by Vani Mahesh
‘Hi,’ she said leaning against the door. The good news was that he carried no papers with him. That meant no divorce that night at least.
‘Hi,’ he stopped at the door. To Anu’s eyes, he looked exhausted. He has missed me, said her confident mind. He looks like death only because he has come from the office, yelled her logical brain. Then it yelled more. Get a grip, woman.
‘Want to come in?’ Anu looked at Sanju quizzically. Okay, that was a stupid question when he was at the door.
Sanju looked slightly irritated. ‘What do you think?’ He came inside, closed the door, and hoisted Vicky into the air.
Vicky giggled and Sanju played some more with him. Anu stood uncertainly. What was she to do? If it was like before, she would make them both coffee. She decided to do the same.
‘Anu, wait.’ Sanju stopped her with a hand on the shoulder, turned her around and stared into her eyes. He cocked an eyebrow and gave a half-smile. A smile that said he was amused. ‘What is the middle?’ He took out the note she had left for him. Meet me in the middle.
Anu smiled despite her eyes beginning to well up. Then she pointed at the living room. ‘This right here is the middle.’
Sanju laughed. His hearty, happy laugh that made his nose crinkle. ‘Really? Looks to me that this is your end.’
Anu shook her head. ‘Nope. This is the middle.’
Sanju sat on the sofa and stretched his legs on to the centre table. He pulled her next to him and rested his head on her shoulder. ‘You are the most stubborn human I have ever met, Miss Anu.’
Anu felt all jelly inside. So Sanju had come back to her! She felt relief like never before. Vicky was back to playing with his Hot Wheels. Anu snuggled closer to Sanju. Sitting up straight, Sanju put an arm around her. Anu breathed his scent deeply. She had given up on ever being this close to him. ‘Fine. If you don’t think this is the middle, let us find a place within five kilometres from here.’
‘Ten,’ said Sanju.
‘Six.’ She countered.
‘Seven,’ said Sanju.
‘Sold,’ Anu smiled. ‘I don’t see what is wrong with this place. But a deal is a deal. We will move.’ She had so much to ask him but at that moment, nothing seemed important. Sanju was back. They were a unit again.
She turned on the TV and switched to Romedy Now. You Got Mail was playing. Perfect romantic movie for a make-up night.
Sanju snatched the remote and changed it to a News channel where people were screaming.
Anu snatched it back and changed it to Star World where The Big Bang Theory was playing.
Sanju nodded and smiled. ‘Now, that is more like it, babe.’
After a pause, Anu asked. ‘Sanju, why did you ask me to leave you?’
Sanju groaned. ‘I hoped you wouldn’t start this line of inquiry now. It is not important. I was angry, you were angry. Leave it at that, Anu.’
Another ten minutes passed. ‘Sanju,’ Anu had to know. ‘Would you have come back if I hadn’t called you today?’
Sanju yawned. ‘Maybe not tonight. But sometime this week.’
Another ten minutes passed. ‘Sanju, how much money are we going to lose on the house?’
Sanju turned off the TV and faced her. ‘Three questions, Anu. I will answer only three tonight.’
Anu nodded solemnly. ‘For tonight, I will take that. Now tell me.’
Sanju smiled. ‘Not much, actually. A new guy came from the US office, and he returned the deposit I had paid. He will take up the house next week.’
‘The BMW?’
‘Who told you about that?’ Sanju knitted his brows. ‘I never got it delivered. Cancelled the booking after you left.’
Anu smiled indulgently. ‘You couldn’t enjoy it without me, right?’
Sanju started laughing. ‘What are you expecting, woman? A full-blown love confession like in the Karan Johar movies?’
‘Yeah, do you mind? Would it kill you to say “Anu, life without you isn’t life at all. Anu, life without you—”’
Sanju stopped her with a finger on her lips. He looked into her eyes and declared. ‘Anu, life without fighting with you, groaning at you, rolling my eyes at you … isn’t life at all.’ Then he hugged her and kissed the top of her head. ‘Not to mention laughing with you.’ He always ended things rather nicely.
