32. Aarti
AARTI
T wenty minutes later, I lay my niece in her crib, peaceful as an angel.
An angel no one would believe had screamed like a banshee just a few minutes ago.
I put Jia in an armchair with her feet up while the housekeeper brought her herbal tea.
Dropping a kiss on Jia’s forehead, I grabbed the keys to my Audi.
I had missed driving my car since I left. There was no way I was driving in NYC, and the thought brought me sadness, as if I was slowly wrapping up my life here and moving there for good. A sudden, loud thud echoed through my heart. The thought was exciting and nerve-racking at the same time.
As I entered the heavily decorated banquet hall, hoping to run into friendly faces, I ran straight into Tara.
“Aarti!” she exclaimed with a slight gasp as Sameer appeared by her side. She wore a beautiful evening gown that accentuated her gloriously curvy shape—proud breasts and shapely hips.
“Hi, Aarti,” Sameer said, and I gave him a side-eye.
“I was told you were on your honeymoon,” I explained with my eyes resolutely planted on Tara’s face. “That’s the only reason I decided to come.”
She exchanged a quick look with Sameer and returned a warm smile.
“We had to cut it short. I got invited to an exhibition. And you don’t have to miss anything on our account, Aarti.
We’ll excuse ourselves from events. This is your community.
These are your friends. I’m a newcomer. You have more right, more love here. ”
I returned a tired smile. “You never made it easy for me to dislike you.”
Sameer, too worked up to smile, touched Tara’s elbow. “People are staring and whispering. We should move along.”
Tara scanned the crowd around us with a gentle frown, then pulled out a wicked smile. “Since they are already talking about us, let’s give them something to talk about. Would you like to get a drink, Aarti?” she asked, nodding at the bar.
“That might not be a good idea,” Sameer tried to interject, but she gave him a stern glare, and he shut up promptly.
I loved that look on him. He’d always been a larger-than-life figure, a striking, powerful man with enough machismo to melt panties. It was gratifying to see him cower before Tara’s ferocity.
“I’d love that,” I answered Tara, partly to vex Sameer.
“Go on, I’ll catch up with you,” she said to Sameer and started walking toward the bar without waiting for his response.
“White wine?” she asked when we’d crossed the small distance to the bar with all eyes glancing and glimpsing at us.
“Sameer told you?”
She nodded. “Sparkling white, right?”
“What are you having?”
She shrugged with a naughty curve of her lips. “I’ve always been a whisky gal.”
“Then make it whisky for me as well.”
We grabbed two on-the-rocks and stepped over to a table in the corner. I looked around for my parents but didn’t spot them in the crowd around us.
“Here’s to you and Sameer,” I said, raising my glass.
“And to you.” She clinked it. “How’s New York?”
“How did you know…ah, the desi rumor mill.”
She nodded and sipped her drink.
“It’s good. The work keeps me busy, and it’s the best place I could be right now.”
“The city is bewitching for sure. I lived in Brooklyn for five odd years,” she said.
“We bought some property in Brooklyn, but I’ve not had a full experience of the place.”
“If you need someone to show you around, my friend Sona lives there, and she’s amazing. Knows a lot more about the region than I do. She’s in Dallas right now, but she’ll return soon.”
A light flickered in my head. “Is she the one Mihir is seeing?”
Tara looked at me with incredulity. “Is there anything people don’t gossip about?”
I shook my head and sipped my whisky. “Not much.”
“It’s a really, really small world, and I’m very claustrophobic,” Tara said with a graceful sigh.
I looked up at her, and suddenly, I was glad she found the man she loved and who loved her so intensely. She deserved it.
“I heard the wedding was beautiful,” I said amicably.
She looked down at her glass. “Yes.” She held the silence for a moment, then, looking up at me, said, “I’m sorry it has been awkward for you.
When I broke up with Sujit, we ended on a positive note.
I don’t doubt that I hurt him, but we had a chance to talk it through, to put all emotions out in the open.
I realize you never got that chance with Sameer, and I’m sorry for that. ”
“You aren’t the one who should be sorry,” I said when her words roused up memories of hurt and humiliation, razing through my heart like a tornado.
“I also realize I never apologized to you,” she said, and I looked into her eyes, where I saw warmth and concern, not contempt or deceit.
“You didn’t cheat on me,” I replied.
“But I did betray your trust.”
“Maybe, but I was never angry at you, Tara. I did say some horrible things to you, and I’m sorry, too, but it wasn’t about you.
I thought I was going to have this wonderful, happy life with Sameer and suddenly, it was gone like sand slipping from between my fingers. I opened my fist, and it was empty.”
