BooksBarbecue
Back Side by Side Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Cover Page
  2. Half Title Page
  3. SIDE by SIDE
  4. Dedication Page
  5. Epigraph
  6. Part I: Fall
  7. 1.
  8. 2.
  9. 3.
  10. 4.
  11. 5.
  12. Part II: Crawl
  13. 6.
  14. 7.
  15. 8.
  16. 9.
  17. 10.
  18. 11.
  19. 12.
  20. 13.
  21. 14.
  22. 15.
  23. 16.
  24. 17.
  25. 18.
  26. 19.
  27. 20.
  28. 21.
  29. 22.
  30. 23.
  31. 24.
  32. 25.
  33. 26.
  34. 27.
  35. 28.
  36. 29.
  37. 30.
  38. 31.
  39. Part III: Rise
  40. 32.
  41. 33.
  42. 34.
  43. 35.
  44. 36.
  45. 37.
  46. 38.
  47. 39.
  48. 40.
  49. Acknowledgements
  50. About the Author

“They won’t care. To be honest, I think they miss having a girl around, on days like today especially.”

“Are you sure I won’t be intruding?”

“Yogis never lie.” He gives her a shallow bow.

“We talked about that.”

“I didn’t say namaste.”

She smiles and pulls at the clover. “It would be nice to celebrate a birthday. I didn’t do anything for mine this year.” She pushes out a sad laugh. “Didn’t even get a card from my parents.”

“Still lost at sea, are they?”

She nods. “I miss them.”

“Didn’t your hub do anything for you?”

“He asked if I wanted to do something but I wasn’t up for it. I hate the idea of getting older without Sunil. I keep aging but he’ll always be thirty. In a few years, I’ll be as old as he was when he died. Then I’ll be older than him. Older than my older brother. It doesn’t make sense.”

“In that case, I’ll make sure we stick a candle in your slice.”

“I wouldn’t want to steal your moment.” She knows he is just being kind, as always.

“Honestly, it would feel good to share it with someone again.”

Kavita searches his face for pity. She knows by his dark, soft eyes that he’s being more than kind, he is telling the truth. “Well, when you put it like that.”

A broad smile spreads across his face, squeezing his dimple, the sight of which always causes a smile to spread across Kavita’s face, too. He rises to his feet and leans over for the tackle box. With his free hand, he reaches out to her and helps her to her feet. Neither of them lets go as they walk toward the house, and the daring beauty of Sequoia’s mural, with water on their lips, as a warm spring shower comes swinging in.

35.

The high-pitched PING of the singing bowl signals the end of class. The unexpected ring startles Kavita as she sits in Lotus Pose in her usual corner at the back of the class, causing her to muscles to jolt as if wakened from a shallow sleep. For a blissful while, she dipped out of time.

Hawthorn strikes the brass bowl twice more. Each time, the vibration peaks, then peters into silence. He closes their practice with an impenetrable Sanskrit chant that is nonetheless beautiful in his deep and melodic singsong voice. The last thing she does before letting light into her eyes is send a prayer of love and light to Sunil, as she does at the end of every class. It is a comfort to think that goodness may find him, wherever he is now.