“I just wanted to hear your voice once more before I left.”
“That’s nice,” Tom said. He had fallen asleep with his light still on. He felt around his sheets to find his glasses and put them on and reached for his watch on the bedside table. “I miss you already.”
“Did you turn the light off before you fell asleep?” Marianne asked.
“Of course not,” Tom said. He leaned back against the wall and yawned.
“And put your glasses on the bedside table before you sleep. You’re going to break them in bed one of these days and you’ll be really stranded,” Marianne said. “Did you confirm your dental appointment for tomorrow?”
“I canceled it, actually,” Tom said. “My mother is coming down for the day and she wants to see the Oculus.”
“I can’t believe a train station has become a tourist attraction,” Marianne said.
“I can. It’s beautiful architecture. You just take it for granted because it’s in New York and not, I don’t know, in Budapest somewhere,” Tom said.
Marianne smiled.
“Get some sleep,” she said. “And take your mother to Century 21 to shop after you see the Oculus.”
“It’s her favorite store in the city. Then she’ll try to drag me to Nordstrom Rack and we’ll argue and then feel guilty and have a cup of coffee together and talk about my sister’s poor life choices in order to reconnect,” Tom said. “Have a good flight, Marianne. I really do miss you already. I’m going to leave my light on to sleep because it just doesn’t feel right to switch it off myself.”
Marianne hung up the phone in time to see Mr. Das and David marching out of the lounge. Was a life partner supposed to be a window or a mirror? Marianne wondered.
“David Smith here says I should get a pair of wireless headphones,” Mr. Das said. “Want to come along?”
Marianne waved at them to go ahead and she returned to Tina and her mother sitting alone together.
“Auntie, I like what you’re wearing,” Marianne said.
“Thank you, darling,” Radha said.
“I wish I could just embrace my thighs and wear short skirts. Not that your arms need embracing. I mean your arms are really nice,” Marianne said.
“Relax,” Radha said. “I know what you mean. It’s easier to embrace your imperfections once you’re older. You girls—although it’s really very silly to call you girls now—you ladies are at a hard stage. It gets easier, I think. I’m glad you two decided not to bring your boyfriends along. This will be a nice trip for you.”
“Andrew and I broke up. I told you. Remember? Anyway, I didn’t think anyone was bringing boyfriends along. It’s a really juvenile word,” Tina said. “I’m going to go see what Papa is doing.”
Radha thought of stopping her, of asking her to stay, but she knew there was no point. She and Neel had been divorced for nearly a decade and she had met David two years ago, but Tina still had her anger. She didn’t seem to have the same anger toward her father, though, as he was preparing to go off and date some woman he barely knew. What was he trying to prove?
Tina was also thinking about what her father was trying to prove as she walked out near the entrance to the lounge and sat down on one of the chairs there. From here, when the sliding glass doors opened, she could look out at the main terminal and she could also look into the lounge. A woman in a dark blue skirt suit sat at the front desk, her blond hair pulled into a neat ponytail, the computer screen reflecting in her glasses. This part of the lounge was cold, near the door, and Tina pulled her jacket closed and leaned back into the chair. The woman at the front desk was probably younger than her, Tina thought. Suddenly, at thirty-two, it felt like the whole world was younger than her. The woman at the desk looked up and caught Tina’s eyes and smiled. Tina smiled back.
She envied that woman, so sure of herself. This woman who knew exactly how to do her hair and wore neutral lipstick and came to JFK every day to work and probably went home to a comfortable apartment in Queens, maybe with a cat, and watched one episode of a television show while knitting a throw. She probably went to yoga classes and left actually feeling calmer.
It had been a while since Tina had done anything from beginning to end. Maybe she would teach herself knitting just to get the satisfaction of a finished product. All the television shows she developed went nowhere. She had picked a difficult career for someone who liked finished products. Everything in television was forever in progress, pre-production, production, occasionally post-production, and then rarely, so rarely, actually on-screen. She didn’t know the odds when she first started. Maybe she could run a marathon to accomplish something concrete but that seemed tiring.
The woman took off her glasses, leaned back, and said, “Where are you flying to today? Are you on the delayed flight to Heathrow?”
Tina nodded and said, “And on to New Delhi from there. My cousin’s getting married.”
“A big Indian wedding!” the woman said. “What fun. I’ve always wanted to go to India. I’m jealous.”
The woman looked around at the empty lounge and continued, “I get jealous of everyone who comes through here. I’ve never even left America. Soon, I hope. Maybe for my honeymoon.”
She held up her left hand and pointed at her ring.
“Congratulations,” Tina said.
“Japan is where I really want to go, though. Have you ever been?”
Tina shook her head.
“My fiancé wants to go to South Africa but I’m pushing for Japan. My second choice is Brazil but he’s been there once before so that probably won’t happen. Compromise, right? That’s what they say about marriage!”
She looked so happy. Tina said, “Congratulations again. I hope you make it to Japan soon,” and walked out of the lounge.
MONDAY EVENING
British Airways Flight 143, London–New Delhi
SOMEWHERE OVER TURKEY, SICK OF reading, sick of movies, and sick of sleeping, Radha got up and walked to the flight attendant galley area to get a ginger ale and look out of the window into the dark sky. She never drank ginger ale except on flights.
There was nothing to see beyond darkness outside the small window near the flight attendants. A male flight attendant in dark blue pants and a tucked-in blue shirt was tidying up the galley area.
“Started in Heathrow or coming in from somewhere?” the flight attendant asked.
“JFK,” Radha said.
“You must be tired. Ice cream?” he asked Radha.