“Let’s step away from here.” Suhani motions for Mom and Anuj to follow her to the waiting area. Stiff puke-green chairs line the room. A triage nurse sits behind a tiny wooden desk. The wall behind her has a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and crate full of alcohol swabs and Band-Aids.

Anuj squeezes Mom’s shoulder and says, “It’ll all be okay. She’ll be okay.”

Mom instantly relaxes. “Thank you, beta. I really needed to hear that.”

Suhani stops herself from saying that she just gave Mom a similar message seconds ago and it only riled her up more. She’s reminded of how, even during the same moment, all three of them get a different version of Mom. It’s been that way for their entire lives. Suhani got a hopeful, struggling mother, which fueled her ambition. Natasha got a strict and scared mother, which instigated her rebellion. Anuj got a softer, more secure mother, which gave him comfort.

“How could we have missed this?” Mom asks Suhani. Her maroon paisley-print kurta top, dusty-rose cardigan, and black leggings make her look out of place in this drab environment.

“Okay, listen.” Suhani tries to act calm in the hope that it rubs off on Mom. “I’m going to walk you through what’s probably going to happen.”

“But wha—”

“Mom, you have to pay attention and keep it together,” Suhani says.

Suhani gives Mom a breakdown of what to expect over the next twenty-four hours. To her surprise, Mom doesn’t interrupt or even cry. She just nods slowly the entire time, as if she already knew what Suhani was going to say.

“I just wish I had realized something was wrong sooner.” Mom shakes her head. “I can’t believe I let her get to this place. What kind of a mother doesn’t even know her child is suffering like this?”

What kind of a sister doesn’t know? Suhani wonders. But she grabs Mom’s soft, wrinkled hands and says, “It’s not your fault. And we can’t spend this time blaming ourselves. We just have to figure out the best way to be there for her.”

“I need to see her,” Mom says.

“Let’s go see her together,” Dad says as he approaches them wearing one of Anuj’s old T-shirts.

Dad places his hand on Mom’s lower back. He and Mom sink into each other, covered in their own silence amid the chaos swirling around them. Normally, Suhani wouldn’t have even registered any of this, but today, with everything going on with Zack, there’s a dull weight in the pit of her stomach as she takes in the brief series of gestures that shows how in sync her parents always are. Despite all the sacrifices they had to make, all the regrets Mom carries, she and Dad always have an unshakable understanding between them.