The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar Read Free Book Online Page B

saying? That you regret our life together?” His hand swept around the room and the life that they’d built. “That none of this matters?”
    She pulled back, as if to see him fully, and then released her words, gently, languidly, like an archer knowing he was about to score a kill. “On the contrary, dear Adish. I’m saying that it all matters. Everything matters. Our virtues and our sins.”
    He was grateful for the out that she had given him. “Sins?” he yelled. “The woman who a few minutes ago gave me shit for my religious mumbo-jumbo is now talking about sin? What the hell, Lal? Suddenly you’re a damn missionary? We were not even twenty years old, Lal. Younger than our Ferzin. There was no sin. Unless you’re going to sit there and tell me that my loving you was a sin. And if you do, I swear I’ll knock your teeth out. I’ll lose you first before I’ll have you call what I felt for you a sin.”
    “That’s not what I meant.” Laleh suddenly exhaled and looked deflated, like a sack emptied of its cargo. “I don’t even know what we’re talking about anymore,” she mumbled. “I’m—I’m tired.” She looked up. “I’m not trying to hurt you, Adish.”
    He stood looking at her, moving his weight from foot to foot, feeling the blood throbbing in his head. “Listen,” he said finally. “I—I need to go to the office for a couple of hours. Catch up on some work. Okay?”
    Laleh shrugged. “Whatever you want.”
    He couldn’t say what irritated him more—the indifference or the defeat that he heard in her voice. But whatever it was, it made him grind his teeth. “Okay,” he said shortly. “See you.”
    It took all the self-control he had to not slam the front door behind him. He walked to the elevator and punched the down button. He waited a few seconds and then jabbed at the button again. He glanced at the apartment door, afraid that Laleh would come out and coax him back in the house. He needed air, needed to walk, time to clear his head. Don’t let Laleh open that door, he prayed to himself. But as soon as he got into the elevator and began his descent, another, contradictory, feeling came over him: disappointment that Laleh had not come out and apologized and led him back in.
    The lift reached the ground-floor lobby and Adish lingered for a moment, trying to decide whether he wanted to walk or drive. Stepping out of the building with his head hung low, he didn’t see Farhad coming toward him until he heard, “Hi, Papa.”
    He looked up and smiled involuntarily. “Hi, boss,” he said. “How was your workout?”
    Farhad shrugged. “Fine.” He looked curiously at his dad. “Where’re you going?”
    “I’m not sure. For a walk, maybe.”
    “Yeah, right,” Farhad drawled. “When’s the last time you walked?”
    Adish smacked his son lightly on the head. “Chup re, saala. Don’t give your old man a hard time. Just remember, I may have put on a few kilos but I can still beat you at wrestling. And chess,” he added.
    Farhad grinned happily. He fell in step beside his father, walking in that loping, ungainly manner that warmed Adish’s heart. “I’ll go with you.”
    Adish stopped. “Actually, boss, I wanted to be alone for a little while.” He hesitated, unsure of how much to say to Farhad. “I have a . . . business problem . . . that I need to solve.”
    Farhad reached into his jeans, took out a piece of gum, and popped it in his mouth. “Okay,” he said simply. “When will you be home?”
    “Are you allowed to chew gum with those braces on?” Adish asked.
    Farhad grinned. “As long as Mom doesn’t know, it won’t hurt anything,” he said.
    The boy looked so much like a tall, gangly animal in his ridiculously large shoes and his baggy shirt, that Adish felt a gust of love sweep through him. He reached up and squeezed his son in a bear hug. “I won’t be gone long,” he said.
    “Papa.” Farhad sounded shocked. “What’re you doing? My friends will