Bourbon & Chai: A Slow Burn Forbidden Romance Novel, Set in Philadelphia.

by Leah Kay

  Walking into the cigar bar, he whispers, “And if I say no?”

  “You won’t.” She winks at him.

  Chapter 11

  Lean on me

  Liam and Isha walk into a dark living room after saying goodbye to Mike in the car. Turning on the lights, Liam walks over to the refrigerator to grab some water and Isha follows him. Liam’s anxiety kicks in, very well knowing what lies ahead of him. He is thankful that Nathan was there to take the edge of. Isha appeared to be in much better spirits since he joined them tonight. Except, now that he is alone with Isha, he worries how she is going to react to his lying. Looking back, he regrets lying to her in the first place. He recognizes that, in trying not to hurt her, he ended up hurting her more. Feeling foolish for his actions, he turns around to come clean to her.

  “Baby…” He looks at her apologetically.

  With her eyes glistening, she asks kindly, “Please tell me it was just a guys’ night and nothing more, Liam.”

  Her compassion disarms him, making him feel worse for putting her through this. He hurries towards her, kneeling to the ground and wraps his arms around her waist.

  Shoving his face into her belly, he says, “Sweetheart, that’s all it was. I was trying not to hurt you but…”

  She slides to the ground to see him eye to eye and holds his face gently in her palms. “I know.” She kisses him on the forehead.

  Overcome with regret, he says, “I am so sorry, love,” and burrows into her neck.

  “I know you are, baby.” Pressing into his cheek she breathes a sigh of relief, knowing her fears turned out to be baseless.

  Raising his head to meet her eyes, he says, “I am the luckiest bum in the world, thank you for trusting me. I will not do this again.”

  Caressing his cheek, Isha gives him a soft peck. “I know you won’t.”

  Sitting at Joe’s the following week Isha and Claire exchange their weekend stories with each other. Isha fills her in on Liam’s secret guys’ night, Mike’s snake-loving girlfriend and Nathan’s rescuing advice that led to a makeup weekend with Liam, conveniently leaving the wallet incident out of it.

  “Mike needs to stop this. It’s been a few years since Jen,” Claire says immediately.

  She has known Mike since college. She has never been a fan of his arrogance and his desperate need to find that perfect girl to complete his power couple dream. That is exactly what led him to Jen. He was mesmerized by her beauty and intelligence. He cleaned up his act, let go of his arrogant ways and worked hard in every possible way to be worthy of her. She made a man out of his boyish ways, and he couldn’t imagine living his life with anyone but her, until she was faced with the difficult decision of choosing between her career and him.

  Jen loved him and cared about him tremendously, but she loved her career more. Ultimately, she ended up choosing her residency over him, a heartbreak that transformed Mike in every way and reinforced his need to be successful. He buried himself in his work and any spare time he had was spent on women who were the mirror opposites of Jen.

  “I am hoping he realizes these women will never fill the void Jen created,” Isha adds.

  Feeling sympathetic towards Mike, Claire switches the topics. “Nathan is a class act. I really like him. Remember how worried you were about the silly dream? Had you maintained your distance from him as you originally planned, you would have lost such a good friend and mentor.”

  Isha nods in silence. Nathan is quickly becoming an essential part of her life. He weaved into her life with his guidance at work and settled in comfortably as a trusted friend. Fear of their electric chemistry is quickly being replaced by necessity of his company.

  “Liam, on the other hand, needs to grow up. He created needless drama for nothing,” Claire continues.

  “He didn’t mean to hurt me…” Isha attempts to stand by him.

  “But he did. I hope he recognizes his actions before it’s too late.” Claire is less forgiving towards him.

  Isha cannot deny Claire’s intuitive warnings as she has been her conscience for a very long time, giving her clarity when she needed it the most. For the time being, all Isha can do is trust Liam to do the right thing.

  On Monday morning, Nathan checks into his flight to Genex, Puerto Rico to attend a workshop on improving manufacturing reliability. Taking a seat across the boarding gate, he smiles warmly thinking of Isha’s late-night voicemail over the weekend. “Your advice worked like a charm tonight. Thank you for being there for me when I needed you. And I will be reasonable with my damage to your credit card. Good night!” Friday night left him feeling giddy with joy. Their connection has awakened a sense of belonging in him and being there for her in a time of distress has given their friendship new meaning. Knowing all too well about the fights between a young couple, he shields her with his advice; however, learning that all is well between them leaves him feeling blue. He is conflicted by this strange reaction to her happiness with Liam. He cares for her and feels an innate desire to protect her. Besides, her playfulness that seems to come alive with him has made him feel young again. Sarah’s disappointment in him for years has conditioned him to believe that he is inept at relationships, but Isha’s presence in his world is beginning to undo some of the hardened damage.

  Over the course of the week, Nathan spends excruciatingly painful days in meetings with a cross-functional team, developing a detailed process map, identifying areas of improvement, and putting together an implementation plan. Wrapping up a successful workshop, he leaves for the airport to catch a flight back to Philadelphia for a few critical meetings with Ron and the leadership team on Friday. The plant manager, Carlos Sanchez, insists on driving him to the airport to get his take on the workshop and the team members. Carlos pays close attention to Nathan’s feedback, picking his brain for more information.

