Page 104 of Isn't It Obvious?
“Do I think he means it? What the fuck, Yael?”
On autopilot, Yael signals right, merging toward the next exit. “Is it okay if we make a stop in Laurelhurst?”
“Oh my God,” Sanaa squeals.
“I’m just going to talk to him,” Yael says. “You need to stay in the car in case I come back in tears.”
“Okay,” Sanaa says.
“Can you play music? Your excitement is making me more nervous.”
It doesn’t matter, really; Yael can’t hear it over the sound of her pulse in her ears, and Ravi’s house is so close to the exit that they don’t even finish the first song. She pulls into a space a few houses down and shifts to park.
“I’m scared,” she says.
“Yeah, I would be too,” Sanaa says.
“That’s not helpful!”
Sanaa places a gentle hand on Yael’s shoulder. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, maybe notherehere,” Sanaa says. “I might get out and stretch my legs.”
“Bye, Sanaa,” Yael says, taking a deep breath before getting out of the car.
It’s already a pitch-dark night at 6:45, so the street looks exactly as it had after Stepping Stone, down to the car in the driveway. She ascends the few steps of Ravi’s stoop and spends a good thirty seconds debating: doorbell or knock. She goes for the bell, then steps back and waits, only belatedly considering the very good chance that Ravi might not be home.
The door is answered by, well, an alternate-reality version of Ravi: a couple of inches taller and graying at the temples, wearing the Guy-in-Tech uniform of expensive jeans and a company-branded quarter-zip. The same cleft in his chin and dark, pensive eyes.
“You must be Suresh,” she says. He nods, a crease cutting between his brows. “I’m Yael. Or Elle. I’m not sure what Ravi’s told you. Is he home?”
“Yael,” he says, and he smiles. It’s different from Ravi’s, no dimple to punctuate it, but just as bright. “I’ll go get him,” he says, and closes the door between them.
Yael shifts her weight, wrapping her arms around herself as she tries to make out the muffled voices coming from inside the house. “Wam to you? Get out there!” She thinks comes from Suresh, but she can’t parse Ravi’s response.
She probably should have brought her coat.
Another moment passes, and then Ravi appears and slips through the door, careful to shut it behind him before anyone inside can get a clear view. In the few seconds it was open,Yael could hear a child’s voice,Mia’svoice, and she guesses this is the reason for his caution.
“Hi,” he says, and, honestly, she could cry at the sound of his voice, the smell of him so close to her. He looks a little scruffier than when she last saw him, his stubble maybe two or three days old, the half circles under his eyes still tinged purple. God, he’s beautiful.
“Hey,” she says.
He gives her a long look before pulling his sweatshirt over his head and trying to hand it to her. Yael shakes her head. “You’re cold,” he says simply.
“My coat’s in the car. I’ll be fine for a few minutes out here.”
“Just take it, Yael.”
She shakes her head again. “No.”
“Come on.” He sighs.
“It’ll smell like you,” she blurts.
Ravi drops his hand but doesn’t put the sweatshirt back on. A muscle in his jaw tics.
