Chapters (40)
- Cover
- Also by Saumya Dave
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Acknowledgments
- Readers Guide
- Discussion Questions
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
He gets out of bed and runs to her room. The sound of hip-hop music vibrates through her door, which still has a do not enter sign Natasha got in middle school.
Anuj knocks on the white painted wood. “Natasha? Want to come down?”
They should go downstairs, open a tub of ice cream, and ask Mom and Dad to watch Jeopardy! with them. The ice cream and Jeopardy! combination was a tradition usually reserved for Dad’s post-call days. It never failed to put their parents in a good mood. Or at least, a good enough one, which is a lot considering how often Mom and Natasha have been at each other’s throats lately.
Anuj’s phone buzzes with a text for the third time since they got home.
KARAN: Hey, can we chat sometime? I know things are kind of weird right now but was just wondering if you’re at all free . . .
Ah, the ellipsis. Classic. How is he supposed to respond? His gut tells him to ask Natasha first. But he should say something. Karan’s been like a brother to him for years. He taught Anuj how to play Mario Kart, study for the SATs, pick the right beer. And now Anuj is supposed to act like he’s a stranger?
ANUJ: Hey man, I get that. It’s a little hectic around here so let me keep you posted.
He puts his phone on silent and tucks it back into the pocket of his basketball shorts.
“Natasha? You there?” He knocks again.
“I’m not coming down. You go ahead. I’m going to go to bed,” Natasha says a few seconds before she makes the music even louder.
They both know that’s not true. Natasha never sleeps this early. But she’s clearly in her leave-me-alone mode, as Suhani calls it. Funny enough, the first time Anuj heard about Natasha’s leave-me-alone mode was when Suhani left for college and Natasha missed her so much that she locked herself in her room and cried. Mom and Dad told Anuj not to say anything about it but the thing was, he also wanted Suhani back home. He also wanted Mom and Dad to tell him she’d come visit soon. But there was just no space for his reactions when Natasha’s were the focus.
“All right, good night,” Anuj says now.
Mom and Dad are watching one of those black-and-white Bollywood movies. The sounds of sitar and tabla fill the first floor. Mom studies the movies for technique, while Dad usually cries, moved by the long-lost-lovers story lines.