The Candid Life of Meena Dave(46)

“Can I ask you something?” Meena hesitated.

“Oh Lord. We really are going to have to bury a body,” Tanvi said. “Uma, you’re the muscle. Sabina, you’re the brains.”

Meena shook her head. The room spun just a little. “No. Nothing like that. I want to know why you didn’t like Neha.” She couldn’t believe she’d blurted it out.

“What makes you think that?” Tanvi asked.

“The way you talk about her,” Meena said. “Make fun of her. Like yesterday, during dinner, your husbands were complaining about having to take a plate to her every Thanksgiving or holiday dinner when she wouldn’t join. You all were talking about how she would snap or lash out if someone said something she didn’t want to hear. The three of you are so close. It seems like Neha wasn’t a part of your group.”

“Because she wasn’t.” Sabina munched on the salted almonds that had come with their drinks. “She was older than us. Didn’t grow up with us.”

“But we did like her,” Tanvi said. “We took care of her because that’s what we do. Everyone in the building is family, and that included her.”

“She wasn’t one to mix easily.” Uma took a healthy sip of her drink. “She was also a jerk most of the time.”

“That’s not nice,” Tanvi said.

“Just because she’s dead doesn’t mean we make her into someone she wasn’t.” Uma’s voice rose. “And honestly, the feeling was mutual. She didn’t like us either. Only Sam. And that’s because she could take advantage of him. Use him whenever she felt like company.”

“She left him a dog.” Sabina sneered. “To get back at me.”

“Exactly.” Uma pointed at Sabina. “That’s who Neha was. You’d think she was doing something nice, but there was always another angle.”

Subtext is often more telling than text.

“She tolerated us because we did things for her,” Uma said. “Like filling her fridge with food or reminding her to go through her bills. Sabina did a lot of that, almost like she was Neha’s assistant at times.”

That surprised Meena. “Why did you keep doing it?”

“Because we take care of our own,” Sabina said. “That was the foundation for the Engineer’s House. Our grandfathers took care of those that came and went. We look after each other.”

“That includes you now.” Tanvi reached over and patted her hand. “Neha left you the apartment for a reason. She wanted you to be a part of the Engineer’s House.”

“That’s not how things are done,” Sabina explained.

“Sabina,” Tanvi said.

“Unless she’s a direct descendant,” Sabina argued. “It would be best if Meena sold the unit. To preserve our history.”

“Let’s not get into this.” Uma squashed the topic. “This is Friday Fun Day.”

Meena excused herself to run to the bathroom before she yelled the truth to Sabina. Neha had wanted Meena to have the apartment. If she couldn’t be a mother to Meena, maybe she had known that Meena needed a family again. She ran water over her face and looked at herself in the mirror, searched for a resemblance to the woman in the photo. She couldn’t see it, but she could feel it.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE


The steps. There were four of them or six. Meena couldn’t count. I can do this.

“Ay, why are you standing there?” Sabina asked.

Meena focused on the steps. Sabina, Tanvi, and Uma were behind her.

“Hello.”

Sam. Beautiful Sam. At the top, in front of the big black doors.

“You OK?” Sam asked.

“I tried to keep up.”

“I can see.”

“She did great,” Tanvi said.

Meena grinned wide. “I did.”

“Need help?” Sam asked.

“Is it three steps or five?”

“Four.”

“Oh.”

Meena braced herself. Right leg. Up. Left leg. Right leg. Up. Left leg. She made it. She lifted both arms in victory. “Ta-da.”

Sam laughed. “One more to go.”

“Oh,” Meena said.

Her toe caught the lip of the last step, and she fell into Sam’s arms. His strong arms. She clutched at his biceps. Held on. The muscles were small, but she could trace the ridges.

“You broke her.” Sam glared at the aunties.

“Nonsense.” Uma shook her head. “We brought her out of her shell.”

“Give her to us.” Sabina reached for Meena. “We’ll take her in.”

Meena rested her face against Sam’s chest. His wool coat felt warm and soft against her skin.

“Let Sam take care of her,” Tanvi said. “She wants him.”

Meena nodded. “Yes.”

“She needs water, Sam,” Sabina instructed.

“So do the three of you,” he said. “Careful climbing up the steps.”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Uma put her hands on her hips. “I have climbed these stairs since I was a baby. I will climb them when I’m ninety. Don’t think I’m too old to go up the steps. I could run up them if I wanted to.”