“You know we’ve never had a proper temple in our home,” Jaya continued, “and now we can have one, right here.” She gestured at Prem’s room, being stripped of all traces of their son. Keith looked from the notebook to Jaya, who smiled again. That smile looked like it was coming from some other person inside her. “It’s perfect, isn’t it? The perfect way to honor Prem.”

“No.” Keith shook his head. “NO. Tell them to stop. Stop!” he shouted at the workman with the sledgehammer. “Just stop!” He turned to the other workman, pulling up the carpet. “Please stop. Just, uh . . . knock off for the day, all right?” Keith stood guard in the center of the room against further destruction, until the men gathered their things and left the house. He ran his hand through his hair and looked around at the disarray. He took a deep breath and forced himself to speak calmly. “Don’t you think we should have discussed this first?”

Jaya looked at him with genuine astonishment. “You never cared about this before, how and where I do my prayers.”

“I care about this!” He gestured around the empty room, his voice rising despite his intentions. “I care about our son’s room!”

Jaya’s brow furrowed. “You’ve barely set foot in here for the past year—”

“Yes, but . . .” Keith sputtered in anger, feeling the sting of her words. He felt weak for being unable to go in there as she did, but he always assumed he’d still have the ability to do so. He hadn’t expected her to destroy the place while he was summoning his strength. It was as if she saw right through him, to the most tender and vulnerable part, and stabbed a searing poker into it. Overcome with frustration, he banged his open palm against the doorframe. “How could you do this? You just got rid of all his stuff? His clothes, his furniture, his posters?”

“It’s all boxed up in the garage,” Jaya said, as if this made everything better. She touched the crook of his arm. “But those things don’t matter. His spirit is still here.”

“It does matter, to me!” Keith yelled, pacing across the room. “Can’t you see that? Can you see anything past yourself? We are all hurting, Jaya. All of us: you, me, Karina.” He shook his head. “I swear, it’s like you don’t understand me at all, and you don’t even care to. You don’t give a shit.” He turned and walked out of Prem’s room. At the end of the hallway, he saw a glimpse of Karina as she disappeared behind her bedroom door. He turned back to Jaya. “She’s home?” he whispered.

Jaya nodded. “Practice was cancelled.”

“Christ, Jaya.” Keith shook his head. Karina must have heard everything. “Jesus Christ.” He ran down the stairs and grabbed his car keys from the front table. He would speak to Karina later, but right now he was too angry. Adrenalin pumping through his veins, Keith drove well over the speed limit on their suburban streets. By the time he merged onto the highway, where he could really let out the throttle, the lump in his throat had manifested into tears running down his face. He was no longer just angry; he was despondent. Jaya had moved so far away from him that she didn’t even know him anymore. They were both good, loving parents, he still believed. It just seemed they couldn’t be so together anymore.