"Two social occasions in three days. What are you doing to me, Ms Voight?" Jay asked her. They were in her Aston Martin, on the way to Harpreet Mitra's house. Jay couldn't have said he was looking forward to it exactly, but he wasn't dreading it either. For him, that represented significant progress.
Erin glanced at him for a second and smiled. "I'm trying to make a friend, Jay. You're collateral damage, I guess."
Jay laughed. She was in a good mood, cracking jokes, and that was carrying his mood along with it. "Oh, that's how it is? Also, you still haven't told me anything about Harpreet yet. All I know is she's a dentist."
"And all she knows about you is you're a wrestler, so there will be plenty to talk about. Anyway, you're acting like I know everything about her myself. I don't. We spent an hour in a coffee shop last week, that's it."
"Fair enough. I'd like to know what I'm getting into is all."
"Let's just say the dinner with Maya was enjoyable because it was intimate and emotional. I expect tonight to be enjoyable because it'll be fun."
Jay wasn't exactly sure what that meant. He wasn't going to have to wait long to find out because he saw on the satnav screen that they were four minutes from their destination.
When Erin parked up out front of the house in question, Jay was strongly reminded of Clem and Alexa's place. Not because of the actual design of the house, which was quite different, but because of the neighbourhood it was in and the vibe around the area. This was a place where people who were quite well off lived among other similar people, mostly in peace and quiet.
"I feel like dentists make good money," he said. "But good enough to live here?"
"Not sure, Jay. Looks like a nice place to live though, right?"
"It does." He took a deep breath for confidence. "Okay, shall we do this?"
Aware that his anxiety was threatening to flare up, Erin gave his hand a squeeze and pecked him on the cheek at the same time. "Relax, have fun, be yourself. Harpreet will like you. How could she not?"
"Let's see. The worst that can happen is I eat a nice curry and go home, right?"
Erin giggled, knowing he was joking this time. "Exactly!"
They got out of the car and made their way up the driveway to the front door. Jay found himself instinctively staying a step behind, letting Erin take the lead. She rang the doorbell, and Jay noticed that she looked somewhat excited. That made him happy because she deserved to be able to go out and enjoy herself.
It didn't take long for the door to open. They were greeted by a fairly light-skinned Indian woman, about Erin's height, with light brown hair and a big smile on her face. She looked pretty, yet the main first impression Jay got was of someone who liked to laugh a lot. Somehow, he could tell that already.
"Erin! You made it!" was the greeting.
"Hey!" Erin replied. "Jay, this is Harpreet. She's a dentist extraordinaire. Harpreet, meet Jay. He's a wrestler extraordinaire."
"Yes, I can see that," Harpreet said as she looked at him. There was something subtle about her tone and the look on her face that made even such a simple quip funnier than it ought to have been. Both Erin and Jay laughed at it.
"Come in, both. Come in. And call me Harps. Everyone does."
Jay noticed that although her name and appearance were Indian, her accent was as American as his own. Probably Indian descendant rather than Indian herself, he figured.
"Harps. Okay, will do," Erin said, leading the way inside.
Even before entering the property, Jay's nose had been savouring the smell of spices from the curry that was being prepared for their dinner. Get involved in conversation early, he thought. It was the best way to build confidence, so long as Harpreet didn't turn her eye for humour towards him. That wouldn't do him any good.
"That smells absolutely delicious," he ventured as they followed their host towards the kitchen.
"I'm glad. Wasn't sure how hot you'd like it, so I kept it pretty tame."
"A bit of heat is good. Nothing crazy though."
"Right," Erin agreed.
"Glad I played it safe then. If I make one of my really hot ones, I end up with the neighbours out in their garden with gas masks on. They act like I'm making mustard gas in here or something."
Again, it wasn't a particularly funny thing to say on the face of it. But the delivery made it funny. Jay totally understood now why Erin had said they were in for a fun evening. They walked into the kitchen, both laughing for the second time already.
"Getting on the wrong side of a dentist seems like a bad idea to me," Jay said, attempting humour of his own. He knew it wasn't good as soon as he said it, but he saw Erin looking at him in a way that showed she greatly admired and appreciated the effort he was making.
