ANNIKA PUSHED ASIDE thoughts of Daniel, yet again, as she walked into her aunt’s house without knocking. She just hadn’t expected her reaction to him when she caught him watching her at the bar. She was angry at him. There was no reason for her heart to leap like that when she saw him. And there was certainly no reason for her to be able to feel his eyes watching her, making her sweat like a teenager.

To his credit, he did not try to talk to her, which was probably smart, so the disappointment she felt was quite unreasonable. If Daniel had already lied to her—and he had—then the future could bring only more of the same. She shook her head as if she could physically knock out thoughts of him.

Sounds of laughter and music and the scent of freshly fried samosas greeted her like a childhood friend, cocooning her as she entered and took off her shoes. There were matching shoes to every kind of Indian outfit there was, but as soon as Indian people got anywhere, they took off said shoes. Yet she and Naya always had to have the perfect shoes to match the outfit.

Annika made her way to the kitchen, which was no easy feat, as she was greeted along the way by various aunties and uncles she hadn’t seen in some time. Everyone wanted to hear how the teaching was going, how she managed living in Baltimore. Most everyone was genuinely interested in what was going on with her; after all, she had grown up with these people. If it seemed like a few of the aunties were giving her the side-eye, well, it must have been her imagination.

“Oh, here’s the stranger!” A jovial voice, paired with twinkling eyes and a broad smile, stopped her pilgrimage just as she approached the kitchen.

“Mehul-kaka!” Annika grinned from ear to ear. Her father’s younger brother always had a special place in her heart. His accent was light but ever present, same as her father’s. He had shaved his mustache, and both brothers had long since given up oiling their hair.

And when things had gone bad—he was the one who spoke sense to her father. She threw her arms around him in a tight hug. “I’m not a stranger. I just saw you at Diwali.”

“That party was two weeks ago, beta.” He returned the hug with gusto. “And you were preoccupied with a certain young man.” He raised his eyebrows with a wink.

She did an internal eye roll. You couldn’t talk to a guy around here without starting the rumor mill. “Mehul-kaka, Sajan is just a friend.”

The eyebrows came down, and he shrugged. “Hmm. Can’t blame a kaka for trying to get information. My daughter tells me nothing.”

“When there’s something to tell, Naya will tell it.”