Broken Harmony

by Brenda Barrett

  He couldn't endure that painful haze again and he didn't want to. As soon as her house was clean he would get her out of his place and then he would follow his father's promptings and find a suitable woman to wed. Obviously, Dawn was a good choice. Marrying for love was overrated anyway. Alka's people probably had it right; arranged marriages were not that bad.

  Aaron watched her for a while, not wanting to intrude on her private moment of joy. The cleaning service needed a key to enter her parent's property and then the next earliest time for them to clean would be tomorrow. He would have Alka under his roof another night.

  When she saw him she smiled widely and then walked toward him in that elegant way of hers that suggested that she knew that she was in control of her world and everything around it.

  "Aaron! I shamelessly slept until midday. I feel so rested. Thank you. Staying here is like staying at one of your hotels without the crowds, but Maisie is so efficiently grumpy. It's perfect!"

  Aaron stared at her smile, transfixed. He thought that he would never see her smile directed at him again. He groaned inwardly; only with Alka did he wax poetic internally. "Remember my friend, Ian? He designed the place."

  "Yes, I saw him yesterday." Alka smiled. "He showed me a picture of his little girl. She's gorgeous."

  Her eyes clouded over. And then she shook her head as if to shake off some uncomfortable memory. "You left work early! I can't believe it—are you reformed?"

  Aaron grinned. "No, not completely. I came to see you. I need your key for your parents' place to give to the cleaning service. I also came to give you this. He handed her a cell phone. I know you might need one while you are here."

  "Thanks, Aaron. That's thoughtful." Alka took the phone. The number was on a sticker on the handset, along with Aaron's personal number.

  She smiled. She knew Aaron's number by heart. She hadn't forgotten it in ten years. Several nights she had dreamt that she had dialed his number and they would talk. Sometimes she had told him about her day and sometimes she told him about her inner thoughts.

  She looked at him now standing there, handsome and troubled. He had a frown between his brow. Aaron had never been the type of person to relax and live in the moment. Everything had to have meaning and every problem had to be solved immediately, or he had to have a plan to solve them. He would not stop until he had a solution.

  She dragged her eyes from his. "The keys are in my room, I mean the guest room," Alka stammered. She had already begun to think of his place as hers. "Maisie is setting lunch for me on the terrace. Want to join?" she asked quickly.

  Aaron shrugged. "Why not? I haven't eaten since yesterday evening."

  Alka frowned. "I killed your appetite?"

  "No." Aaron sighed and then asked harshly, "I need to know. Why in God's name are you back here? And why are you still married to Rajiv?"

  Alka's lips quivered. "Can we just pretend that..."

  Aaron grabbed her arm. "You are not a teenager anymore; pretending is for children. This is my life you are walking all over, Alka. You are here in my space, acting as if we never parted. You dropped a bombshell that your husband is incapable of making love to you and now you are in my home. I need an explanation."

  He was holding her so tightly and so close to him that she could feel his body heat.

  "Aaron," she whispered brokenly, "Rajiv is ill. He has cancer and he is being treated. I can't leave my dying husband now."

  Aaron released her arm and stepped back. "He is dying? Of cancer?"

  "Yes. He found out a year ago." Alka shuddered. "I was going to leave him then. I was more than ready to. I had finished my internship at the Bombay General and was tired and sick of living half a life. I wanted to be free. I want to have children, I want to love and be loved. I want to know what it is like to be intimate with a man. I...I...was going to come back here to you because I couldn't take it anymore."

  Her lips trembled. "But he has prostate cancer and it would be selfish for me to leave him right now. He is responding well to treatment but he was down a few months ago."

  She inhaled. "I took this vacation to forget, okay? I am dealing with a lot right now. These two weeks I don't want to remember how empty and bleak my life is back in Mumbai. I just want to live again. Can we stop over-thinking this? Can we just live in the moment?"

  Aaron swallowed. "Live in the moment and then what? I can't put myself on pause and not expect to be hurt. What you are asking is too much."

  "Try." Alka touched his arm. "For me. Just try. Please, Aaron. You did it before."

