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Lucky answered for her. “She was always top of our class. Recruited to the best firms. Dina was the hardest-working lawyer I knew.”

Dina didn’t know what to say to this praise. “Everyone worked hard,” she said.

“Not like you,” Lucky said, meeting her gaze. “I don’t know if I ever thanked you for your notes. They were always so thorough. I made it as far as I did because of you.”

“You’re welcome,” Dina said.

The moment lengthened, and Lucky thought once more of those long-ago school days. Finally, Dina looked away, clearing her throat. “So anyways, that’s how we all met. Before Lucky moved to Chi-Town . . . Chicago,” she amended. “Without telling me,” she added.

A look of surprise crossed Lucky’s face. “I did tell you,” he said.

Dina shook her head. “You didn’t, actually. Arshad told me.”

Lucky was about to respond, when Deepak interrupted. “That’s it? Small man was there at the right time and just asked the right questions?” He reached across to punch Lucky. “Yo, that could have been you, bro! Missed opportunity.”

Lucky massaged his arm. Deepak was surprisingly strong. “I wasn’t even in the running,” he said, distracted. He was too busy playing over that last terrible conversation he had had with Arshad after their exam, over six years ago—which also happened to be the last time he had seen Dina.

She had avoided him in the days following that night in the library. When he texted or asked if she wanted to study, she had brushed him off.

It got so bad, he couldn’t concentrate during the final exam for Secured Transactions. As a result, he hadn’t prepared as well as he should have, and the exam was a killer. Yet even while he sweated and tried to remember the notes Dina had shared with him, he couldn’t concentrate. He could see her bent over her own paper, a few rows ahead of him, Arshad sitting beside her.

Dina had finished early, because of course she had, but Arshad had remained behind. Lucky had resolved to corner his friend immediately following the exam. Surely Arshad had asked Dina on Lucky’s behalf by now. Now more than ever, he knew he couldn’t ask her himself. The last thing he wanted was to put Dina in an uncomfortable position; he respected and liked her too much, and he didn’t want their friendship to change.

Lucky remembered how he had rushed through the exam, keeping one eye on the clock and another on Arshad’s progress. The second Arshad had started gathering his papers, he had done likewise and followed him into the foyer.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Lucky had said when he caught up with him.

Arshad had simply shrugged. “Just worried about exams. Hate that they’re pass or fail. What’s up?”

Lucky had stared at him. “Come on, man, you know what’s up. Did you talk to Dina for me yet? She’s been acting strange.”

Arshad had seemed tired, as if he had been up late studying, or maybe worrying. “I did,” he had admitted.

Lucky had waited, and even now he recalled that it had felt as if he were on the edge of a precipice, that it would only take one word from his friend for him to fly toward an exhilarating unknown. Looking back now, he felt foolish, remembering how confident he had felt that Dina was aware of his feelings, and returned them.

Except Arshad hadn’t answered him right away. And the longer his friend had remained silent, the more the precipice had started to resemble a drop toward an uncertain future.

Finally, Lucky was forced to speak again. “What did she say? Don’t keep me in suspense.”

Lucky would never forget the sympathy in Arshad’s eyes, or his words: “I’m sorry, Lucky. I told her you were a stand-up guy and that you were interested in seeing where things could go between you. I told her you were serious. She seemed, like, shocked, and said she had never thought of you romantically.” He had laughed, the sound rueful and a little sad. “I guess her parents expect her to marry a certain kind of guy. You know the type.”

Lucky could well imagine the type of man Dina’s rich, well-connected parents would expect her to marry: He would be older, perhaps a partner at some firm, and for some reason he wore a debonair cape and used a monocle. Lucky hated the guy already.

He couldn’t recall, now, what his reaction had been to those devastating words. He likely had stumbled away, perhaps thanking Arshad for asking. But he remembered his friend’s parting words. They had haunted him for years:

“Girls like Dina, they don’t get involved with guys like us. You’ll find someone better, bro. We both will. I promise.”

Arshad’s words had accompanied him to Chicago, through that first terrifying year in a new country. He had thought about them almost every night, when he missed Dina and his old life the most. Which was why, when Lucky received an invitation to Arshad and Dina’s wedding eighteen months later in his inbox, he had spent the rest of the day demolishing a bathroom with more vehemence than the project required.

Lucky was so lost in his recollections that he missed the disappointed and confused expression on Dina’s face at his words. Deepak and Hassan, who had long had their own suspicions about what had really gone down between Dina, Arshad, and Lucky, now exchanged knowing glances. As if some long-held hunch had suddenly been confirmed.

Chapter Fourteen

They ate cholay, and Dina chatted with Deepak’s mother, an older woman in her late fifties who worked in school administration, when she returned from temple. Deepak and Hassan regaled her with embarrassing stories from Arshad and Lucky’s teen years, back when they all used to hang out at the local community center and play basketball. Dina even tried her hand at FIFA 25, and the men cheered when she scored. Dina couldn’t remember the last time she had let loose like this, and when she checked her watch a few hours later, she was shocked at how quickly the time had passed. It was nearing 5:00 p.m., and they had been hanging out for hours, trading good-natured taunts and jokes. Dina realized with a start that she had enjoyed herself tremendously and also that she couldn’t remember the last time she had spent time with people whose company she enjoyed. She had no idea why Arshad had dropped Deepak and Hassan. They were funny, relaxed, generous with their time and attention, and kind.

It was more than she could say about the friends Arshad had liked to hang out with when they were married, all ambitious professionals like them, but more interested in discussing their latest promotions or portfolio gains than any deeper conversation. Dina had spent more than a few evenings bored out of her mind as Arshad’s friends’ wives complained about their in-laws, swapped leads on vacation properties, complimented each other’s designer clothes, or boasted about their jobs.

She had been more than happy to relinquish those friendships after her divorce, though their friends were still under the impression Dina was simply too busy to attend their get-togethers. She didn’t miss them, but she did miss having a social group she could trust and be vulnerable with about her struggles. At present, that circle was one person—Lisa. She had no idea what she would have done over the past two years without her bestie. But hanging out with Deepak and Hassan made her realize that wasn’t fair to Lisa. One person couldn’t meet every one of her emotional needs.