How To Salsa in a Sari by Dona Sarkar Read Free Book Online

anchor more than anyone. But right now, she really needed him to panic with her.
    â€œShe’s actually going to make us move! She’s packing!”
    â€œLook, listen. You listening?”
    â€œAmir!”
    Silence on the phone and from the other bedroom where Alisha was packing. Issa felt like she was the only sane person in the world.
    â€œIz, why are you shrieking? I can hear you at a normal decibel too, you know. Quit being dumb.”
    â€œYou’re dumb,” Issa muttered.
    â€œIz, stop it.” Amir sighed. “I know what’s going on here. It’s not just Diego, is it?”
    Issa scowled. No, it was also Cat. And Diego. And this whole stupid idea. Who got remarried when they had two grown-up children? She didn’t need a stepfather. And she certainly didn’t need Cat!
    â€œLook, he’s not coming back. Our daddy is not coming back. A man doesn’t walk out the door one day, disappear and just come back five years later. You dig?”
    In one second, Amir got to the heart of Issa’s problem. The problem she didn’t even know she was wrestling with until that moment.
    Their father. Roy. After he left, it seemed everything had fallen apart. After the divorce papers arrived in the mail and Alisha was laid off from her job at the inner-city Detroit high school where she had taught art, Alisha, Amir and Issa had moved out of their brownstone. They had ended up in New Joliet for her mom’s new job. The quaint, rich town where they were known as the “poor mixed family.”
    One day her father would come back, Issa knew he would. A man didn’t just leave a note saying “Need to figure stuff out, will be back” and disappear forever. They would see him again. They would. They had to. But not if Alisha married Diego.
    But Issa kept this fantasy her own secret. She knew Amir would never forgive their father for leaving them. “He’s not a man,” Amir always said. “A man would never do such a horrible thing. He was a coward.”
    Issa changed the subject back to Diego. “If it was anyone else it would be okay. But, Amir, you should see this man! And Cat is horrible! You remember how she used to be, right? I hate their whole family, they’re so spoiled and rotten and—”
    â€œShut up,” Amir cut in. “This isn’t you. You’re acting insane.”
    Issa counted to five silently. Amir was right. She sounded insane. She had to pull herself together. She had to reasonably explain to Alisha why she could never, ever be related to Cat Morena.
    Amir was still talking. “…get to know Cat. She doesn’t have a mom, of course she’s screwed up. And, Iz, you always get along with everyone. I know you’ll win her over too.”
    No way. Not a chance. Not that manipulative, miserable—
    â€œLook, after getting to know them, if you still don’t like this situation, I’m sure Ma will listen to you.”
    Amir obviously had no idea what Cat was made of. A few nice sister-sister conversations wouldn’t turn the Wicked Witch of the East Coast into an angel. Cat had decided long ago that Issa was an enemy. And that wasn’t about to change. Cat would be around twenty-four-seven. The things she could do to Issa if they lived under the same roof…
    â€œWhen are you coming home?” she asked instead.
    â€œI can’t for a while. Exams are going on, probably not till the wedding—”
    â€œAmir…”
    Issa’s eyes started to fill as she thought of him being so far away. He had been the pillar of their family ever since their father had left them. How could he leave them and go so far away to attend college in Los Angeles? He’d only been gone for two months and already she missed him so much she called him every night.
    â€œGive Mom a break. It hasn’t been an easy few years for her. This new job, me going away. You growing up so