Next of Twin by Jass Aujla

Author:Jass Aujla
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SparkPress

TWENTY-TWO

Thursday, September 22nd—Afternoon

Anjali takes another sip of her cappuccino. She draws a deep breath in—the autumn air, crisp in her lungs. She holds it there for as long as she can and then gradually exhales, feeling all her reservations evaporate into the Paris air. She puts on the dark Prada sunglasses she bought at the airport en route to France. Sitting in the sunny part of an old Parisian café, she notices how warm the sun is for the early evening, even though it’s the beginning of fall. She likes it—no—she loves it, all of it. She supposes the warm weather is an aspect of her new life she’ll get used to. Michael always warned her of the dangers of the sun, indicating he didn’t want her to get darker. You are just the right shade of brown, he had once said. She had tried not to be offended, but inside she had been.

She will have to get used to many new facets of her new life—her new life without Michael. A smile dances on her face as the realization of her freedom settles into her bones. She is finally free of that man. Closing her eyes, she relaxes at the thought of getting used to this beautiful life of her own. She’ll have to find her own way of mourning him, because she knows she didn’t always feel this hatred for him.

Anjali’s mind travels back to when she first met Michael, sitting at the bar in the Beretta restaurant at the hotel where she was staying. It was her first time in San Francisco, which was odd since she’d traveled worldwide for work. She was in town for a conference as a guest speaker. She had passed the restaurant several times in the last three days, but had decided to check it out and have a quick drink that afternoon. She often judged restaurants she hadn’t been to before by having a cocktail—usually a Dirty Martini with extra olives. If the martini was appetizing, usually the food was too.

The bar was empty except for Anjali and another customer sitting a few seats away—a handsome man preoccupied with his phone. The bartender brought Anjali her martini and placed a bowl of mixed nuts near her glass. Anjali was about to thank the young man when he winked and mumbled, “No problem.”

Then he turned his attention to the other customer. “Mr. Murphy—did you want another?”

The man responded with a nod. He gave her a slight glance but then focused his attention back on his phone. Anjali reached into her purse to retrieve her notebook but paused and decided against it. She needed to unwind, so no work, she told herself as she took the first sip of her martini. She liked the way it felt on her tongue, cold and salty, and as the liquid trickled down her throat, she could feel the tension in her shoulders relax.

“Hey!” she said to the man a few seats away. “Is your name Shaun Murphy?”

The man distractedly glanced up at the bartender and then shifted his gaze to Anjali.

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