Accidentally Engaged(41)
“You haven’t shown this to Dad, have you?”
“Nah, I wanted to show you first.”
Reena squinted at the picture. This wasn’t really the damning gossip Saira seemed to think it was. Reena knew Nadim had lived in London and came from a wealthy family. Hanging out with other wealthy people was expected.
But Dad wouldn’t see it that way. Partying like this? With the notorious playboy gang? Conspicuous displays of money? Drinking? Dad wouldn’t approve of anything he saw happening on this yacht, no matter how harmless it actually was.
She wasn’t going to tell her father. This was Nadim. Her friend. The man who’d kept sixteen sourdough starters instead of throwing any out. She couldn’t throw him under the bus before she understood what she was looking at.
But clearly she did need to find out what he was hiding from her. She was relying on him so much. And her family’s business was at stake. She needed to know if he could be trusted. “Saira, don’t tell Dad, but ask Rish for more information. Was Nadim into shady stuff, too?”
Saira nodded. “Okay, fine. Let me dig a little deeper.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Reena studied the pictures again once Saira had left. Nadim looked like a self-absorbed dimwit surrounded by other self-absorbed dimwits. Not the responsible project manager her father had hired. One eyebrow raised in mirth and lips ever so lightly pursed. Duck-face. Her new friend had duck-face on a yacht.
Her phone rang. Of course, Nadim’s name flashed on her screen. She answered it.
“I’ll come straight by after work,” he said when she answered. “Want me to pick up some takeout?”
He was coming by? She’d hoped she would have a little more time to process all this before she had to face him again. “Um, that’s okay. Thanks, though. I planned a quiet night at home. I did too much socializing on the weekend.”
“Reena, did you forget?” His voice lowered. “We have to do the lice treatment tonight.”
Her shoulders slumped. Yeah. Even if Duncan said she was lice-free, she’d still rather do the treatment again to be sure, and it needed to be Nadim who did it. As mortifying as it was to have her sexy neighbor shampoo and check her hair, she couldn’t let another person witness her shame.
Wait, sexy? Where did that come from? She’d just been worried he had deep dark secrets and now he’s sexy? Stupid libido…Reena wondered if it was time to get laid, so she could really focus on this issue with Nadim.
That did not make sense.
“Reena, you there? Will you let me do this for you?”
“What?”
“Are you okay? You seem a little spacey.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m asking if I can bring you dinner tonight. Maybe that Thai place you told me about?”
Reena needed to get a grip as soon as possible. She sighed. “Yeah, sounds fine.” She let him know which dishes she liked and hung up.
*
Once Reena was done unpacking, she started cleaning to calm her nerves. Deep cleaning. Starting with the kitchen, she scrubbed, scoured, and polished until her fingers were numb and her mind was clear enough to make a decision: It was high time she and Nadim talked. Really talked. No more skirting any serious topics, no more pretending their pasts didn’t exist. She was going to ask him about his life in London and see if he mentioned the yacht people. She wouldn’t wait for Saira’s gossip train. No more deflecting.
She finished deep cleaning by midafternoon, but her low-level anxiety (okay, honestly not that low) about confronting Nadim hadn’t eased. Breathing deeply to slow her rising heart rate, she grabbed her iPad and logged into a few job search boards while her email loaded. And…crap. An email from Abigail, the employment counselor. She didn’t get the job she had interviewed for last week. They went with another applicant.
Because of course they did.
Reena threw her iPad on the couch. She had let her hopes sail a little too high there. She took a deep, long breath, but it didn’t help. She needed to cook something.
Since she didn’t feel like making a yeast bread, she decided on pie. Mixing the pastry and cutting the fruit would distract her from that stupid job she didn’t realize she had wanted so much. Eating the pie later, with a scoop of the crème br?lée ice cream in the freezer, would be just the thing to soothe the crushing rejection. And finally, feeding Nadim the pie would soften the impact of the personal questions she planned to spring on him.
She went with her favorite: sour cream apple pie. Rich, buttery pastry filled with tart apples nestled in a sour cream custard and topped with a brown sugar crumble. No one could hold secrets when faced with the scent of that pie, let alone the taste.
Nadim arrived on time, armed with a plastic bag and a huge paper bag of takeout in one hand, and a six-pack in the other. He had grabbed Thai beer to go with the Thai food. Nice choice. His jeans were worn and faded, and his T-shirt carried the emblem of her favorite brand of sriracha hot sauce.
“God, it smells good in here.” He grinned as he dropped his things on the breakfast bar. “Sometimes I still have to pinch myself that I get to live near these smells.”
Reena started opening the paper bag of takeout containers. “Thanks. And thanks for grabbing dinner.”
“No problem at all. I’m looking forward to trying that chicken mint salad…” He wandered over to the counter, near the stove. “I found the smell.” He leaned forward, nose inches from the cooling pie. When he stood straight his face looked luminescent with pleasure.