“Are you okay?” Navin stood and circled the table. “Here, let me help.”
Before Navin could touch Jiya, she lunged to her feet and moved out of his reach. It was reflex, not wanting Andrew to see another man touch her. And he was definitely observing closely. Even with his eyes hidden behind Ray-Bans, that much was evident in his body language. Dressed in his red lifeguarding shorts and a loose white T-shirt, Andrew’s posture was casual, but she’d known Andrew since childhood. His stillness alone spoke volumes, because Andrew never stopped moving. Working. Grinding.
Lifeguard by day, bar owner by night, full-time superhero.
A muscle flexed in Andrew’s cheek and something spasmed in her belly.
That reaction made her indignant. Made the back of her neck turn hot.
Ooh. Andrew had a lot of nerve spying on her date. Even more nerve looking annoyed about it. If he’d wanted to date Jiya himself, he’d had ample opportunity. She’d been home from college for six years and he’d never asked her out. Not once. Never held her hand, kissed her, flirted with her. And she’d been an idiot to wait.
The admission made the ground ripple beneath her feet.
Oh God, she had been waiting for him. Hadn’t she?
She’d remained single, stuck in a work-sleep-work-sleep holding pattern for years, reading too much into Andrew’s secret smiles. Reading too much into the fact that he didn’t date, either. Hoping it meant something.
Hoping he was just waiting for the right moment to ask Jiya to be with him.
Well there had been a million opportunities and he’d passed on them all.
Hadn’t he?
Yes.
Jiya recognized the moment for the precipice it was. It was Andrew’s chance to seize this final opportunity. Do it. Storm into the restaurant and claim me. Beg me never to date again.
Ask me out yourself.
What if he didn’t?
She would have to move forward and stop daydreaming about a life that could never be. Since they were kids, she’d been imagining waking up inside of Andrew’s strong, safe arms. She’d imagined him sitting beside her during her mother’s annual Diwali feast, surrounded by their family and friends, cocooned in music and lights. Later, much later, she’d wondered what it would be like to see Andrew hold their child in his embrace. To care for them, the way he’d always cared for her.
Jiya could see now that she’d been delusional.
Prove me wrong.
If he didn’t, that would be it. No more entertaining the daydreams of the past. She would have to accept reality. Reality meant a potential future with someone besides Andrew. She might never feel about someone else the way she felt about her best friend, but she’d have this heartache either way, wouldn’t she? At least if she let her Andrew fantasies go, she could build a life. Build a family. The hurt might remain, but she’d have something to show for it.
Her throat ached as they watched each other through the window, tourists and seagulls moving between them in slow motion.
And something went dark inside her when Andrew ripped himself off the boardwalk railing and stalked away, that muscle still a livewire inside his cheek.
Over. You have to really let it be over now.
CHAPTER TWO
Two weeks later
The tick in Andrew’s temple kept time with the clock.
No blinking allowed. If his eyelids interrupted his vision for even a second, he might miss her entrance and that didn’t work for him. Watching Jiya Dalal walk into her bedroom was his favorite part of the day.
Hell, lately it was the only part of the day he looked forward to.
His bedroom window was separated from hers by a brief patch of land running between their houses, a mixture of dead grass and sand that had been carried on the wind from the nearby beach. He spent his days on that beach playing lifeguard. Blowing his whistle, warning vacationers about the undertow, watching the endless blue/beige landscape from behind his sunglasses. Day in and day out, endless strings of moments leading to this one.
That’s all they were.
Andrew’s gaze bounced over to the clock and came slingshotting back. When he realized his muscles were tightened to the point of pain—she’s late—he let out a rough exhale. He forced himself to his feet and over to his dresser where he stripped off the Castle Gate polo shirt that made up his nighttime uniform for the summer. He’d taken a rare two days off from the bar for his brother’s impromptu bachelor party and wedding, so instead of laying out the shirt for another use, he launched it toward the laundry basket. Though Andrew fully intended to do laundry, he was realistic enough to admit he’d probably be digging that shirt out of the basket in two days’ time. Bachelor life had its hooks in deep.
That’s not what he wanted.
But that’s how it needed to be.
A light came on in Andrew’s periphery and his body tensed in the act of digging a fresh shirt out of his top drawer. Anticipation, relief—and fuck it, joy—wrapped up his stomach like a birthday present, tying it tight with a bow. Jiya was home from work.