Page 154 of Perfect Satisfaction

“London.”

“Why?”

“I got my head out of my ass.” I don’t need to say anything else. Particularly since Mina shrieks, “Uncle Arek said a bad word!”

For the next few moments, I listen to Liza explain that sometimes “ass” isn’t a bad word, like when referring to someone as a superhero. “Uncle Arek got his head out of his kick ass?” Mina’s more confused than ever, making me wish Kendra were home so I could have this conversation with some semblance of fluidity and not with her two nieces around.

As Liza continues to argue, I recall my stupidity. I took out my frustration over my wife’s reaction to what I did much in the same manner as my grandfather.

I wasn’t a fool. I knew who Angie was. I knew the reach of StellaNova. Did I suspect Sula would see? It was a possibility. Did I predict it would drive a wedge in our marriage? I was too damn arrogant for that. I assumed—after what? Forty days together in the same country, she’d know beyond a shadow of a doubt the man I was.

I could never have factored in her childhood, her father, or her own guilt. Not in a million years did I expect she’d cry in the arms of a friend or that the friend in question happened to be Liza’s lover.

What I do know is I made a mistake. An enormous one. I never knew the woman I was in love with then, and now, I know her so well I’m terrified of losing her for good.

Liza’s face fills the screen once more. “How’s it going?”

“About as bad as you can expect. No, I take that back. It’s worse.” I scrub my hand through my hair.

“She thinks you cheated on her,” Liza summarizes accurately.

“It’s so much worse, Liza. On top of the picture of you kissing me on the red carpet she saw the day of her father’s funeral, someone got a snap of us having lunch together at Tavern on the Green.Sexy and Socialposted it with one of the most blatant innuendos I’ve read in a long time. But what’s worse is she hasn’t asked me anything about it. She’s just accepting it.”

“Now I know why Joshua won’t speak with me.” Liza begins cursing me in her native Indian.

I only recognize the curses because when we were kids sitting on the jetty behind my grandmother’s house, she carefully explained Hindi curses aren’t like American curses. “We tend to attack people’s honor,” and she proceeded to share every curse she knew.

Right now, I deserve every single one of the epitaphs Liza’s hurling at me.

When she’s done ranting, she yells, “You could have had her back well before this. You and your stubborn male American ego. What did it get you, Arek? An empty bed?”

That’s when Mina calls out in confusion, “Uncle Arek’s bed isn’t empty when he comes to visit. Me and Josie jump on it.”

Liza’s eyes narrow further, if that’s even possible, but the sweet innocence of Mina’s comment causes me to grin. “True, button. But I think your aunty means like she and your mama aren’t married.”

“Ohh. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to play now. Bye.”

Once her niece skips off into the other room, Liza immediately demands, “Why do you and Kendra get through her with such ease?”

“Perhaps because we don’t try to tell her ‘ass’ isn’t a bad word? For Pete’s sake, Liza. She’s going to go to school tomorrow and say the word ‘ass’ twenty-seven times.”

The horror on her face is so priceless I’m tempted to take a screenshot just to send to Kendra. “Tell me what you need, Arek. You know you don’t have to ask.”

“Contact Danielle Madison. Find out whatever she knows about this. Help me,” I plead.

“Dani? What does she have to do with this?”

Softly, I inform Liza without breaking any of Sula’s confidences. “She’s part of Sula’s circle. Search for her cousin—”

“Jenna or Jake?” Liza asks immediately.

“Jenna. You’ll see pictures of them and a knockout with hair down to here.” I brush my hand near my shoulder.

“That’s your Sula? But I’ve encountered her several times.” At my nod, she expels a sigh. “I never knew who she was, but it felt like she didn’t like me.”

“That’s her. Right now, I cannot guarantee that she’s mine.” I clench my jaw in an effort to hold back the emotions threatening to overwhelm me.

Liza’s black eyes turn liquid, but she asks me an important question—one that only she could get away with asking. “Arek, Joshua has assured me they share a close relationship but not the kind you are worried about. But can you accept sharing her with him, even as a friend? Because I can assure you, he will remain a part of her life.”