Silently Falling in Love: Lucky Charm

Book 2 - April 2008

I'm on a roll and I'm continuing with no editing so please forgive me.  I have one more chapter that I will publish before the week is out.  So I'm on track of meeting my goal of five chapters this week.  Please vote and comment!! I really would like your support and I'd love to see the book get ranked again after all of these updates :)  Yes, that's my selfish plug.  Enjoy!!!

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Alex

The weeks were flying by quickly ever since Anjali had announced she was moving to London. We went back to our routine of play dates, Hindi classes and carpooling, but there was a quietness that wasn't there before. The end was looming and each of us could feel it weighing heavily on our shoulders.

Finally, on Friday morning, I noticed that Anjali had volunteered to help out during the book fair so I added my name so I could have an excuse to be with her. I was at the assigned to a station on the other side of the library so I couldn't speak with Anjali. As soon as my shift was over at 11:30am I raced over to the cash station where Anjali was assigned.

"Do you need some help?" I asked her as she bagged one of the children's purchases.

"No, I'm almost done, my replacement is here she just went to the restroom."

"Good, then as soon as she arrives we can grab some lunch."

"Oh would I like to go to lunch? Hhmm that's so nice of you to ask. Let me check my calendar," Anjali responded sarcastically.

"Come on you know I didn't mean it that way. We haven't been to lunch in a while. If you don't come to lunch I'm going to think you're avoiding me. Are you avoiding me?" I whispered into her ear as discretely as I could. You could never be too careful with the number of gossips running around this school. Sometimes I swear most of these women nourish their body with gossip so they can avoid eating and keep their svelte figures.

"Thanks Anjali, for giving me a few extra minutes," Amy her replacement said.

"No problem. The sixth graders are almost done and you'll have about a ten minute break to tidy the books before the next group comes," Anjali stated.

"Thanks Anjali. I can't believe you're leaving. What are we going to do without you? You're such a huge pillar in our community here. I'm going to miss you so much," Amy gushed as she gave Anjali a big hug.

"Thanks Amy. I'm going to miss you too. We'll still keep in touch," Anjali said in her perfectly trained voice showing her genteel manners. Basically she was lying through her teeth. She could care less if she never saw Amy again.

Amy looked over at my suspiciously. "Is your shift starting Alex? Hopefully, it is and we can keep each other company."

"My shift just ended," I said but Amy's prying eyes kept staring through me silently demanding an explanation.

"Alex, we really need to go through the postmortem of the gala since you'll be the only one left here to pass it onto next year's committee," Anjali said saving me from Amy's curious looks.

"Oh you two should definitely go and do that. You both did a wonderful job this year and we're going to need your notes and tips for next year. And hopefully, we'll convince Alex to head up the committee another year in a row. Maybe we can partner together," Amy offered suggestively.

"I don't know about that, my wife might kill me if I keep missing out so much time with her two years in a row," I quickly said trying to remove any thought of her implication that there was anything but a platonic relationship between Anjali and I and of course to remind her that I was married.