Before Anu could reply, Vicky got wind of a good moment between his parents that did not include him. He ran towards them, pulled Sanju’s hands off Anu and wedged himself firmly between them. ‘Don’t touch Mumma, Daddy. Not nice.’
Anu picked up Vicky and chastised Sanju. ‘Not at all nice, Daddy. Go to your room for a timeout. Vicky gets his TV with dinner because he has been a good boy. I will bring your dinner to the room. No TV for you.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ Sanju stretched and smiled. His timeouts were how they stole time for themselves.
Anu asked him before he left the room. ‘What about the orange sofa?’
Sanju groaned. ‘I said I would answer three questions, Anu. Your quota is over.’
Anu pursed her lips. ‘If you don’t bring that couch back, I can reduce your timeout.’
Sanju shook his head. ‘No. Sorry. The couch is coming.’
‘More timeout for Daddy then! Mumma, more timeout for Daddy!’ Vicky’s excited squeal soon got drowned in Anu and Sanju’s laughter.
Wiping at her eyes, now watering in mirth, Anu texted Pete quickly: ‘Trouble over in paradise!’
Acknowledgements
Abhijith Ramesh for being my reading, writing, and ideation companion. This book was born only because of our coffee evenings.
Neethi Mahesh and Akshara Mahesh, for being the first readers of everything I write and for your smart feedback. And for making me look good as a mother.
Shinie Antony for being my constant friend and for finding this book a home. Thank you for making me rewrite the first chapter. Took me five attempts but when you finally approved it, it was my Eureka moment.
Preeti Shenoy for reading my draft and for giving the book such a beautiful blurb. Thank you for all the handholding through my writing. I cherish our friendship.
Pradeep Sriram, my brilliant cousin for pointing out that I had too many parenthesized sentences. I have removed most.
Ravinder Singh for accepting the book for publication.
Swati Daftuar and the rest of the editorial team at HarperCollins India for such superior editorial work.
My parents, Nagesh and Ramamani, and my husband, Mahesh, for always letting me be me.
About the Book
HER LIFE WAS PERFECT, TILL IT GOT BIGGER, BRIGHTER AND ... WORSE!
Anu is thirty, a teacher, mother to a four-year-old and wife to a husband who worships the ground she walks on. She is surrounded by doting parents and loyal friends. Life is perfect … until her husband develops a sudden desire for a life of luxury and forces Anu to move to the plush neighbourhood of Verdant Green.
The sudden jump from a middle-class life to a superluxurious one that they can barely afford, lands Anu in one mess after another. Faced with everything from casual classism to extravagant yoga classes, she must now tackle this new life in her own inimitable style even as her marriage crumbles.
Funny and candid, Meet Me in the Middle is the story of aspirations and desires, and being careful about what you wish for.
About the Author
Vani Mahesh is an avid reader and she believes that all that reading combined with her unusually keen interest in other people’s lives led her to writing. The novel Meet Me in the Middle happened in her mind years ago though she got around to writing it only now. Vani loves humour and she hopes she can make her readers laugh through her unlikely protagonist, Anu.
Vani is best known for writing mythology. She is the author of Creation Tales – stories from Brahma Purana, Saptarsh – The Seven Supreme Sages, and Shiva Purana. Vani feels thrilled to spot her books in bookstores and she also instantly falls in love with those who have read her books.
When not reading or writing, Vani cannot be caught gardening, baking, or running. But she can be caught watching OTT, eating, and playing badminton. She lives in Bangalore with her husband and two daughters.
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First published in India in 2021 by
HarperCollins Publishers India and Black Ink
A-75, Sector 57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, India
www.harpercollins.co.in
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Copyright © Vani Mahesh 2021
P-ISBN: 978-93-5422-350-1
Epub Edition © September 2021 ISBN: 978-93-5422-358-7
This is a work of fiction and all characters and incidents described in this book are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Vani Mahesh asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved under The Copyright Act, 1957. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers India.
Cover design: Sanchita Jain
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