Accidentally Engaged(36)
Reena stilled. “What rumors?”
“Just some rumblings that he may have been involved with some underhanded people. I don’t know much about his life in London. Has he told you anything?”
“No. Honestly, he hasn’t mentioned anything.” In fact, he specifically expressed a desire to keep his past hidden, so maybe there was something to Dad’s rumors.
“Could you keep an eye out for anything that looks amiss about the man? I want to preserve the reputation of the business.”
“You want me to spy on him?” This was rich. Not two minutes ago he was encouraging her to marry the man because of his MBA.
Dad shook his head. “I didn’t say spy.”
“But that is what you’re asking.”
Dad frowned. “I have to protect this project and the family’s good name. I trust your judgment, maybe more than anyone’s.” He sighed. “Find out more about him. Who does he have associations with? Who is important to him? Both here and overseas. You’ll know if you hear something that doesn’t sound right.”
Amazing. Her mother wanted her to find out what kind of daal the man liked, and her father wanted to know who his friends were. Why didn’t they just ask him? Reena picked at her doughnut, scraping a fingernail full of the maple icing and sucking it off her finger. And besides, Dad trusted her? Bullshit. He only said that now because he wanted intel on his protégé.
She knew little about Nadim and his life before he moved to Toronto, and she knew he was hiding things from her. A hollowness formed in her core. She trusted Nadim. Maybe too much?
“Can I count on you to be honest with me, Reena?”
And that was the crux of it. Reena had never been honest with her father. Not at sixteen, when she snuck out of her bedroom window to meet boys, not when she happily told him how much she loved working in finance, and certainly not now, out of work, and making cooking videos for a national contest. Did her father realize she never told the whole truth? Probably. After all these years, he had to know.
But the stakes were higher now. And this little heart-to-heart was his way of reminding her of that. Asking her to meet him specifically at the building so she could see its progress. Buying her a doughnut and making a joke about their alliance against Saira. And finally telling her, for the first time, that he trusted her judgment. These confessions were intentional. All the family finances were tied up in this project. Even if Reena didn’t care too much about her parents’ opinion of her, she didn’t want to see them lose everything. This was her family.
And Dad wanted her to decide if she had their back. Did she?
She had a lot to think about while up north this weekend.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Is this some sort of intervention? And why did Duncan leave to feed turkey to chickens?”
The calming view of the river across the street from Amira’s house framed by trees dappled with shades of orange, red, and yellow did nothing to soften the effect of the unique torture that Reena just endured. For the last ten minutes, her best friend in the whole world had been listing everything wrong in Reena’s life with the thorough accuracy and attention to detail one would expect from a brilliant industrial engineer.
Reena curled her feet under her on the soft couch on the porch, hugging her warm chai close. It still felt strange that this beautiful century house belonged to her best friend. Up until this siege of misery, it had been a lovely weekend. Well, it had been lovely only after Duncan’s absolutely mortifying lice check as soon as Reena got there. He was a teacher and practically raised his niece, so he claimed to be an expert. Once he was sure Reena was bug-free, he made a crack about Nadim not knowing a louse from a mouse, and welcomed Reena into his home. Reena was relieved there were no bugs, but maybe life would be less embarrassing if she didn’t tell Amira absolutely everything that happened to her. Now she felt like she was under a magnifying glass again, this time with Amira inspecting her instead of Duncan.
“It’s not an intervention. And Duncan left to go feed his parents’ chickens, since they are in Turkey. I told you about the Galahads’ new fascination with Islamic architecture,” Amira said, before blowing gently on her mug. “Besides, isn’t an intervention supposed to be a roomful of judging people pretending to be concerned? This is just you and me.”
Another shovel of shit to add to the steaming pile. Even if she did need an intervention, who would come? Mum, Dad, or Saira? Laughable. Khizar maybe, but with two babies and a promotion coming, his middle sister wasn’t high on his list of concerns right now.
“I’m fine, Amira,” Reena assured her friend.
“Screw fine, Ree!” Amira threw her arms in the air, causing a small spurt of chai to erupt from her mug. “You’re always fine. The fucking house is on fire, and you’re that idiotic dog with a cup of coffee saying this is fine. It’s not fine. You’ve been downsized, again. Your father has all but traded you in a business deal and is now asking you to spy on the man he wants you to marry. A man who slept with a flea-ridden kindergarten teacher!”
Reena blinked at Amira. She really didn’t need this mirror held up in front of her life. Deflect and distract time. “Meer, why is there a couch on your front porch?”
“Don’t you play that deflection game on me.” Amira clenched her teeth. Reena knew her friend was currently counting under her breath to calm herself. “I know what happened when you were out of work before. You barely left your apartment and subsisted on bourbon and baguettes for weeks. You need people—wallowing a little bit is okay, but you can’t stay like that. When’s the last time you went on a date?”