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The twin nearest her burst into loud cackles. “It’s a trick!!! IamAmisha!”
“And I’m Alisha!”
“You guys are the worst!” cried Reeva. “I knew I was right.”
Both twins jumped onto their aunt as she fell back onto the floor, laughing. “Love you, Auntie Wee.”
Reeva’s heart felt like it was about to burst out of love for these tiny creatures. They were so perfect; she had no idea how they’d come out of Sita. It had not been easy continuing to see them after her mum’s wedding. She’d had to make chargedsmall talk with Sita while the twins gurgled on FaceTime. But as the years had passed, and the girls had begun grabbing the phone to show Reeva their death traps and secret dens, she’d barely even needed to speak to Sita. And when she drove down to Virginia Water—the bougie part of Surrey they lived in—or Sita drove them up to Reeva, their exchanges were mainly done through the girls. It was essentially what her divorced clients did with their kids, and it seemed to work just as well for divorced sisters.
“I love Auntie Weemore,” said Amisha.
“I love you both themostest,” replied Reeva, tickling them. “My precious little peanuts.”
The twins howled with laughter over this. “You’rea peanut!”
“Auntie Wee?” asked Alisha, after a moment. “Can I ask you an important question?”
“Of course, angel.”
“Is your daddy dead?”
Reeva blinked. She had no idea what Sita had told the girls about death. But she didn’t want to lie. “Uh, yes.”
“Cool!” cried Amisha as Alisha’s eyes lit up.
“It is?”
“He’s going to get to eatallhis favorite foods and never eat dhal bhat shaak again,” said Amisha.
“And he’ll get unlimited iPad time and all the cucumbers!” added Alisha.
Reeva stared at her nieces. “Where did you hear that?”
“It’sheaven!” said Amisha. “Everyone knows. We learned it at the Sunday indoo classes Mum takes us to.”
“Indoo?”
“Indooism,” clarified Alisha.
“Ohhhh. I didn’t know your mum was that religious.”
“Shedoesn’t go,” said Amisha. “Only us. So can we go visit your daddy in heaven?”
“Um, I’m afraid not. That’s not... uh, an option.”
“Can we FaceTime him instead?” asked Alisha.
“Can we see his dead body?” asked Amisha.
Reeva laughed. “I wish we could, but sorry, darlings. That’s not quite how it works.”
The twins’ faces fell. “Please? Even if we’re good?”
“You’re always good, my most gorgeous girls. But no, I’m sorry. You can’t see people once they’ve died.” The twins’ faces looked so distraught that Reeva panicked. She had no idea what Sita had told them about death. But she could remember what she’d believed when she was the twins’ age and had been told her dad had died. “I mean, you can’t see peoplephysically.But you can feel their presence. And see them in your mind. You can talk to them as well and have imaginary conversations. It’s actually great because they’ll always understand you, and you can tell them anything because they’ll keep all your secrets.”
“Cool!” cried the twins, starting to run around the room. “We can talk to dead people!”
“Great, so you’ve turned my kids intoThe Sixth Sense,” said Sita, materializing in the doorway.