As her eyes traveled down to her glass again, I caught Sameer from the corner of my eye walking toward us. He wore a perfectly tailored suit in a shade of blue that I used to love on him. And yet, he didn't take my breath away. It didn’t shake me to my core as I’d experienced with only one man.
“How’s it going? Everything alright?” he asked with diligent caution as he approached us.
Tara looked up at him. “I’ll join you when we’re done.”
He looked at me and sucked a quick breath. “Yes, sure. Take your time,” he said to her. Then quickly whispered, “People are talking and wondering if it’s going to get heated.”
“What, like we’re going to end up in a catfight?” Tara scoffed. “I thought you knew us both better than that. Are your parents worried?” She glanced around him toward the crowd.
Sameer shook his head. “Mom also knows you both well.”
I took the opportunity to spot my parents again. I saw Mom eyeing me with concern, but I gave her a knowing nod and a smile. She nodded in relief and turned around to join her group of friends.
Tara put a hand on Sameer’s arm. “Go on,” she said with a love-filled smile. “I’ll join you in a bit.”
Sameer smiled at her first, then at me, and turned to leave. “And let them talk,” Tara said to his back. Sameer turned his face and gifted her a most brilliant smile.
“I never loved him, Tara,” I said when Sameer was out of earshot. “I thought I did, but now I know it wasn’t that.”
She nodded gently.
“I know because I met someone and felt something.”
Her eyes bulged wide before softening with a warm smile. “I’m very happy for you.”
She ran her finger on the rim of her glass, gazing into it.
I understood why Sujit had a high regard for her.
Now that I knew the full story, I got it, too.
I thought she had stolen Sameer from me, but he was never mine.
I was the other woman. Even if I had married him, I would’ve always been the other woman.
“How did you know?” I asked, and she looked up. “How did you know Sameer was the right person for you and not your New York boyfriend?” I purposefully left out Sujit’s name.
“My mother saw it first,” she said, reiterating what Sujit had already told me. “She said Sameer lit a fire in me and that I won’t be happy without it in my life.”
“Do you believe that’s true?” I asked.
“Well, if that fire meant annoyance, he definitely does that. He annoys me to no end,” she joked and laughed. I didn’t.
I waited with anticipation. I really wanted to understand why she chose Sameer over Sujit, who was incredibly kind and a hundred times wealthier.
Tara took a small sip and pulled in a deep breath. “As much as I regret hurting Sujit, at the end of the day, the question was, with whom could I see myself growing old and wrinkled? For me, that person was Sameer.”
She looked at my earnest face and leaned in to whisper, “Listen, it’s very simple. If you think you can fart in the presence of this man without fear of embarrassment, then he’s your person. I couldn’t imagine it with Sujit.” She lifted one shoulder in a matter-of-fact shrug.
Her blunt words shocked me, but I could totally see myself in any situation with Sujit without fear of judgement or embarrassment.
She grinned at my expression. “Looks like you got your answer.”
I gave her a shy smile that I promptly hid with my glass. Around us, a few aunties huddled, whispering and stealing badly hidden glances at us.
“They’re never going to make it as spies,” I remarked.
“Nope. Mata Haris, they are not,” she said and let out a marvelously loud laugh.
I discarded all inhibition and joined her. We both laughed raucously as people stared at us with scandalized eyes and disapproving head shakes.
“Fuck, I’m just going to say it. You’re awesome,” I said. We clinked our glasses and took a big gulp of the sharp whisky. “Thank you for today, thank you for this,” I said softly after the taste of the whisky on my tongue had mellowed.
“Thank you for being generous,” she said and squeezed my hand.
“Tara…I was wondering if we could talk again before I leave. Somewhere more private?”
Her eyes studied me for a brief second, then creased at the edges. “Absolutely. Do you want to come over to the condo, or would you like to meet somewhere else?”
“Not the condo, for sure. Too many memories.”
“I understand. How about that favorite bistro of yours?”
I was about to nod when a strange realization hit me.
She wouldn't have known about my favorite bistro unless Sameer had shared it with her, and it assured me of two things. One, Sameer did care about me. Even though he’d broken my heart, I had occupied a place of importance in his life.
If I hadn’t, if I’d been insignificant, he wouldn’t have bothered telling Tara so much about me.
And two, their relationship was solid as a boulder.
You don’t talk to your wife about your ex’s favorite bistro and her love for sparkling wines unless you both have complete faith in the relationship.
Aakash said Sujit and I would live in the shadow of their happiness all our lives, but they were also living in the shadow of our memories.
It was a strangely comforting thought. Sujit and I were not discounted, dismissed, or made invisible, but rather, held with love and reverence in their relationship.
Maybe that’s where Sujit and I could begin.
“Yes, let’s meet at the bistro.” I breathed in a satisfied whiff.