  "I was an idiot." Aaron ran his hand over his face. "I never really got over you."

  Alka smiled sadly. "Likewise."

  Aaron pulled her to him in a hug. "You are a married woman. This is crazy."

  Alka snuggled her face in his shirt. "In your arms is home. I never want to leave."

  They stood there for a long time, pressed close together, until Maisie cleared her throat on the back patio and said, "You staying for lunch, Mr. Lee?"

  "Yes, Maisie." He looked up at her dazedly.

  "Well it's getting cold," Maisie said disapprovingly.

  Aaron released Alka and slowly outlined her soft lips with a finger slowly. "Let's go eat."

  *****

  Dawn stepped out of the elevator in the evening, a determined tilt to her chin. She had psyched up herself all afternoon, since Aaron smiled at her and seemed totally relaxed, to ask him to dinner.

  Her heels silently ate up the carpeted space. When she arrived at Aaron's outer office, Corvette shook her head. "The boss isn't here. Sorry."

  "But he said he'd be back this evening," Dawn said, exasperation filling her. She was constantly thwarted at every turn when it came to Aaron.

  Corvette looked at her frankly. "You need to find somebody else."

  "For what?" Dawn asked guardedly.

  "A target for your affections." Corvette looked over her glasses at Dawn, a speculative gleam in her eyes. "Try Graham Lee. Rumor is that his fourth marriage isn't working out too well."

  "I beg your pardon," Dawn gasped. "What are you going on about?"

  Corvette cackled. "You want Aaron but he is not the right one for you. Move on."

  "I don't know what you are talking about," Dawn said, feeling exposed. Did everybody know about her intentions toward Aaron?

  "Or you can try that one," Corvette pointed her chin toward Boris, who was walking down from his office, "but you'll get hurt. He's a womanizer. Known him since he was a boy. It would take a serious woman to change him, if he can be changed at all."

  Dawn was torn between telling Corvette to butt out of her business and plastering a polite smile on her face for Boris, whose eyes lit up when he saw her.

  "Hey," he said. "I was just heading to your office to ask you to dinner. I can pick you up at your place at seven, if that's okay. We can go over more strategies for my image reform. I heard that the House Boat serves incredible food."

  Dawn spun around and saw Corvette's knowing look and something inside her deflated. She searched in her head for an excuse and then thought, What would it hurt? She knew how to handle men like Boris.

  "Okay, sure," she said with a sigh. "I'll text you my address."

  "Great," Boris headed toward the elevator.

  Dawn spun around to Corvette with a militant gleam in her eye, but before she could blast the older woman, Corvette said helpfully, "I know of another Lee who will be at the same location this evening. I just made reservations for him and his companion. Maybe you should dress to the nines."

  Dawn closed her mouth with a snap. "Thanks." Then she spun around. "Whose side are you on, anyway? You just said that I need to find somebody else."

  Corvette chortled. "You do, but it can't hurt to go down looking nice."

  "What are you talking about?" Dawn asked, drifting closer to Corvette.

  "I don't gossip about my boss." Corvette gave her a dismissive look. "Have a good evening." She picked up her phone, effectiv
ely dismissing Dawn.

  Dawn gritted her teeth in anger. She felt angrier at Aaron and his date than she was at Corvette and her curt dismissal.

  She thought about the evening. She would be seeing Aaron and his date and finding out what she was up against.

  Chapter Nine

  "This is quaint," Alka said to Aaron as they stepped into a boat that was remodeled into a restaurant; she could hear the seawater lapping at the sides. The interior was lit with warm yellow candles in lampshades, set in the middle of what looked like intimate tables for two. Around the reception area where the host was standing was fashioned like the front of a boat.

  She had gleefully accepted Aaron's invitation to dinner that evening. Lunch was not the leisurely affair that she had been anticipating; Aaron had been called away on urgent business. This was their makeup dinner.

  She enjoyed the opportunity to dress up in her yellow maxi dress, the only other appropriate dress she had carried from India because tonight she wanted to be pretty for Aaron. They had never gone to dinner like this when they were younger. This was something to store in the memory banks for later when she went back home.

