Omkar had seen the man pull up to drop Aria off outside the store. He came outside partially to greet her and partially to challenge the other man with his presence. “Oh hey,” Aria said, hugging Omkar as if getting dropped off by another man was a usual occurrence.

“Who was that?” Omkar asked, trying to not let jealousy get the better of him.

“Oh, that’s just some guy that gave me a ride back here,” she said.

“What have you been doing all day?” Omkar asked.

“Just saying hi to people and finding places to eat, you know.” Aria tried to make her day sound as boring as possible, hoping that it would end his interrogation.

“Why don’t you just eat here?” Omkar asked.

“Well, I don’t want to be some huge burden here. Your mom won’t let me touch the kitchen and it makes me feel so weird when she cooks for me. Even my own mother never cooked for me. It makes me feel guilty.”

Aria played with the wave of hair over his forehead. Omkar’s good nature returned. “Don’t you know that Indian mothers love to cook for people? It’s this big secret they don’t want anybody to know about. All you have to do is to tell them that you love it and they will be like putty in your hand.”

Omkar picked her up and spun her once around. When he put her down, he looked toward the store to make sure his parents weren’t watching and kissed her softly on the lips.

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 33

The sound of the shower towed Omkar from his sleep. Because of the strange hour, he knew that the person showering was Aria. The jealousy he’d felt at seeing the strange man drop her off the previous night had not gone away. Instead, it had festered over the course of the night. Seizing the opportunity of her room being empty, he pulled a shirt on over his boxers and ran downstairs into the storeroom. He rifled through the compartments of her backpack, finding nothing until his fingers grazed a piece of folded paper. He pulled out Luke’s letter and unfolded it.