Page 53 of The Art of Taking Second Chances

“You just heard, he’s getting engaged. So that makes the question irrelevant now, doesn’t it?”

Another sigh. Amar’s.

“Don’t worry, this time it’s for the best,” she said.

I heard shuffling and the barking of a neighbor’s dog. As I turned the corner into their sight, I saw Amar’s arm around her and her head on his shoulder, and I surmised what the conversation was about.

I rejoined them, and we sat in silence until Tara excused herself to turn in for the night. “I’m well-fed, drunk, and happy,” she declared. “This has been a great evening. My heart is full, truly.” She gave Amar a big hug. I showed her to the room I’d prepared, but all I got was, “Good night.”

Out in the backyard, I poured us another round. “I overheard you both earlier,” I said to Amar and took a sip of my scotch.

He looked at me. “And?”

“Did you two hook up after I left India?”

He dragged a sip at the end of a sigh. “Would it bother you if we had?”

“What do you think?”

“Does it change how you see her?”

My nostrils flared. No. But it did change how I felt about them. Resentment was the word. They had continued to grow closer as Tara and I drifted apart.

“You left, and you didn’t tell her why. How does it matter what she did after that?”

“Don’t do this to me, Amar. You know you’re more than a cousin to me. Please tell me you didn’t betray me.”

He put a leg over his knee and relaxed into the sofa. My mind drew up images of them together, and I raced to prevent it. “I thought she was your friend,” I finally protested like a pouty child.

“She is.” He kept his unblinking gaze on me. “She’s still one of my closest friends.”

“I want her.”

“I know.”

I poured a splash into Tara’s empty glass and gulped it down. I felt her lips on it, smelled her fragrant breath.

“What’s your problem, dude?”

“She thinks I left because I was done with her. That I cast her aside like she was some sort of accessory, expendable.”

“Then tell her the truth. Game-playing is not the flipping way to get her back.”

I blinked at him.

“And why are you still with Aarti?” he asked with a gentle frown.

Again, there was nothing I could say.

“You’ve been through a lot. I understand that it’s hard to accept that your father had an affair and a child from it while he kept playing the doting husband and loving father to Chachi and you. Your world was shattered, but you bounced back, and you’re in a good place now. Don’t throw it away. There’s only one way to get Tara back, and you know what it is,” he said sagely, and swallowed the rest of his wine. “Go, grovel before her.” He smiled and walked away.

Chapter 16

Sameer

The next morning, I woke early and lay in bed checking emails and reading the news on my phone, trying to get past the thought that Tara was asleep in the adjacent room. When I went downstairs to make myself some coffee, I saw Mom at the kitchen table with a steaming cup of tea.

She looked up from her phone and smiled. “Couldn’t sleep in either, huh?

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