The shorter the distance between her car and her parents’ house, the saltier the puddle underneath her tongue. More than once she feels like pulling over and emptying her already void stomach. The warning beacon in her gut blares. Danger is imminent. She is vectoring right into it.

As she pulls up the driveway, she sees the For Sale sign on the front lawn, swaying back and forth with the breeze, over the curb where she sat with Nirav on the night the police came.

She tries to open the front door, jiggling the handle, even though she knows it is probably locked. Then she rings the doorbell. Waits. Rings again. Turns one ear towards the door but hears no one stirring inside. The warming beacon blares, blares, blares.

Does she have her house keys? She rummages through her purse. How is it they always find the darkest fold of her bag to hide in, this time wrapping themselves in an old atm slip like and earwig inside a leaf. Her hands shake as she pushes into the house.

“Mom?” she calls out, bounding up the stairs, two by two. “Mom?” The living room is empty. So is the kitchen. And her mother’s bedroom. Just then, she hears the toilet flush.

“Oh, for chrissake,” she sighs. As she paces the hallway and waits for her mother to come out of the washroom, Kavita presses her hands over her stomach, attempting to muffle the warning beacon.

“Hello, beti,” her mother says, calmly. “I heard the doorbell, but I was already in the washroom by then.”

Kavita follows her mother into the kitchen.

“How was the trip?”

“Fine,” eyeing her dubiously.

“And Nirav’s mother? How is she managing?”

“She’s okay.”

“The poor woman. My heart goes out to her.”

But would it, Kavita wonders, if her mother knew about how careless Mrs. Stone has been with Sunil?

She watches her mother fill the kettle, unsettled by her apparent calm. “Mom?” she asks. “Are you okay? You don’t have to put on a brave face for me. Dad told me what happened.”

Her mother sets the kettle on its base. “What can I say? Your father has always been a selfish man. He has abandoned us.”

“He said you left him no other choice.”

“Of course he would say that.”

“You know I can’t take sides.”

“When have I ever asked you to?”

As her mother fetches cups from the cupboard, Kavita blinks at her in amazement. “The For Sale sign came as a surprise,” she says. “That seems a bit rash.”

“If your father can leave, then so can I. Honestly, I have never been happy in this country. I’ve called my brother in Dilli. He said I can stay with him.”

“You’re going to India?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“I’m moving back.”

“Permanently?”