by Holly Rayner
Gemma headed straight toward the kitchen, pulling out a wine glass for herself and filling it with dark red liquid. She wiggled the bottle at Hallie in suggestion, but Hallie raised her hand.
“I’m good, I already had down a glass.”
“Suit yourself,” Gemma said, putting a cork stop in the bottle and plopping down on the couch. Gemma and Hallie had been roommates during the reality months, and they had become very close. She was the only woman on earth who knew just how badly Hallie had been played, and she had been there to console her through the horrible tabloid saga. She was the best friend Hallie could ever have asked for.
“So why am I here?” Gemma asked. Her brown hair was tossed back in a sloppy bun, her T-shirt had several holes in it, but she still looked absolutely stunning. After her elimination from The Perfect Couple, Hallie had been sure that Gemma was going to win Michael’s heart, but they both agreed that it was for the best they had been sent packing. His engagement to the eventual winner of the show had been short-lived, and there were already talks in the tabloids about him cheating on her. Not that Hallie believed tabloids, of course, but it was perversely satisfying to see his name covered in mud instead of hers.
Hallie took a breath, then dove in. “I joined another dating app,” she began, and Gemma rolled her eyes.
“When are you going to learn that those don’t work?” she demanded.
Hallie shrugged. “Look, we know I can’t find love in the conventional way. No one will even look at me if they saw the show, and the men who don’t know who I am learn pretty quickly from their female friends who did. I’m out of options here, Gem.”
“You are so not out of options. You’re being too hard on yourself. Plus, I’m pretty sure the world is forgetting who you are and that most of the dirty looks you think you’re getting are just because we live in New York.”
“Well anyway,” Hallie said, returning to the subject at hand. “The app is for people who want to find a connection regardless of looks or status. It’s chat only.”
“Sketchy. Go on.”
Hallie frowned. It was sketchy, wasn’t it? Maybe she was just desperate, or crazy, or both. Who knew anymore?
“I spoke to a guy who wants to meet me.”
“And that doesn’t sound suspect at all…”
“You’re not helping at all, Gemma!” Hallie cried, and Gemma laughed.
“Fine, fine. I’m sorry. So there’s a man who wants to meet you, even though he has no idea what you look like or who you really are. Do you have your full name?”
“Yes.”
“So he can find you online anyway?”
“I suppose, but…”
“So there’s, like, no point to that app. Everyone can be looked up with the click of a button.”
“Do you have any idea how many Hallie Richards there are in the world?”
“Fine, okay. What’s his name, anyway?”
“Sadiq.”
“Hallie. Listen to yourself. Some Middle-Eastern guy messages you for a half hour and all of a sudden you’re totally on board with flying out to meet him? Are you nuts?”
“He seems really nice, Gemma. Just because someone has an unusual name doesn’t mean they’re a threat.”
“Well, where’s he from?”
“Al Shayam.”
“Is that even a real place?”
Hallie let out a frustrated sigh. This was not going at all as she’d hoped it would. Why was her friend being so annoying about this? Or was it Hallie who was being shortsighted?
“Of course it’s a real place, and yes, he’s a real person. I looked him up. It’s legit.”
“Uh-huh. So he’s asking you to come visit him in another country. What’s the catch?”
Hallie hesitated, and Gemma crossed her arms, waiting. Hallie glanced down at her lap. “He wants to marry me.”
“What? Hallie, don’t be stupid!”
“It’s not like that! Here, read,” Hallie said, opening the app and shoving her phone at her friend to inspect.
Gemma read the conversation carefully, the silence stretching long as Hallie waited for her to finish reading so they could figure out what she should do. When Gemma looked up, her perfectly sculpted brow was furrowed.
“Okay, so no strings attached, but let’s say you do marry the guy. Wouldn’t that make you, like, a mail order bride?”
Hallie swallowed. “I hadn’t really thought of it that way…”
“Well maybe you should, Hallie. You have to look out for yourself. Don’t do anything foolish.”
“And if I do decide to go?”
“Why would you decide to go?”
Hallie threw her hands up in the air and stomped into the kitchen, suddenly feeling the need to refill her wine glass. When it was full, she took a deep drink, allowing the liquid to slowly burn all the way down to her stomach.
She leaned against the kitchen counter as she looked back at her friend. “I can’t keep living like this, Gemma,” she whispered.
It was barely audible, but she could tell her friend had heard.
Gemma joined her in the kitchen, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to get better, Hallie. The world forgets so easily. Soon you’ll be back in your old job and able to get back to your old life.”