Harpreet looked at him. "I'm not their dentist! I'd need mining equipment to have a go at their mouths. And probably a gas mask of my own. I mean, ew!"
Erin was giggling. "Come on, their teeth can't be that bad?"
With a shrug, Harpreet said, "The ones that were green and fizzing didn't look too bad I guess."
Jay burst out laughing, and he didn't really know why for a moment. Then it dawned on him that what Harpreet was doing was actually excellent hosting. She had two first time guests in her house, new acquaintances at that, and they both felt at ease already. There was a very nice atmosphere in the kitchen.
"Can I get you guys some drinks? You name it, I've got it. Why did I just say that? There are probably half a million drinks I don't have."
Jay smiled. "A beer of some kind works for me, please."
"Since I'm driving, Coke if you have it?" Erin requested. "I'm not boring enough to ask for water."
"I'm not boring enough to serve it. Coke coming up."
"I thought you were a dentist?" Jay objected. "Refusing people water and insisting they have soda?"
Harpreet looked at him again and laughed at his joke. The moment meant a lot to him and gave him a huge confidence boost.
"Man's got a point," she said, now looking at Erin.
"No, I know what the deal is," Erin said. "Getting me to drink as much soda as possible so you can charge me to fix the damage!"
"Shit," Harpreet said, drawing the word out and acting like she had just been busted. Then all three of them laughed.
The conversation continued as Harpreet fixed drinks and did a little more work on the curry. Standing with a bottle of beer in hand, Jay's attention was caught by a couple of framed photos on the wall closest to him. Seeing that they showed some kind of military aircraft, he moved over to have a look. He was greatly surprised to see Harpreet standing next to the plane in the first one he looked at, wearing whatever a pilot's attire was called. The plane had 'Harps' painted on the nose, with an image of a harp next to it – clearly pilots were allowed to apply some personalisation.
"You were in the Air Force?" he asked, still looking at the picture. He couldn't tell what kind of plane he was looking at, partly because he didn't know much about them, but also because only the nose and part of the side of it were in the shot. "What kind of plane is that?"
"It's an F-22. And yes, I served in the Air Force. I deployed to Syria and Afghanistan, and I was also based at Langley in Virginia for a time. My service is something I'm very proud of." All laughing and joking had stopped for the moment. That comment had been a very serious one, and Jay responded in kind as he turned to look at her.
"As you should be. Thank you for serving. A very close friend of mine served as an army combat diver, probably at a similar time to you actually."
"An army combat diver, you said? What do they do exactly?"
"Combat. And diving," Erin said, quickly bringing humour back.
Harpreet burst out laughing, showing that she enjoyed humour at her own expense as well as that of others. "Well yes, they would do I suppose," she replied.
"Seriously though, what's it like flying one of those things?" Erin asked, joining Jay in looking at the framed photographs.
"Incredible. That word is used way too often for it to do justice to flying. It was something I always wanted to do, and I got to live that dream and serve my country in the process. The best time of my life, for real."
Jay could easily imagine Raquel saying the same thing about diving, although maybe not about her service. But then her job had sometimes involved killing people up close. Enjoying that would be extremely weird.
"I even got to be an air show pilot for one season before I left the Air Force," Harpreet added.
"Really? How did you get that gig?" Erin asked.
"By applying for it," she answered simply. "That season they were displaying F-22s in a pair, so I think that's why they liked the idea of having a female pilot on the team, so that there was one female and one male. I don't think many went for it, and I got it."
"Was that fun?" Jay asked. "Sounds like it would be."
"It was a lot of fun. Very demanding, too. But it was worth it. This curry can simmer for a while now. Let's go through to the living room."
Jay had gone into the evening not knowing what to expect. Now, sitting at the dining table after finishing his curry, he was happy with how things had gone. The main positive was that Erin was having a great time. He could see why Harpreet had extended the dinner invite. There was natural chemistry between them as friends, similar to the way there was with him and Raquel.
So far, after the conversation about Harpreet's time in the Air Force, which he figured might be returned to again some other time in more detail, they had talked about what it had been like for Erin to grow up as Hank Voight's daughter. Then they had talked about what it was like to run a wrestling company. Harpreet knew nothing about wrestling, but she had shown genuine interest anyway.
