Page 148 of Sexting the Pakhan

Mila lifts her head. “Good morning, Mama.”

“Why are you on him?”

“I’m not on his bad leg.”

“That was not the question.”

Mila looks down at herself, then at me, as if searching for a technical defense.

Nadia closes her book. “I told her she was too close.”

Zoya walks over and lifts Mila off me with the ease of long practice.

Mila protests, “Mama, I was keeping him company.”

“He’s injured,” Zoya says, setting her on the floor. “You do not climb on injured people.”

“I was careful.”

“You were lying on his ribs.”

“Not all of them.”

Zoya gives her a look.

Mila lowers her eyes. “Sorry.”

Zoya’s face softens for half a second, but she doesn’t let go of the reprimand completely. “Both of you should have woken me.”

Nadia says, “You were sleeping.”

“That’s why you should have woken me.”

“You looked tired,” Mila says.

Zoya’s mouth tightens slightly. “I’m the mother,” she says. “It’s my job to wake up.”

Mila looks worried now. “Are you mad?”

“I’m not mad that you were kind,” Zoya says. “I’m upset that you came near someone injured without telling me.”

I stare between them in awe. Zoya has to explain everything to her children with nuance. I wonder if this is what it’s like every day.

Nadia nods. “That’s fair.”

Mila nods too, less happily. “Okay.”

Zoya looks at Nadia. “You too.”

Nadia sits straighter. “I maintained distance.”

Zoya turns to me then. The apology comes before I can stop it. “I’m sorry,” she says. “They shouldn’t have been here. I woke up late.”

“They were fine,” I say.

Her expression hardens a little. “That’s not the point.”

“No,” I say. “I suppose not.”