  For the time being she was relishing the fact that she was in his company and that he was hers for at least the next two weeks. She did a little jig inside. She pushed her arms more securely in the crook of Aaron's arms. She clung to his muscular arms, a sense of wellbeing enveloping her as he spoke to the hostess. Her initial euphoria was speedily dropped, though, when she heard Boris' voice.

  "Aaron, what are you doing here?" Boris asked, a disgruntled tone in his voice.

  Alka swung around to look. Boris was standing close to the hostess' table with a statuesque beauty standing beside him in a modest ivory dress that hugged her shape lovingly.

  "Boris? Dawn?" Aaron frowned. Alka felt him stiffen. She recognized the name Dawn. Boris had insinuated that Aaron had been gushing about her and wanted to marry her; that was before he backtracked and admitted that he had lied.

  Boris recovered from the initial shock of seeing Aaron and grinned. "Are you stalking me, little brother?"

  Aaron raised an eyebrow. "I was here first; who is stalking whom?" He looked at Dawn and smiled. "Dawn this is my friend, Alka."

  Dawn stepped forward with a smile on her face and shook Alka's hand. "I am Dawn, the Public Relations Officer for the Palm Tree Group. It's nice to meet you."

  Alka nodded. She didn't want to say likewise. Dawn was emanating some serious tension, even though she hid it well.

  Dawn was attending dinner with Boris, but Alka could sense that she was interested in Aaron. She kept glancing at him in a familiar needy way. She knew that look personally. She felt that look every day toward the same man.

  Alka wanted to push her hand back in the crook of Aaron's arms but he had stepped away from her and was angling his body toward the hostess.

  She didn't want to appear to be clingy so she stood with her little bag clutched between her hands, wishing that it was a stress ball or something she could squeeze her tensions into.

  Boris cleared his throat. "You know what I think." He looked at the hostess. "I think all four of us should eat together. I mean, it would be nice for us to catch up with Alka, since she hasn't been around for years. What do you say, Aaron?"

  Alka groaned inwardly. No. Say no, Aaron. She looked at him with a panicked expression. Aaron's face was unreadable. He looked from Boris to Dawn. "Why not?"

  Alka barely smothered a whimper. She could see from Dawn's expression that she didn't expect Aaron to agree and even Boris was looking a bit put out by his acceptance. Aaron had called his bluff. Great! Did these two ever stop competing?

  Alka barely heard when the host told them to follow her. Her feet were frozen in place.

  "Come on," Aaron whispered in her ear. "It will be all right. Boris doesn't bite and if he does Dawn will find a way to give it a positive spin in the papers."

  "Can I pretend that I am suddenly mysteriously ill?" Alka whispered back. "My evening with you is ruined. They came together; they should eat together. Aren't they a couple? They probably want a nice, intimate dinner together. We should let them have their time together."

  Aaron smiled. "You sound like you did when you were eighteen."

  "That's because even then I knew that I wanted you all for myself," Alka responded snappily.

  Aaron flushed. "You know just what to say to get me hot and bothered, Minx. Let's go." He tucked her hands in his and led her toward the table the host smilingly indicated.

  "So, Alka," Boris said after they had exhausted all small talk, which was mostly dominated by Boris. "Are you back in Jamaica for good?"

  "No," Alka said shortly. She sipped her water and looked out at the twinkling lights on the water. This could have been romantic, but here they were with Boris and his date.

  "Come on," Boris said, a sly look on his face, "don't go all mysterious on us. Where have you been all these years? You just disappeared some years ago and now you are back."

  "She doesn't want to talk about it," Aaron said quickly.

  "But why not?" Boris asked. "Is she some kind of CIA agent or something? Why the big secret?"

  Alka held up her hand when Aaron was about to protest on her behalf. She sensed that a quarrel was afoot. Aaron looked pissed. It was his fault for agreeing to eat with Boris. Dawn was super still, watching them with an air of alertness.

