Perfect Imperfections Read online

  The place was slightly smaller than what she had imagined but the two large French windows at the back gave it a very open and inviting feel to it. It also had a dummy fire place on the opposite side of the serving counter. The place was perfect and Kim’s heart was all set to on this place. She didn’t even want to take a look at the other one.

  But suddenly she started feeling anxious that the price might be too much for her to afford. How could something so good happen to her so soon? She felt worried. She looked around the place. The serving counter was nice the little room in the back was well-equipped with an OTG in a decent condition and a refrigerator. It had clearly not been turned on in since ages, so it stunk to high heavens, but as long as it was working, it wasn’t a problem.

  There was a storage place towards the back of the wall. The place was compact and could not have accommodated more than two people at a time on even the laziest days. But for Kim, that meant that she would able to keep things more personal and that was the way she had wanted it to be.

  Kim had a million questions to ask but she kept checking her watch. She wanted Jake to be there with her so that she didn’t have to catch him up on things.

  Then, just as she came out of the kitchen, she got a call from Jake telling her that he was in the parking and asked her the shop number. Jake joined Kim within minutes and they went around the place one more time. He looked pleased with the place and, from what he had gathered from Kim the day before of what kind of a place she wanted, this fit the description perfect. So they began quizzing the realtor on the details.

  It took them over thirty minutes to have all the required information they needed to make a sound decision. The realtor told them that they had a day to give him a yes on the final offer and they needed to call him latest in two days and close the deal. Jake and Kim looked at each other and asked the realtor if it was okay that they took a few moments alone before he locked up the place.

  They stood by the French window looking at the city glittering in the sun. Kim was lost in the view when Jake gave her a nudge.

  “You have already made up your mind, haven’t you?” he asked her. “So what have you envisioned for this place?” He was standing in front of her, his hands crossed.

  Kim felt like a little school girl who was asked to recite her favorite poem. She wanted to sound mature and poised but she couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice.

  “The pantry is perfect to set up some basic and easy-to-make stuff to go with the tea and coffee. I could have a small section here to stock some bakery items and, depending on the response, might expand it later. There could be about five to tables that could go in the center there by the faux fireplace, by the entrance there, and by these French windows here,” she pointed. “And a cabinet from floor to ceiling here, by this wall, could stock some books that people can read while they are here…” She walked across the room to the wall, looking at the empty wall with a smile. “I have so many ideas I can’t even begin to tell you all of them.”

  Jake enjoyed Kim’s excitement. “I have never seen you express yourself so openly, Kim.” He looked at her, “It is so nice to see you this way.”

  The realtor stood in the doorway clearing his throat in an exaggerated manner, breaking the tension between them. “So, would you like me to drop you by my office, Kim?” the realtor asked, indicating they needed to get their butts out.

  “No that’s all right. We have plans after this,” Jake said as he led Kim out and the realtor locked up the place.

  “All right then, I’ll wait for your call,” the agent said as they got into the car and left.

  ***

  Jake drove them back to his studio which was close, and they decided to go over things there before they headed out to the next place, though they were not sure if they wanted to now. They had picked up some Chinese on the way and were going over the things once again. Kim was pretty sure that this was the place she wanted to go with, but Jake instead that there was no harm in checking out the second place as well.

  “For all you know, it will just make it an easier decision to go with this place.” Jake tried to reason out with Kim, surprised how stubborn she could get.

  Finally Kim gave in and they decided they would take a look at the second place as well. But for this one, they were pleased with all the details. The deposit and the rent were in their budget. Though the place was smaller than what Kim initially had in mind, she was content with what the place had to offer. Jake flipped open his laptop and studied the surround areas and the potential customer pool that the place could attract and it all looked good.

  “We may have to invest a little in letting people know that there is a place like this here, since the area is not visible from the main market place,” said Jake, buried in his laptop. “But nothing to worry about. A few flyers and a few local newspapers ads will do. If you have a few book launch events and book club meets and things like that, the word-of-mouth publicity will do the trick.”

  But Kim was too excited to focus, and proving to be a source of excitement for Jake. It was time for them to leave if they wanted to make it to the next location where another realtor was waiting for them.

  The second place was in the middle on a busy commercial place. The building was of new construction but it was a closed place with very little natural light coming in. The place was bigger than the one they had looked at earlier. Even the pantry and the cooking area was big. The place was bustling even in the middle of the afternoon.

  Commercially this place made better sense to go with. But the place was way out of Kim’s budget and she just didn’t feel it. Her expression was enough to let Jake know what he needed to tell the realtor, but still he asked him if they could let him know their answer by the next day.

  Then they got into Jake’s car and sat there for a while.

