I do, and I’ll email them to you,’ she promised.

‘Here, speak to your Dad, he’s standing right here wanting to talk to you.’ She heard the phone being handed over.

‘Hello?’ she heard her father’s deep voice.

‘Baba! How are you? What are you doing?’ she’d put on her baby voice.

‘We were sitting down for a round of solitaire,’ he chuckled. ‘Your mother keeps beating me at it. But I think she cheats, you know.’

She laughed as she heard her mother say, ‘I do not!’ indignantly in the background.

‘How are you, my little one?’ her father asked tenderly.

‘I’m fine, Baba,’ she slipped easily into the role of his baby girl. ‘Baba, the reason I called is because I won’t be able to talk to you next week and probably the week after.’

‘Why, baby?’ her father asked.

‘I have to go to the US. I have some work there, and I’ll be busy with it, so it’ll be difficult to call you.’

‘Oh!’ said her father. ‘And when do you come back to Toronto?’

She told him the dates and then said, ‘Baba, don’t tell Ma, but I plan on coming back to India early this year.’

‘Really? Okay,’ her father and her confidante kept her secret, although she could tell by his voice he was grinning.

‘I do miss you all,’ she sighed.

‘We miss you too, little one,’ he said softly. Her mother said something in the background and then he repeated it. ‘Oh, your Ma said to tell you, your uncle, aunt and Maina are all coming for a visit, during the Puja vacations. So be sure to bring some gifts for them from Canada.’

‘Ah f-!’ she exclaimed, before she could stop herself, thankful that she’d controlled her mouth before the expletive left it. Her uncle, her father’s brother was a wonderful person. It was his wife and his daughter that caused her some serious back pain. She tolerated them only because they were family.

‘Behave, Mitul,’ her father warned.

‘I will, Dad,’ she said wearily. ‘Perfume?’ she asked.

‘Yeah!’ was her father’s equally weary reply. With that, she wound down the call and finally hung up.

She scanned through the photos they had taken of their cottage country trip. She still hadn’t gone through all of them, although she’d downloaded them already. The camera had been left around for anyone and everyone to click as they liked. So there were lots of shots that she hadn’t seen. She browsed through the pictures setting aside the ones that she would send to her parents.

She stopped as she came to one of hers. She was standing in the boat, laughing at someone to her left. Obviously, she’d just come out of the water, droplets of water clinging to her skin, dripping off her hair, clinging to her eyelashes. The blue sky framed her in the background, the dark blue one piece, splotched with turquoise showing off her taut body. The oblong cutaway to the side revealing the ring at her navel. The camera had captured the sun glinting off that ring. She gaped at it. She actually looked quite .. quite ... sexy in it! There was no other word for it. She stared at the picture knowing exactly who had taken it. For a second, she debated deleting it, and then let it be.

She found the picture of him that she’d been looking for. It was a closeup, up to his shoulders, the phoenix visible just above the frame. His green eyes were looking straight at the camera, from under his brows. He wasn’t smiling, the intensity of his eyes eating into her soul. His hair was darker, wet, and drops of water sparkled on his shoulders, framing his thick corded neck. His jaw was shadowed by the stubble, and he looked... wicked, she thought. Without thinking twice about it, she sent the picture to her phone.

There were many pictures of them side by side, with the group, laughing, talking, posing, even one with Tinker Bell!

She finally finished selecting the pictures and uploaded them to a secure website. Not one of Noel’s picture made the cut. She sent the link to her parents and then downloaded all the pictures onto a flash drive. She’d have to remember to give this to the Puris and Noel.

Which reminded her ...

She debated between calling Jiya and Piya and decided Jiya was the better option of the two. She told Jiya about her impending trip to the US and promised to come by the next day to drop the pictures off.

She was ready for El Paso. Or was she?

*****

The sun at high noon blazed down on the desert, as the 737 slowed down, and dropped altitude for a touchdown at El Paso airport. Mitul looked out of the window taking in the dry, treeless vista outside, little dust devils dancing off the runway. The rounded hills in the background, bald and bare, the green scrub almost shaven off to reveal the brown soil below. It was so bare, so bleak.

For the hundredth time Mitul wondered what she was doing here. Yes, the book was still a work-in-progress. Yes, she still had to explore his army days and the days leading to this point in time. But, wasn’t she fooling herself? She wanted to spend more time with him. Period. Wanted, needed, it was moot at this point. There was a constant gnawing ache in her that would not go away any time soon. Almost like an addiction, a craving, to hear him, see him. This one week away from him had brought it sharply into definition.

Was she being too shameless chasing him across a continent, just to be with him? She hated herself for feeling this way. She hated him for making her feel this way. Now, it was too late to turn back. In a few minutes, she would be seeing him! And that thought sent her already thumping heart racing with anticipation as her stomach coiled into knots.

She pulled her laptop from the overhead bin and slung her bag across her shoulders as she made her way through the aisle to the jetway.