  "I left here ten years ago to go to India."

  "Why?" Boris asked. "I know you and Aaron here were an item. You turned him into a workaholic when you left. Didn't you love him anymore? You just had to escape him, didn't you?"

  Alka squirmed in her seat. "I had family obligations."

  "Ah," Boris said. "For a minute there I thought that you were involved in one of those arranged marriages."

  Alka looked at Boris and the sly look in his eyes and realized that he knew. He knew why she had left ten years ago; he knew that she was married. He wanted her to say it out loud.

  Dawn was watching them keenly and Aaron had gone completely still.

  "Yes, it so happens that my family arranged my marriage."

  Boris' eyes reflected his glee at her admission. "So what is your surname now, if I may ask?"

  Alka wanted to shout, Mind your own business but she was squarely in the hot seat. "Singh." She drummed her fingers on the table. "Is that all? Anything else you want to find out about me?"

  Boris laughed. "You make it sound as if this is an inquisition. I am just curious about you, that is all. It has been ten long years. That's what friends do when they haven't seen each other in a long while."

  Alka resisted the urge to snort, Yeah, right. She said out loud, "I never considered you my friend, Boris."

  Boris grimaced. "That's right. You have always had the hots for Aaron here."

  When the waiter came to take their orders. Boris snapped his fingers. "I think we should order champagne for Mrs. Singh. She is on her Jamaica vacation."

  "Stop it, Boris," Aaron said with a warning tone in his voice.

  "What?" Boris looked at his brother innocently. "I am not doing anything wrong. Just want us to have a bit of celebration for Mrs…."

  "You don't go by your married name when you are on vacation?" He directed his question at Alka. "Or don't you drink alcohol? Isn't it a part of your religion?"

  Alka stiffened. "I don't practice Hinduism and I can order my own drinks, thank you."

  "Ah," Boris said nodding. "I see."

  When the waiter moved away, Aaron rested his elbows on the table. "What's going on, Boris? Why are you trying to make Alka feel uncomfortable?"

  "If the truth makes her feel uncomfortable then I am sorry from the bottom of my heart," Boris said, leaning into his brother. "Where is she staying for this vacation, at your house? Suddenly decided to give up your squeaky clean image? Sleeping with a married woman now?"

  Aaron smiled slightly. "What's it to you? Suddenly decided to be morally upright?"


  Boris grimaced. "Don't get me wrong, I don't care what you want to do with your personal life, but I won't let this pass. The board will hear about this. The untouchable Aaron Lee has feet of clay. He is mere mortal like the rest of us and is breaking the moral clause, not just breaking it but shredding it to pieces because of a married woman. Who knew that these things could happen?"

  Aaron got up slowly. "Come on, Alka. Let's go."

  Alka got up hurriedly. She knew that having dinner with Boris would have been toxic.

  "Sorry about this, Dawn." Aaron nodded to Dawn, who looked slightly dazed and was looking from one brother to the other with a surprised look on her face.

  Aaron practically pulled Alka through the door. He walked so fast toward the car that she had difficulty keeping up. She was breathing hard by the time she reached the car door where Aaron had his hand.

  He swung around to her when she approached and pulled her to him and kissed her so thoroughly that she was gasping by the time he drew back.

  "Let's go home," he said simply.

  *****

  "I always knew that woman would be his downfall," Boris said sourly.

  Dawn was scrambling to process what she just witnessed. She was still looking at the door through which Aaron retreated, her heart sinking. There was no question that his full attention was on Alka and that he loved her. There was no hope for her there. The thought made her jealous and depressed. She barely listened to Boris as he rambled on and on about Aaron and his faults.

  When the waiter carried the extra food and placed it at Aaron's and Alka's places she snapped out of her inertia.

  "The other people are not here," she said to the waiter.

  The waiter looked at them, confused, and then shook his head and picked up the plates.

  "Now he has left me to pay for his food," Boris mumbled darkly. "Typical of him. Why on earth people think that I am the bad one, I have no idea," Boris said self-righteously. "At least I like my women single and disengaged."