EXTRACT: CH 39 Confide

She rubbed her cheek against the soft collar. Her mind fluttered to the canvas of Ravi's face she had painted in her mind. She imagined him running. She could see it in her mind’s eye. She knew why he had left abruptly the day before forgetting his jacket. She drifted off into a fantasy as the 10th floor light faded. She wished she could go back to the Café and have a different conversation with him, sit quietly and drink coffee with him. She wanted to stare at him, at his smile. Feel his warmth and kindness. Play the piano for him. Sit on her favourite rocks and stare at the sea with him. Any excuse to see him and apologise. No – she would go home and paint him for real. The 9th floor light lit up. DING.

EXTRACT: CH 18 Shanti Moonlight Sonata

...today she switched her cell phone off and headed for the harbour pub. It was deserted. She ordered a double Jack Daniels (no ice – no water – crystal tumbler) and sat at the window overlooking the ocean next to the black baby grand. Only she and the bartender and the sound of the ocean crashing against the rocks below occupied the space. Shanti imbibed courage as she swirled the Jack Daniels without a grimace and cast it like a spell to quench her demons.

EXTRACT: Ch 42 Sisters : jacket musk

Shanti shifted her chair closer. “I can't explain it … something about him I don't know what it is … it feels like an electrical charge when I’m near him ... I literally get weak in the knees. It’s like I’ve known him all my life, but I hardly know him at all.” She took the cigarette from the ashtray and stared out into the distance. “Anyway,” she said, exhaling a column of smoke. “He's gone.”