He shrugged and put his hands in the pockets of his black sweatpants. “You left a note.”
“I should have texted. Earlier.”
“You have your own life.”
It used to be that way. Now she had people she wanted to stay in touch with, wanted them to miss her. “I’m staying.”
“OK.”
“You’re mad at me.”
“I’m not.” Sam shook his head. “You’ve been clear that your life is fairly transient.”
She gave him the truth. “I ran. I let Neha in. Thought she was, well, you know. Then she wasn’t and I ran.” Because that’s who I am. Who I was.
“I get it,” Sam said.
“Can you maybe not be so . . . understanding?”
“I don’t have the right to be upset,” Sam said. “I’m not in your shoes.”
“We were friends. I didn’t treat you like one when I left.”
“Yeah.” Sam paused. “I thought . . .”
Meena waited, but he didn’t finish his sentence.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“Next time, add me to your group chat with the aunties.”
“Are you sure about that? They send racy jokes and not-safe-for-work photos.”
He gave her a soft smile. “In that case, let’s keep things as they are.”
She didn’t like that. “I’ll text you separately. Just the two of us.”
His face lost some of its tension and Meena’s heart sped up. She could feel him, sense that she’d hurt him. It was more than attraction. More than friendship. She refused to be scared off by it. “You can leave Wally with me if you want. I’m going to unpack.”
“He’s almost six months,” Sam said. “You won’t get anything done if he’s here. Wally, come.”
The dog looked up. Stared.
Sam deepened his voice and gave him the same command. This time Wally stood, bone in his mouth, and went to Sam. Sam took Wally by the leash attached to his harness and left. He closed the door behind them.
There was distance between them, but Meena wasn’t daunted. She would figure out how to fix it. She rolled her big suitcase, the one she’d bought to fit more of her London stuff, into the bedroom. She would start here. She had emptied a few drawers for her things during her temporary stay, so she filled up that space. As for the rest of it, she’d keep it in the bag until the remainder of Neha’s things were cleared out.
Meena heard footsteps and went into the living room.
Sabina froze, a tin watering can in hand. “Meena.”
“Hi.”
Sabina regained her composure. “I thought you were still in South Korea.”
“I’m back.”
“I see.”
Meena wouldn’t back down, but she didn’t want to start off confrontational. She didn’t know how Sabina was going to handle her decision to stay. “How are you?”
“Good,” Sabina said. “Everyone is fine. Settling into the New Year.”
“Right. How was your New Year’s Eve party?”
“Fun. As always.”
Meena rubbed her arms. “I adjusted the thermostat, but it’s taking a while to heat up.”