Could we chat soon?I tell her.About format?
Natalie’s response is immediate.Sure, but network will say no.
Right. I should have expected that.
I sit on the edge of my bed, and the faintest thought skitters across my mind. My fingers fly across the phone’s touch-screen keyboard before I can think better of it.
What if we went somewhere else?
Okay. Fiji?
No. Sorry, I didn’t mean a different location. Different network.
A bubble pops up on my phone. And then it disappears.
A short pause, and then it happens again. The bubble makes a fleeting appearance before vanishing.
I lie down, my back hitting the comforter.
I should tell her I’m kidding. It took years for Natalie to work her way up to showrunner. There’s no way she’d want to abandon ship. There’s no wayIshould want to do that. We’ve been here so long, have inched our way up the ladder. To leave once we’re finally where we want to be—
What did you have in mind?
I sit back up, alert, excitement thrumming through me.
Without the restrictions we have, without the limits they’ve placed on us, if I could imagine any structure, any format, what would I want to do?
My mind buzzes, one idea flowing after the other.
I open my notes app and type, a shadowy sketch of a show starting to come together.
Still working on it, but can I send you something in a couple days?I text back.
Natalie hearts the message.Yes. Can’t wait.
—
I’m still floating on a high when I come down for breakfast.
Jacob’s seated at a table, opposite my father, and he spots me first. He’s already smiling, mid-conversation, but when his eyes catch mine, that smile grows. Infinitesimally, but I notice it, the slightest lift at the corner of his mouth.
I grin back at him, and he must notice it, the way I’m practically beaming, because he tilts his head.
What?he mouths at me across the room.
I shake my head.Later,I mouth back at him.
His expression shifts, a bit bemused, but before he can say anything else, my father turns in his seat.
“Neelu!” he exclaims, and it takes me aback. His eyes are bright. Excited. He’s taken a shower since the last time I saw him, and his hair is neatly combed from one side of his head to the other. I haven’t seen him this way, this happy, since before his would-be wedding.
“Come,” he says. “Sit.”
So I make my way over there. Jacob jumps up when I approach, pulling out the seat beside him.
“I’ve got it,” I tell him, sliding in. “Thank you.” Under the table, I bump my foot against his and send him a quick look.
I don’t want my father to notice that there’s anything different between us. Things are complicated enough as they are.
