“It doesn’t matter. He’s not going to stick around.” Maya continued to stare down her daughter, her stomach clenched. She couldn’t allow Samantha to believe that Sam might really be a part of her life. Sure, he might think he wanted to right now, but what about after he married and became congressman? Where was the guarantee that he’d still want to be a father then?
And what about Sam’s mother? A wave of nausea came over Maya as she considered the possibility of seeing Sam’s mother again.
“You don’t know that. He made all those phone calls!” Samantha got up, still glaring at Maya, and replaced her earbuds as she grabbed her phone, sharply turned on her heel and headed for the door. She let it slam shut behind her.
Ami closed her eyes and shook her head. “What is it about you Rao women that you are unable or unwilling to trust a man? Are you actually afraid to be happy?” She bit her samosa and pointed the remainder at Maya’s mother’s back. “There’s your mom, the queen of misguided loyalty and bitterness, then there’s you—” she pointed at Maya “—so full of abandonment issues, you couldn’t even see what was in front of you. Are you going to damn Samantha to that same fate? Let her see him—heisher father—and find out what happens.”
“And your answering Samantha’s questions for me helps how?” Maya directed her last bit of anger and fear at her best friend. “Thanks for nothing.” That wasn’t what she was doing to Samantha, was it? She opened her mouth to speak again, but just then—the doorbell rang. It was Ami’s husband, Ajay, come to claim his wife. Ami and Ajay had been high school sweethearts, so Maya had known him most of her life.
Ajay entered just as Ami polished off the last samosa. “Ahh...there she is.” He was tall and lean, and he currently wore a T-shirt stained with baby food. He approached Ami with a grin so filled with affection, it warmed Maya’s heart, and she wondered if this was how Sam had looked at her. She squashed the thought before she even finished it.
Ajay bent down and kissed his wife’s cheek. “Drunk as a skunk. Just how I like her.” He grinned at Maya. “I thought she was supposed to get you drunk?”
Maya shrugged her shoulders and went over to hug Ajay. Ami’s words had opened a pit in her stomach. “She tried,bhaiya.” If Ami was like a sister to her, Ajay was as close to a big brother as Maya ever had, and she called him bhaiya with all the respect and affection that the word implied. She wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her head in his chest, relishing a moment of serenity in her “brother’s” arms. “But you know how she loves a good dirty martini. Or three.”
Ajay’s bear hug calmed her stomach, but Ami’s words still nagged at her. Ajay pulled back and grinned at Maya. “So, the baby daddy is back, huh?” He chuckled, dodging Maya’s smack, but she landed a blow on his arm. He wrinkled his brow, feigning pain, his demeanor all innocence. “What?” He made a show of cracking his knuckles. “Isn’t it my job to kick his—”
“Yes, yes, you’re very macho, sweetheart.” Ami rolled her eyes and waved at Maya and Ajay to get their attention. She fixed Maya firmly with her gaze. “You think about what I said.” She turned to her husband. “Take me home, honey. I think we’ve both done enough damage here for one night.”
Maya helped her friend to the door. She playfully narrowed her eyes at Ajay as she gently punched his arm again. “Behave!”
Ajay bent down to kiss her cheek. “I think I can take him.”
Maya rolled her eyes at him as she reached over to give Ami a hug. Ami whispered in her ear, “It was a great plan.”
Maya chuckled, her anger gone. “It sure was.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
MAYA
Maryland, 1996
“ISTHATYOU, SAM?”A familiar—yet unwelcome—voice screeched at them, as Maya sat holding hands with Sam on the bleachers while they waited for his team to arrive for training. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re with her now?”
Maya cringed as Bridget made her way toward them. Sam swore under his breath as he turned to face his ex-girlfriend. “Hey, Bridget. What’s going on?”
“What’s going on?” Bridget sounded incredulous as she stopped in front of Sam and glared at them both. She flicked her eyes toward Maya but did not address her. She leaned into Sam. “Why haven’t you returned my calls?”
“I told you, Brig, it’s over. It’s been over two months since we broke up. Look, we had a great time, but—”
“But now you’re with her.” She glared at Maya.
“Goodbye, Bridget.” Sam placed his hand on Maya’s knee, as if to protect her from Bridget’s mean-girl vibe. His voice was firm and, for the first time, unkind.
“Look, I’ve been calling you because—” She flicked her eyes toward Maya, and Maya was surprised to see tears.
“Why don’t I take a walk?” Maya grabbed her purse and started to get up. She didn’t need to sit here. Sam grabbed her hand.
“No. It’s all right. Whatever Bridget has to say, she can say with you here. I’m not hiding anything.”
Maya sat back down next to Sam and entwined her fingers with his. Whatever Bridget had to say, it wasn’t going to be good. Tall and slim with bouncy blond hair, bright blue eyes and legs that went up tohere,Bridget was classically beautiful. Not for the first time, Maya wondered why Sam would give up Bridget for her.
Right now, though, Bridget looked like she was going to cry. Sam did not reach out to comfort her.
“Whatever, Sam.”
“Spill it, Bridget.”
