"She wasn't that bad."

Mama Rama had nothing on my mom when I flew down to Florida to visit. Any men on the horizon? Are you dating? Anyone special in your life? My neighbor's son is a nice young man. He's a doctor, you know... Little wonder I hadn't visited the folks in almost a year.

Rakesh grinned. "You in?"

"I've got packing to do." Lousy excuse but I didn't want to botch things on my last night, a definite possibility if I bumped into Drew.

"Drew will be there." Rakesh's corny wink did little to settle my churning gut.

"That's why I'm packing."

"Surely you owe him a good-bye after the grief you gave him?"

"I don't owe him anything."

"Suit yourself." Rakesh shrugged and straightened. "Bet you'll regret your decision all the way home. Just think, hour after hour, bored with in-flight movies, refusing the drivel they serve up as cuisine, wishing you'd done the right thing-"

"Okay, wiseass, I'll come. Sheesh, you're a pain in the butt. I can't wait for Rita to plant a kick right there."

"Amrita's going to love me." He'd perfected his hand-skimming-hair move just like John Travolta in Grease. I laughed.

"You really like movies as much as I do?"

"Ehhh... " This time, he stuck two thumbs up like the Fonz.

"Happy Days was a TV show, not a movie, you dolt."

He grinned. "I love it when you call me names."

Chuckling at his antics, I opened the door. "Get in. Anjali should be out any second."

"Once she's finished making eyes at my dad, you mean."

"What?"

He tapped my nose. "You were too nervous in there to notice anything but I reckon I caught Anjali mooning over my dad a few times."

"Really?"

He shrugged. "Just an observation."

"She's not a fan of your mom so she probably did it to make her jealous."

Rakesh raised an eyebrow. "Or she has a thing for him."

"Nah..." Anjali had said she hated Anu because she'd stolen something, nothing to do with Senthil whatsoever. But once Rakesh planted the idea and it took root, I couldn't dismiss it. An unrequited crush would certainly make sense of her vitriol towards Anu and cast her casual hellos at Film City in a new light.

"'Course she does, what with her practically drooling whenever he looks at her and how much she hates my mom. It's cute."

"Crazy, more like it." Then again, who was I to judge? Since when had I done anything sane recently?

Rakesh slid onto the front seat and turned to face me. "We all have a crush on someone. It's healthy."

"Unless it turns into an obsession." I snapped my fingers, remembering the Lone Ranger episode. "By the way, this crazy cowboy, who turned out to be pretty harmless, was stalking me because he thought I was Aishwarya Rai Bachan. I got rid of him."

Incredulous, his eyebrows shot heavenward. "He thought you were her?"

Of all possible responses I'd imagined coming from him, that hadn't been one of them. No "are you okay?" or "you were being stalked?" or "how did you get rid of him?"

Uh-uh. His incredulity was that a guy could mistake me for India's former Miss Universe.

"Your concern overwhelms me," I said, shaking my head in disgust, enjoying the soft tinkle of drop gold earrings, a present to myself from yesterday's shopping trip for surviving this fiasco.

One of many presents, including embroidered peasant tops, sequined shoes, the softest buttery leather jacket, and an assortment of silk scarves that would jazz up old outfits. Maybe I'd gone overboard, with my money fast running out, but I wanted tangible reminders of this place, items I could wrap up in and feel as good as I had in mystical Mumbai the last few weeks.

"You look fine to me." Rakesh blew me a kiss. "Besides, the stalker has great taste in women, going after you and Aishwarya."

My mock frown failed when the corners of my mouth curved. "Too late for flattery. You should've shown your concern the moment I told you."

He grinned. "You're here, you said he was harmless. And let's face it, what you put up with in there from my mother had to be ten times scarier than surviving an encounter with a second-rate stalker."

Good point.

"You owe me."

To my surprise, his smile waned. "Listen, you're a good friend to do this for Amrita. Not many people would've come here, not knowing what to expect and put up with me and my family. And you had Drew on your case as well. I think you're pretty special, Shari Jones."

His genuine warmth reached out and wrapped me in a soft embrace. There could've been worse things than having Rakesh Rama as an ally in this farce.

"And don't you forget it."

Anjali's arrival at the car ended our bonding moment. With Rakesh's supposition about her crush on Senthil, I was dying to interrogate her but couldn't, considering our audience. Ten minutes later she said good night as Buddy deposited us at the nearby bar.

Pondering Anjali's love life distracted me for a few seconds until I followed Rakesh into the dimly lit bar, which wouldn't have looked out of place in New York, and I saw the one man I'd hoped/feared would be there.

His assessing stare homed in on me and I froze. My breathing didn't kick in again until Rakesh placed a hand on the small of my back and propelled me forward.

"I know having the crowd act as chaperones is a pain in the ass for you and Drew, but you'll have him all to yourself in New York soon." Rakesh broke the spell. "Be good."

He pecked my cheek like an attentive fiance and pushed me in Drew's direction.

"Hey," I said, aiming for nonchalance as I struggled not to reach out and see if Drew felt as good as he looked. A navy V-neck tee accentuated his tan and brought out the vivid blue of his eyes, while dark Calvin Klein denim made a mockery of every male model that had ever worn them.

"Glad you made it." He gestured to the empty seat beside him. "Would you like a drink?"

Hell yeah. However, I swallowed before I dribbled and shook my head, trying not to stare at the array of alcohol lining the top shelf behind the chrome bar.

"A Perrier would be nice."

He followed my wistful gaze. "Bet it's a pain Amrita's Hindu."

I nodded. "I'd kill for a mojito."

