“You can’t talk to her,” Kavya snaps. “She’s not on some business trip, Sean. She’s been at a recovery center, okay? She’s not herself anymore; she doesn’t care about anything; she won’t go near a pool with me. She’s depressed. We used to go to the beach constantly, we had such a bond over water, and that’s entirely gone now. No pool, no beach, no water whatsoever.” She gives me a very pointed look, condescending and angry and like she can’t believe what I asked all in one. “Do you see what I’m saying? The whole reason Mom isn’t herself anymore is because she didn’t go back. She’s not meant to be up here. She’s meant to be in the water, and I don’t need you getting in her business, or Ross reminding her of what she could have had, and making it worse.”

Her whole being vibrates with anger while I try to think of anything to say. That was such an unexpected flood of revelations. All I can manage is an insignificant, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I get to have problems and deal with them on my terms, Sean. I’m not just the funny sidekick. All this time you’ve been crying over that dickbag when there are people out there with real problems. I have real problems.”

“Kavya, I—I don’t what to say. I could tell you were off, but I didn’t want to push you until you were ready to talk about it. I’m always here for you, and I’m sorry I got so caught up in everything that I didn’t try harder to figure out what was going on.”

Kavya literally screams in frustration, her yell mixing with the screech of a blender. I’ve never seen her like this before.