I get out of the car and take a few steps away, but I’m half turned, watching Nikhil through the car window.
Say something,I think, but I’m not sure whether I’m talking to myself or to him. Still, I almost think he hears me because he lowers the window, just as a loud voice shouts, “Meena!”
Only Nikhil’s lips aren’t moving. My heart lurches, and then so does the rest of my body, as a man comes behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
This embrace…it’s familiar, but he feels different. Lean where Nikhil is broad. Smooth cheeked where Nikhil has stubble.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Nikhil’s brows lower, and I turn to face Shake, my muscles tense and stiff.
His eyes are shining, bright with excitement. They’re brown, same as Nikhil’s, but Shake’s are a different shade. Flatter somehow.
“Shake, what are you…what are you doing here? How are you here?”
At my tone, the smile on Shake’s face shifts, some of his earlier enthusiasm waning. He licks his lips. “I know we’d planned on waiting to talk until you got back, but I needed to see you. I needed tomake sure you were okay. And since my client’s jet was still available—”
“You took the jet?”
“I couldn’t wait until tonight,” he says. “I don’t know if you saw my email, but I’ve scheduled a new meeting with the team. For both of us. To discuss you running here or there. I don’t care which it is, as long as we’re doing it together.”
I blink. “You’d be okay with it? If I tried to run for the Texas seat? You’d be supportive?”
“Yes. I…This time apart…It gave me a lot of time to think, and I realized that I don’t want to do any of this without you. We both have a better shot if we do this together, and as long as there’s nothing standing in our way anymore…” He pulls back slightly, his eyes on my face. “I mean, you have it, right? The papers? You got them signed?”
I nod. “Yeah,” I say, my voice low. “I have them.”
Shake’s smile returns. “Then let’s go home.” He lowers his face toward mine, and I freeze, stuck in place. My heart thumps wildly, and at the last second, I turn, so that his lips end up sliding against my cheek.
As I face the street, my eyes meet Nikhil’s. He looks shocked, stricken, but my view of him is quickly blocked by a security officer rounding his car, loudly telling him to move out of the drop-off lane.
“Meena?” Shake asks, and I snap back to him.
“Sorry, I’m just…It’s been a long few days.”
“I bet.” He takes my rolling bag from me and starts wheeling it. “Don’t worry, we can talk about everything in more detail once you get some rest.” He reaches for my hand, tugging me toward the airport entrance. “And at least you won’t be flying commercial. It’ll be a much more comfortable trip back on the jet.” I follow, peeking over my shoulder, trying to see past the security officer. But as I enter the automatic glass doors, I realize I’m too late.
Nikhil’s car is already gone.
16
Two Weeks Later
He actually listed it. He’s really going to sell.
I’ve been searching Zillow every day since I got back. When a week passed and nothing popped up, I’d assumed he’d changed his mind, but there it is. He’s used older pictures of the property, though there’s a note that it sustained serious damage recently. The price he’s listed it at reflects that. He’s practically giving it away.
I close my laptop, and push it away from me.
It’s not any of my business. What he does with the property. Whether he sells it or keeps it. Whether he scraps it or rebuilds. I shouldn’t care either way.
“Hey,” Shake calls, his head popping around my office door. “You ready?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” I change my Teams status to “out of office,” grab my navy blue file organizer, and meet Shake in the hall.
After we’d landed in D.C., I’d told Shake I needed a little time before discussing everything. That I was still too exhausted to talk about it, and he’d understood.
“I ordered from that Greek place you like,” he’d said when we’d reached my apartment. “It should be here in twenty, if you want to go take a shower? Relax a bit before it gets here?”
I’d done just that, and we’d kept the conversation over dinner light. He’d filled me in on more details from the meeting, updates on the drama going on at his work, the latest rumors and gossip on the Hill. It was the kind of dinner we’d had countless times in the past. Familiar. Companionable. Comfortable.