El Paso airport is a small double-storied structure. There are no fancy Terminals nor are there trains to take, or endless walkways to traverse. You get off the flight, walk through the security zone, walk down an escalator to Baggage Claim. It takes all of five to seven minutes if you’re coming from the furthest gate.

She stood on the escalator, her eyes scanning everywhere, looking for him, as the ground floor slowly came into view. The airport certainly had character, she thought. Each of the stores and shops had signs in bright colors, and chili logos were everywhere. Ranchero music played in the stores, the beats unfamiliar yet strangely familiar. There was almost a fiesta atmosphere, she felt, although she knew little about fiestas. She saw people rushing to the baggage claim and she followed them there, waiting for her bag to come out.

Noel was nowhere in sight.

She wasn’t worried. She knew she was booked at the Marriott and she could easily find her way there, perhaps call the hotel to pick her up or maybe cab it. But it did disappoint her a little that he hadn’t come to pick her up at the airport.

A hand on her shoulder made her jump. She turned around to see a stocky man, with a soul goatee and the longest lashes smiling at her.

‘Mitul?’ he held out a hand.

She blinked and then it hit her. ‘Dev?’ she asked, placing her hand in his.

They shook hands smiling at each other, the mutual liking instantaneous, and he said, ‘Noel asked me to pick you up. He’s stuck in rehearsals and couldn’t make it. So here I am. Is this all you have?’ He indicated her shoulder bag.

‘Oh,’ was all she could say to this force of nature. ‘No, I have a bag coming.’

Collecting her bag from the conveyor, they made their way to the parking lot where he stowed her bags in the back of a Mazda CX-5 SUV.

‘Would you like to have lunch first, before you check in?’ Dev suggested, as they drove to the hotel.

‘Sure,’ she said.

‘Any food preferences?’ he asked her, trying to bring a smile to her face.

‘No beef,’ she replied. ‘I don’t eat beef.’

‘First time in El Paso?’ he asked, wondering why she was so quiet.

‘Yes, it is. Never been to this part of Texas before,’ she was looking out of the window taking in the sights of the city, flanked by the bare mountains. ‘I’ve just been to Dallas and that’s it. It’s so flat there. But here, the mountains are all around.’

He nodded as he pulled off the highway into a diner and led the way in. They ordered their food, and she looked around her. The writer in her was storing up each little detail she saw around her. Someday it would come in handy in a mushy romance, she grinned to herself.

Dev was thankful to see that she seemed to have cheered up.

‘So, Mitul,’ he took off his sunglasses as he spoke, wanting her to look into his eyes without any barriers. ‘How’s the book coming along?’

‘Slow,’ she said ruefully. ‘Although Noel does talk well. I have to push him for details.’

He nodded. ‘He is a very private person, as I’m sure you’re finding out.’ He paused not really expecting a reply to that statement. ‘But I have a feeling you’re an equally private person. I barely know a thing about you, yet you said Noel spoke about me. So I’m at a disadvantage here, you know. Noel won’t speak about you. You won’t speak to me about you. How, then, do I get to know you?’ he looked appealingly at her.

She had to smile at that. ‘Quite the charmer, aren’t you? Does that always work with the ladies?’ she grinned at him, deflecting his question with one of her own.

‘You have no idea,’ he leant forward as if he were revealing a secret.

She burst out laughing and he joined in, enjoying the sound of her laughter. It was full and rich. There was something about her, the earthy sensuality she gave off, without really trying. A down-to-earth no-nonsense quality that was very appealing to someone who spent their lives living in an artificial, made up world. She wore no makeup, and no perfume that he could smell. She was what she appeared to be, and she was fearless about it. No wonder Noel was all twisted up about her.

‘So how did you know it was me at the airport?’ she asked curiously.

‘Noel showed me your picture,’ he said. She raised her eyebrow. ‘Well, I had to be able to identify you, you know. I told him I was NOT going to stand there at the bottom of the escalators with a placard that said Mitul Imani, and wait for you.’ He was rewarded by a giggle at the ridiculous picture he’d painted.

They finally returned to the hotel much better acquainted now, and she checked in.

‘Have a nap, while I go see where Noel is,’ Dev suggested as they parted at the elevators.

****

She lay in bed thinking. All day, all day long, she’d been looking forward to seeing him, she admitted that to herself. She’d worked herself up about what she would say when she saw him. She’d wondered what she’d feel when she saw him again. But here she was, in El Paso, and she hadn’t even met him yet! She closed her eyes.

She woke up from her nap with the room phone ringing. Feeling groggy because of the untimely nap she’d taken, she reached over and said hoarsely, ‘Hello?’

‘Hi!’

She kept quiet and then said, ‘Hey!’

‘Did I wake you again?’

‘You always do,’ her voice was heavy, drowsy.

‘Sorry,’ he was contrite.

‘You.. ‘ she stopped. ‘Are you done with your rehearsal?’

‘Yes, and I’m back in my room,’ he said. ‘Do you want to come by?’

‘Mmm hmm,’ she responded sleepily.

‘Its 606. Just .. come by,’ he said.

‘K,’ she whispered.

