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“Hey.”
Bracing herself for the impact, Anya turned. As always, her entire being came awake at the sight of his ruggedly handsome face. In a white linen shirt and dark denim, he took up all the space in the small room. And all the oxygen. Hope fluttered through her, half keeping her functioning, half choking her. “I thought you’d have left by now.”
“Something came up at the last minute, and I pushed our departure back by half an hour.”
“Oh... Does Meera need something?”
“No, she’s talking to your brothers and sisters-in-law.”
Her heart was beginning to pick up pace, the tight jut of his jaw making butterflies dance nervously in her stomach. “Did she forget something?”
His head jerked up, as if she’d shouted at him. “You talk as if Meera could be the only possible reason I’d come to see you.”
Gripping the wooden desk behind her, Anya stared at him. “No, that’s not what I meant,” she said, frowning.
“And yet you would do anything I ask just to be close to her, wouldn’t you? Give me anything?”
His question pierced her, again carrying that note of something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“Anything within reason, yes,” she said, trying to inject humor into it but failing utterly. “Simon, what’s going on? Why are you angry?”
“Meera let it slip that you might not be here when we come back. Is that true?”
Anya blinked, and searched for an answer. She should’ve known Meera wouldn’t keep it to herself. “I was just thinking that out loud when she brought up our schedules over the next few months.”
“So will you be here or not, Anya?”
“Probably not,” Anya said, tired beyond measure. “I don’t think Virat’s going to need me after the coming week and I... I want to get away from it all for a while.”
“From Meera or from me?” Anger resonated in the last bit. “Have we become too much for you?”
“I would never abandon Meera like that,” she said, hot color sweeping up her cheeks at his disbelieving expression. “Do you truly think me that fickle, Simon?”
“I don’t know what to think because you conveniently forgot to tell me your plan to leave, Anya. And I don’t believe for a second that it’s simple oversight.”
“Didn’t Meera tell you that I said that she’s more than welcome to visit me wherever I will be?”
That only made his scowl deepen, “And me, Anya?” he said, taking a step into the small room. “Would I be welcome?”
“All I meant was that I need to lay low for a while,” she said, knowing that it was a non-answer. “I usually retreat after...after a big project like this.”
For the first time since they’d met, Simon looked at her as if she was a complete stranger. There was a hardness to his mouth that she was afraid was there because of her. And yet, he didn’t come out and say what angered him. “I don’t believe you. I think you meant to run away and hide the moment my back was turned.”
“That’s not true.”
But the truth hung there between them, waiting to strike out if either uttered a wrong word. He rubbed both hands over his face and groaned—a sound that seemed to be wrenched from the depths of his soul. “If you want this to be over, all you have to do is say it, Anya. I can’t bear silences and walls and hiding behind reason. Just...”
“What?” she said, aghast that she’d hurt him.
“I put up with Rani’s fluctuating moods for so long, thinking she needed space. Thinking she needed me to be just there for her. Thinking she would eventually come to me. But all that did was breed resentment between us because ultimately I couldn’t give her what she wanted. I can’t go down that path. Not ever again. So please, just tell me the truth.”
“Fine, you want to know the truth?”
“Yes,” he said, his focus all on her now. He didn’t sound angry anymore. He just sounded tired. “Because that’s what you and I have always dealt in. From the first moment we met. Whatever you say to me, it won’t affect your relationship with Meera.”
“Not everything I do with you is because of Meera,” she threw at him, her chest rising and falling. “I’m upset that you didn’t tell mebeforeyou made plans to take Meera away for a fortnight. I’m upset that you didn’t ask me along on your trip, even though I can’t come anyway, so it’s totally irrational. I’m upset that you...won’t share your pain with me, what haunts you about your marriage.”
A shutter fell over his gaze. “Why do you want to know what happened in my marriage?”
