The bridal party walked slowly on, closing the gap between them. Gimhana blinked and broke the connection. Chaya continued to watch him. He took a deep breath. His shoulders straightened and his chin went up. When he caught Chaya’s eye again, he gave her a tiny smile. It was almost as though he was saying, ‘We’re in this together. We’ll make it. You and I.’
The bubble of pain that was building up in Chaya’s chest burst. The relief was so sudden, she almost stumbled. Thatha’s arm steadied her once more.
They reached their destination and stood either side of the poruwa. Chaya gave her groom the slightest of nods. Gimhana looked back at her and winked. At that moment the pact was sealed. They would carry this marriage off. It was going to work.
The Kapuwa, a wiry little man in red, looked at his watch and gave the signal. There was the slightest pressure from Thatha’s hand and Chaya put her right foot forward and stepped onto the podium.
Chapter Forty-Three
Chaya – London, 2005
‘Well, Mrs Herath,’ said Gimhana. ‘I don’t need to carry you over the threshold, do I?’
Chaya laughed. ‘I don’t think that’s necessary, do you?’
‘Great. Don’t want to take this too far, right?’ He unlocked the door and hauled the suitcases in. The honeymoon holiday had done them both good. She had wanted to go somewhere warm, so that she could lounge around and read books for a few days. Gimhana had wanted somewhere with good food and art. So they’d ended up agreeing on Italy and a hotel with a bed big enough that they didn’t feel they were sharing. It had been exactly what they’d needed.
They stood together in the hallway, suddenly awkward.
‘So, what now?’ said Chaya.
Gimhana gathered up the post that had piled up by the door. ‘I don’t know about you,’ he said. ‘But I’m itching to check my email.’
‘Me too.’
‘Well then.’
She smiled at him. ‘I think this is going to work out,’ she said.
Within minutes, they were both sitting at the dining table, cups of tea in hand, laptops open.
Chaya looked at the ring on her finger. They understood each other. Nothing needed to change as far as work went. This was why their marriage would work.
Her email inbox streamed to life. So many emails. She scanned through them, looking for anything that needed her immediate attention. Noah’s name made her stop in her tracks.
What? Why was Noah emailing her?
She threw a quick glance at Gimhana. He was engrossed in his work. Her hand trembling a little, she opened the email.
It didn’t say much.
Chaya. I’m in London for two weeks. Would you like to meet and catch up? Noah
She stared at it. What? What?? Why was he emailing her? Why now? The date stamp caught her eye. He had emailed her in the small hours on the morning of her wedding. If she’d seen it then, would it have changed everything?
Opposite her, Gimhana was typing furiously. He must have felt her gaze, because he looked up. His eyes softened. ‘Okay?’ he said.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘All fine.’
No, she couldn’t meet Noah for coffee. One of the things she’d said to Gimhana, when they’d started this mad plan, was that Noah was never coming back into her life. She closed the email down. But didn’t delete it.
A few hours later, she opened it again and responded.
* * *
The next day, Chaya met Noah. He was waiting in the Geology department cafeteria, laptop open on the table in front of him. The sight of him made her feel light headed. Her pulse picked up. She went to the counter to buy a tea and took the opportunity to take a few deep breaths and get herself back under control. She could do this. She could.
When she went over to his table he looked up. ‘Oh.’ He swallowed. ‘Um… hi.’
They shook hands. She let go too fast, because she didn’t want him to feel her hand shaking. She sat down opposite him. He closed his laptop.
When he looked at her, his eyes were wide. For a second neither of them said anything.
‘So,’ she said, finally. ‘Sorry I didn’t get back to you before. I was in Sri Lanka. On holiday.’
‘Yes, I saw your out of office. Good holiday?’
‘Not bad.’ She wrapped her hands around her cup and pressed her fingers again the hot porcelain. ‘How come you’re here?’
‘I’m doing some collaborative research with some people here. We’re correlating my geological movement research and their fish migration research to see if we can predict where the fish populations will be in the next ten years.’
