Page 28 of The Rules of Playing with Fire

I lowered my eyes and nodded.

“Good,” he said with a satisfied nod. “And I’ll drive you to the grocery store in the morning. See you at nine?”

I nodded again, then shifted my gaze. “Get some sleep. Wrinkles aren’t a flattering look on you.”

MIHIR

The door closed behind Sona as I raked my fingers through my hair. I’d just shared my most intimate memory with her without flinching, and it terrified me.

There were only two past relationships that held any significance in my life. The most tender was with Gul, the girl whose body I’d never touched, had never held in my arms, but I carried her in my heart as my first love.

The second was my first real girlfriend in college, with whom I’d had sex for the first time. Although she was white with pure blonde hair, her round face and sweet demeanor had reminded me of Gul. Little wonder that relationship hadn’t lasted.

After that, I’d mostly been in sexual relationships of convenience. My deepest emotions, I shared with friends. Grant, Mike, Sameer, and now Tara. Often Mom. Sometimes Dad. I had enough dependable people in my life that I didn’t need to go looking for that kind of validation in my sexual life. But even they didn’t know how I felt about Gul. It was a tender, sacred memory, antithetical to how I saw my love life now. And like a fool, I had spilled it all to Sona. Yet the moment I’d opened my mouth, I’d trusted her to understand how I felt, and I’d known I was falling for her in all the wrong ways.

It was her uncanny ability to surprise me at every turn that kept pulling me back to her. Every time I thought I had her figured out, she turned around with a sly smile and shattered that illusion. The first time I’d seen her at the airport, I’d taken her to be the girl next door, albeit with a generous amount of sass. But that evening, in her exquisite gown and red lips, she had turned into the seductress I’d never imagined she could be. The slight softening at my advances before she’d turned around and slapped me with a crisp response that sounded, at once, like a rejection and a lead-on. I was sure she’d been ready to kiss me last night, yet we had just spent the last hour talking as if there was no heat between us, just the connection of kindred souls. One moment, she was the confidant to whom I could safely entrust my secrets, and the next, she was the siren trying to wrench my heart away. The strange mix of bashful and bold, shy and confident, left me guessing until the last minute how she would respond. Was it this excitement that enamored me?

But given enough time, even the most unexpected had the potential to become predictable. Routine. Ordinary. What would happen then? For the first time in my life, my indecision paralyzed me. I didn’t know what I wanted. And yet, I had invited her into my arms again. My eyes traveled to the tranquil pool before I turned to the door and stepped inside.

A bright sun streamed in through the windows when I woke with a start the next morning. Panic-stricken, I fumbled for the phone on the nightstand. 8:02 a.m., it cheerfully told me, and I relaxed against the pillow.

People often commented on my fussy grooming regimen, but I considered myself meticulous. That morning, though, I rushed through my routine before sprinting downstairs to meet Sona at 9:00 sharp. She was browsing her phone in the grand room, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and a bomber jacket.

“Shall we?”

She rose with a nod. “We’re off now,” she called out to a sleepy Tara grumbling at the coffeemaker in the kitchen. She waved a disinterested bye in our direction.

“Is everyone still asleep?” I asked Tara.

She growled back at me before Sona took my arm and led me away. “Tara has a plaque in her coffee corner. Haven’t you seen it? Coffee first, you people later. Even Sameer doesn’t dare to talk to her before she has had her coffee.”

“Huh, didn’t know that. Thanks for the warning,” I said, and we climbed into my car. “Did you have coffee?”

“Not yet,” she answered with a shy smile.

We stopped at a drive-through to get a mocha latte for her and an extra black coffee for me.

“How did you sleep last night?” she asked when we started toward the town.

“Like I needed it. You?”

“I was awake for quite a while. I think it’s the new place.”

We drove into town and found the nearest H.E.B. Sona got the chicken, lemons, and the few other items on her list while I browsed their beer section for some local brews. I picked up the ones I thought Dad and Sameer might enjoy, and we met at checkout.

“This chicken will be enough, right?” she asked, appraising the packs of thighs and drumsticks in the cart.

“Probably. Tara’s making rice?”

“Yes, and I’ll roast potatoes with the chicken.” She pointed to a bag of golden potatoes.

“Should be good. What’s that for? That smile? It was a test, wasn’t it?”

She returned a confused look. “A test?”

“A feminist test to score me on the sexism meter.”

“What?” She laughed with a gentle frown.

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