Hallie felt a tear streak down her cheek even as more burned beneath her eyelids. “What if it doesn’t? What if the world brands me as an airhead gold digger for the rest of my life? Maybe going to another country would be a nice break from all that. Maybe it would be a chance to walk down the street and really go unnoticed.”
Gemma frowned thoughtfully. “Just take some time to really think about it. You told him you needed time, right? Think it over, do some more research, and if this is something you think you really want to do, you’re going to have to let me put a tracker on your phone so I know you’re alive at all times.” She softened that last statement with a grin, but the underlying message was the same: be careful.
Hallie wiped the rest of her tears and thanked her friend for coming over. They watched trashy TV and finished the bottle of wine before Gemma headed back.
That night, lying in the darkness, Hallie once again found herself thinking about the mysterious man from the Middle East. She still hadn’t been able to find any pictures of Sadiq, which was surprising given that he seemed to be very successful. Perhaps it was because she was writing her searches in a language different from his, she thought, as she drifted off to sleep. She would have to look again in the morning.
Until then, wine lulled her into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
FOUR
The next day was like any other; Hallie woke, dressed, hid as best as she could on her commute to work, and spent hours quietly and quickly entering data, tucked away from the world. In between mountains of paperwork, she continued researching Sadiq and Al Shayam, finding both more and more tempting with each passing moment of monotonous computer work.
He was hardly a romantic man, she’d surmised, having read and reread their conversation over a dozen times. He was straight to the point, and Hallie liked that about him. If reality TV had taught her anything, it was that, most of the time, romance was a veil used to cover up lies. She wasn’t looking for candlelight and moonlit dinners. She’d had plenty of those, and they had gotten her nowhere.
At least, that was what she told herself, over and over again.
The next day passed in the same way, with Hallie realizing very quickly that unless she did something with her life, she would find herself in that same cube, thirty years on, wondering where the years had gone.
She was frowning over her screen, thinking about this, when her phone dinged. Picking it up, her heart gave a little flip when she saw that it was Sadiq, calling her through the app.
She answered, pressing the phone against her ear. “Hello?”
“Hallie?”
Sadiq’s voice was low and gravelly, with just a slight melodic accent. He had a sexy voice,
she realized.
“This is me,” she said, trying to keep her voice level.
“Wonderful. I wanted to touch base and see if you’d considered my offer yet. Have you?”
Hallie paused, thinking. “I think I have, yes.”
“And?”
Hallie glanced around at the gray world she inhabited. There was nothing for her there. It might be a dangerous risk to take, but she was going to take it. Why not?
“And I would love to come out and meet you.”
“Fantastic. Can I have a driver pick you up in the morning and we’ll get you flown out?”
She had just told him that she planned to come out to consider marrying him, and already he was scheduling her flight like it was some kind of business deal. Hallie couldn’t tell how she felt about that, but the mention of a flight to somewhere new, somewhere undiscovered, sounded too good to refuse.
“Sure,” she breathed, hardly daring to believe she was actually doing this.
“Great. I’ll have him pick you up around seven a.m. The flight should get you here in time for breakfast the following day.”
“What! How long is the flight?” Hallie squeaked.
She could have sworn she heard him repress a laugh. “It’s a little lengthy, yes, but I can assure you that the accommodations will be most comfortable. You won’t even know you’re on a plane, save for the views. I’ll just need your address for the driver.”
Hallie gave him her address, ignoring the unsettled feeling in her stomach as she did so.
Afterward, she paused, one last time. This was it. This was the moment she could turn back, close the app, and try to continue existing with the terrible hand she’d been dealt.
“All right, then,” she said.
“All right, then. I’ll see you soon, Hallie. Looking forward to it.”
And just like that, Sadiq ended the call.
Hallie stared blankly at her computer screen, at rows upon rows of meaningless numbers. In just a few hours’ time, she would be getting on a plane to a country she’d never heard of, to meet a man she might marry, if they got along well enough. If she were honest with herself, it all sounded too good to be true. She’d already learned the hard way that there was no such thing as prince charming. No man was going to sweep in and rescue her from her shattered life.
But still, her dumb heart refused to give up hope.
From the research she’d done about Sadiq, it was clear the man was wealthy. Hallie wondered what his reasons were for choosing the app, LoveMatch. Maybe he was ugly, so no one in his country would date him, or maybe he was so rich he couldn’t find someone who would love him just for himself alone. The possibilities were endless.
The day wound down, and Hallie realized she wouldn’t be able to put off talking to Mallory any longer. Shutting down her computer, she strolled by her boss’ office door, which was open. Mallory was staring hard at her computer screen, but she looked up when Hallie approached.
