Page 47 of Behind Frenemy Lines

Kriya: “Sorry about all the drama.” Looked rueful, but calm. “I haven’t done a great job as your date.”

CG: “It’s not really a job. More of an imposition. If I’d known your ex was going to be here…”

Kriya: “How could you have known? It’s for the best. I might never have found out about Tom cheating on me, otherwise. I heard he was seeing someone new, but I had no idea about the timeline.” Stared down at her drink. “Alexis—the new girlfriend—she said they were dating long-distance before he even got the job in America, when he was still in London. We were living together at the time.”

CG, with feeling: “What a bastard.”

Kriya laughed. Wasn’t a happy laugh. “Right?” She put her hand up to her face, as if to shield it. “I’m so stupid.”

CG: “You weren’t stupid for trusting someone you love—loved.” Was the past tense correct? I wasn’t sure.

Kriya shook her head. “Things weren’t great for a while, even before he moved overseas. He wasn’t happy. I just didn’t want to see it. We met at university, we were together for thirteen years. I mean, I loved him. I told myself it was his job, he wasn’t fulfilled at work. Then this US role came up and he wanted to give it a shot. I thought, who am I to hold him back, you know?I wanted to be supportive.” She fumbled in her bag for another tissue, blew her nose. “Sorry.”

Found myself saying: “My dad was convicted for fraud, when I was a kid.”

Kriya looked up, startled.

I was equally surprised. Never told anyone before. Don’t even talk about it with people who know, like Loretta.

Kriya: “Really?”

CG: “He embezzled funds from his company. It was a family business, owned by his cousin. It was messy. He got a fine and prison time, but he ran, he left the country. My mum and I didn’t know where he’d gone or what had happened to him, for years.”

Kriya’s eyes were huge. “Oh my God, Charles. That’s terrible.”

CG: “My mum got the worst of it. He’d spent her savings, racked up all this debt she hadn’t known about. I was lucky, my uncle agreed to keep paying for my education until I turned eighteen. After that, I managed to cover university myself, with loans and so on. But it took my mum years to pay off my dad’s debts.”

Kriya: “Oh, Charles.” She touched my arm.

Had to exert myself in order not to recoil. Didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. It was simply that that kiss had primed my body to read too much into any touch from Kriya, however fleeting.

CG: “No matter what, my mum would never blame my dad. It drove me wild, how she’d make excuses for him. She keeps worrying about him to this day, even though he remarried and had a second family.”

Kriya: “That must have been so hard on you.”

Wasn’t wrong, but that wasn’t the point.

CG: “I didn’t mean to make this about myself. I only mention it because… I hate how my mum defends my dad. But in a way I admire it, too. She’s not ashamed of the fact shecared about him. She doesn’t think it makes her stupid. And it doesn’t.”

Kriya’s eyes were soft. “She sounds amazing.”

CG: “She drives me bonkers. But yeah.” Paused. “I’m sorry about not covering the drinks at the pub. You know, with the work experience lot. My dad needs a lot of help still. With the wedding and everything, money’s been a bit tight. But I should have said, if you don’t mind waiting, I can pay you back.”

Kriya: “Oh no, don’t be ridiculous. I said I’d cover it. It wasn’t a problem. Have you been worrying about that all this time?”

Didn’t answer. Didn’t have to. Felt like she was looking right through me.

Kriya: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that. I know what it’s like to have family to support. My parents need help as well. And it’s harder when they’re far away, right?” She shook her head, rueful. “That’s a learning for me. You shouldn’t assume you know all there is to know about someone.”

Kriya smiled at me—a real smile, though there was a bittersweet twist to it. “At least you become nicer the more I learn about you. The opposite of Tom.”

Felt a glow at the compliment, though I wasn’t sure how I felt about the comparison with her ex-boyfriend. Bastard or not, she’d loved him. Thirteen years together, she’d said. I couldn’t imagine she was over him yet.

Not that it was any of my business. Nothing to do with me.

CG: “I could knock him over the head? Have an accident with the racquet? Though there’s probably an upper limit to the amount of damage a badminton racquet can inflict. It’s a pity Loretta isn’t into a golf anime.”

Kriya laughed. “I appreciate the thought, but no.”

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