She flopped down on the sofa, her face warm from letting loose on an undeserving Sam. She just needed to show people she was calm and capable. She rarely let anyone see what she was feeling. She wasn’t someone who whined at the smallest setback.
Sam wandered around the living room. “Is this all the stuff you use for work?”
“Yeah,” Meena said, appreciating that he hadn’t acknowledged her outburst. “A few lenses, a couple of strobes, camera bodies, batteries, and a few other things.”
“My equipment wouldn’t fit in a backpack,” Sam said. “It’s tough to design full-scale, in-depth special effects for movies without multiple large monitors.”
“How’s the gateway-to-the-galaxies monster coming along?”
“You remembered.” Sam grinned.
“I have a good memory.”
“I eat almonds.”
“Huh?”
“I tend to forget stuff I don’t need to know. Uma told me I should eat almonds to improve my memory. Five per day.”
“And you do it.”
“Yup,” Sam said. “Like vitamins.”
“You’re nice,” she said.
He laughed. “Not really. It’s an easy thing to do, and I like them.”
He had a gentle way about him, never in a rush, never bossy. He reminded her of Malcolm, a man she’d photographed on the northernmost inhabited island in Scotland. He’d been building a house for over a decade. He’d told Meena that he wasn’t concerned with finishing the project; it was about the build itself.
Meena itched to pick up her camera and take pictures of Sam as he sat on the other side of the sofa. His face held no tension. He hadn’t even mentioned why he’d knocked on her door.
“Can I show you something?” he asked.
Meena nodded.
“Come with me.”
He led her toward the small hallway dividing the bedroom and bathroom. He pressed against what Meena had assumed was a decorative wall and slid it open to reveal a closet.
Meena groaned. Inside was a shiny stainless-steel stacked washer and dryer. On the door was a small shelf holding detergent and fabric softener.
“Now you can wash this tank that’s on its third wear,” Sam said. “It might be for the best.”
She laughed. “Are you saying I smell?”
“Not you. But the shirt, yeah.”
She appreciated his honesty. “You’re right. Thank you for showing me.”
They walked past her mostly packed suitcase on their way to the living room. “Guess you’ll have to stay for a bit.”
She laughed as she curled up on the couch. “It was supposed to be a few hours that turned into a few days to now a few weeks.”
“It’s good,” Sam said. “You can explore. Get to know everyone in the building.”
That wasn’t on her to-do list. “The aunties knock on my door twice a day with lunch and dinner.” They would try to stay, have conversations, but Meena used the crutch of her aching wrist to thank them and get them to leave.
“It’s how it works in this building. We take care of each other.”
She heard the warmth in his voice.
“If Neha was too distracted by her work,” Sam continued, “Sabina would come and clean, mop the floors, dust, and all that. Uma kept her pantry stocked. Tanvi did the grocery shopping for her. Neha couldn’t be bothered with the details of life. Her brain needed to be full of things she didn’t know. She didn’t make space for things like laundry.”