Page 96 of Isn't It Obvious?
“That’s… good.” Suresh keeps chewing, like the entire past week never happened. After a while, Ravi turns his attention to Mia. “How was your day, Mia?”
“Chew and swallow before you answer,” Suresh reminds her. She pouts at him but does as she’s told.
“So good. I counted all the way to one hundred, and I’m the first in the whole class to do it,” she says.
Ravi feels himself light up, and when he glances at Suresh, he sees the same expression on his face. “That’s amazing! Can you show us?”
She does. It’s slow, but she gets there without any major breaks. They give her a standing ovation, and she slides out of her seat to do the curtsy she learned from her short-lived stint in toddler ballet.
They finish dinner, and Suresh plays nail salon with Mia while Ravi washes the dishes, relieved of his Mia duties for the night. While they go through the bedtime routine, Ravi changes into a T-shirt and joggers and heads back out to the couch for FIFA.
After the first game, Suresh appears in the living room, motioning for Ravi to remove his headphones. When he does, Suresh says, “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” Ravi says, and exits the online queue for the next game. He waits, but Suresh just stands there, chewing hisbottom lip. “It’s early for her to be able to count that high, isn’t it?”
Suresh nods, smiling nervously. “Very early. She’s so smart for her age.”
“Fruit doh fall far,” Ravi says. Suresh nods again, looking embarrassed. “You doing alright?”
“Can I sit?” Ravi gestures to the cushion next to him, and Suresh takes it, sitting stiffly. “I want to apologize for this week. I didn’t keep myself together the way I should have.”
Ravi sighs, rubbing his forehead. “Not something to be sorry for, Suresh. What Margot did to you—”
“I made my own choices,” Suresh interrupts.
“Yes, this weekend you did, and not all of them were good,” Ravi says. “But you didn’t make that choice in January. Margot did.”
Suresh swallows and clasps his hands together, working his thumb into his opposite palm. “She was always hesitant about marriage. Monogamy. But she said she was happy with me, and I thought it was enough. When Mia came, I was sure it was. I should have known.”
“Yuh cyah put that weight on yourself.”
“I should have known,” Suresh repeats, making eye contact with Ravi. The look in his eyes almost makes Ravi believe him.
“I wasn’t in your relationship, so I can’t know. Maybe there were some signs she was unhappy that you ignored. But I know you, Suresh. If you were blindsided, there weren’t enough.”
Suresh rolls his lips together, looking at his hands. “What do you think I should be sorry for?”
“I don’t know. But not for being sad when you have every reason to be.”
“You do know,” Suresh says.
And Ravi does, but he’s not sure how to say it.
Suresh, apparently, grows impatient. “I shouldn’t have let my emotions affect you.”
“That’swhat you should apologize about,” Ravi spits out.
“What?”
“This thing you do, where you act like I’m some—some interloper. A stranger who isn’t part of the family dynamic. I moved to Portland for you and Mia,” Ravi says, his voice harsh but quiet, always aware of Mia asleep on the floor above. “I upended my life for you.”
Suresh grits his teeth. “I didn’t ask you to. I said just for a month, and then I could find someone—”
“I know you didn’t ask! But you would have done the same, and you know it.”
“You think you owe me,” Suresh says. “That why you here?”
Ravi drags his hands down his face, frustration pulsing through him. “I’m here because I want to be. My entire fucking family is in this house. Don’t you know that?”