  They switch topics to Nathan’s team in Philadelphia. Hearing Isha’s name, Carlos says with a subtle smirk, “I know her; I worked with her last year.”

  His expression piques Nathan’s curiosity. “I did not know that.”

  With a nostalgic expression, Carlos adds, “She is one hot tamale.”

  Nathan immediately straightens in his seat and turns his gaze towards the road. He is used to these locker room conversations with other men in the company. Even though they can be harmless at times, Nathan prefers to keep his company clean.

  “Lucky bastard, I cannot believe she works for you. I would do anything to have her work for me. Is she interested in relocation?”

  Nathan’s temper starts to surge. “I am not sure. But I can promise you this, as long as I am around, you bet I am going to keep her away from you,” he says sternly.

  Carlos laughs, oblivious to the tone of Nathan’s voice. “I would love a visual treat every morning, makes coming into work all the more enticing.”

  Nathan begins to lose his cool. “You can pull over right here.” He wants to get away before his temper got the best of him.

  He says a curt goodbye and walks into the airport without looking back. This is not the first time he has witnessed another colleague express interest towards an attractive co-worker, but this time he is furious with Carlos for objectifying Isha. His protectiveness towards her surprises him. Although she is capable of taking care of herself, he wants to shield her from any harm and help preserve her innocence a bit longer. Their inexplicable connection continues to puzzle him every day.

  Waiting to board, Nathan catches up with Lily and learns that Sarah hasn’t been going to the art studio for the past week. His anger at Carlos turns to frustration towards Sarah for premature abandonment of yet another career opportunity.

  Instead of allowing his emotions to dissipate, he picks up his phone and texts her, “When were you going to tell me?”

  Minutes later, he receives a reaply. “It’s none of your business.”

  That riles him
even more. “It sure is. I walked away from our daughter to give you the space to grow and feel independent. The least you can do is follow through for once.”

  Tears sting her eyes reading his text. Sarah is tired of being a failure in his eyes. Over the years, she has gotten entirely used to being taken care of by him. The more successful he became, the harder it was for her to overcome her insecurities. As she tried and repeatedly failed at many things, she couldn’t fail to see the growing disappointment in his eyes towards her. Although he may never have uttered a word to hurt her, his eyes spoke volumes to her at every instance. A distance that was inadvertently created between them has now been filled with everything they stopped saying to each other. It has been difficult taking orders from young recent graduates at the gallery and their silent judgment affected her more last week than it did in the past few months. So she chose to take a break for a week, but she hasn’t quit her job yet. Her pride gets in the way of telling him the truth.

  Instead, she replies, “I am sorry I am not good enough for you.”

  He is tired of the same dialog with her. “Sarah, I left Lily for you, how can you not see what you mean to me?”

  She cannot deny that statement. She has been buried under his shade for so long that she needed to feel independent again. The only way to do that was to try to rebuild herself without his support. He was devastated when she asked him to give her a year to help rebuild herself as a last hope to fix their imploding marriage. She knew he loved Lily more than anything in this world and she was immensely moved by his act of moving to Philadelphia, respecting her dire wish. Still, he didn’t agree to it without a fight, which he ultimately lost in the hopes of saving his marriage and giving Lily a healthy family to lean on for the rest of her life.

  “I just took a break. I plan on going back after the Labor Day weekend.”

  He feels guilty for having jumped to a conclusion too soon. However, years of experience with Sarah caution him to be skeptical. Knowing all too well the repercussions of offering his support, he chooses his words wisely and hopes for the best. “You are strong enough to overcome any obstacles on your own. See you next weekend.”

  Blaming herself for her current predicament, she wipes her tears and reaches out to the gallery.

  Friday morning, Isha can barely wait to see Nathan. She hasn’t seen him or talked to him in a week. Throughout the week, she thought of silly things to share with him that she was certain would make him laugh but refrained from doing so in order not to disturb him while he was at an important workshop.

  Wearing a stunning grey chiffon dress with hair tied in a loose braid, she is giddy with excitement walking into work. Dropping her bag at her desk, she swings by his office.

  Leaning on the wall, she knocks on the partially opened door. “Welcome back!”

  Taking in her sparkling eyes looking at him with excitement, it dawns on him how much he missed her.

  “Not bad, you remember me.” He looks away from his computer. “What damage can I expect on my credit card this month?” He picks up where they left off.

  Gleaming at his petulance, she takes a seat across from him, dropping his card on the desk. “You could have texted too, you know. I felt pity on you, I didn’t use it.”

  “Aren’t you just kind…” He pauses. “I should have texted you. I needed my friend yesterday,” he replies hopelessly. His former smile weakens.

  “I am here now, what can I do?” she asks caringly.

  Never having asked for help before, his suffering eyes gaze at her in silence, struggling to find the words to say to her.

  Isha recognizes his dilemma. “Come with me, let’s go for a walk.” She rises from her seat.

  “I can’t, I have a meeting in fifteen minutes.” He puts up a weak protest.

