The Reading List(43)
‘What is this? Married at First Sight or something?’
‘Sorry, I’m kind of intense.’
‘Yeah, you don’t say.’
‘So?’
She shrugged. ‘Why’s it any of your business?’
‘I mean, it’s not … I’m just making conversation.’ He shrugged, hobbling with the bags at his side. ‘What on earth is in these?’ he wheezed.
When they reached the end of her road, she stopped. ‘I’ll take them from here.’ She nodded down the road. ‘I’m just down there.’
‘It’s all right, I can take them all the way, it’s fine.’
‘No,’ Aleisha said sharply, taken aback by her tone. ‘I’ll take them from here.’
He nodded, placed the bags gently on the floor, and stepped back, as though passing over a highly dangerous package.
‘Thanks, Zac,’ she said, breezily.
‘No problem, Aleisha. Hopefully I’ll see you again. Summers always feel a bit lonely for me, so, yeah, this has been nice.’
The boy-man headed off as she picked her bags up and started to shuffle them down the road to her house. She took one last look at him, taking in the shape of him – the guy from the train. She couldn’t quite believe her luck.
As she approached her house, she could see the windows shut, the darkness within, like Manderley, or Boo Radley’s house. But for this moment, it didn’t feel so daunting. She dropped the bags at her door as she fumbled for her keys, and saw The Kite Runner staring up at her from one of the bags, with the boy-man’s final words hanging in her mind. Summers always felt lonely for her too – but this one, this one felt a little less lonely than usual.
Chapter 14
MUKESH
BEEP. ‘PAPA, IT’S ROHINI. Harishfua has been calling me, and he’d like you to go to the mandir with him. No need to return my call, but just give him a ring, okay? I know you haven’t been for ages, and not on your own, but it’ll be good for you. Deepali, Vritti and I have all discussed and think you should go. Okay? Priya told me to tell you she loved the book, Wizard of Earthsea, I think it was called. She sends her love! Bye, Papa. Speak soon.’
BEEP. ‘Hi Dad, it’s Deepali. Rohini said Harishfua has been trying to get in touch? Why don’t you just go to the mandir? It’ll be nice, and a chance for you to eat a proper balanced meal for once. Okay? See you soon.’
Mukesh pulled his book out, settling himself on his seat, when the phone started to trill again. He looked up at it, and down at his book. ‘If they want me, they will leave a message, ne?’ he said to himself.
BEEP. ‘Good morning, Mukeshbhai. It is Nilakshiben.’ Mukesh nearly jumped out of his seat, his eyes automatically flying up to the photograph of Naina on the wall. ‘I have bought some ingredients for brinjal bhaji so I can come round maybe one day next week? Maybe Saturday? Teach you! Hope you have a lovely weekend.’
He hadn’t expected to hear from Nilakshi. He looked up at his photograph of Naina once more, looking for a sign as to what to do. Was she upset? Angry?
He sighed and tried to settle back into Rebecca. He was in his own armchair, with four and a half lamps around him, taken from different rooms in the house, all placed at various heights. The half a lamp was a USB-powered book light he could clip onto the book itself – it was Priya’s, a gift from Naina. This corner of his living room currently looked like it was one of those ironic, trying-to-be-cool hipster bars that Vritti was always showing him on Instagrab, which she called ‘eenspo’ for her own small chain of cafés.
It was no use, Nilakshi’s call had unsettled him; how was he supposed to read about an intruding new wife right now? He flung down Rebecca and called Harish back in a bid to distract himself, agreeing to go to the temple this evening, for Abhishek, puja and food. It had been so long since he’d done this – he only ever went to the temple with Rohini or Deepali, or sometimes Vritti, just because they made him go. He didn’t like being there. Because being there reminded him of Naina, of how he was only half a person without her.
‘Looking forward to seeing you this evening, bhai!’ Harish bellowed. Either he was deaf or still unsure of how modern telephones worked. Mukesh forgave him anyway. He’d done that too until Vritti and Rohini had complained and said the volume on their handsets didn’t go down low enough for a conversation with him.
‘Ha, yes, thank you for convincing me. It will be good for me.’ Mukesh tried to sound like he believed it.
‘Fantastic, my friend. I see you later, bhai!’ Harish shouted.
Mukesh held the phone away from his ear and said goodbye.
After a few hours of reading, Mukesh looked up and gave a little jump when he saw the four main characters from Rebecca sitting opposite him on the sofa. Mrs de Winter, the new wife and narrator, who was completely blurry because she was never really described. Could he trust her? Mr de Winter, the very wealthy young gentleman who seemed charming at first but had an edge … No, he didn’t like him. Then there was Mrs Danvers, that nosy, distrustful, judgemental lady who hated Mrs de Winter just because she didn’t compare to Rebecca, dead … but far from forgotten. And there was Rebecca herself – a ghost, sitting on Mukesh’s sofa, staring at the portrait of Naina above the television.