Page 42 of Stumped

Surprised at her admission, I say, “Seriously,Indiansweets do it for you?”

“Think of all the ghee and nuts and deliciousness that goes into each piece. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good chocolate cake. But if you give me a box of peda, I will be the happiest woman in the world.”

“Noted. What else?”

“Mallu food, obviously. I’d be okay eating the onasadhya?5 every day.”

“I’m partial to the sadhya too.” I actually make mental notes of these things, because one day, I’m gonna need to bring in the big guns.

She finishes her pizza, grabs another slice and turns to me as she bites into it. “What about you?”

Having the full force of her attention is startling at first, but I catch myself before I fumble and say something stupid. Licking the grease off my lips, I take a minute to ponder. “I’ve never been a sweets person and since I started playing cricket, it’s become less of a craving. But I do have a weakness for ice cream. The other day, your team brought tiny cups to the locker room and everyone went absolutely insane.”

She laughs and shifts on the couch, one hand holding her wine, the other guiding the pizza to her mouth. “Do you have a favourite flavour?”

“I’m a simple guy. Gimme anything with chocolate and I’m good.”

“As a kid someone convinced me I was allergic to chocolate, so I didn’t eat any until college. Then I discovered it was a way for them to curb my sugar consumption.”

“Was it a grandmother?”

She snorts. “Isn’t italwaysa grandmother? I love her, god rest her soul, but the food policing was quite something.”

“My younger sister, Nina, went through it too. I think it’s partly why she became an athlete, so she could eat whatever she wanted and continue to burn those calories to impress our grandmother.”

“Another athlete?”

Grinning, I scroll through my phone to find a decent picture of us. “Threeathletes, actually. Patrick plays hockey and Nina’s a badminton star.”

Vera smiles at the photograph. “Attractive bunch of people too.”

“Blessed with fantastic genetics.”

She chuckles and pats her pockets before realising she doesn’t have her phone. “My younger brother is a cricket coach for a local team and my other siblings are about as sports inclined as I am.”

“Ah, so he’s the misfit of the family.”

“Technically my father and older brother are obsessed with cricket, they don’t play it anymore.”

“Would they like tickets to one of the local games?” She arches an eyebrow. “My parents are travelling so I’ve got family passes.”

“What about your siblings?”

“Middle of intense training.”

Her eyebrows dip as she eats and I can tell she’s seriously considering my offer. I know it would make a big difference to give the tickets to someone who might enjoy seeing a match live.

“You don’t have to make a decision right now, think about it and let me know.”

Vera nods, chewing through the crust eagerly. “I’m assuming all the texts you sent and I haven’t replied to were about PT. So how’s that going?”

I groan at the reminder and she laughs. Of course she finds my frustration amusing. “They say I’m healing well and it looks like I could get back into practice sessions this week, but nothing has happened yet.”

“I looked up rotator cuff injuries,” she says and my eyes widen. “I wanted to understand what you were going through and they say it could take more than a year to really recover?”

“It’s been a year since the surgery and I have the odd twinge now and then, but I’m fine.”

Her head tilts to the side. “Clearly not if the doctors haven’t signed off on you playing again.”

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