She watched him talk, his eyes shining the way they did when he talked about work. She’d missed that so much. She’d missed him. She shouldn’t have come to meet him. He was just being nice and trying to keep up a friendship. She wasn’t sure she could do that. When he stopped talking, she dragged her thoughts back and said, ‘Interesting.’
‘It is.’ He smiled. He looked tired, she noticed. He must have been working hard.
She forced herself to focus. ‘How’s your wife? And your son?’
He looked down at his hands. ‘Ah… they’re fine. But Katherine and I are… separated. We’re getting divorced.’
She felt the world shift. This changed things. Chaya moved her cup in her hands and her new rings clinked against the porcelain. She blinked. Did it change things, really? She had had her chance with Noah before and she’d chosen her family and her studies over him. What was so different about now? She couldn’t back out of her marriage, her family would be devastated. Gim would be furious. And her career… well, her career was here. He wasn’t. It changed nothing.
‘Oh no,’ she said. To her surprise, she felt genuine sympathy. It couldn’t be fun ending a marriage, especially with a child to think about. Poor Noah. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘A bit bruised, if I’m honest,’ he said. ‘It’s not a huge surprise, but still. It’s a bit of a kick to the ego, being dumped.’
They didn’t make eye contact. They didn’t have to. She knew they were thinking the same thing. Was that why he had got in touch with her? Fleetingly, she wondered what would happen if she told him the truth about her marriage. She could see other people, it was part of the deal … but no affairs. There was no way she could be anywhere near Noah and not fall for him all over again. No affairs. A promise was a promise.
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ she said. Drawing a deep breath she asked, ‘Is that… why you got in touch?’
‘Oh, no. It was only because I was coming anyway and I knew you worked here…’ He looked up at her. ‘Well, maybe,’ he said. ‘A bit.’
She held up her left hand, fingers spread out. His eyes focused on it. On the ring. Because she knew him, she saw the microexpressions that came before the smile: the disappointment, the anger, the sadness. Noah being the nice, polite guy that he was, would never press her into an awkward situation. So he smiled.
‘You got married,’ he said. ‘Congratulations. That’s fantastic.’ If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he was genuinely delighted.
‘Just over two weeks ago.’ She lowered her hand and twisted the ring on her finger.
Noah picked up his coffee. ‘Someone suitable, I hope,’ he said. The tone was jovial, but there was a hint of ice in it.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘And a genuinely good guy. We’ve been together for a while.’ She and Gim had been friends for nearly a year. That counted as ‘together’.
‘That’s good.’ He took a contemplative sip of coffee. Something seemed to shift between them. He finally made eye contact. ‘I’m glad you found someone who makes you happy.’
She nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak.
‘He’s a lucky man.’
His phone pinged as a message came in. He glanced at it, giving her a moment to pull herself together.
He turned the phone over. ‘So,’ he said. ‘Apart from getting married, what else is new with you?’
It was a signal that the serious conversation was over. They made small talk for a bit, until it was an acceptable time to leave.
‘It was nice to see you again and catch up,’ Chaya said, for all the world as though they were nothing more than casual acquaintances. She was pleased that she managed to carry it off.
‘I’ll be popping back from time to time, I should think. As part of the collaboration, I mean,’ he said.
A beat of silence. This was where one of them said they should meet up again. Neither of them did.
‘Well,’ he said. ‘Good luck with… everything.’
‘You too.’ She studied him and saw the tiredness, the sadness in him. She wanted so badly to put her arms around him and make things better. It wasn’t her place anymore. She scrunched her napkin up into her fist. ‘It’ll be okay, you know,’ she said. ‘You’ll be okay.’
He met her gaze and smiled. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’ve survived worse.’
She felt it in her solar plexus, that blow to the emotions. He had survived. She hadn’t. Until now.
‘Bye, Noah.’
‘Bye, Chaya.’
