The second the call ended, a dull, throbbing pain started in her chest. Her mind went back to Karthik’s words.No one falls in love by accident. She could almost hear his dry tone. His disbelief. The way he’d spat out the wordlovelike it was poison.
But he was wrong. And she had been wrong too. She hadn’t just accidentally fallen in love with Seth all those years ago. She may have accidentally stayed in it. She wanted to scream.
Karthik’s voice rang in her head again.Why? Because you’veaccidentallyfallen in love before?She wasn’t sure why those words had hurt so much in the moment. She didn’t think it was the question itself, but the way he’d said it. Like she was some unrealistic, naïve Pollyanna.
So, she had accidentally fallen for her best friend. That was normal. And they’d ended up dating. Also normal. And maybe she still had feelings for him. Years later. Even though he was about to get married. While she stood next to him as his “best man.” But that didn’t matter. Who was Karthik to judge her? Her hands tightened around the steering wheel in anger. Thank God she never had to see him again.
—
Karthik had made up his mind. He had to see her again. He didn’t have much of a choice. He couldn’t see any other way out of the mess hewas in. Granted, it was a mess of his own making, but he didn’t know how he had let it get this out of hand.
He had only been back in Manhattan a few days when he received a calendar invite that made him groan. Today was his father’s birthday. It had completely slipped his mind. Thankfully, his family didn’t do large birthday celebrations. It would just be him, his parents, and the gulab jamuns they always picked up from their favorite sweet shop in Jackson Heights.
He spent that day at work mentally preparing himself to see his father. He couldn’t remember the last time they had been in the same room together. Sure, he made weekly visits to his parents’ house in Queens to see his mother, but he always chose times he knew his father would be away. He was tempted to skip tonight, but he knew how much his absence would hurt his mom.
So, he showed up at his parents’ house promptly at six-thirty, with a birthday card he had picked up at the corner store around the block. His mother, as always, was glad to see him. His father was curt but cordial. The dinner progressed without incident and Karthik thought he might be able to escape the night unscathed. He should have known something would happen to break the peace. Something always did.
“Karthik told me last week that Marianne might be retiring,” his mother said, facing his father.
“Hmmph.” His father gave the barest of acknowledgments, not even glancing in Karthik’s direction.
A few seconds of silence passed.
“That’s right, isn’t it, Karthik?” his mother asked. “Marianne’s retiring?”
Karthik nodded in confirmation, though his father missed the gesture. His eyes were elsewhere, probably glued to the phone he was doing a poor job of hiding under the table.
Not that it mattered. His father wouldn’t care that Marianne Tharp, the senior vice president of Karthik’s department, was retiring. And he wouldn’t care that Karthik was thinking of putting hisname in for the job. Not that Karthik wouldactuallybe considered for an executive position like that. There were too many rungs on the ladder between his position and Marianne’s. Still, it was incredibly rare for their company to have this kind of opening. The least he could do was try.
The room returned to its earlier silence. After a moment, his mother tried to jump-start the conversation again.
“I was wondering, Karthik, what would you think about canceling our next trip?”
Hope flared within him, but it quickly burned out. His mom had arranged three meetings in Ohio next weekend, and she would never give up on her plans so easily.
“I don’t know,” he said carefully. “Is there a reason you want to?”
“No, I don’t want to,” she said. “I just thought you might want a break. Some time to think about things…about Meghna…”
He mentally kicked himself. He knew his thoughtless comment after meeting Meghna would come back to haunt him.
“I emailed her number to you,” she continued. “I thought you might want to call her. Maybe talk to her before meeting anyone else…”
“You’re wasting your time, Shanti,” his dad interjected. “Calling everyone you know. Flying all over the country. Setting up all of this for him. He’s not even grateful.”
“That’s not true,” his mother said softly. “He’s thinking about it. He’s—”
“He’s said no to eight women. Eight!” His father shot a glare in Karthik’s direction. “And he feels no shame about it. He’s selfish, Shanti. It’s all about him. All about what he wants.”
Karthik’s temperature rose, but he took a deep breath, letting his father’s words roll off his back.
“He doesn’t care about what’s right for this family,” his father continued. “He doesn’t care what you want.”
Karthikdidn’t care what his mom wanted? He cared so much thathe had disrupted his entire life for her. When had his father ever sacrificed anything for his mother? When had he eventriedto find out what she wanted? When had he ever cared about her happiness? Or Karthik’s?
“I think it’s time for me to leave,” Karthik said evenly. He folded his napkin underneath the table and set it down on his chair. He knew proper etiquette demanded that he leave it on the table, but his hands were shaking with barely suppressed anger. He couldn’t let his father see. Couldn’t let him know how badly his words had affected him.
He gave his mother a quick hug goodbye. “I think you’re right, Amma. We should cancel the trip next weekend.”
