I squint at him. ‘How do you know?’
There’s a pause. He swallows, looks away. ‘You know.’
‘That’s specific.’
‘Fuck, I can’t tell you how you…’ He laughs, and the sound is slightly helpless. ‘It’s just… Your whole body feels alive.’
‘But you’ve never had sex with anyone you really loved,’ I point out.
‘So?’
‘So maybe it’s different then.’
‘I guess.’ He shrugs again. ‘Maybe it is. Maybe it will be.’
I want to look away when he says that, but I can’t. Harris has my eyes locked up with his. The pause goes on and on, and my blood moves fast inside me. My pulse thunders in my ears. Harris licks his bottom lip, and I stare and stare, and –
Something else starts thundering. It’s my phone.
The interruption jars me into full consciousness. When I fumble my phone out of my jeans pocket and see the name above the number, I get another cold splash of alertness. It’s my cousin.
‘Oh shit –’
‘You better get that,’ Harris says.
‘Yeah, hang on –’ I thumb the phone to accept the call. ‘Beena?’
‘Oh, thank god,’ my cousin says. ‘I was worried I’d only get your voicemail, and it’s getting late in the day.’
‘What, what is it?’ The tone of her voice brings me sitting up. ‘Are you okay? Is everybody all right?’ I wince: I sound like my dad, and his ‘all right’s.
‘It’s Nani,’ she says. ‘No, no, please don’t be anxious, okay? She’s fine. I mean, she’s fine now. But we had a problem today because Jas is on her honeymoon, and Mum was working, and I went out to the back garden just for a moment –’
My voice sounds odd and far away. ‘What happened?’
‘Nani wandered off. We still have no idea how she managed to walk so far, she was only in chappals, for god’s sake –’
My eyes close on a heartbeat. ‘Is she okay?’
‘She tried to cross the road at Deakin Street, you know how busy it is there…’
For a second my stomach seems to fly up into my throat until I register that Bee’s explaining further.
‘…anyway, she must have got a fright, or heard a car horn or something, because she fell back onto the pavement. That’s what the paramedic said at the scene.’
‘You called the ambulance?’ When I glance over, I see Harris is gazing at me intently.
‘Yes, Mum called them as soon as she found her. But look, Nani’s fine, she wasn’t hurt, just a bit shaken. And we’re all a bit shaken. This is why I’m calling you, because Mum and I have work tomorrow, and then I have classes after lunchtime –’
‘You want me to come and look after Nani,’ I say, realising where this is going.
‘Yes. I’m so sorry to call you about this, but Mum suggested you might be able to come up for a few more days until we can sort out a solution.’ Bee exhales deeply after getting all this out. ‘I know you’ve just arrived back home and I know you have work of your own. But we thought you might have a bit more flexibility.’
I don’t hesitate. ‘It’s totally fine. Not a problem. I can be up by tonight, if you like.’
Beena sighs again, and this time it sounds more relaxed. ‘Oh, Amita, thank you so much. Mum will be so relieved. I don’t know what’s going on with Nani, she’s never wandered off like this before…’
‘Don’t worry, Bee, it’ll be okay. We’ll work something out.’