  “I am hung up on the first place,” Kim said trying to contain her excitement. She didn’t want to make her excitement be so obvious to Jake or anyone else. She thought they wouldn’t take her seriously. But Jake had seen both sides of her and was not afraid to tell her that it was not good to pretend to be serious and uncool rather than letting her natural feelings flow.

  The next few hours, they went over the financial details that Kim had very neatly printed out for him and brought. They discussed the payment methods and other operating cost details, such as the loan that Kim needed to take to set up the place and the available options for the loan that she would need.

  By the time they were done outlining the next few steps, it was already nine and Kim had received more than a dozen calls from Sam and Judith asking her whereabouts. Finally, Kim decided it was time to head home. She felt content that she had more or less all the information she needed to make her case in front of Judith. Though there was very little say anyone had in her decisions, she still wanted to have her family involved in this project as little as she would allow anyone to be a part of it now. She had already had too much of Jake in it. But then, she needed help, and this time around she was not going to let herself get in the way.

  “So, let’s get you home before Judith Aunty calls me up to ask what I have done to her daughter for her unwillingness to come home,” said Jake, packing up the scattered papers into Kim’s laptop bag.

  She was standing by the window in the studio and looking out in the darkness of the night peppered by the city lights.

  “Would you like to join us for dinner?” Kim asked Jake in a serious monotone.

  “Kim, are you all right?” Jake stood up, and looked at Kim’s back, which was against him. He walked up to her and stood right behind her looking at Kim's reflection in the window.

  “Kim?” he said in a soft voice.

  “I have taken so much of your time today and you have not asked me for anything in return. It’s just making me wonder why someone would do that. She turned to face him, her face uncomfortably close to his.

  “If I needed your help and you were in the position to help me
, would you not have helped me in whichever way you could?” Jake said plainly. He looked straight into her eyes. A flicker of annoyance crossed his face and he turned back and picked Kim’s bag and started wrapping his to close up the studio. “I don’t understand why you girls have to make the simplest of things so complicated.” He handed her the bag and gestured towards the door. “Don’t let unimportant things take too much space in your life, Kim.” He switched off the lights and locked the place behind them.

  Later, as he reversed his car, he looked at Kim who seemed to have gone in a shell once again. “Is the invitation for dinner still open?” he asked.

  Kim looked back, thoroughly confused.

  “Yes.” She quickly took out her phone to give Judith a head’s up, but Jake stopped her. On their way, he stopped at the nearby restaurant and picked up a roasted chicken and some garlic bread. “Let’s not keep anyone in the kitchen while you tell your family all about today,” he told Kim with excitement.

  Kim gave him a smile. She was not going to get in her way once again. She needed to snap out of whatever this mood she had got into and fast. She closed her eyes and pictured the shop all furnished, the way they had discussed that afternoon, and the very thought was enough to lighten her mood. She felt a little surprised as to how this could make her feel. This was something new to her. She couldn’t say if there was anything or anyone else who could make her feel that way, or had made her ever made her feel that way.

  Once they were home, Judith was a little surprised and a little relieved to see Kim come home with Jake. She was not expecting any company but was happy to see Kim was not somewhere sulking. With Jake, anyway, there was very little chance that Kim had any opportunity to sulk.

  Judith had just about started preparing for dinner when they had walked in, so Kim went in and set aside everything and laid the food out on the table.

  “Sam, you are home,” Kim said as Sam joined them in the dining room.

  “I didn’t know we were having company, otherwise I would have worn something a little more formal.” She glowered at Kim for not letting her know that Jake was coming home with her.

  “So Kim has something to say! She is super-excited about today and has been waiting all day to share with us,” Jake gave Kim a nod as he helped himself with a large serving of the chicken biryani.

  Then Kim began her story. She told Judith and Sam all about her day, the places they saw, the place she had decided based on the finances, the logistics. She told them about the places where she would go to for the shopping of the things she would need, the interiors, and the person she would like to hire to get it done. She also told them about the bank she was looking at for applying for loan.

  While the rest of them ate, Kim continued to tell them about her plans the kind of place she had in mind. She had an idea of how long it would take for her to settle it, and start making profits, the kind of marketing she would have to do, and the kind of events she could host to attract a bigger and better crowd.

  The mere conversation about the place gave Kim her color back. She was just the way she used to be when she would participate in some dramatics or debate in school. She would light up with excitement and for days she would be busy preparing for it. And when the final day would arrive, she would be brimming with excitement. She wasn’t known to show any nervousness. Richard would be more nervous than Kim on such occasions. “Dad, relax… I have to be on stage, not you,” she would often tell him when he would be pacing in the house before they had to leave for school.