After that, Jay had become the topic of conversation. He had been asked to talk about how he had gotten into wrestling, followed by how he had managed to get into a relationship with the boss's daughter. Re-telling that story made Jay feel happy, and it brought him properly out of his shell, overcoming any anxiety about talking to his new acquaintance. This was also helped by the fact that the humour had continued throughout, to the point where Erin complained that her side was hurting from laughing.
Jay even felt comfortable enough to make the next subject change. "I've got to ask, how does someone go from being a fighter pilot to being a dentist? It couldn't be a more different line of work."
Harpreet grinned at him. "By leaving the Air Force and going to dental school."
"Logical," he said as they all chuckled.
"To give you an answer to what you actually meant, dentistry was another thing I had considered doing when I was younger. I decided to leave the Air Force and go to dental school because working a more 'normal' job would allow me to spend more time with my husband and make our marriage stronger. A year later, we were in the process of getting divorced. So that went well."
Both Erin and Jay laughed. Somehow, Harpreet even made divorce funny.
"I do love my job though, and now that I'm out of it I'm glad that marriage is over too. One day, I'd like to meet the right man and try another serious relationship, but I'm in no rush."
"The money must be good. This is a very nice house you've got," Erin said.
Harpreet laughed. It came so easily to her. "This was bought with money my dad left me when he passed. That and the half I took from my ex. Dentistry does pay good money though. My life is pretty comfortable to be honest. It's a good place to be in."
"Right. I can relate to that," Erin said. "Honestly, the only thing I'm lacking is a close friend or two. When I had the company thrown at me, I didn't have time to always be the person to reach out first with my 'friends'. Once I stopped doing that, they all disappeared. Obviously, they weren't really friends at all. It's left a bit of a hole in my life."
She had been very open and honest, Jay thought. His only hope was that it hadn't seemed a bit desperate to Harpreet.
"That's very open, Erin. I appreciate that," their host said seriously. "Tonight has been a hell of a lot of fun. My impression is we've clicked well, so I'd like to think we'll become friends. What do you say we book ourselves a spa day somewhere soon?"
"Great idea," Jay said, jumping in, acting on instinct. "I'll pay for it."
"A free spa day? Fuck yeah," Harpreet said, and they all laughed yet again. "You don't have to do that though, Jay."
"I know I don't have to. I want to. Treating Erin speaks for itself, and consider your half a thank you for tonight."
"That's very kind of you, Jay," Harpreet said seriously.
"Yeah, it is. Thank you so much, honey," Erin said lovingly. "Harps, we'll have to talk dates and make something work for both of us at the soonest opportunity."
"Looking forward to it already."
When the time came to head home, Jay found himself looking forward to seeing Harpreet again. Yes, she was going to be a friend of Erin's, hopefully, but that didn't stop him enjoying her company too. Laughter was good for the soul, he thought.
"Thank you for a wonderful evening. I have a sore throat from laughing," Erin said, standing outside Harpreet's front door for the final goodbyes of the night.
"That's from her curry, not from laughing," Jay quipped. The truth was the food had been delicious.
"Oh really?" Harpreet said with raised eyebrows, of course with good humour. "So you wouldn't like another one?"
"I didn't say that at all," he said, drawing some more laughter.
"Thanks for coming over, guys. I really enjoyed myself."
"No, thank you for having us," Erin replied. "I haven't laughed so much in years. Now that I have, I realised how much I needed it."
"All part of the service," Harpreet said as the two women pecked each other on the cheek. Then it was Jay's turn.
"I really enjoyed myself too," he said.
"Glad to hear it. Hopefully see you soon?"
"I'd like that."
"We'll do dinner at our place one night," Erin said. "After the spa day of course. Jay's on the hook for that now."
Goodbyes were exchanged, then Jay and Erin returned to her car. Once they were inside, rather than firing up the engine, Erin turned to him and gave him a kiss on the lips.
"What was that for? Not that I'm complaining."
"Thank you for pushing me to put myself out there. That's why I went for coffee with Harps, and that's why we ended up here tonight. Now I think I've made a friend. So, thank you."
"There's no need to thank me. You just needed a bit of encouragement, that's all. I'm happy because you're happy."
"Ah, that's so nice. Love you, Jay."
"I love you too, honey," he said, giving her another kiss.
