Silently Falling in Love: Lucky Charm THIS IS THE EDITED VERSION

Chapter 2 - Going Down Memory Lane

As I lay down, I couldn't help but think about the past. How had life flown by? It felt like just yesterday I was twenty-six and at the beginning of my life. But I wasn't twenty-six anymore. I was a married woman of fifteen years and a mom of two beautiful children.

Life seemed so complicated now. I remembered it being so simple when I was younger or was it?

My mind took me back to the fall day at the race tracks when I was a mere twenty-six and I'd taken Raj's place on the tracks and won! He didn't race, so he'd given me his spot at the bankers' event.

I still remembered the high of winning and how good it felt; not to mention the shock of most of the men finding out a woman had beaten them. After winning someone tapped me on the shoulder. "Excuse me, are you the person who took first place in the race?"

I turned around to face a tall, dark, and handsome man who had blue-green eyes contrasted with dark wavy hair. "Yes, that was me," I stammered.

"Congrats, that was an awesome drive! Although your driving knocked me out of my top spot. I usually place in the top five. I don't think we've raced each other before," the handsome stranger said.

"This is my first time racing at this event. I took my fiancé Raj's spot. I'm Anjali Malkani." I extended my hand.

"Where are my manners, I'm so sorry, I'm Alex Shergill." He shook my hand. "Can I buy you a drink? You've earned it."

"Sure, that would be great," I said.

Just as I agreed, an equally beautiful woman walked up to Alex, "Hi, honey," she said as she looped her arm around his and kissed him on the cheek.

"Anna, I'd like you to meet Anjali Malkani, who kicked my butt on the racetracks. We're heading to the club for a drink."

"It's nice to meet you, Anjali," Anna said.

Anna was gorgeous – my jaw dropped even though I'm straight – that's how stunning she was. And then it hit me; this was Anna, as in Anna Diaz, one of New York's up-and-coming models. She was more beautiful in person than in the magazines. Looking at Alex he didn't belong in finance – he looked like a model himself. The two of them looked incredible together. They could do ads for any product and they would go flying off the shelves. It wouldn't matter what they sold.

"Nice to meet you, Anna," I said as we turned to walk towards the clubhouse.

"Anjali, where did you learn to drive?" Alex asked.

"My dad taught my brother and me how to race cars, so he'd have company on the racetracks. He's a racing junkie too, I guess it runs in the family."

"That's cool that your dad taught you," Alex said.

"Have you been coming to this annual event for a while?"

"Yes, more years than I'd like to admit. It's the one work event I don't mind attending."

Anna laughed. "These bankers know how to spend their money burning up the race tracks and pretending to be pro racers. They can't stop being competitive even when they're not working."

"We're not all like that," Alex teased Anna back.

Anna raised her eyebrow and smiled.

"I agree the competitiveness isn't limited to just work," I added.

"While you two make fun of us, I see a table midway to your right," Alex pointed to the area.

Once at the table I scoped the clubhouse looking for Raj.

"Anjali, what would you like?" Alex asked.

"Any lager beer on tap would be great," I said.

"Anna?"

"Champagne if they have some, otherwise a glass of Sauvignon Blanc would be great."

"All right, I'll be back in a few minutes," Alex said as he walked towards the bar.

"Are you looking for someone?" Anna asked.

"Yes, my fiancé Raj, is meeting me here in the clubhouse, but I don't see him."

Anna looked over and noticed my left hand. "That's a beautiful engagement ring. How did you meet your fiancée? Obviously not on the racetrack."

"Our parents introduced us. It's an arranged marriage."

"Oh, wow!" Anna said, surprised.

I was used to that reaction by now. Saved from explaining myself, I spotted Raj walking over to our table. He came over and kissed me on the cheek and said, "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you."

"Sorry, I met some people and joined them for a drink. Raj, this is Anna. Anna, this is Raj." As I was introducing them, Alex came back to the table with three drinks.

"And this is Alex Shergill, who graciously offered to buy me a drink for beating him," I teased.

"Alex, nice to see you," Raj said, letting me know they already knew each other. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Anna," Raj said. I could tell he knew who she was. He looked at Anna admiringly. Dressed in a sexy but not too sexy navy and white striped jumper with three-inch heels making her taller than both Raj and Alex, she commanded a presence. I looked down at my casual white t-shirt and jeans, it was quite the contrast to what Anna was wearing. I knew Raj well enough to know he'd have preferred me to wear clothes like Anna's rather than what I was wearing. Whatever, I preferred comfort to fashion, but I knew he would make a comment on our drive home.

Alex handed me a mug of beer and kept the second one for himself and gave the glass of champagne to Anna. Raj turned to me and quirked his eyebrow when he saw I'd ordered a beer.

"Sorry, Raj, I ordered the drinks before you got here. What can I get you?" Alex asked graciously.

"Thanks, Alex, I've already placed a drink order with one of the waitresses and she said she'd find me." As if on cue a cute blond waitress came and handed Raj a Scotch on the rocks. His drink of choice.

Anna smiled and said, "Raj, Anjali shared with us that your parents set you two up. Indian parents do a much better job of finding the right partner than I would ever give my Puerto Rican parents credit for. Nice job Anjali. You've changed my mind about arranged marriages."

Raj looked at me funny, "Anjali, do you have to tell everyone our parents set us up? That's so unromantic. We need to come up with a better story. I had to court you to get you to say yes, you know."

Raj's comment irked me. I didn't like Anna's change in tone. Just because Raj was a good-looking guy; tall, gorgeous thick dark hair cut conservatively to fit his I-banking job, dark as night eyes, a lean and athletic build, incredible chocolate colored skin and his charming personality, was she implying that made arranged marriages okay?

Alex looked surprised by the revelation too, even though from his last name I assumed he was Indian. It was common in our culture to have arranged marriages, but he stayed quiet.

"Congratulations, Raj, I didn't realize you were engaged. We should celebrate your beautiful fiancé beating me and you being the lucky guy who gets to marry such a talented racer."

Alex raised his mug of beer, "Congrats Anjali – to speed and adrenalin," Alex winked. "And to your upcoming nuptials too."

"To speed" I echoed.

Raj and Anna were silent and just nodded and took a sip of their drinks.

"Since you don't work on Wall Street, Anjali, what do you do?" Anna asked.

"I'm an architect for commercial buildings," I answered. Architecture didn't excite too many people, and they really didn't want to hear much about it.

"That's so interesting," Anna said politely.

"When's the wedding?" Alex asked saving me from having to talk about my career that no one at the table seemed interested in.

That one day changed my life.