Dragging herself out of bed, she walked into the bathroom and freshened up. She quickly changed into a pair of jeans, a clingy hunter green off-shoulder top and high heels; a quick brush, a touch of gloss and a spritz of Samsara, and she was ready. She picked up her clutch and walked three doors down to his room and knocked.

****

He’d been sitting at his laptop, going over some emails with only half his attention, the other half focused on the door, when the knock came.

He opened it and she was standing there.

His heart jumped in his throat. He’d forgotten what it was like to see her in front of him, in the flesh. How could he have forgotten? That it was so much better than the two pictures he had of her?

‘Hi!’ he said instead, as he held open the door for her.

She walked in to a room very like her own and turned around when she heard the door shut behind her. Her heart was thumping erratically, her tummy doing the twisty thing again.

‘Hey,’ she replied back, perching on the sofa.

He sat straight on the armchair facing her and for a moment they just took in each other.

‘So,’ she said, ‘here I am in El Paso. What’s the plan?’

He raised an eyebrow and smiled at her obvious attempt to allay the awkwardness that had both of them in its grip.

‘Well, I was supposed to get a long weekend,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately, we’re running behind schedule, as usual. So tomorrow I have an early morning call, at 4 am.’

‘Ouch!’ she said, leaning back now, dropping her clutch on the seat beside her. She kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet beneath her.

‘But .. the good news is that after that, I have about three days off. They’ll be shooting some of the stunts and I’m not needed. So we’ll be able to spend some time with you grilling me,’ he mocked.

‘Do you want me to come for the shoot tomorrow?’ she asked artlessly.

He looked at her and thought about the way she’d said it. If he wanted her to, she would come for a shooting at four in the morning? Is that what she’d said. Or was it just a casual phrase?

‘If you want to see some naach-gaana, yeah. But you don’t need to be there at four. You can come around seven, which is when we’ll actually begin shooting. And if you get bored, you’ll be stuck, though,’ he warned.

‘Why?’

‘We’re shooting at White Sands. They’ve given us special permission to be there before the park opens,’ he said.

‘What’s White Sands?’ she asked.

He smiled, his green eyes crinkling at the corners. ‘Why don’t you come tomorrow and see for yourself?’ he asked. ‘It’s actually beautiful.’

A knock on the door interrupted them and he got up to open the door.

‘Hey Dev,’ he said, ‘come on in.’ He turned around and walked over to the couch, casually picking up her clutch and handing it to her, before sitting down next to her.

Dev had to take the armchair.

‘Hey, Mitul,’ Dev greeted her, not in the least bit surprised to see her in the room. He also didn’t miss the casually intimate way Noel had picked up her clutch and handed it to her or the completely possessive way he was staking his claim by sitting next to her. It was done almost without thinking. Noel, my son, he thought. You’re a goner!

She looked from one to the other, reading the smirk on Dev’s face, but not really understanding the reason behind it. ‘So what are we doing this evening?’ she asked.

‘We are going out to dinner, first of all,’ announced Dev, ‘after which, we could go to a bar or something?’ he ended he sentence as a question.

‘A bar? In El Paso? Seriously?’ Noel asked mockingly. ‘I have a four a.m.’ he began, when the phone rang. He picked it up and said, ‘Ya .. Okay ... sure .. ya, bye,’ and placed the receiver back on the cradle.

‘Turns out Raghu - our director,’ he added for Mitul’s sake, ‘has cousins who live here in El Paso. We’re invited to dinner tomorrow with an Indian family. In El Paso.’ It was at this point that Noel James truly appreciated the facepalm emoticon. If he could’ve done it, he would’ve!

‘Let’s just go,’ said Dev, leading the way out, ‘before we get swamped!’

****

Once back at the hotel, Dev excused himself, while Noel and Mitul walked slowly to the door. Over dinner, she’d surprised him by speaking in passable Spanish to the waiters.

‘I didn’t know you spoke Spanish,’ he said. ‘As far as I remember, you spoke English, Hindi and French. I distinctly remember no Spanish.’ He looked down at her with a wolfish smirk, ‘you holding back on me, babe?’ he asked, sexy charm oozing out of every word.

She smiled up at him from under her lashes and said, ‘always, darlin’!’

He laughed at that, and slipped an arm around her waist. ‘So why didn’t you tell me?’ he asked, voice low, intimate.

‘There’s nothing to tell, Noel. I had an Hispanic roommate in school, and learnt half-a-dozen phrases from her. I wouldn’t call that knowing a language!’ she protested.

‘Okay, I’ll give you that,’ he nodded after considering it judiciously.

‘I also dated an Argentinian, then,’ she grinned up at him mischievously. ‘A very sexy Latino.’

‘Shit! I can’t battle the ghost of a Latin lover!’ he exclaimed dramatically, while her laughter rang out. He bent his head looking at her.

She saw it in his eyes before he said it.

‘But I can sure try,’ he whispered against her lips, before doing what he’d been dying to do since he saw her standing at his door. He kissed her.

****