Page 88 of Pillow Talk
‘We can talk about the workshops later. I want to know if you’re going to take Sen back?’ Anni asked.
‘I thought you said you didn’t come here to talk about Sen!’
Anni kicked off her low heels. ‘I won’t leave until you tell me everything.’
‘But not the part about sleeping with my cousin, please,’ Kaavi added.
Shona sighed.
‘Sen broke up with me. He wanted out. Not me. There’s not much I can do,’ she said.
Anni and Kaavi exchanged sympathetic looks and then pulledShona into a group hug.
Long after they were gone, Shona was relieved that the two hadn’t pushed too much about Sen. They eventually spoke about the workshops and Kaavi wanted to know all about her shop. Occasionally she caught Anni looking at her through sympathetic eyes, but her friend held herself back from quizzing her because Anni knew her too well: Shona was stubborn…and complicated.
Sen missed Shona. He couldn’t focus on work. He just needed to get his head right, but his heart kept going back to her. Complicated Shona Shah was not a no-strings-attached arrangement. She wasn’t someone you walked away from… So much for self-preservation!
Sen was trying to concentrate on an email when Sam strolled into his office.
‘So this is what stupidity looks like,’ he said, taking a seat on the chair in front of Sen’s desk.
‘Shouldn’t you be out having lunch with your friend the pharmacist?’ Sen shot back.
Sam chuckled.
‘Nope. This is more fun,’ he replied.
Sen ignored him and opened another email.
‘Did you really think you could have a casual relationship with Shona?’
Sen continued to ignore him.
‘You spent all those summers with two girls but when you got back to school, you only spoke about one. The same girl who’s been in your heart for years, but you’re too stubborn to acknowledge it,’ Sam continued.
‘Marriage has made you soppy.’
Ignoring the jibe, Sam continued, ‘When Anni told me that she suspected you and Shona were secretly seeing each other, I said no way. Because the Sen I know makes plans and is sensible. But then I remembered how I was when I met Anni.’
Sen moved away from his computer and looked at his friend.
‘If you were me, what would you do?’
‘Is this your roundabout way of asking me for advice?’
Sen grunted.
Sam sat back.
‘I would start by admitting to myself that I’m in love with her and then admit it to her,’ he said.
‘If it was that easy, don’t you think I would have done it already?’
Sam shook his head and leaned forward, looking Sen straight in the eye.
‘Sen, you always say Shona is complicated but both of you are. You’ve been in a relationship with her for almost 10 months. You two were so fixated on calling it casual that you didn’t notice it was a real relationship. You both complicated everything. You can’t walk away at the first sign of trouble, and you certainly can’t follow rules in love.’
Sen didn’t respond.
