by Farah Heron
“Shiroz, Nadim’s father. Seems the rumors I heard about Nadim were true.”
Oh, shit. Dad found out about the yacht people.
Reena bit her lip. She needed to minimize this. She decided to tell the truth, or what she knew to be true, at least. She wanted a future with Nadim, and a future should only start with honesty. “Yeah, I know, Dad. He hung out with a bad crowd in London. But it’s no big deal. I mean, who cares who his old friends were?”
“What!” Dad yelled. “You knew about his connection to Jasmine Shah and you didn’t tell me?”
“It’s not my place to tell someone else’s business.”
“This is our business!” Dad said, still extremely agitated. “You know my feelings about that family, and I specifically asked you who he was connected with. I am disappointed that Shiroz kept this from me, but my own daughter?”
“Jesus, Dad.” She shook her head. “You need to let go of your obsession with the Shahs. Yeah, he was at a party with Jasmine Shah, but that doesn’t mean he can never work for you.”
Dad gritted his teeth. “If that’s all you think his relationship with the Shahs was, then he’s been lying to you, too. Nadim wasn’t just at a party with the Shahs, he worked for Salim Shah. The new Shah project that failed spectacularly? It was because of Nadim. And Nadim Remtulla has been engaged to marry Jasmine Shah for a year, at least.”
Engaged? Marry?
The walls of her parents’ dining room closed in on her as all the air seemed to be sucked out of her lungs.
Her Nadim…engaged…
“Oh, shit,” Saira said.
“Saira! Language!” Mum snapped.
Engaged, engaged, engaged. Planning to wed. Betrothed. To the daughter of her father’s rival. The daughter of his previous boss, it seemed. Nadim was a fraud. The worst kind of player. She was nothing to him.
“Reena, you okay?” someone said.
Saira stood over her, hand heavy on Reena’s shoulder.
Was she okay?
“Why would Reena be upset?” Mum asked. “You should be worried about your father, not her.”
Saira stood up. “Of course Reena’s upset! You just told her that her boyfriend is engaged to someone else!”
“What?” Dad bellowed, standing. “Nadim is not your boyfriend! You said you wouldn’t marry him!”
“How can he marry Reena if he’s engaged to Jasmine Shah?” Mum asked.
She wasn’t going to marry him. But she was in love with him. Reena blinked, not sure if any of this was really happening.
“Why the hell are you two ragging on her?” Saira said. “You’ve been pushing them together since he moved here! You practically demanded she marry the man, and now he turns out to be a wannabe polygamist, and you’re blaming Reena?”
Dad looked furious, but Reena didn’t care.
Engaged…
“Enough!” Dad slammed his fist on the table, making Ashraf and Mum jump backward. “I can’t have a man with Nadim’s reputation working for me, which means I will lose Shiroz’s investment in the Diamond project. Nadim betrayed my trust, and I will not have him anywhere near my company, or my family.”
“We are very disappointed in you, Reena,” Mum added. “Why would you take up with the boy behind our back? Why so many secrets? Don’t you care about this family?”
What the hell did they want her to say? That she hadn’t asked him about his past and instead listened to apparently incomplete gossip? That she hadn’t been willing to be honest with him, so she let him keep secrets from her?
That she wasn’t surprised that the first time she thought a relationship was real, it turned out to be a giant illusion.
Reena was disgusted with herself. He actually gave her a fake ring, and he never pretended it was anything more. Only she did. This was all on her.
Bile rose from the bottom of her throat. She dug this pit herself, and she wished she could bury herself in it.
“That’s it,” Saira snapped. “I’m not listening to one more word of this. Do you even hear yourself, Mum? Reena not caring about the family? Can’t you see what she’s going through?” Saira put her arm back on Reena’s shoulder and clutched tightly. “Do you two remember what happened when I found Joran with that woman? You were going on about what people would say and ordering me not to tell anyone, and you”—she pointed at Dad—“were going on about how this wouldn’t have happened if I’d gone with a good Muslim boy. Reena was the only person in this whole screwed-up family who realized I was in pain. For once in your life, have some goddamn compassion.” Saira pulled Reena up by the arm and picked up her purse. “I will not stand around and watch this…C’mon, Reena. Ashraf, get us out of here.”
