“I wouldn’t be surprised. I wasn’t that mad about him leaving me, but Tejas and Manav were only 11 and 12. He considered his responsibilities to be discharged, though, because he was only thinking of his financial responsibilities. We only had a bit left on the mortgage and I’d been back at work for a few years so I could take care of running the house on my own income.
“He switched the title of the house solely to my name and closed out his other affairs, but I couldn’t believe how coldly he treated the kids,” she said. “There was nothing he could have said to help them understand, but he didn’t even try.”
“Wait a second,” Cole said between bites, “The day we shovelled snow together, you said this house isn’t registered in your name.”
“I said the house isn’t under the name of Maya Kumar. Maya is just a nickname since I was small. My legal name is Jaanaki.” She spooned some more cauliflower onto her plate, then Cole’s. “And as long as we’re on this, I replaced a lot of stuff after Ram left, including my bedroom furniture. So rest assured that all this time, you were fucking me in my house, in my bed.”
“It’s going to take me some time to get used to you saying that word,” Cole snickered.
They cleaned up and watched a movie until Cole felt Maya’s head flop onto his shoulder, then jolt back upright. After checking everything downstairs was switched off for the night, they went upstairs where Maya fell asleep immediately. Cole thought about how feeling her wrapped against his side would never get old, and he watched her peaceful face for a few minutes.
Then he thought about everything he needed to do. Definitely gonna get her another necklace, but would she want a ring? Wait, stupid, does she even want to get married again? Maybe we could just live together? He frowned. But what would the kids think about that? His breathing soon fell in sync with Maya’s and the questions faded from his mind.
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