—
As soon as Karthik entered Meghna’s apartment, the strangest tune entered his head. It wasn’t a song he knew well. In fact, he was pretty sure he had heard it for the first time that night, but he couldn’t remember any of the words.
“Ice cream or wine?” Meghna asked over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen.
“Umm, ice cream’s fine,” he called back.
A few minutes later she returned with a quart of strawberry ice cream in one hand and a bottle of red wine in the other. “I figured we needed both,” Meghna said. “Comfort food.”
She set them down on the coffee table in the living room, and he just stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do. There was something odd about being in the place where she lived. The tune from before popped back into his head.
“Sit down,” she said, gesturing toward the couch. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to change.” She took a step toward her bedroom, then stopped. “Did you pack pajamas? Or anything?”
He shook his head.
“That’s fine. I’ll see if I can find something for you to sleep in.”
She disappeared into her room, and he let his composure drop. His tense muscles relaxed as he sank deep into the sofa.What am I doing here?Karthik rubbed a hand over his face. This wasn’t like him at all. And he didn’t just mean his impromptu trip to Dallas. That he could almost understand. People made out-of-character decisions during a crisis, but he wasn’t in crisis mode anymore. His breathing was fine. He wasn’t feeling sick. He was almost back to normal. So, why hadn’t he done the sensible thing and checked into a hotel? What was he doing in Meghna’s apartment?
“You know what I was thinking about?” Meghna asked loudly from her bedroom.
“No. What?”
“That was basically our first date.” Some rustling and the creaks and bangs of drawers opening and shutting accompanied her words. “I don’t think we’d ever had a meal together before.”
“We’ve had several meals together.”
“Yeah, but it’s never been just the two of us.”
He thought it over for a moment. “I guess you’re right,” he said.
She walked back into the living room, and he couldn’t stop himself from staring. Her hair was pulled back with a cotton headband, and her face had a bright, freshly washed glow. The emerald-green color of her pajamas made her skin appear almost golden.How does she keep becoming more beautiful?He swallowed and looked away.
She thankfully didn’t notice his gawking as she made her way over to the couch and tossed something at him. He reflexively caught it. He shook out the folded piece of clothing, an oversized dark-gray T-shirt. At least, it would have been oversized on Meghna. It would probably fit him fine.
“Sorry, I didn’t have a ton of options,” Meghna said as she sat down on the couch next to him. “But I think that should work.”
A thought struck him, and something hot and dangerous flooded his body.
“Whose shirt is this?” he asked carefully.
“Oh. Just mine,” she said quickly. She grabbed the throw pillow that had been propped behind her and placed it on her lap. She stared down at it, her fingers playing distractedly with one of the tassels.
Realization dawned on him. She was lying.
“Meghna, whose is it?”
She breathed out a sigh. “Fine. You’d have guessed when you saw the front anyway.”
Puzzled, he flipped the shirt over. Two cartoon glasses of milkwith googly eyes stared back at him. One had a speech bubble on top of it, and he went still as he read what it said.
“That’s my joke,” he said.
“I know.”
“You liked my joke?”
She grinned. “Yeah, of course I did.”
