I looked down. Raghu quickly looked at my parents and his mother, who were busy studying the menu.

‘What happened, Ananya? Why did you stop talking to me?’ he asked in a low voice.

I looked at him and then away. The butterflies fluttering inside my stomach were not entirely because of panic.

‘I don’t know. I never really thought about it,’ I lied.

‘Oh, come on,’ he continued in that low voice that was sliding under my skin strangely.

‘What? Everyone gets busy, Raghu. You had your life in Mumbai, I had mine here.’ I shrugged to emphasise my point.

‘So you weren’t mad at me?’

I frowned and picked up the menu, my heart thumping so loudly that I thought the whole restaurant must hear it.

‘Why would I be mad at you?’ I asked him, my gaze on the menu. Everything seemed fried here. Okay, not everything, but that’s what it felt like anyway. The Only Place was one of Papa’s favourite restaurants and we hadn’t been here in a very long time.

I looked at Raghu over the menu. He was looking into the distance, lost in his thoughts. Before I could look away, he turned to me, snagging my gaze.

‘I kept trying to reach out to you and you shut me down. You blocked me on Facebook,’ he said, his voice a whisper.

Raghu had chosen a fine time to get confrontational, I thought, annoyed. He could have done this at home.

I smiled at him tightly. ‘I have no clue what you’re talking about.’

He made a face and turned to Ma suddenly, to ask her what she was planning to have.

Ma wrinkled her nose. ‘Don’t order any sizzlers,’ she said suddenly, making a face as the waiter took a smoking tray to one of the other diners. ‘That smell is awful.’

‘Okay, okay,’ Papa blustered. He looked around as though he was embarrassed of his pregnant wife.

Raghu and I shared a pointed look. He was trying to control a grin. I stared back at him, keeping a straight face. I kind of had a feeling both of us had the same thought running through our heads and it wasn’t grossing me out to think of my parents doing whatever it was they’d done to reach this point in life. It was easier to think of it that way and not spell out the words S E X in my head.

I cleared my throat. ‘I’ll have the Greek salad,’ I said, shutting the menu.

Papa rolled his eyes. ‘What about you, Raghu?’

Raghu ordered a steak. Papa looked approving and turned to Ma and Aunty V.

‘So that’s what has changed about you then,’ Raghu said.

‘What?’

‘You eat salads now,’ he said.

‘All the time,’ Papa interjected.