Shaking, Reena gave Ashraf the keys to her car once they were outside, well aware that she was in no state to drive. She opened her backseat, sat down, and buckled the seat belt.
Saira sat in the front passenger seat, talking quietly to Ashraf, who gently stroked her arm. “Sorry,” Saira said, turning to look at Reena. “I kinda lost it. I’m not sure that helped at all, but I couldn’t deal with them anymore. How’re you doing?”
How was she doing? She put her hands over her face, rubbing it to reassemble all the pieces that scattered when Dad said Nadim was engaged.
“I’m fine. Not like I’ve never been dumped.” She closed her eyes, willing away the deep throb that had settled between her brows.
“Jesus Christ, Reena, I don’t think I’ll ever understand you. The asshole was engaged the whole time! Don’t say you’re fine! Be upset! Feel this stuff!”
Ashraf started the car. “Where am I going?” he asked.
“Just take me home,” Reena said.
“Fine,” Saira said, nodding to Ashraf. “But we’re staying to run interference in case the dickhead shows up.”
But Nadim wasn’t there when they got to the building. Or at least, his car wasn’t there. And Reena wasn’t feeling generous enough to wonder where the fuck he had gone.
Ashraf and Saira spoke softly to each other as soon as they were in Reena’s apartment. He kissed Saira on the forehead and left, with a sad smile to Reena.
“He has to work,” Saira said.
Reena shrugged, lowering herself onto the sofa.
Saira sat next to her. “What a fucking tool. You had no idea? Did you know he worked for Salim Shah at least?”
Reena shook her head. “No.” A tear escaped her eye. She rubbed it away. Fuck. She needed a drink.
“Ugh. I hate men. Should I call Amira or Khizar? I’m sure you want someone better than me to talk to.”
“Amira.” Reena’s brain wasn’t working right, but Amira would tell her what to do.
Saira opened a video call on her own phone, and Amira answered with a concerned voice. “Saira. What’s wrong?”
“Reena’s in crisis. She’s here, hang on.” She passed the phone so Reena could see the worried face of her best friend.
“What happened, Ree? You okay?”
“Yeah. Just…at brunch…” Her voice cracked.
Saira took the phone back and spoke into it. “Nadim is a lying cheater. He’s been engaged to the daughter of Dad’s nemesis for a year.”
“What. The. Fuck?!”
Reena leaned back and closed her eyes. She’d woken up so happy in Nadim’s arms in that hotel room. He had kissed her leisurely at dawn before moving on to rub her feet. That was just a few hours ago. Now, she had no idea if she would ever see him again.
Reena closed her eyes while Saira told Amira everything she knew. Which, admittedly, wasn’t a whole lot.
And none of it really mattered except that he was engaged. And that he had lied to her.
“I’m on my way, Ree,” Amira said the moment Saira got to the part about Nadim’s engagement. “Give me about two hours.”
“Amira, don’t.” She took the phone from Saira. “You have to work tomorrow. By the time you get here you’ll have to turn around to go home. I’m fine.” She was not fine.
“It’s not you I’m coming to see. It’s that snake. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”
“It’s okay, Amira,” Saira said, taking the phone back. “I’m already here. I’ll pour sugar in his gas tank or something. That’s a thing, right? Ashraf offered to disable his phone service remotely. I know it’s not the flashiest revenge, but it’s the thought that counts.”
“Enough, guys,” Reena said. She didn’t want revenge. She rested her head back and closed her eyes. She didn’t even want to think about this right now. All she wanted was to escape to a world where none of it was happening.
“Saira,” Amira said. “Make her sleep. She probably got very little last night, and she’s in no state to think clearly right now. Turn her phone off and lock the door until the snake leaves town or falls off a cliff or something. Get some rest, Ree. Don’t think about him…we’ll talk tonight. We got you.”