They shook hands. When she left the cafeteria, she paused at the door to look back. He was already back at his laptop. She knew he wouldn’t call her again.
* * *
When Chaya got home, Gimhana was already in the kitchen, music playing in the background. She stood in the hallway and let the domesticity wash over her. This was what she got to come home to now. Company. Music. Good food. This wasn’t a place to lay her head when she was too exhausted to be in the lab. This was actually a home.
‘Hello,’ Gimhana called out. ‘I’m making carbonara.’
This was what normal was going to be like from now on. Chaya hung up her coat and smiled. ‘Sounds delicious.’
She went into the warm kitchen. There was just enough room for her to get past Gimhana. The smell of frying bacon rose from the pan. He was standing by it, beating eggs.
‘Good first day back?’ he said, not taking his eyes off his work.
Saying goodbye to Noah was the right choice. She could make a future here. ‘Yes, it was, thanks.’ She grabbed the kettle. ‘How about you?’
‘All good,’ said Gimhana. ‘People from work bought us a set of wine glasses as a present. Very nice crystal ones.’ He turned and gave her a huge smile. ‘Dinner will be another five minutes. Can you throw together a salad?’
She smiled back. ‘I think I can manage that.’
For once, she had made the right decision. Definitely.
Chapter Forty-Four
Chaya – London, 2012
It was only when Chaya got home that she remembered that Gimhana was away. She stood in the kitchen, car keys still in hand, frowning. He had told her, she knew he had. In fact it was in the shared calendar. She’d just forgotten in the excitement.
Ah, well. She shrugged off her coat and hung it up on its designated hook. It wasn’t too late in the evening to call him. She didn’t like calling him after what would be considered ‘business dinner’ hours when he was away. There were parts of his life that were none of her business. But it wasn’t quite nine p.m. Still an acceptable time. She pulled out her phone, called him and put it on speakerphone so that she had her hands free.
‘Hey.’ Gimhana responded at the second ring. ‘How did it go?’
‘They liked the initial submission. They’ve asked us to submit a full application for the grant.’ She grinned, even though he couldn’t see her. The second European funding grant she had applied for followed on from the first and was much more prestigious. If she and the team landed it, it would be a huge boost to her ambition to land a professorship.
‘That’s fantastic!’ He sounded genuinely pleased. She loved that he cared. ‘Did they have any useful feedback?’
‘Some,’ she said. ‘I can definitely tweak the full application to fit it in.’ She opened the fridge door and looked in. There was a Tupperware container with a Post-it note stuck to the top. She tilted it. It said ‘Pasta and sauce, Tuesday’ on it. It was now Wednesday. ‘Gim, is this leftover pasta still okay to eat?’
‘You were supposed to take that for lunch yesterday,’ he said, sounding put out.
‘I forgot.’
‘Did you eat lunch today?’
‘I … can’t remember,’ she said. Even though she knew she hadn’t.
Gimhana clicked his tongue. ‘You have to remember to eat.’
‘I was busy.’ She took the tub out of the fridge, opened the lid and sniffed. ‘Smells okay.’
‘It should be fine,’ he said.
‘So what are you up to?’ She popped the lid off and put the food in the microwave.
‘I’ve just ordered room service,’ he said. ‘I haven’t decided what to do after that. I could do some work or pop down to the bar for a drink. Just one,’ he added.
‘Do both,’ she said, getting a plate out of the neat stack. ‘You’ve got time.’ She had to trust him when he said he would stop at just one. In the years that they’d been married, she’d had no reason to doubt him. Gimhana seemed to be a man of his word, which was just as well, considering their arrangement.
‘I guess I could,’ he said. ‘I hope you’re not planning on working late tonight.’
She winced guiltily, because that was exactly what she’d planned to do.
‘Chaya, you’ve been working all hours for the past couple of weeks. Take a night off and get some sleep.’
‘Ha, like you can talk,’ she said.
He laughed. ‘I guess I can’t argue with that.’
The microwave pinged.
