kabir had taken her to the airport early the next morning. She wanted to be away before the news struck. As she was about to board her flight to Spain she called her father to warn him of both the coming news and her departure. They hadn't spoken since the meal, and he'd never regretted listening to abhay as much as he did now. As he hung up he couldn't remember feeling so traitorous, so worried or so neglectful as a father ever. He was relieved to hear from her, but devastated that they were taking a trip, who knew for how long.
As soon as she stepped off the airplane, the spring warmth, the sun, the smell of the sea, all helped her relax. For a moment she could almost forget the trauma she'd left behind. She'd packed fairly lightly for them all, but she honestly had no idea how long they'd be there. She knew the house would still be locked up as per her instructions when she'd left before Christmas, and she hadn't informed the Property managers that she was coming back, but there was time for that. As the taxi wound along the coast, she pulled out her Blackberry and emailed sid explaining she was en route and that she'd call over at some point to discuss things.
Opening the shutters, pulling back the curtains, the dust that swirled in the sunlight soon settled and the house started to feel more like home instantly. The children remembered it, and armaan was soon off to check out his room. anjali was happy to crawl everywhere just searching for anything she could chew.
She'd turned her phone off after sending the email and had no intention of turning it on again for at least two weeks. Maybe the dust would truly have settled by then, and the embrassing photos and news of her so-called affair would have been forgotten. She had made two very bad choices, though she didn't view abhay as a complete mistake as she couldn't imagine life without her beautiful children, but jey...she thought she'd hit him if she saw him again. How dare he say they were lovers? In the article that she had briefly scanned before being sick again, he'd thanked abhay for the experience he'd passed on to him. The barefaced cheek of it all. She hadn't done anything to hurt him, and even if she had, her family didn't deserve this. He could rot in hell for all she cared, and anyone who associated with him. Even abhay had taken this opportunity to push her further, to hurt her even more; there was no chance of a respite from his anger, his animosity. He was the only reason that the press ever followed her, nothing to do with her, if she'd never married him then none of this would have ever happened...
The three of them had strolled to a local supermarket for a few essentials later that afternoon, just gathering enough to provide a meal and breakfast. She needed a car, and the things that she couldn't bring out to Spain with her, a cot for anjali, maybe a bike for armaan. But as she started to make a list, she suddenly realized that these were big, long term plans, not a two week holiday. That night after putting the children to bed, she sat with a glass of wine and her novel not really reading, just pondering the future.
She was disturbed by a knock at the door. No one knew she was there, so she was a little apprehensive as she opened the door. Stood there was misha, the woman she'd met when she arrived the last time.
"Hi. My husband said you'd turned up at short notice." She lifted an arm and handed her a travel cot. "I wondered how you'd manage with the children..."
pia sighed, "just like a woman to be practical."
misha handed her a bottle of wine and smiled apologetically, "we can get British papers here..." the awkward look was still there, "If you need anything, just call by the office."
pia blushed with embarrassment at the knowledge that this virtual stranger knew her problems, her mistakes. misha spotted her step back, the look of devastation on her face.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."
Shaking her head, pia tried a smile, "No! Sorry it's been a long day...thanks for the wine! Do you want to stay for a glass? If you're not in a rush." When misha shook her head, she added, "as long as we don't talk about men!"
misha grinned, "it's a deal!"
With the wine poured, they sat together and misha told her about how she ended up being in Spain, her life, her business, sid and her children. Eventually pia told her about abhay, how horrendous the last year had been, and how she's made a small mistake a few nights ago that now seemed to have relegated her to the same level as abhay.
"What so him sleeping with anything is the same as you having one date with one man? Don't beat yourself up! And you're safe here, no one knows you."
pia shrugged, "the newspaper even made it out here."
misha laughed "it was only because I recognized you; no one else would put two and two together. You'll be fine."
It was beautiful the next day, the sun was shining, and suddenly pia felt optimistic. She had her health, two beautiful children, and a home on the South coast of Spain. It could've been a lot worse. She'd lived in Spain for a couple of years after Uni, her Spanish was rusty, but she could do this. Was it ridiculous to think of living here? Staying here and bringing up the children in warm sun with friendly people?
She walked into town, and to the O'Hara offices. sid was sat behind a desk looking as cool as ever. He smiled as soon as he saw her, and thought she looked for it, she didn't see any pity or judgment there.
"How have you settled in?"
She shrugged, "it's all a bit chaotic. But I was looking to hire a car, normally I'd trawl the Internet, but I haven't got it connected in the house yet!"
He smiled again, "don't expect anything to get done too quickly. He stood and rifled through a filing cabinet. "Ah! Here's the best current car hire deals..." he returned to the drawer then handed her a much thicker document, "And this is basically an Idiot's Guide to living here, from home insurance to electric bills, it tells you what you need to do and how to do it!"
She beamed, "that is SO helpful."