Don’t think about him. Easier said than done. But she nodded and let Saira help her get into bed. And miraculously, once her head hit the pillow, Reena fell into that blissful state of oblivion where everything was fine and her life wasn’t a cataclysmic mess.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Reena slept for only about half an hour, then floated through the rest of the day in a blur. Saira stayed, saying it was to run interference in case Nadim appeared. But her sister also curated a list of Bollywood movies for Reena, stating that these specific films would help with heartbreak. They got through two epic tearjerkers before Saira left and Reena went back to bed.
But despite the existential exhaustion, sleep eluded her. She didn’t toss and turn, or squirm and yawn, rather she just lay there, staring into the darkness, wondering how her life had gone so spectacularly wrong.
She hadn’t had one of these nights in a long time. The type of night she had sworn off years ago when she discovered a few shots of vodka numbed her self-loathing enough to get some sleep.
Somewhere around Reena’s fifth or sixth breakup, she’d made a conscious decision not to let her failed relationships get to her anymore. After all, she had enough to fret about in the other areas of her life, so why worry about her love life, too? She didn’t even cry after Jamil broke up with her, and they had been together for over eighteen months. She had loved his quirky hobbies and gregarious personality. And nothing over Eddie or Carlos, either.
But nothing about her short relationship with Nadim felt like any of the others. And, of course, this time the betrayal felt worse, too. No one had ever kept something so huge from her.
But Reena didn’t get a shot of vodka to help her sleep. Strangely, she didn’t want to numb the pain—she wanted to feel it this time. Like she needed penance for getting herself in this mess.
She tossed around and ended up facing her large mirrored closet door. Illuminated only by the faint streetlight through the window, she saw her reflection. And she couldn’t help but cringe at it.
She couldn’t lie to herself anymore. This wasn’t just about losing Nadim. She had been fighting this angst long before she planted herself on his lap to finally kiss the man who she’d grown to need so much. Long before Nadim even turned up in her hallway with a bicycle and a six-pack of beer, Reena had been fighting the deep emptiness that lay just below the surface. And she’d been fighting it in the way she’d dealt with everything: deflect and distract.
Laid off three times in a career she didn’t even like. Twelve (now thirteen) failed relationships. Her best friend moving on with a great job and a loving boyfriend. Her brother having twins. Even her sister, engaged again. And here was Reena. Always in the background. There for her friends when they wanted a good time. Cooking dinner for the whole building. Even there for her sister, despite her sister treating her like crap until, well, today. Reena was the nice girl. The go-to girl. The doormat girl?
What did Nadim see? The fun girlfriend always up for a romp in bed? The one who made dinner every night and didn’t make you dig too deep? The one easy to fool. Fake some interest in her cooking and give her some parasitic bugs and she’s yours—long enough to cozy up to her powerful father.
She must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing she knew the loud blare of her phone woke her. Barely conscious, she grabbed it and glanced at the name on the screen. Abigail.
“Good morning, Reena! I hope you had a fantastic weekend! How are you?”
Of course, Abigail and her unwavering chirpiness would throw boiling water on the burns already stinging her.
“Fine, thank you, Abigail.”
“It’s a beautiful day. I hope you’ll take some time to enjoy it. I have somewhat of a good news–bad news situation for you this morning. I finally heard from Angie at Top Crust. Unfortunately, they went with another applicant. You made a fantastic impression with the president, but ultimately, they chose a candidate who had several years more experience in the field. But here’s the amazing news, I got a bite on your résumé from Cadbury Chocolates! Wouldn’t that be a spectacular place to work? I’ll be speaking to the recruiter later to set up the interview time. Isn’t this fabulous?”
Reena blinked, wondering if Abigail used a thesaurus to get all those synonyms for great. Of course Top Crust went with another applicant. She closed her eyes, feeling them well up again. There was no way Mum would let her friend Leon hire her daughter. Not if she wanted to keep her poker habit a secret. Goddamn family. Was she too old to emancipate from them?
“Thanks. Yeah, that sounds great,” Reena managed to say.
“Are you all right?”
She fell back, letting her down pillow cradle her pounding head. “Yes, just a headache today.”
