Sonali Dev

A Novel

Lies and Other Love Languages

Jazelle H

To take her own advice and find a solution without getting lost in the problem.

Every dancer is as unique as a musical note, a building block; each movement is a piece in a larger composition. What I do with each dancer and each move, which voice I give which note: that isn’t random; it’s an artistic choice.

Nonetheless, he’d at least launched and stayed airborne, not a jet but a hang glider. And here I was, a dud rocket.

Some people rescue dogs; my family rescues remnants of the feudal system.

They’d been good at that, at dissecting problems, dismantling them and letting solutions appear from the pieces. Together. They’d done it with the letters. They’d done it with the plots of his books. They solved problems, didn’t create them.

He just said “when” and not “if.” The word hangs in the air between us like a suspended star. His obsidian eyes glitter with it.

You care about why you do things. You think about why things matter.

Maybe not addressing our past is stupid. Like trying to build a tower without digging a foundation. He picks up a cookie from the plate, breaks off a piece, and slips it into my mouth, and suddenly I want to dig this foundation. I want to pour myself into it like concrete. I want to flow and set into the crevices and corners of all these things I’m feeling.

There’s this thing my mom talks about: how to root yourself in this moment. To not jump ahead in time or fall back into the past. Jumping forward is anxiety; falling back is depression. Count your fingers and stay here in the now.

You never leave your past behind, and yet you must.

Lies and Other Love Languages quotes

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