"Baby, I'm home," I called out as I entered through the front door into the hall way. Our football team had played terribly but at least a few beers after in the local had raised my spirits somewhat.
"Is food ready?" I called as I started towards the dining room door
My wife entered the hallway from the kitchen and froze. The colour in her face went from the palest of browns to white and then red. I looked at her face and then eyes trying to understand what had caused this change in expression before I realised she was looking at the man behind me.
"Oh, sorry, I said that Leroy could come to ours for food. He's always complaining about how bad the curry is down at the local."
Leroy moved past me towards Priya. He must have been 6'2" a good 6" taller than me and black as coal compared to my brown complexion. The contrast as he towered over my 5'5" wife was startling. Leroy's face lit up in a smile as he stated that he hoped Priya did not mind him eating here.
Priya nodded, adjusting the heavy saris that she had worn since we married 3 months ago. My insistence that this was not India and girls were not expected to dress traditionally all the time had obviously had no effect.
Me and Leroy moved to the dining room where we were served and began to eat. Though Priya was quiet she played the dutiful housewife as she topped up our beers and ensured that we had extra servings of curry and roti. I noted that Priya's face seemed to go red as she served Leroy but I guess that she has still not adjusted to non-Indian people in her time in the UK.
After dinner, Priya retired upstairs whilst me and Leroy watched the football highlights sipping a few more beers after which he left.
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What had been a one-off became a regular occurrence each Saturday. Leroy would comment on how tasty my wife's cooking was and I noticed that Priya would blush and nod. He also made some comments that she looked nice in her sari and how pretty Indian girls were. This was all taken in good spirits by me but Priya would go very red at such comments.
Some two weeks after the first time Leroy had visited our house, we were sitting watching the football highlights when, rather than going upstairs, Priya came into the living room. I was sitting in an armchair and Leroy was on our two seated sofa, the only available space was to sit next to Leon which, to my surprise, Priya did.
Priya did not join in the conversation that we were having regarding how badly various teams had played that day but I noticed that she would sneak glances at Leroy when she thought I was not looking. When Leroy would look at her back she seemed to turn away, blush and adjust her heavy sari. After the programme had finished, Leroy made his excuses and left.
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We got into a routine of Priya joining us to watch the match highlights. It was odd that when we would speak alone her knowledge and understanding of the game did not increase despite all the time she was spending watching it. As the weeks passed the weather changed and it got hotter. My suggestion that she wear western clothes rather than her heavy saris as it was getting warmer fell on deaf ears for the most part until one day of note.
Rather than join us in the living room straight after dinner, Priya had instead gone upstairs. Leroy had been wearing a vest today with his arms bear and I had noticed Priya looking at his arms and chest and her face had been redder than normal. About 30 minutes into watching television Priya entered through the living room door.