“Thanks.” The doors opened, and a few folks got off the train, but even more got on, jostling Noah as he stood looking at Ramin.
He needed to go. He needed to be with his son. But he couldn’t tear himself away from Ramin’s eyes. Deep green pools, overflowing with endless kindness. Noah never wanted to look away from them. He never wanted to be parted from them.
Everything in him screamed to get on the train. Everything in him screamed to stay.
Why didn’t he give Ramin a chance to pack? They’d had time. Why hadn’t he waited? Why hadn’t he begged Ramin to come with him?
Ramin had offered, hadn’t he?
But this wasn’t Ramin’s problem. This was Noah’s. Jake was his son. He was responsible for him. He had to be there. Had to go.
He’d been living in a dream with Ramin. A beautiful dream where he could have everything he ever wanted. But this was real life. And he had a son to take care of.
“I better go.”
He could only hope Ramin would forgive him.
thirty-eight
Ramin
Twenty Years Ago
The last day of Ramin’s senior year was on a Monday.
It was a half day, too.
Apparently state law dictated a minimum number of school days you could have in a year, and they’d had so many snow days this winter they had to make up one. Hence the half day. On a Monday.
Freaking global warming.
Ramin didn’t know how a half day was supposed to make up for a snow day, especially tacked on to the end of the year after graduation, when no one really cared, least of all the teachers. But whatever. The Missouri Department of Education worked in mysterious ways, or something.
Arya had tried to convince Ramin and Farzan to skip. It was a Monday! They’d already gotten their diplomas!
Well, they’d gotten the little blue frames. The actual diplomas were supposed to come in the mail. But whatever. They were graduates! They were off to college in the fall! What did it matter if they missed a half day?
But Farzan had announced his parents would kill him if he skipped. Even now.
And Ramin… well, Ramin wasn’t ready to say goodbye just yet. He’d see Arya and Farzan over the summer, over college breaks. They’d email and chat online and stay friends forever. But there were other people Ramin would probably never see again. Classmates who’d signed his yearbook wishing him luck or lamenting that they hadn’t known each other better. Even a few apologies for bullying over the years.
But half ofthemhad skipped, so now Ramin sat in seventh hour, alone and wondering what the point of any of this was, when he and Farzan and Arya could’ve played hooky and gone to get breakfast at Perkins or something.
Noah had probably skipped, too.
Except—
“Hey, Ramin!”
Ramin slipped into a small grin. “Hey, Noah.”
“Decided not to skip, huh? You’re such a nerd.”
Ramin laughed. “You’re here, too.”
“Well, I’m an even bigger nerd.” Noah dropped into the seat next to Ramin. “Got any plans for the summer?”
Ramin shrugged. “Not much. You?”
