“I knew Natasha would get Anuj to take her to a bar,” Mom says with the satisfaction of a detective solving a crime. “She always pulls him into whatever fun she wants to have. I can’t even remember the last time my sweet Anuj Babu went to a bar when he was at home. And within days of being with his sister, he’s going out drinking.”

“Who cares? He’s in college. You know, around alcohol all the time. If he really wants to drink, he can,” Suhani reminds her. “And they’re both old enough to make their own decisions, right?”

“Your sister might be old enough in age, but that’s where it ends.” Mom scans the room and spots Dad. “I’m telling your dad we need to leave. Now. Before they go out.”

“But they’re starting the award ceremony in a few minutes. Can’t you wait?”

Mom pauses as if to consider this but then glances at her phone again. “We are very proud of you, but we have to get home before your sister takes your brother to get drunk and do God knows what else. She might be fine screwing up her own life, but I’m not going to let her corrupt my innocent baby. You’ll be fine, beta!”

Zack stifles a laugh. Anuj is far from innocent. The entire family knows that he and his roommate at Cornell experimented with all sorts of drugs, but, of course, Mom won’t point that out.

“Okay, well, good luck.” Suhani knows there’s no point in arguing. Throughout her life, Mom and Dad have focused their attention on Natasha. When they were younger, they skipped Suhani’s parent-teacher conferences to meet with Natasha’s guidance counselors. Later, they would spend all of dinner asking Natasha about what she wanted to major in in college or how she would apply for jobs.

Suhani has a mixture of admiration and envy for her sister’s ability to always say, “Fuck this, I’m going to do what I want.” It would be so freeing to live that way. Growing up, aunties told Suhani to “take it easy like your sister” while they told Natasha to “work harder like your sister.” She wonders now how that constant comparison shaped both of them.

“Just let them go,” Zack whispers as he tilts his head in Mom’s direction. “If they stay, they’ll be worrying the entire time. I’ll send them pictures of you getting your award.”

He has the same don’t-worry look in his eyes that he had on their first date at Sotto Sotto and then again during their wedding ceremony, when both of their moms tried to control every part of their Jewish and Hindu fusion ceremony.