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“It’s so fuzzy!” shrieked Amisha, patting Reeva’s head. “I want it! Will you do mine too?”
Reeva laughed despite herself. “Uh, I don’t think your mum would be too pleased about that.”
Alisha slowly walked toward her. “But where did all your hair go?”
Reeva sighed. “You know I had those bald bits? Well, I decided to just shave it all off. And start from scratch.”
“It’s so cool,” said Amisha in awe. “Look! Come touch!”
Alisha climbed onto the bed and slowly stroked her aunt’s head. “I like it. We should do it to U-G-L-Y too.”
“And ourselves!”
“Please donotdo it to yourselves or your mum will kill me. But thanks for the support. Can you pass me my wig?”
“No!” cried Amisha. “It’s better now.”
Alisha nodded. “I like that it’s fuzzy and then some bits are shiny. Like polka dots.”
Reeva put her arms around the twins and squeezed them tight, trying not to cry. “You guys are the best. Only you could put a positive spin on my current hair situation. Or lack thereof.” She sniffed. “Hey, what were you going to say when you walked into my room?”
“Oh,” said Amisha. “Swaswatee says you need to wake up.”
Reeva raised an eyebrow. “You don’t call herBa? OrGrandma?”
Alisha shook her head. “She says it makes her feel old.”
“And the whole world calls her Swaswatee, so we should too,” added Amisha.
“Of course. Well, you can tell Swaswatee that I’ll be down shortly.”
“Shall we tell your boyfriend too?” asked Alisha.
“What boyfriend?” replied Reeva.
“The one from before,” said Amisha. “With the dhal-proof watch.”
“The white one,” prompted Alisha.
Reeva’s mouth fell open. “Nick? He’s here?!” She pushed the cover off her. “I need to go downstairs.”
Amisha wrinkled her nose. “Um, maybe you should shower first. And brush your teef.”
—
Reeva had calledNick the previous night. It hadn’t been easy; she’d spent ten minutes reciting positive affirmations in the mirror before she’d been able to officially choose love over fear. But Nick hadn’t picked up. Reeva had forced herself to accept the anticlimax and use the last of her post-prayers courage to leave a voice note.
“Hey, Nick, sorry to call out of the blue! I just, um, wanted to get in touch. Because I realized I ended things the other night out of fear, not love. Wait, that probably doesn’t make sense to you. But I guess I’ve been really scared lately. I got overly in my head about everything, and I made assumptions that weren’t necessarily real because I was listening to my insecurities instead of reality. Which wasn’t fair of me. So I’m sorry.
“I’m still upset about the Hot Lips thing, and I don’t know what to believe, but I should have had a proper conversation with you about it. In fact, there are a lot of things I wish I’d spoken to you about honestly. So if you’d be up for it, I’d love to try that now. An honest chat. If you want to. I’m up in Leicester again, but I’m free for a phone call whenever or to meet in London for a coffee when I’m back. Tomorrow’s the last day of all this anyway—the final goodbye ceremony. Not that I’m going. But yeah. Let me know. Thanks. Bye.”
Reeva had been both mortified and proud of herself for pressing send. She was not the kind of person who sent honest voice notes—she barely ever sent them to anyone who wasn’t Lakshmi—yetshe’d just sent one to a man she liked. Loved. And instead of leaving her reeling with anxiety, it had left her feeling empowered. She’d done what she could. The rest was up to Nick.
—
“You look good,Reevs,” said Nick, stopping in the middle of the path in the nearby park to look at her. “More... relaxed than usual.”
She smiled back at him. She still couldn’t believe that yet again he’d come all the way to meet her with no prior warning. But one thing she was learning about Nick was that he had no qualms about driving down the M1 for a face-to-face conversation. “Thanks, I feel it. You look good too.” It was true. Even though Nick had bags under his eyes and was wearing an old gray jumper instead of one of his usual pristine shirts, Reeva felt more attracted to him than normal.
