Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 Maisey Yates (sad books to read .txt) 📖

really wanted to be with him. You seemed to be unsure of what you wanted.”

“It’s what he does, Sam. He decides to take something on full steam ahead and when it gets real, he runs away. It’s best I forget about him.”

“You don’t seem okay,” Sameer said.

She pasted a smile on her face. “Of course I am. I’m just jittery getting ready for the record launch.” After she hung up the phone, she ran her hands over the guitar. She wasn’t okay. Her parachute hadn’t opened and she didn’t know what to do. She was hurtling toward the ground, and Ethan wasn’t there to pull the cord.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Ethan stared at the phone, unwilling to believe what his mother had just said.

“Divya’s mother specifically said Matt, Heather and the kids are included in the invitation to Divya’s record launch.”

Divya’s mother had called his? He rubbed his neck, looking out at the view of the Hudson River from his Upper West Side condo.

“The kids are really excited to go. They’ve been asking about Divya.”

“You can use my plane,” he said flatly.

“Hon, there’s got to be a way to patch things up,” his mother said.

No, there isn’t. He had changed his cell phone number and email address, closed all his social media accounts. He didn’t want to weaken and answer Divya’s call. Yet not an hour went by when he didn’t think about her, when he didn’t worry about her, when he didn’t miss her. He had consoled himself with the knowledge that she’d be happier without him in the long term.

“Mom, you weren’t there that night. You should’ve seen her face when I stood up to her parents. Her heart broke right in front of me. If we stayed together, our love would be a constant battle in her house. It would ruin the amazing relationship she has with her family. She’d feel like a part of her was missing. I don’t want that life for her. Marrying an Indian woman means marrying her family.”

“Mrs. Singh invited you too.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think it’s her way of reaching out to you.”

He still couldn’t believe that Divya’s mother had called to invite his family to her launch party. Six months had gone by. He was sure by now they’d have found her another Vivek to marry.

“If you ask me, I think she sounded incredibly sad. We talked for over an hour. She asked me a lot of questions about you and about our family. She sounded really nice.”

“That’s why I’m wondering if it was really her,” Ethan said.

Marilyn chuckled. “You know, Ethan, ever since middle school, I’ve watched you crush on one girl after another. You always cancel the relationship before it really begins, because you’re so afraid the girl will break up with you.”

He looked at the picture sitting on his kitchen counter. It was the only personal item in his otherwise sterile condo. A picture of him and Divya and Allie and Jake on a giant teddy bear. It was exactly what he wanted.

He remembered what Divya had told him the first day they met. She wanted to be independent; she didn’t want to get saddled down with a husband and children. Now that she was on the way to achieving her dream, he wouldn’t be the one to hold her back. She deserved to get everything she wanted in life.

Out of habit, he touched the little box in his pocket. It was the ring he’d bought for Divya when they’d arrived in Vegas on the day he was scheduled to meet her parents. He carried it with him everywhere he went, unable to let it go.

“You should all attend, but I won’t be coming,” he said to his mother, a note of finality in his voice. “Tell Divya I wish her well.”

* * *

It was her night. She looked amazing. She stood backstage, waiting for her cue to make a grand entrance. She should feel nervous, excited, maybe even scared, but all she felt was empty. What was the point of this success if she couldn’t share it with the people she loved? Maybe she had been too stubborn. She should have called her parents. She should have called Ethan.

“There she is.”

Divya turned to see Arjun making his way toward her with Karishma, Naina, Rani and Sameer right behind him. Sameer stretched out his arms to pull her into a hug, but Karishma slapped him away. “Do not ruin her makeup or hair right before she goes onstage. Look how perfect she looks.”

“You do clean up nice, sis,” Sameer quipped.

It had been four months since she’d left home and seen all her siblings together and her heart swelled. “Did Ma and—?”

“We came.”

Divya turned to see her parents step toward her from the shadows.

“How could we miss this?” her father said.

Divya didn’t hesitate. She ran into her father’s outstretched arms and buried her face in his chest, not caring whether her hair and makeup were ruined. He put his hand on her head. “Beti, we are not going to agree with all the decisions you make, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love you. And it does not give you the right to cut us out of your life.”

She turned to her mother, who looked brilliant in a royal blue saree with silver thread woven through it. Diamond solitaires glittered in her ears. She held out her hand and Divya took it, squeezing it tightly.

“Ma, our family means the world to me. But I don’t want the life you’ve chosen for me. It’s okay if you don’t accept Ethan. We aren’t together anyway. But I need you to support me in my career. You have to trust that you raised me right, and I wouldn’t do anything to embarrass myself and or my family.”

Her mother dabbed at her eyes. “You know, your father went directly to your grandfather and asked to marry me, and my father said yes. I was so angry that he made this decision without asking me that