Considering his potent stare, I'd rather get intoxicated on him. "Rain check? When I get to New York, we meet up for a drink and I'll buy you that mojito?"

"Is that your subtle way of asking me on a date?"

His lips curved into a sexy smile. "If you want to call it that."

Something inexplicable gripped my heart. Other side of the world. Unavailable guy. Hello? Surely I'd learned from my mistake with Tate.

Unable to resist, I leaned closer. "What would you call it?"

"Two people meeting over a drink, starting off on the right foot this time."

I tapped my bottom lip, pretending to ponder. "Sounds interesting."

It sounded better than interesting; it sounded fan-freaking-tastic.

He chuckled at my poor attempt at reticence. "I take it that's a yes."

I wanted to say no. I should have said no. I nodded instead. "You're switched on, Bollywood Boy. I like that."

"Turned on, more like it," he said, his low voice rippling over me like a caress before he headed for the bar, leaving me stunned and yearning and hopeful.

Stunned by his irresistibility when he turned on the charm.

Yearning for what I couldn't have.

Hopeful I wouldn't read more into this than what it was. A harmless flirtation between two people a world apart.

Rakesh walked me to the front door, although I wished it'd been Drew, who I'd fare-welled at the bar with a far-too-chaste handshake. Our date in NYC couldn't come quickly enough.

"I have a surprise for you."

I held up my hands. "Please, no more surprises. I've had enough this trip to last me a lifetime."

"Think you'll like this one." He handed me a beige envelope. "This is a thank-you for being such a good sport."

Curious, I ran my finger under the flap and slid out a train and bus ticket. "I don't get it."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "You've been amazing these last few weeks, continuing with the ruse, putting up with my mother, agreeing to let me meet Amrita."

"And?"

His gaze darted away from mine as I wondered what he'd done to look so guilty.

"Remember you told me your birthplace is Arnala? It's only a few hours from here, so I thought you might like to see it before you head home. My treat."

A lump of emotion welled in my throat, making it impossible to speak, as he rushed on. "You deserve this for being so cool about everything. This is your first trip here and I'm not sure if you're interested in seeing where you were born or where your mom was raised but it's a change from Mumbai so I bought you a one-way ticket home on a different date and-"

"Thank you." It came out as a squeak and I swallowed, cleared my throat, and tried again. "It's incredibly sweet."

He shrugged, endearingly bashful. "I didn't know if you'd accept or berate me for interfering."

I dabbed at the corners of my eyes with my pinkies. "Would I do that?"

He laughed and slung his arm across my shoulders. "Hell yeah."

My head leaned on his shoulder for a moment, my heart filled with warmth for this genuinely nice guy. "Rita's a lucky girl."

He squeezed my shoulders. "If you can convince her of that I'll be eternally grateful."

I chuckled and elbowed him away. "Sorry, you're on your own, buddy. I'll arrange a meeting, that's it."

"Fair enough." He bundled me into his arms for a quick hug before setting me back. "See you in New York."

"You bet."

I watched him stride down the cracked path toward his car, crossing my fingers Rita would fall for him. She deserved someone like Rakesh-she just didn't know it yet.

As the driver pulled away from the curb, Rakesh waved and I waved back, strangely nostalgic my stint as a stand-in fiancee had come to an end. Not that I'd want to repeat the craziness but it'd been fun, in a stressful, lunatic kind of way.

The tickets weighed in my palm and I squinted at them, filled with a mix of curiosity and optimism, intrigued by what I may find in my birthplace and hopeful it would stand me in good stead for what was still to come.

A day later, after a two-hour train and bus trip, I arrived in Arnala, my mom's hometown and the place I popped into the world, kicking and screaming by all accounts.

A small fishing village north of Mumbai, and nestled on the Arabian Sea, Arnala boasted a population of 8,000, about 6,000 of those fishermen and their families. No prizes for guessing where my love of seafood came from.

Mom had regaled me with tales of the town's landlord predecessors, who'd lost their land to farmers after Independence, but the stories had meant nothing. Until now. The weirdest thing? The moment I stepped off the bus and a bunch of locals sitting under a huge banyan tree checking out the new arrivals ogled me, I felt at home.

Inherently corny, but I was grasping at something, anything, to fill the void inside me, an emptiness that had blossomed over the last three months with every failed job interview, with every night I lay in the boxlike spare room in Rita's apartment, with every crying jag over my stupidity at falling for some loser's lies.

I'd traveled halfway across the world to participate in a crazy scheme for my best friend's benefit, yet it was this day trip that had me more excited than I'd been in a long time.

Since Rakesh had given me the tickets and a map with directions to my mom's house courtesy of his online PIs, I'd been mulling my past, particularly the last three months. While my heart had healed I still harbored deep resentment. Toward Tate for his duplicity and toward myself for being stupidly naive.

I needed to move forward, and I'd pinned my hopes on this side trip bringing me some sense of wholeness, a sense of completion that would propel me forward, allow me to release any residual bitterness, and embrace what the future held.

Philosophical bullshit? Maybe. Whatever it was, stepping onto the dusty path that led to my mom's old home felt right.

I strolled through the town, unsure where to look first, surprised to find it exactly how Mom used to describe it: three grocery shops, two small restaurants, several tailors, a pharmacy, and a few paan-wallas, the Indian equivalent of a tobacco shop. A huge Catholic church dominated the scenery, as did a nearby lighthouse, and I wished I could remember the first three years of my life that I'd spent here.

I couldn't recall a snippet, and I trudged along the narrow road, wide enough to allow one bus max, hoping that seeing my ancestral home would give me half the pleasure I'd anticipated.