“Did you sneak in and leave something in my apartment?”
Meena fished out her phone. “Nope.” She opened the gallery and pulled up a picture. “Meet Huckleberry.”
Sam took the phone from her.
“He’s four months old, a husky-shepherd mix. I met him at the MSPCA a few days ago.”
“He’s cute.”
“Do you think Wally will like his new best friend?”
Sam put his pint down. “What did you do?”
“I filled out an application and gave them a check,” Meena said. “They’re going to call you for a reference. And if it all works out, he’ll be mine.”
“What about”—Sam cleared his throat—“when you have to leave?”
“I’m staying, Sam. I’m committing to being here. For me, but also for you. For us.” Meena moved from the chair across from him to the one next to him. “I’ve fallen for you, Sam. I like what we’re doing, building between us.” Her heart thumped faster as she put her hand on his forearm. “You are kind, intelligent, and steady. And have you looked in a mirror? You’re also attractive in an obvious way. I feel . . . um . . . I care about you.”
He put his hand over hers. She could see the gold flecks in his dark-brown eyes as he leaned in.
“You forgot to mention that I’m a fucking saint,” he said.
She leaned in and kissed him. His soft lips took over as he wrapped one arm around her and pulled her closer. She cupped his face and poured everything she felt for him into the kiss. He broke it and touched his forehead to hers. “We need to go home.”
She brushed his lips once more. Ten minutes later they were back in the car.
“Home. I like that.” She held his hand as he drove them back east to Boston.
She didn’t have to look back. She wasn’t leaving Northampton in the rearview mirror as she’d done the last time. She would come back, visit the cemetery, and remember that before the pain, there had been joy.
By the first week of May, the apartment was mostly finished. There were throw pillows and fresh flowers. It was far from full, but that suited Meena’s minimalism. She put the final frame on the fireplace mantel. Over the past few days, she had printed out the photos she’d taken from the beginning, from Halloween to chai making. Wally in different stages of growth, Sam in his James Bond tux. The frames peppered the living room, dining area, and bedroom. The mantel held the bulk of her collection.
The aunties were there in all their glory, from raking the backyard to Diwali dinner. She’d included Sabina, because she was a part of Meena’s home, even if they no longer spoke to each other. She sat on her new couch. It needed to be broken in. The cushions were still stiff, but it would get there. Her home was beginning to seem lived in. She’d put a crate for Huckleberry next to her worktable by the window and a dog bed by the fireplace, along with a basket of toys for both Wally and Huck.
Sam had insisted she change the name of the pup to something fierce, something that resembled his stern face. At first she’d told him she was keeping it just to irritate him. Now, though, she referred to the dog as Huck and couldn’t wait to pick him up next week. In the meantime, in between bouts of work, she watched a lot of dog-training videos. Sam had given her a book on it that Meena kept by her bedside.
Meena heard a quick knock on the door, and then Sabina came in.
Meena stood and braced herself.
Sabina glanced around the apartment. Today she was in a long red silk kurta that was like a dress that hit at the knees, black leggings underneath. Her hair was in its usual thick braid down her back.
“Is there something you needed to say?”
Sabina nodded.
Meena sat but kept her back straight, her legs taut.
Sabina joined her on the sofa. “What you said, about growing up. I spent time thinking about it. When I found out I was pregnant, I was . . . I have never known fear like that. It was this one time. I was tired of being the good girl that did what everyone expected. Neha’s cousin was here for a few weeks to look at colleges. He was the first boy to flirt with me. What a cliché, right?”
Meena stayed quiet.
“When I missed my period, and then another one, I didn’t know what to do.” Sabina hugged a throw pillow. “It wasn’t what Indian girls did. Sex was for after marriage. I thought my parents would disown me. Put me out on the street. I couldn’t leave. Not this legacy. I wanted to be a caretaker of this house more than anything else. I went to Neha. She was older. When I started to show, Neha set up a fake internship where I would study landscaping at Smith College for six months. A live-in opportunity to strengthen my college application. I stayed by myself in a studio apartment near the college campus, the one and only time I lived alone. She’d arranged it all. She even found a family a month before my due date. After you were born, Neha took care of all the paperwork and the exchange. Two days after I gave birth, I was home. I went on as if those nine months never happened.”
“Did you manage to forget?”
“Not the fear,” Sabina clarified. “I will never forget how scared I was to be disowned, to be kicked out of this house, the only home I ever knew, have ever wanted.”
“I was thrown out,” Meena offered. “Not because of something I did, but because of circumstances beyond my control. I survived.”
“It doesn’t escape me,” Sabina said. “You’re stronger than me. Even now. To stay here, to do what you want knowing I’m not welcoming you.”
Meena rolled her shoulders back. Damn right. She was strong. “I learned how to be strong.”
“I have accepted that you aren’t leaving.” Sabina sighed. “I want to come to an agreement.”
“I’m not obligated to meet any of your conditions.”
“You said you weren’t interested in exposing me. Yet you told Sam.”
“He and I are close,” Meena said. “I won’t keep things from him.”
“I can never tell my husband or children about you.”
It shouldn’t have hurt. Yet it did. “Fine with me.”