Right then Neel opened the door and rushed in. He was out of breath and his thick hair was flying about.

“Bless you. You have a long life. Sarina was talking about you only a minute ago,” Mrs. Judge said.

“Oh, no,” he said, walking toward us. “I know Sarina; she must have been complaining about me, wasn’t she, Jeeta?”

“At least I missed you. Jeeta was perfectly content without you,” Sarina said.

“Is she telling the truth?” he asked, touching my right shoulder. A surge of electricity ran down my spine.

I clasped my hands together. “I was content before and I’m content now.”

“My presence means nothing to you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You’re implying it, isn’t she, Sarina?” he asked.

Sarina was no longer there. “Where did she go?” I wondered aloud.

“And when?”

Then we both started laughing.

The western sky over the water had turned to shades of oleander, and the sun was just about to set. In the glow, Neel’s hair turned pomegranate and his skin turned to molten gold. I sat there letting his midnight eyes mesmerize me.

“Time to eat,” Sarina called to us. Dark had descended on the beach except for the lamps that lit the food carts.

Tonight, as if Neel’s family had read my mind, they served bhel-puri. We piled up our plates and walked back to the veranda. The stars were coming out and the smell from a raatrani, night-blooming jasmine, became intense. The fragrance of raatrani, the smell of spicy food, and the racing of my own heart made me giddy.

“Can the five of us go to the beach?” Sarina asked after dinner.

“Sure,” Mrs. Judge said.

It was late and the crowds had thinned out on the beach. Sarina began talking with her two younger cousins, Nikhil and Mihir, and slowed down. Taking the hint, I boldly walked ahead with Neel.

“Now that the last year of school is almost over for you, are you excited about college?” he asked.

Can’t he talk about anything other than studies? I thought.

“Not as much as I am about the summer.”

“Oh, are you going to join the pool?”

“Probably not.”

“Why?”

“Nimita is going to have a baby this summer. Since Mohini isn’t here, Mummy will need help.”

“I’ll miss you,” Neel said. His disappointment came through his low voice. “How is Mohini?”

“She’s fine, I think . . .”

“Do you talk to her often?”

“Yes, my parents do,” I said. My voice was thick and uneven.

“Maybe you can visit her sometime.”

“Maybe.”

“Come,” he said, pulling my hand. Sarina, Nikhil, and Mihir followed us as we took off our sandals and walked to the edge of the water.

We buried our toes in the sand and listened to the waves.