“Heading home?” she asked brightly.
“Um, actually…” Hallie began, unsure as to how she would finish the statement.
Her hesitation caught Mallory’s attention, and the older woman pulled away from her desk to get a better look at her.
“Oh, Hallie. You’re not resigning on me, are you? You’d be my second this week! I know data entry isn’t all that glamourous, but it can be calming, in a repetitive kind of way. Like knitting…”
Yeah right, Hallie thought, but she smiled anyway.
“It’s not that. It’s just that…I have a relative that has fallen ill, and he has no one else to help him. He’s asked me to help take care of him.”
Mallory frowned, but her expression was sympathetic. “How terribly sad. Do you know when you’d be back?”
“I don’t,” Hallie said.
Mallory rose from her chair and stood in front of Hallie, placing a bracing hand on her shoulder. “Life can be so unfair sometimes, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Let me know when you can come back. I’m sure we’ll have a place for you here.”
Hallie nearly cried, then. Her boss was an amazing, kind woman. Why had she felt the need to lie to her? Was the truth really so terrible? The understanding in Mallory’s eyes was enough for Hallie to cast her lying gaze the floor.
“Thank you, Mallory. You’ve always been nothing but kind to me. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
Mallory waved a dismissive hand, heading back to her chair. “Nonsense. You’re a good worker and a nice person to be around, Hallie. Now go help your cousin or whatever, and keep us posted, okay?”
“Okay,” Hallie said softly.
She wouldn’t, of course. One accidental lie was enough to get her out of work for an indeterminate amount of time, but there was no way she would keep up the charade any longer than necessary.
Hallie headed straight home after that. She stared at her closet for some time, trying to figure out what one wore to a Middle-Eastern country they had never been to. After a quick bit of research, she decided that western clothing would be fine, and packed some light, summery clothes. It was a desert after all, and it would be much warmer than New York.
There was a telltale knock at her door, and Hallie opened the door to see Gemma there. Her friend took no time letting herself into the house, her expression harried.
“You’re not going to stop me, Gem. I’ve got to do this,” Hallie began.
“I’m not going to stop you. Just give me your phone.”
Hallie handed over her phone and watched Gemma set up a tracking app before opening her arms and hugging her friend tight.
“I just hope you find what you’re looking for,” Gemma whispered.
“Me too,” Hallie replied.
She waved a goodbye to her friend before placing her small suitcase by the door. Six in the morning was quite early to be up, and Hallie wanted to be ready to walk out the door when the time came. She brushed her teeth and crawled into bed, staring at the dark ceiling.
She almost opened up her phone, tapped the button, and told Sadiq she wouldn’t be able to make it. But then what would she do? Go into work and tell her boss she’d lied, that there was no one in the world who needed her and there never would be?
Hallie’s tears melted into the pillow, the same way they had a hundred times before, as she prayed, once again, that the next day would be better.
FIVE
A loud buzzing noise ripped into the air, waking her up abruptly, and Hallie sat up in bed, her curly brown hair flying in all directions. The noise sounded again, and when she looked at the clock she realized her ride was outside, calling for her—it was already six o’clock!
Hallie ran to the door and pressed the speaker for the buzzer. “I’ll be right down,” she said quickly.
“Take your time, miss,” the man said.
She made short business of slipping into a comfortable pair of yoga pants and a soft V-neck shirt before brushing her teeth and grabbing her suitcases. When she reached the front door, a driver in a black suit was waiting for her, standing in front of a gleaming black limousine.
“Hello, miss,” he said, identifying her as his passenger. He took her suitcase and stored it in the trunk before opening the back door and waiting for her to get in.
Hallie stared at him, dumbfounded. “That’s the car we’re taking to the airport?”
The driver looked confused. “Of course, miss. The boss insisted you be treated to the best possible service, so it would ease your worries about the trip.”
“Right,” Hallie said, dazed. She slid into the backseat of the fancy car, which was warm and cozy in the dark coolness of the early morning. Being New York City, the world outside was already wide awake, since, of course, it had never gone to sleep anyway.
“Are you comfortable, miss?” the driver asked.
“Yes, thank you,” Hallie replied, suppressing a yawn.
She found herself wondering just what kind of man Sadiq was. Was he trying to show
off his wealth in the hope that she would overlook some other shortcoming later? Was he unattractive? Would she be able to see past that herself, and love him for who he was inside, the way the app intended? Not to mention the fact that they were from two very different worlds. Would he really want an American wife? A loud, opinionated American wife, who just happened to be hated—albeit unfairly—by many of her own people?
