He couldn't just let me be happy. He's incapable of taking the high road.

Despite the effort she made to shake off her anger, it hung over her like a dark cloud.

She yanked off her tiara. Happy birthday to me.

Sora swore at herself. She should have slammed the door in his face when he showed up. Trying to take the high road did her little good when she felt this...small at the end.

She stalked around the house for a short while, picking up toys, and needlessly straightening throw pillows till she ran out of readymade mess to clean. Frustrated, she tossed herself into a chair at the kitchen table where Ravi was reading the back of a cake mix box.

"Do I wanna know what's put you in a mood?"

"I don't know. What's brash, condescending, thinks swords are a fashion statement and just stopped by to wish me happy birthday?"

Ravi put down the box. "Run that by me again."

"He has dollar signs for eyes."

"Anthony wished you a happy birthday." Ravi was disbelieving enough for two.

"My happiness isn't on the list of things he concerns himself with anymore. He makes that clearer all the time."

"He's the poorest rich man I know. What's life without love like yours?"

"Oh, he's got love. He's waiting for Hana to see him again so they can continue their epic romance for the ages."

Ravi's sole reply was a nonplussed grunt of acknowledgement. He wasn't any more reasonable on the topic of Anthony Himura than Anthony was when discussing him. God save me from men and their egos.

Ravi got down on the tile floor where Tommy was seated amid an explosion of crayons and construction paper Sora definitely hadn't bought him to try his hand at hand-colored origami. Her baby was in seventh heaven.

"You finally figure out that toddlers and flour don't mix?"

"I plead the Fifth."

"Uh huh."

Dhiren climbed down from the stool he'd been balancing on.

"The cupcakes are ready to go in, Dad."

Sora, who was well aware of the rules by this juncture, knew better than to venture into the culinary fray.

Ravi got up from his impromptu lecture on the fine art of making origami paper dolls for Tommy to put the baking pans into the oven.

"The instructions say they should be ready in twenty. We'll check in thirty 'cause they're always wrong." Sora envisioned twenty years of Ravi thinking he knew better than the printed instructions. She got up to inspect the fire extinguisher she'd purchased after finding out she was pregnant.

She turned around to find Dhiren covered in smears of batter. Don't think I can't see you've gotten into the frosting, kid. She handed him a washcloth which he used to scrub guiltily at the corner of his mouth, missing the remainder of the mess wholesale.

"Aunt Sora, can you teach me that soccer trick you used on Dad? I wanna try it out at a game next season."

"I don't know. You might need me to watch Tommy while you bake." By which she meant, 'safeguard her kitchen from the next Misra creation initiative.'

Ravi interjected, all too knowingly, "Go ahead. Tommy and I can handle the crayons, and I'll keep an eye out for the 'cakes. I'll make a menswear designer out of this kid yet."

Sora smiled at them. "In that case, I'd be happy to teach you how to kick your dad's butt on the soccer green."

"Something tells me that trick will be the bane of my existence the next time he and I play one-on-one."

"Us winners have to stick together."

"You lose one match and you're branded a loser in perpetuity."

"Sad but true."

"It's okay, Dad. You're good at other stuff."

"Sure, I am. Get going, you two. Don't you know fashion is being born?" Ravi shooed them away.

"I know when I'm beaten. Dhiren, get your ball. We can kick it around in the back."

"Awesome." Dhiren bolted from the kitchen to retrieve his bag from the car.

"Don't slip Tommy any icing. I'll know if you do."

Ravi started. "How?"

"Moms know."

On that mysterious note, Sora hightailed it to the backyard to wait for Dhiren.

...

...

When a hand came down on her shoulder a half-hour later, Sora about jumped out of her skin and into her pool.

It was Ravi.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

She waved off his apology, aware that she'd been a thousand miles away for a start.

"I was saying I just put Tommy down for another nap. Who knew paper dolls could be so tiring for the little guy?"

"He loves excitement, but he hasn't got the stamina for much of it yet."

"You okay?"

"I am. I'm fine. I've got a million things to think about and I guess I chose this moment to dwell on it."

"If I'm distracting you, I can leave you to it." He looked to the green grass where Dhiren was working feverishly to replicate her little heel trick.

"Don't go." Sora ran her hand down his arm, pulling him to sit on the edge of the pool next to her. "I want you here. I always want you."

His lips twitched.

Damn it. "Here! I want you here with me. You and Dhiren with me and Tommy." Sora thought it best she stopped talking. "Ignore all that."

"I don't think so. You like having me around. So what? There's nothing incriminating about basking in companionship."

Anything can be explained away with enough denial.

"Tell that to Hana and her band of emissaries, which has expanded to include my ex-husband."

"You know how I feel about Himura."

"I think everyone on the west coast is aware of your thoughts on him."

"He was never good enough for you."

"I thought he could be. I wanted him and he wanted me. I thought that could be enough."

"It should have been enough."

Sora snorted.

"You can't tell me anything I don't already think about myself. I know I'm not a saint, I've made a lot of mistakes. I've made a fool out of myself and out of other people who didn't deserve that kind of betrayal. That makes me an expert at knowing a fool when I see one. That's Anthony Himura."

"He is something all right. There's not a word for it yet."

"Doesn't matter what you call him, he's wrong." Ravi squeezed her shoulder. "I've finally had the chance to see you for who you are, and I like what I see. Like a work of art hidden in plain sight, you've only grown more remarkable with time. I'm not giving you up. Himura and I will just have to learn to coexist."

"This would be so much easier if I were different." I could have everything I want without regretting it. I could have you. "Can you imagine?"

"I can't. If you were anybody else, you wouldn't be yourself. The people who love you don't love this hypothetical person you wish you were, no matter how great you've imagined her to be."

"You can't know that."

"I can. Sora, you're not some kind of mistake. We love you, just you."

"But when did that happen?"

"Does it matter?"

"It might not. I thought I had all the answers to where my life is going and I'm coming to the realization that I haven't got a clue. I'm a year older and not a moment wiser."

"There are worse ways to go about life than not having a plan. No expectations means no disappointments. Every day becomes a chance to be surprised."

"My family seems convinced that one more surprise will kill me."

"Maybe they don't know you as well as they think they do. They'll learn. I did."

She looked at him to see what he thought versus what he said. She couldn't spot the lie.

Ravi stood and offered her his hand.

"Let's go in. Food's here."

She stood up and waved Dhiren over from the corner of the yard he'd claimed for his own.

"You couldn't have said that before?"

"I like spending time with you. Sue me."