  Judith’s eyes watered as she thought of Richard. She missed him every single day and today was no different. She was watching their girls grow up into these beautiful confident women and he was missing all of this. Her heart ached, she wanted to cry, but she was not going to do that to Kim, she was not going to dampen her excitement by even remotely mentioning Richard. That thought itself would hurt her, and Judith realized she would have to go through all the big moments in life without even being able to ever mention his name.

  By the time Kim had finished explaining all her plans and showed the rough drawings she had made of the place and how she would place the things, the dinner was complete but Kim had still not touched anything on her plate. She was just too excited to eat that night. They moved to the living room were Jake told them that Kim needed to confirm to the realtor by the next day’s noon, and he would begin drawing up the papers. Meanwhile she would have to go to the bank and get the loan process started.

  “And Kim, you need to eat to be able to do the many things that need to be done now,” he told Kim in a fake stern voice, pretending to be an old school principal, and then took his leave. “Let me know if you need any help.”

  “Yes Kim, you need to eat. You cannot possibly go on like this,” Judith pointed towards Kim’s plate on the dining table. “Finish that.”

  Kim huffed and sat to finish her meal.

  Once they had finished clearing the kitchen and before calling it a night, Judith sat in her room reading when Kim walked in. She came in and sat down on the floor by the bed placing her head in Judith’s lap, “I miss him too you know.”

  She paused and looked up at Judith. “I wish he was here with us today and every day.” Judith couldn’t control her tears now and they flowed down her face as if the floodgates had been opened. Kim sat on the bed holding Judith as her crying slowly turned into sobs. Kim didn’t want to stop her mother. It was needed that Judith let it all go. She didn’t have to be so strong all the time.

  Hearing the muffled noises, Sam too came in to check on her mother. Kim, placing her finger on her lips, gestured to Sam not to say anything and let their mom be. It was late but the three of them sat there in silence. They feel asleep together. Judith missed Richard but here were his very reflections with her, a part of him in both his girls will always remain with her, no matter what and that was soothing enough a thought to let Judith fall asleep.

  A couple of days later, Kim finally signed the lease papers and made her initial payment. The place was hers to begin the interior work with. It had been easy to get the loan with a little help from Judith and Jake. The interior people had given the place a look, and Kim had finalized the details with them. The place would take about twenty days to be ready, which gave Kim twenty days to work out rest of the details for the kitchen, her vendors, the marketing, and the inauguration. And suddenly, twenty days didn’t look a lot.

  CHAPTER 26

  In the third month of her book café, Kim had planned a small book reading event by a local author of a promising detective book. This was a first-of-its-kind in the area and the response was staggering. Kim was so overwhelmed with the number of people wanting to attend that she had no place to accommodate them all. She had a hard time turning people down. The event went on quite successfully, and the people were more than appreciative of the new things that were happening close to their place, and they were asking for more. The response she received was not something that she had anticipated this early on. She was making profits sooner than she had expected. Her idea and the food were enough to pull people to her café.

  Within a year, she was booked for various events on the small and big scale. She couldn’t believe when she had to start turning down people. The work was getting so much that she needed to hire two more people in addition to the two she had initially hired.

  On one such night as she was wrapping up the place, Jake came in which he often did. “So are you open?” he asked casually like always. It was redundant question because he knew he Kim would be wrapping up her day. He usually showed up at this time and helped her close for the day. Sometimes, they would even land up sitting there for over an hour talking, sharing about each other’s days.

  Kim was now used to having Jake come help her balance her accounts’ book for the day and close up the place. They would go to their respective homes from there, but the day was never complete until they heard from each other. They had not realized when they had grown so accu
stomed to each other in the simplest of ways. It was a relationship that had grown every day, and Kim and Jake were not even aware of it.

  On the one year anniversary, Kim faced an unexpected problem with the book release event that was planned at her café. This was a big event and the advances were big. The preparations that were made were at a greater stake than the others she had done so far. Before she had taken on the job, she had been very skeptical about the magnitude of the event, but with a little push from Judith and a lot of insistence from Jake she had accepted the order.

  “This will give you the money, the cushion that you have been talking about every night for the past so many months, Kim,” Jake told her over one of the late-night catching-up sessions while Kim was closing up the place. “What is it that you are unsure about?”

  “I don’t know, Jake,” Kim began. She was standing behind the counter while Jake was sitting on it. “The money will definitely be useful.”

  “Useful useful?” Jake smirked.

  “Yes, it will be useful, but there is a lot that will have to be done and I have never done something this big.”

  “So do you always want to it to stay a small place, is that it? You don’t want it to grow? If you don’t do this, how else will you test your capabilities, the market, the opportunities?”

  Jake jumped down the counter and walked around the counter to Kim. Holding her by the shoulders, he gave her a soft jolt. “You are good. Don’t let self-doubt get in the way.”