Page 79 of Pillow Talk
Sen had his life planned out. He’d probably even created a map of the route his life would take and Shona was pretty sure she didn’t feature. It wasn’t self-pity because she knew she was good enough for Sen – or any other man – but she knew they were different and that she’d misinterpreted their relationship. It was sex. No pillow talk. That’s what she wanted. At least that’s what she thought she wanted. Instead, she’d fallen for him again. Harder than when she was 15. If she were honest with herself, she’d admit that she’d never fallen out of love with him. She’d admit that it was more than a teenage crush. She genuinely loved Senthil Aiyer and she doubted that she was ever going to stop.
Enough moping, Shona, you need to get out of here.She went to her bedroom and stood in front of her full-length mirror. She was in jeans, a pink cotton shirt with embroidered flowers on the collar and the sleeves. She slipped on the gold sandals that she’d finally found after having searched for weeks and said ‘to hell with it’ when she remembered that it was going to rain soon. She pulled her hair into a messy bun and dabbed cherry gloss on herlips. She found her handbag and quickly typed a message on her phone. She waited impatiently for the reply and, when her phone eventually vibrated in her hand, she left the apartment.
Aruna was waiting for her at a small coffee shop around the corner. Come in Carmen was always busy, but Aruna had managed to find them a table near a window overlooking the town’s main street.
The coffee shop was nothing like those cosy ones in books or romantic movies. It was more like a farm stall or even an old-fashioned general dealer’s store, with very little decor to suggest it was a coffee shop. The walls were bare and the floor was covered in old vinyl tiles. The tables were crammed together and didn’t even have tablecloths on them. But this coffee shop served the best cakes and pies in town, so no one complained about its ambience – or lack of it. The shop itself had a cute history. During its incarnation as a general store a long time ago, the owner’s son was madly in love with a young woman named Carmen. She would walk by daily on her way to work at the newly built school. He would wait at the entrance of the shop and every morning for about a year he would say, ‘Come in Carmen.’ She would blush and shake her head. Everyone in town started calling the store Come in Carmen. One day Carmen did go in. They married a couple of years later and now their grandchildren ran the ‘coffee shop’.
Aruna waved her sister over and Shona squeezed past chairs and tables to get to her. Surprisingly, she jumped up and hugged Shona tightly. Shona held on a little longer than a normal, casual hug. When she finally let go, they sat down.
‘Did Marcus send you the plan?’ It warmed Shona’s heart to see Aruna so excited about her shop. She smiled at her sister. She’d initially expected bitterness but Aruna was anything but bitter; instead she was excited and enthusiastic from the moment Shona had told her about it.
‘He did and it’s exactly what I want. I’ll forward you a picture of it later,’ she said.
The waitress came over and Shona ordered a slice of chocolate cake and coffee and Aruna opted for a strawberry smoothie.
‘We should do this more often,’ Aruna murmured.
Shona nodded.
‘So what’s going on? You were very quiet on the drive back from the city and Mom seemed to know that something was off,’ Aruna asked.
‘I think I’m in love with Senthil Aiyer,’ she replied without hesitation.
‘You think? Shona, you’ve been in love with Senthil Aiyer for most of your life.’
‘Oh God, do you think he knows? Have I been that obvious?’ Shona’s eyes were wide with panic.
‘Have you been that obvious?Both of youhave been that obvious,’ Aruna replied.
‘You got that part all wrong. Sen is not in love with me. In lust, yes, but not in love.’
Her sister shook her head. ‘Both of you are fools.’
‘I’m serious, Aruna. I don’t know what to do. I’m completely heartbroken over Sen. I don’t know how to deal with this. What do I do?’
Aruna reached out and covered her hand on the table. ‘Why don’t you start by talking to him?’
‘It’s not that simple,’ Shona replied.
‘Why not?’
‘We’re in this no-strings-attached arrangement, so I don’t think I was meant to fall in love with him,’ Shona explained.
Aruna threw up her hands, wordlessly declaring Shona and Sen complete fools.
‘Let me get things straight: you and Sen have been sleeping together and pretending not to love each other?’
‘No. We agreed it would be just friends with benefits and then I saw him kissing some woman yesterday and I’m completely heartbroken.’
‘And you won’t talk to him about it?’
‘How can I? I changed the dynamics of our relationship, not him,’ Shona said.
Aruna shook her head in exasperation. ‘So you’re not going to talk to him about this? What are you going to do then? Be heartbroken for life? …Because every bride dreams of wearing a dress designed by a heartbroken designer. Get real Shona. You’re in the love business.’
‘I won’t be heartbroken at work,’ Shona said confidently.
Her sister sighed deeply. It was obvious she wasn’t getting through to Shona.
