Page 60 of The Ex Factor

“Off you go now,” I said, “Take your meeting.”

“Bye, sweet girl. See you soon.”

Saturday evening,I sat across from Mary Beth, sipping wine. She had chosen a fine Bordeaux from their own vineyards in France while I savored the Château Cheval Blanc. The ride over had been exciting but less eventful than I had imagined. Sujit had remained concerned about the weather and the snowfall that was predicted in the evening.

Right now, he sat cozily with Ezzie across the spacious lounge as if they were old friends catching up. As I had prophesied, Ezzie did remember Sujit and was interested in learning about some new technology that was on the horizon and slated to make waves.

Mary Beth caught me stealing glances at him. I tried to ignore it, but I knew she had her gaze steady on me. When an inadvertent sigh escaped my lips, Mary Beth placed her glass down.

“Alright, out with it,” she commanded in a private voice. There was little chance the men would hear us, but she was careful, and I appreciated it. “Do you like him?”

“I do, but I haven’t decided if it’s a good idea,” I said, making peace with the fact that I couldn’t hide much from Mary Beth.

I started my tale with the dramatic fact that he was Tara’s ex. Her gasp was immediate and involuntary. I told her about our encounter and how it had blossomed over the past few weeks. When I finished telling her about my phone call with Aakash, she blew out a breath. If anyone knew about the gravity of family name and status, it would be the renegade daughter of one of the oldest and richest families in Dallas.

“I see Aakash’s point,” she said solemnly.

I sat upright. “You agree with him, then? Is it bad?”

She took a slow, thinking mouthful of the wine. “The optics? Most definitely,” she said, glancing at the marvelously handsome man. “But it can’t be healthy either, as Aakash rightly pointed out. If I were your therapist, I’d use a lot of jargon to explain that this is a textbook case of transference.”

I shook my head resolutely. “It isn’t. I refuse to believe that my feelings have anything to do with Sameer or Tara, and I don’t need an expert to help me decode it.”

She nodded in thought and glanced at Sujit again. “Let me ask you, is the attraction only physical? He’s a gorgeous man.”

“Heisa gorgeous man,” I affirmed.

“If it’s physical attraction, that can be remedied easily. A few times with him and it will be out of your system,” she advised with the worldly wisdom that was her forte.

“If only it were that easy,” I said, letting out a gentle breath. “Over the past few weeks, he’s become a part of my life, a part of me, I’m afraid.”

“That’s dangerous.”

“Don’t I know it!” I looked into her stunning green eyes, gazing back at me with concern.

“Tell me how you feel,” she insisted.

“I feel happy when I’m with him. It is the ease with which I can talk to him. I can be myself around him. Even when I need to cry, he lends me a shoulder without judgment.”

Mary Beth nodded, looking into her glass of the ruby-red liquid.

“Then there’s the situation with Dad, as Aakash so firmly warned me,” I added.

“He’ll be upset?”

I pulled in a deep breath. “I don’t know if he’ll be upset, or angry, or hurt.”

“Parents usually are one of these,” Mary Beth said with a chuckle. She had faced an uphill trek, if not a battle, to convinceher parents about Ezzie. “But I think you’re losing sight of the bigger picture.”

“What’s that?”

“Your happiness,” she said matter-of-factly. “That takes precedence over everything else. You’re also misreading another thing.”

I raised my brows.

“That maybe your father’s interference in your life comes from a place of love and concern, not authority and power. I’ve known him long enough to know how much he cares about you. I’ve also seen many a toxic parent in my lifetime, and I can assure you, your father isn’t one.”

“No, he isn’t,” I confirmed with conviction. “What does that mean?”

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