“Okay. Take it easy then. I’ll call you when I hear from Cadbury. Keep your chin up, Reena. We’ll get there.”
Reena disconnected the call and noticed three texts from Nadim, asking to talk to her. She deleted them and tossed her phone back on the nightstand.
She stayed in her apartment for the rest of the day. Mostly in bed, where she got through most of Saira’s Bollywood watch list on her laptop. Drinking chai and watching beautiful women in ornate saris sing and cry into ponds or waterfalls helped. Well, maybe not helped so much as distracted, which felt like a victory right now.
She knew she shouldn’t have, but she also watched the cooking contest videos a few times each. From that first gin-and-cold-medicine-fueled potato bhajias lesson, to Nadim showing her how to retrieve eggs from surly Agatha. The videos were a wonder to watch. She could see in her eyes and body language how her affections for Nadim grew each week. The way her gaze lingered a bit longer on him. How she found excuses to touch him a bit more. To smile at him more. She could watch herself fall in love.
But Nadim was the same in all the videos. From the first to the latest, he always looked completely smitten with her on camera. Oscar-caliber acting. Which she knew he was capable of from the beginning, and she still let herself believe the hype.
She closed the videos and made a promise to never watch them again.
He’d texted her two more times just saying he needed to talk to her. Not that he missed her. Not that what Dad learned about him was untrue. She ignored the texts. And he stopped texting.
Saira checked in a few times but didn’t mention any new news or gossip about Nadim. Mum and Dad didn’t contact her at all.
On Tuesday morning her brother called as she was feeding the starters. He knew the basics of what happened, and he had texted Reena a few times the day before, but this was the first time she spoke to him about it. After telling him everything in exact detail, Khizar, with his skill that was so brilliant, and so compassionate, it was almost unreal, managed to make her feel better by doing little more than repeating back what she told him.
Like, “Wow, he bought you a starter jar? He knew you well,” and, “It sounds like he was completely under his father’s thumb. We know how much that sucks.”
Evil big brother.
“I know, but he lied. He’s engaged,” Reena said.
/>
“Or was engaged. Don’t tell me you believe Dad’s gossip at face value, do you?”
“Dad doesn’t gossip! He hates gossip!”
“Seriously, Reena? All Dad does is gossip. When he and his business cronies get together and talk about who is losing money, or who is partnering with who, or whatever, what do you think that is? He thinks because he’s talking about business instead of love lives or clothes it doesn’t count as gossip.”
Reena frowned. How was it fair that her brother was both wise and perceptive? It was true—Dad usually knew what was going on with everyone, until Nadim came along. Although, Dad didn’t appear to know what his own wife was up to, either.
“Khizar, did you know that Mum secretly plays in an underground poker league and went to Vegas last winter for a card tournament?”
He snort-laughed. “No. Really?”
“Yup. She may have sabotaged a job I wanted.” Reena lowered her head to her hard dining table with that statement. With everything else going to shit right now, she hadn’t really grieved the loss of the Top Crust job. Ugh. She should have a drink. She hadn’t had one yet, but bourbon would be welcome right now.
“What job?”
Right. She forgot Khizar didn’t know about her employment woes. There was no point in keeping things secret now, so she told him about losing her job at Railside, and about how much she wanted the one at Top Crust.
“Oh, that sucks, Reena. I’m sorry. That bakery job would have been perfect. What are you going to do now?”
A question for eternity: What the hell was she going to do now? She knew what she wanted to do with her life: she wanted to be working at Top Crust, and she wanted to be building a real relationship with the man she thought Nadim was.
There was no chance of winning the scholarship now, even if they did make it to the finals in the contest. There was no way they would make that last video. So, no bread course to fulfill her dreams and help break the monotony of her life, either.
Everything would go back to how it had been before. She would work somewhere dull during the day and bake bread in the evenings. Live in her father’s apartment building. Visit Amira on weekends. Sunday brunches listening to Mum sing the praises of the newest eligible Muslim bachelor. Maybe she’d even find another superficial relationship with a man who didn’t buy her a starter jar or rub her feet.
