“Because I think he likes me,” Vansh said. The man’s talent was exactly what they needed. The pictures of the hatchlings, tracing their growth, had been stunning. “Also, I think he might be a little bored.”

“Well, his boredom would certainly work in your favor.” Esha looked almost . . . Vansh wasn’t sure how to apply this word to Esha, but he could think of no other word for it: thrilled. And Esha’s sense about things was never wrong. “Even if it does seem out of his sphere of interest. Then again, you’re working here in America and that’s out of your sphere of interest, and Naina is too, so maybe this project is blessed.”

Vansh dropped a kiss on Esha’s head. She was the oldest but tiniest of the cousins. Five feet tall with the stature of a middle schooler. Usually, her demeanor was really young too, but suddenly she felt much more like an adult. “I’m going to give him a call. What do you think, will he do it?”

She closed her eyes and almost fell into a trance. “I could bet my life on it.” Then she gave the strangest smile and Vansh thought that word again: thrilled.

“Thanks! I love you,” he threw at the three of them, “but I’m terribly late.” He picked up two more boiled eggs for the road and ran down the steps with Esha’s smile and Nisha’s glare boring into his back.

WHEN VANSH CALLED Sid, he was even more excited about the project than Vansh had expected. As Vansh had suspected, he was bored and looking for something meaningful. Now they had to figure out exactly what the photos would be. They decided to meet to discuss.

Vansh had spent a considerable amount of time over the past few weeks talking to people living on the street. Tina had lost her project management job when she’d been diagnosed with cancer, then she’d lost her home. Mac had lost his data networking job to a gambling habit that he was now in therapy for. Vansh had already brought Tina and Mac into interviews with Google and Oracle to be part of a training program.

“How about documenting those stories?” he asked Naina as he filled her in over tea at her desk.

She was in sunflower yellow today. A turtleneck sweater dress that showed off her shoulders. She only wore bright colors when she was struggling with something. Vansh knew some trouble had been brewing on one of the construction sites in Nepal. Naina didn’t like to share problems that arose on her project. She seemed to think of it as a personal failure. But he also had a sense that she didn’t want him getting involved in it, and why that bothered him so much he didn’t know.