“Wait till you meet August.” Micah smiled at her. “He’s got at least four kinds of blood in his veins. And he’s a beautiful human being, inside and out. That’s what it’s all about: how you feel inside, no matter how people perceive you. That’s the only way you can truly belong anywhere. What does it mean, by the way?” Micah asked. “Karina?”

Karina shrugged. “Not much to me, except being saddled with a name no one can spell.” She smiled and told him an abbreviated story of her name’s significance to her parents.

Afterwards Micah, nodding, said, “That was the name given to you; doesn’t mean you have to bear it forever. Perhaps it’s played its role in your life and it no longer serves you.”

Karina kept her eyes trained on the tomato plants, reaching to snap a large sucker off the vine as she considered Micah’s comment. Prem had never called her by that name anyway. He had started calling her Kiki because he couldn’t pronounce her name when he was a toddler, and never stopped. She’d loved this private nickname, though she never let on. When Prem died, that name died with him, and nobody had spoken those two syllables to her since.

Stephanie came over to join them, beaming as she held up the bag full of poblano chilies. “What can I do?” she asked. “Put me to work.” Micah handed her a pair of work gloves and a spade to spread manure around the base of the plants. As they all continued to work together, Karina observed that Micah, Ericka and Jeremy had an easy way amongst them. Ericka had a tiny frame, maybe five feet tall, and everything about her seemed compact until she laughed, a tremendous laugh that startled. Jeremy was quieter, very muscular, and jumped up whenever there was a need to haul giant bags of organic soil across the garden.

Micah asked Karina to take a look at the irrigation system they had set up in the plot, mostly drip hoses on timers. She noticed that the drip holes were too far apart and several of the hoses were kinked. “Hey, you guys should hear this,” he said, calling over the others. “Karina’s an expert on growing crops efficiently in drought-like conditions.”

“Which we definitely have here.” Ericka slipped the bandana off her head to wipe her forehead and neck. “Whew.”

Only then did Karina become aware of the sun beating down directly overhead and a low grumble in her stomach. She looked at her watch and saw that three hours had passed.

“Getting hot out here, huh?” Micah took a long drink from his water bottle. “Maybe we should hang it up for the day.”

Yes, it was hot, and Karina’s T-shirt clung to her with sweat. She had manure under her fingernails, she was sure she smelled rank, and she was starving. But she didn’t want to leave this place, or these comfortable, kind people she’d only just met. She felt a veil of melancholy descending as she helped wash off the tools and bang soil from the gloves.