Page 53 of One Indian Girl
‘Remember you used to tell me to stand on my own feet? To not worry about anything else, to just do the best I can? That’s all I did, dad.’
I heard him sob. My father cries more than all the women in the house.
‘I am so proud of you,’ he said.
‘I love you. I miss you,’ I said.
‘Come home soon,’ he said.
‘I will. I will take a vacation at Christmas time. What do you want? Can I get you anything?’
‘Get my little girl to me soonest.’
I hung up the phone. I realized I had cried after a long time. Who knew 270,000 dollars could make you so emotional?
13
‘Cheers!’ Jonathan raised a toast. ‘To my amazing associates, Craig and Radhika.’
We lifted our glasses. As per distressed debt tradition, the entire group went out for drinks on the Friday night of the bonus announcement week. We had come to Harry’s Café & Steak, a five-minute walk from the Goldman building. Harry’s was a Wall Street institution, where senior bankers and CEOs lunched and closed some of the biggest mergers and financial deals. Around twenty of us from the Distressed Debt Group congregated in the bar area. Jon Cruz came only for a few minutes; he chatted with senior MDs and vice presidents before leaving for the weekend at his Hamptons beach house.
‘See you, guys. And enjoy yourself. It’s on me,’ Jon said as he left the bar, leaving his credit card behind.
People had invited their significant others, which meant wives, husbands, girlfriends and boyfriends. Even I had invited Debu. I had finally gathered the courage to make him public to my team. Until now my group considered me a geek, in a relationship with her financial models. Tonight they would see my man.
White-gloved waiters passed around champagne glasses on silver trays.
‘Happy with your number?’ Craig said to me. Confidentiality clauses apart, bonus gossip was just too hard to resist.
‘It’s my first real one. Of course I am happy,’ I said, trying not to reveal too much.
‘I am sure they paid you really well. They love you here,’ Craig said. I wondered if he had a hint of snark in his voice. I couldn’t tell.
‘Hey, is that Jonathan’s wife who just arrived?’ I said, deflecting the topic. I pointed to the Harry’s entrance. I recognized her from the pictures on Jonathan’s desk.
‘Yeah, that’s Clara,’ Craig said.
Clara, a tall American blonde who worked in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was wearing a long purple dress.
‘You have someone coming too?’ I said.
‘Amanda is coming in a few minutes,’ Craig said. I remembered him mentioning his girlfriend to me once. She was an aspiring actress, working in an off-Broadway theatre production.
‘How about you?’ Craig said.
‘I have a friend coming,’ I said.
‘Friend?’
I laughed. ‘Okay, boyfriend. Sorry, I just haven’t told anyone in the firm.’
‘I didn’t know you have a boyfriend.’
Craig raised his glass and touched it to mine. I took another sip of my champagne.
‘I never mentioned him,’ I said.
‘Well, today we’ll get to see him,’ Craig said, ‘the boyfriend of our superstar associate.’