‘I’d better let you get on with your work,’ said Chaya. ‘I’ll see you in a few days.’
‘Okay. Well done on getting to the next stage of this grant, again.’
Once she’d hung up, Chaya grabbed a fork and nudged the drawer shut. The nice thing about Gimhana being away was that she didn’t need to load the dishwasher. He liked to use as many pans as he could when he cooked. When he was away, she didn’t cook. She just ate leftovers, or had toast for dinner. She looked at the Tupperware container, poised to tip the contents onto a plate and decided against it. Why dirty a plate? She put the plate back and ate her dinner straight from the tub. It was almost like being single again.
She wandered into the dining room and pulled up her laptop. It wasn’t really like being single though, she had to admit. Their house was a much bigger home than her bedsit. She and Gimhana got on very well as friends. Getting married hadn’t done her career as much good as it had done Gimhana’s, but she was working on that. She smiled and popped a forkful of pasta into her mouth. The food was definitely better since she’d got married. She had space and comfort and, most importantly of all, companionship. Things could be worse.
Chapter Forty-Five
Gimhana – Manchester, (near Salford), 2012
Gimhana didn’t bother going out for dinner. It was hardly worth it for himself. Instead, he had a sandwich in the hotel restaurant, reading his notes while he ate. He did a bit more work and went downstairs for a quick drink at the bar.
Despite it being midweek, the bar was busy. A group of people sat at one side, drinking and laughing. Gimhana took a bar stool at the other end of the bar. He didn’t want to intrude. They clearly all knew each other.
The barman spotted him and came over. He was a good-looking guy, with close-cropped hair and a ready smile. He was dressed in the staff uniform of generic short-sleeved shirt and black trousers and still managed to look hot. Gimhana smiled and shut down that train of thought. Whilst he wasn’t averse to company on these nights away, chatting up hotel barmen was not his sort of thing.
‘What beers have you got?’ He was doing quite well with his promise not to drink so much. It had been hard. The only way he could do it was to stop drinking whiskey. He could take or leave beer, so stopping after one was manageable. Whiskey, not so much.
He chose one at random from the list and
watched the barman pull the pint for him. The muscles in his arms moved as he pulled the pump handle. Nice. Gimhana couldn’t tell how old the man was. He looked young at first glance, but when he brought the pint over, Gimhana noticed the creases around his eyes and the set of his jaw. There was the tiniest hint of blond stubble on his cheeks, just begging to be touched. Not as young as he first appeared, perhaps.
The barman made eye contact and smiled. ‘Will that be everything, sir?’
‘For now, thank you…’ he checked the name tag. ‘Zack.’
‘If there’s anything else, just let me know.’ More eye contact. Interesting.
Gimhana opened his paperback and started to read. Every so often, he glanced up to check out Zack. More often than not, he found Zack was watching him. He felt the thrill of attraction. He normally arranged his rendezvous through Gaydar where he could be completely clear about what he wanted. Random hook-ups were too risky; there was too much room for misunderstanding. While he knew Chaya didn’t care who he slept with, she did care that he didn’t get caught. He cared too.
He turned his attention to his paperback, fighting the urge to look up. When things quietened down, Zack brought a tray of glasses over.
‘What’re you reading?’
Gimhana showed him the cover. It was a crime novel, not even a very new one. ‘You’re new here, aren’t you?’ he said. ‘I come to this hotel fairly regularly and I’ve not seen you before.’ He’d have remembered.
‘Yeah. I usually work at a different branch. Weekends, usually. But they were short-staffed and I needed the money.’ Zack stretched to put the glasses on the high shelf, making his shirt pull tight against his body. ‘So you come here on business then?’ He bent down to pick up another box of glasses.
‘Yes. I have a client who needs me to come up to their site once a month.’ He tried not to stare. Even in the boring work trousers, there was no hiding that toned bum.
‘What do you do?’
Gimhana hurriedly tried to look like he hadn’t been ogling. ‘Corporate law.’
A Convenient Marriage Page 19