  “It can wait; you owe me this for almost losing my grandfather’s ring.” Isha smirks at him.

  Her words warm his tired, aching heart and he obliges to her request.

  Exiting the building, she leads him through the tree-lined streets of the urban jungle and his walls come crumbling down, brick by brick, revealing an impaired heart. Listening to his devastating dilemma, Isha’s heart aches for him, his family and especially Lily; overcome by sorrow, she reaches out and grabs his arm and holds it tight with both her hands.

  “It has been a few months since you moved to Philadelphia, perhaps she changed her mind,” she says, trying to help him.

  “I doubt it,” he replies, reliving their last interaction where he grossly misjudged the situation and ended up hurting Sarah even more.

  “Have you asked her? Told her how painful this has been for you?” Isha stops and turns around to face him. “Or have you been suffering in silence? You are hurting, Nathan, what are you going to lose at this point?” She fights for him earnestly. “Please ask her and, if I may offer some advice, approach her from a place of love, your marriage will be better off that way.” Her eyes twinkle repeating his own words to him.

  Taking her hands in his, he gazes into her eyes. “You are…” He struggles to communicate his muddled feelings for her. A part of him is fighting desperately to bring his family back together while another wants to escape his current world and explore new beginnings with Isha, leaving him in a constant state of internal conflict. Isha reads his signs of distress and feels the intimacy they continue to keep under wraps. With their eyes communicating many fears their hearts hold so closely, they walk back in silence, quickly shoving their feelings back down.

  Later, at his desk, Nathan braces himself for renegotiation with Sarah. Although she asked for a year of separation between them, Isha’s words have driven him to take action, even if it means another disappointment. With high hopes, he calls Sarah to have a frank conversation. He starts off by checking in on her work at the studio and feels happy to learn that she has returned to work sooner than he expected. He listens patiently as she describes her day-to-day activities and finds her positive tone about work encouraging. He feels nervous about broaching the topic of them living together while they continue to have the pleasantest conversation they’ve had in a very long time.

  However, after wrapping up the call, he sends Sarah a text, giving her time to respond. “I am glad you are happy with work, Sarah. But I miss you and Lily. Any chance we can talk about living together again?”

  With only five days before the Swiss trip and Liam’s birthday on the weekend, Isha feels overwhelmed with all the preparation. Since Liam’s birthday falls on a Friday this year, she plans to have both their parents over for a cozy dinner. Before flying out to Lucerne on Sunday, she has to finalize the menu, pick up a cake, get his birthday gift and pick up something cute to wear during dinner. Processing all the work she has ahead of her, she heads upstairs to pick up a quick sandwich from the Eatery. Standing in line at the checkout counter she browses through the online catalog of a cute boutique store, located a few blocks from her.

  “Do I not give you enough to do?” a familiar voice says from behind her.

  Smirking, she turns around. “Much needed retail therapy for all that you put me through.”

  Dressed in a coral red button down with khaki pants, Nathan looks, well … darling to her.

  Stepping next to Isha, dressed in a white-and-black polka dot chiffon dress, he examines the catalog on her phone.

  “Go for the maroon, black is meh.”

  “Strategy might be your thing, but, with all due respect, shopping isn’t.” She throws him a mocking stare.

  “Ouch.” He fakes a chest ache. Shaking her head, Isha laughs at his antics.

  “Want to grab a quick bite together? I have a meeting in fifteen minutes,” he asks Isha.

  They finish paying and grab a table together, and Isha fills him in on her full plate of work before the Swiss trip.

  Claire sees them and joins them with her food. “What’s going on, guys?�
�

  “Isha is complaining about being an adult,” he teases her.

  “Oh, leave her alone. Delivering to your standards at work isn’t an easy task,” Claire says, coming to Isha’s defense. “Besides, she has Liam’s birthday stuff to take care of as well.”

  “Looks like I am outnumbered here. You guys enjoy your lunch and, Isha, good luck with dinner, cake, dress, and if you have some time in your busy schedule, a little bit of focus on work would be nice.”

  He turns around to say bye and catches Isha mouthing, “I hate you.” Laughing, he puts his tray away and walks towards the elevators.

  Just as anticipated, Isha has had to work late nights most of the week to keep up with the influx of work. In a corporate world, a week before a work trip is usually brutal. There’s plenty of preparation that goes into planning a workshop and, in addition to that, you need to catch up with your day job and make sure nothing falls apart while you are gone. Right when Isha was starting to feel good with her Lucerne prep, they experienced an unexpected system issue in San Diego on Thursday. It is time to engage damage control and Nathan has called in a meeting with the implementation team that includes Isha, Daniel, and Mark. Since they are experiencing a systems issue, Claire gets lucky. They spend an hour triaging the issue at hand and list out immediate next steps to be taken to control the problem and ensure proper mitigation plan is in place to avoid reoccurrence of the same issue in the future. This will mean long hours today, tomorrow and most likely the weekend as well.

  Nathan notices his team looking dejected at the latest news. “You have done everything according to the plan, these things happen. It’s in situations like these that we need to demonstrate resilience. Handling issues of this sort will turn you into better leaders. So, chin up! And get to work. I am here if you need me.”