“See? You both are even corny together. So you have to be together.” I shrugged. “Look, I get it. I sometimes fall apart and make things hard, but I just want you to know that I want Ellie here. So does Lorelai. We don’t need to wait until we are perfectly healed, Dad. We can be a team with a few cracks still left to fix. Through the good and the bad. Besides”—I smiled at Ellie—“we made a pinky promise.” We weren’t perfect, but we were family, so I asked Ellie to do exactly what Ash asked me to do.
I asked her to stay, and thankfully, she did exactly that. She stayed.
30Ash
FROM: [email protected]
DATE: January1st, 12:00 AM
SUBJECT: Happy New Year
Karla,
Happy New Year! I was thinking for the new year we could start a monthly long-distance book club? Maybe we can do video calls to talk about the books. I don’t know. That might be stupid.
Anyway, North Carolina blows, and I miss you.
You were the first person I thought to message for the new year.
Oh, you’re calling right now, let me send this email and say happy new years on the phone, too.
—Ash
P.S. I kind of thought of kissing you at midnight. I won’t say that on the phone, though. Too nervous for that.
***
FROM: [email protected]
DATE: January1st, 8:00 AM
SUBJECT: Re: Happy New Year
Ash,
I’m just seeing this after waking up dizzy from too much chips and dip last night.
Chicago blows without you.
I visited Rian this morning and told him happy new year for you. I left him a new toy truck, too. Figured he’d like the wheels for the new year. Anyway, I’ll call you later. I’m in charge of making spaghetti for dinner tonight.
—Karla
P.S. I kind of thought of kissing you at midnight, too. I won’t say that later, though. Too nervous for that.
***
“What do you want for dinner tonight,mera beta?” Maa asked me as she walked into the door that afternoon. She no longer worked night shifts since we’d moved to North Carolina. She also cooked me dinner and ate with me each night. It seemed like such a small act, but it was important to me. Maa was finding her path again, and that always involved being in the kitchen.
I brushed my hand under my nose, thinking about Karla and how she’d thought about kissing me at midnight. I’d read her email repeatedly. At least four million and five times.
“Maybe we can have spaghetti tonight,” I mentioned.
Maa arched an eyebrow. “Spaghetti? You never ask for spaghetti.”
