Maya watched as Ami took a sip of her martini and expertly placed it back on the wooden table without spilling. Extra dirty with three olives, same as hers. They had sat in this very bar at this very table countless times over the years. They had sat here to celebrate getting into the colleges of their choice. They’d drunk to their broken hearts and toasted their accomplishments. It was here that they sat when Maya had told Ami she was pregnant. The smell of smoke still lingered in the bar, despite the smoking ban a few years ago. The scent was a comfort to Maya, as were the familiar sounds of clinking silverware and chatter and laughter. Ami used to try to sneak them both in here when they were in middle school. It never worked: the staff knew who they were and how old they were. Not to mention who their parents were.
Ami narrowed her dark eyes at Maya and shook her head in disbelief. “And he knows about Samantha and he says he wants to be part of her life?” She took another sip and held up a finger to Maya. “Don’t even get me started on what your face looks like every time I mention him. It’s like you’re twenty-two again.”
“My face is fine,” Maya said, “and that’s what he says in his voice mails. I’m not returning his calls.”
Ami had been traveling for her job as a fashion journalist and had just returned from some exotic locale. After receiving the bazillion texts and voice mails Maya had left her, she’d come straight to Queens.
Ami tapped the table. “So, you think that just because you don’t answer his calls, he’ll just give up and forget that he has a daughter?With you.”
“Well, yes.” Maya squirmed in her seat and sipped her martini to avoid the look on Ami’s face that said she was a nutjob.
“Have you considered what Samantha might think of all this?”
Maya shrugged, trying not to remember the look on Samantha’s face when she’d asked if Sam was her father. She’d looked hopeful, like she thought it might be nice to have a dad. Maybe, until he left. And he would leave. Just like Maya’s father had. That’s what men did. God knows Sunita had made sure Maya never forgot that. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve been fine without him all these years, and we’ll continue to be fine without him.”
“Have you really been fine?” Ami sniffed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you’ve never really dated—not seriously—”
“What was the point? To have a man come in and be a part of our lives until he decided he didn’t want to anymore? I was protecting my daughter. And FYI—it’s the twenty-first century! Women don’t need men to be happy.”
“We may not need men, but they sure are nice.”
Maya took another sip of her drink. Ami was a pain.
“Trust me, this is your daughter we’re talking about. If you don’t give her permission to see her own father, she’ll just do it behind your back.”
“No, she won’t.” But Maya shifted again in her seat.
“You did plenty of things behind your mom’s back.” Ami smirked. “Or did you forget?”
“How could I forget?” Maya stifled a chuckle. “Samantha is living proof.”
THEMOONWAShigh as they made their way back to Maya’s apartment from the neighborhood bar. Maya caught Ami as she tripped over air molecules. “Come, say hi to Mum.”
Ami teetered a bit but pulled free of Maya. “Sure. Did she cook?”
“You know she did.” Maya had treated herself to a second martini, so her head was swimming. Ami, however, had downed three, so she was pretty much drunk. Luckily, her kids and husband had come to Queens to stay with Ami’s parents, so she only had to walk two blocks from Maya’s. It wasn’t that late, but at 9:00 p.m. on a Sunday evening the streets were empty, except for stragglers such as themselves.
“Maya. Maya.” Ami stopped. “Do you remember the plan?” Ami was still sober enough to catch Maya’s glare. Ami shook her head. “Of course you do.” She laughed. “It was great. ‘The Sneak-Away-For-The-Weekend’ plan.”
Maya smiled in spite of herself. “Yes. How could I forget?”
“How lucky were you that I was actually at University of Virginia for that summer?” Ami started to walk and stumbled again. The sidewalk had cracks and breaks that it hadn’t had in the days when the two friends were younger. It had become unfamiliar terrain. Maya grabbed her arm again.
“Very lucky.” Maya led Ami to the back of the shop to the apartment entrance.
“I mean, can you believe they all bought it? That you were going to the beach with me, instead of you-know-where with you-know-who.” Ami laughed at herself. “To do you-know-what!” She stopped, as if having a revelation. But Maya had heard it all before. “See? If it weren’t for me...” She giggled again.
Maya rolled her eyes and sighed deeply as she redirected Ami to the stairs. Shehadhad to sneak out of Deepak-mama’s house back then. There was no way he would’ve let her go away for the weekend with Sam—or any boy, for that matter. The fact that she’d ended up pregnant out of wedlock was beyond scandalous to Maya’s family, but Ami had stood by her. Ami had been the one person who didn’t judge or find fault with Maya. She knew Maya loved Sam, and that despite the options available to her, her decision to keep the baby was grounded in that love—reciprocated or not.
“I thought you said there was food.”
“Is that Ami I hear?” Sunita called from the top of the stairs, her voice muffled as she turned her head. “Raj, Ami’s back.”
Ami winked at Maya as they made their way past the door to Maya’s apartment and up to Sunita’s. “Auntie, do you have a man up there at this hour? About time! You have been stringing poor Raju-kaka along for too long.”
