“But then even before you knew he was dead, you were traipsing around like a cheap slut with this guy?” he sneered, gesturing to Cole. Maya stepped back, almost stumbling.
“Manav, how dare you?” Sunitha rebuked.
“That’s not fair,” Cole interjected at the same time, pulling his hand out of Maya’s so he could put his arm around her.
“What the hell do you know, man?” Manav jeered, leaping up and stepping toward Cole. “Stay out of this, and stop touching her. You’re not part of this family and you obviously had no problem sleeping with a married wom–”
“Manav, could you shut the fuck up?” Tejas bit off. Everyone turned to look at him, still half reclined on the couch with his bagel. “If you can pull your head out of your ass long enough, why don’t you sit back down and let them finish?” Maya’s jaw dropped and Cole bit his lip to stop from erupting in laughter. But Manav’s ire turned toward his little brother.
“Mom’s been fucking this guy for half a year and–”
“You don’t get to judge mom, asshole. She’s been alone for almost four years since the dad you idolized decided to ditch us and run off like he was taking a gap year in college,” Tejas shot back, not shifting from his spot. Cole tugged Maya over to the opposite loveseat, wanting to support her but also eager to get a good seat to watch this.
“Did you ever think about what she was going through this whole time?” Tejas went on. “Raising us alone, doing all our school with us and robotics tournaments, working her job and doing all the housework?
“Did you not notice that even when dad was here, she was still taking care of us alone? When did he ever show up at any of our games? It was always her in the stands. That man gave us a shit sandwich and you’re just gulping it down and asking for seconds.” Manav grimaced and opened his mouth to respond but slowly closed it again. Then he sat down.
“We should say something,” Maya whispered into Cole’s ear, her arm snaked around his.
“No, don’t stop him,” Cole whispered back. “He was a smart kid in grade two and he’s only gotten smarter.” He was inwardly cheering Tejas on, who he’d always liked as a student. But now he felt a strange fatherly pride toward him.
“What did you expect, mom to stay a nun? You wanted your own mother, who you claim to love, to never find companionship and to never be happy? Just look at them,” Tejas said, gesturing toward Cole and Maya.
“They haven’t stopped holding hands since we got here. Name me three times in our lives you remember dad showing any affection toward her.” He paused to rip a bite off his bagel as the room remained silent. “Three times in 12 years,” he said with a full mouth. “You can do it, boy.”
Cole resisted the urge to stand up and applaud. Keep it going kid, he thought. It was as if Tejas heard him after he gulped down his last bite.
“And have you done the math, genius? Dad left almost four years ago, and mom and Mr. G only met six months ago. And here you are like the paragon of virtue because you think…” he stopped and held out his palm, flipping through an imaginary notebook. “…she’s at fault for moving on more than three years after dad dumped her?
“Anyway,” he shrugged, crumpling up his bagel wrapper, “I don’t know what the big news is here, other than mom’s new guy being Mr. G.”
“It’s Cole now, Tejas,” Cole said, giving him a grateful smile. “It’s Cole.”
“Right–Cole,” Tejas responded. “Yeah, no, that’s still weird. But yeah, Manav,” he said, turning back to his brother, slumped beside him on the couch by now, resigned to getting eviscerated.
“I don’t know what you were doing all this time, but dad was dead to me the moment he got on that plane. Don’t you remember, he took a cab? We were crying and watching from upstairs and he was arguing with mom in the driveway that he didn’t even want us to drop him off at the airport.
“He took care of everything else but refused to divorce her because why? So he could keep up appearances? So she could never be free? I mean, fuck him.”
Cole looked down at Maya tucked under his arm, her face streaked with tears.
“And you know what? Fuck you, too, for being such a monumental dumbass,” Tejas said, standing up and looking down on his brother. “After watching you embarrass yourself and everyone here, I kinda get why she couldn’t divorce him either. She knew you’d act like this.” Manav continued to stare at his feet as his brother now pointed a sharp finger inches away from his face.
“The only reason I didn’t knock the teeth out of your head for calling mom what you just called her is because you already said more about yourself than her,” Tejas hissed. “If she’s going to fall in love with anyone, I’m glad it’s Mr.–Cole,” he said, as if he were practicing a word from another language.
“I remember thinking as a kid it would have been so great if he were my dad instead of that robot.” Cole felt the wind leave his lungs, fast, as his vision misted over. Before thinking, he got up and embraced Tejas long and hard.
“You did good, kid,” he said shakily. “I always wanted a son like you, too.” He felt Tejas hesitate for a second before putting his arms around him as well. The boy cleared his throat as they held each other, and Maya thought she saw his jaw quaver.
As she watched them, it dawned on her that it was another joy altogether to see her child with the man she loved. It was a pleasure she barely witnessed while the kids were small.
“I hate to be the practical one,” Maya’s sister spoke up after a lingering silence, “but do you know if there’s anything we have to do in terms of Ram’s last rites? What about a cremation?”
“From what we understand, Suni,” Maya replied, “they haven’t recovered a body and they may never.”
“Sky burial it is,” Tejas said. Cole resisted the urge to grin as they broke apart, his hand still on the teenager’s shoulder.
“It’s about 9 p.m. in Nepal right now,” he said. “Is it too late to call Ram’s phone and talk to someone? Maybe that would clear up any questions you guys still have about your dad.” Manav glanced up at Cole for the first time, nodding ever so slightly.
The phone seemed like it rang forever and Maya was just about to hit the end call button when someone picked up.
“Hello,” she said, “this is Ram’s family in Canada. We received the messages you sent us from this phone a few hours ago. His sons are here and I’m their mother. If you have a moment, can we speak to you about him?”
At first, Maya and Cole stayed nearby while the boys spoke, mainly Manav. Sunitha also asked about the possibility of obtaining a death certificate, which she could get her office to look into when everyone was back at work on Tuesday. Cole then pulled Maya into the next room.
“What do you think about asking the boys to stay the rest of the long weekend?” he asked. “We could drop them off tomorrow night. Maybe it would help Manav a bit to get to know me better? I know he’s angry about us but–” Maya gently shook her head and smiled.
“Nothing would make me happier. I know Suni wanted to use this weekend to catch up on her cases so it would also help her to have an empty house.” She remembered something else. “Oh, by the way, I had no idea those guys knew that kind of language.” Cole smirked.