"We have found it has helped a lot of people. The way of doing things is so different here."
pia nodded, "I remember that from when I lived near Barcelona, but then it was just me so it wasn't so important!"
sid sat back in his seat, "my Spanish isn't great, but misha is fluent, and that is such a help. If you need anything else, give me or misha a call?"
Her smile was uncontrollable, how could two strangers be SO helpful, so kind, when other people close to her could be so harmful, so nasty?
That evening she turned on her phone to call her father, she deleted umpteen texts and answer phone messages without even listening to them. Her father answered straight away. She could hear the worry in his voice; she hadn't seen him since he'd left her at the restaurant with abhay, when she'd been so angry. But if she thought that he was to blame for any of this, then that was definitely a case of misguided anger. So she invited them over, she wanted to see her father and mom, and needed their support as today she'd decided to definitely stay here, for the foreseeable future at least.
After the phone call she sat with a clean page in a large jotter pad, firstly she needed to deal with home. She had to decide whether to sell everything at home and ship it all out, and what to do about the restaurant. But here, things that she could deal with immediately were a school for armaan, there must be English language schools locally, then there were Spanish lessons for herself. She needed to improve her language. She added a creche for anjali to the list, and a new business venture, though that was a blank page in itself.
As she was deciding whether she needed anything else before she turned in for the night, her phone rang again. The display said 'abhay'. She sighed. She had meant to turn her phone off immediately, but she'd forgotten. She couldn't deliberately ignore him, at the end of the day she had taken his children overseas, he needed to know where they were.
"abhay!" she couldn't stay upbeat at the thought of talking to him.
"Where the hell are you? I've been looking everywhere for you. I need to know the kids are ok. All this shit going on!"
She slumped back into her chair, closing her eyes, "abhay can you please stop being so nasty? I am at the end of my tether." Suddenly she was fatigued, she was sick of fighting all the time, this was a new start for her, and part of that had to be the end of all this bullshit.
"What do you expect? You shag some one then disappear with my kids. I'm wondering whether you're about to have a breakdown?"
She laughed, "Wow abhay, you almost sound as though you give a shit for the first time in months. I have had enough, you're right. And unless you can be nice to me, stop all this anger, mudslinging, then I'm not interested, and frankly neither are the children."
For the first time in months she thought she heard panic at the thought, "you can't do that pia. I love those kids. You can't keep them away."
"It's the last thing I want, but two days ago you called me, you knew! You knew what Josh was going to tell me cos he called you first. Instead of phoning me to warn me, to check we would cope with the news, with the attention...hell to even check if there was a word of truth in it, you chose to phone and abuse me, to start the pain! How can the father of my children do that to me?"
"I..." he genuinely sounded flummoxed.
"Speechless abhay raichand? Well isn't this a night of firsts?" she poured another glass of wine, mentally flipping a finger at him. "If you want to apologize for that and all the other shit you've dealt me this last year then come and visit us, we're in Spain. If you don't think it's necessary, then don't darken our horizons ever again..." she was about to slam down the phone, when she suddenly added, "oh and raichand. Don't even think about bringing that s**t with you WHEN you finally make the right choice."
She felt so good after the call that she decided to call kabir, she'd not spoken to him since the airport either and she owed him SO much.
"pia! How you guys doing?" his voice was full of excitement and relief. "I haven't stopped worrying all day!"
She grinned, why the hell couldn't she fancy kabir? "We're good. The weather's great, and the Property Management guys I told you about, well they've been really good, helped me out loads."
"So you're relaxing?"
She couldn't stop the grin that split her face, "I feel great, I've just blown off my ex-husband, and I feel optimistic. How did the news hit?"
He groaned, "There were a few Paps at the restaurant, but it's been extra busy because of it. You were right to leave though; there have been a few camped out at yours too. The price of fame hey?"
"Ain't that true!"
She could sense a little hesitation in his voice before he said, "I got the little shit, went to the cafe, pinned him against the wall...he blubbed. I did worry that he'd been involved, the runt, but he said that the reporter knocked his door after you left. He lied because he was hurt by you walking out..." he stuttered momentarily, "He wants to talk to you."
"Oh no way, if you see him again, tell him to roll over and die! I'm not putting up with any more shit kabir! And I'm not lowering myself to even contemplate what I want to do to him if I ever see him again."
"The new pia?"
She nodded despite him not being able to see, "I thought I needed some attention to heal the wounds, I thought that him flattering me, me being with jey would help me get over abhay." She sighed, "But I've realized that I don't need anyone to do that. I'm strong kabir, aren't I? I don't need anyone else!"
"This is the best conversation I've had with you in months darling! You truly are back!" He was silent for a moment, "you're not coming back are you?"
"Too early to say, but at this moment in time, I'm staying here. This is my clean sheet! From now on it is just me and the kids. NO man will ever hurt me like that, and I'll not come back to Britain for a long time."
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