Accidentally Engaged(55)

Saira shrugged. “Don’t know. Probably. Neither of us are getting any younger. It’s about time to settle down if we want a family.”

Reena cringed. Saira was two years younger than her, and if she recalled correctly, Ashraf was a year younger than that. Any other day, Reena would have immediately chalked that comment up to another dose of passive aggression—an offhand quip about being thirty-one with no husband on the horizon? Textbook Saira. But Saira looked so focused on cutting out crackers with a pizza wheel, Reena doubted insults were anywhere near the front of her mind. Reena bit her lip. Had she misinterpreted her sister?

Maybe Saira was just selfishly clueless and not actually evil?

“Is that what you want?” Reena asked. “After everything that happened with Joran, is it wise to dive in again?” Despite everything, Reena’s big-sister protectiveness was still on high alert.

Saira sighed as put the cut crackers on the tray. “Yeah, it is what I want. At first it was about proving to myself that I could get a man who would treat me better.” She laughed sadly. “Janeya, my therapist, helped me figure that out. She’s like you and thinks I should stay single for a while. But Ashraf is not Joran. Joran and I…we were never good for each other. He brought out the worst in me. My relationship with Ashraf is not the same. He would never do what Joran did.”

This conversation felt so strange. Reena couldn’t remember talking to her sister before. Really talking, without Mum or Dad butting in with their own two hundred cents.

Twilight zone was getting creepy.

“Anyway,” Saira continued, “let’s talk about you messing around with Dad’s mentee on the down-low.”

What? “How the hell did you know that?”

Saira laughed, slapping Reena on the arm. “Reena, c’mon! I’m your sister! You have a tell…I always know when you have a new man. Your eyes glazed over when Dad was talking about him yesterday at brunch. Don’t worry, they didn’t seem to notice.”

Jesus, was she really that transparent?

It had been a weird brunch yesterday. Nadim hadn’t been there in person, but apparently his echo lived in the secrets they all kept. Dad didn’t mention he’d been to see Reena only a day earlier to gather information about him. Saira didn’t mention she had been tasked with digging up dirt on him. And, of course, Reena didn’t mention she’d left him naked in her bed. “Are you going to tell Mum and Dad I’m seeing him?”

That question prompted another slap from her darling sister. Enough of these playful whacks, and Reena was sure Saira would leave a mark. “Of course not! What kind of sister do you think I am?”

She shrugged.

“Well,” Saira said, “you going to ask me about the dirt I dug up on that picture?” She held up the yacht picture on her phone.

“Fine. What did you learn?”

“Well, first of all, the cousin is apparently—”

“Wait, Saira, back up. What cousin?”

Saira rolled her eyes again. “Rish and Ashraf’s. We talked about this, didn’t we? Their cousin is the one in the picture with Nadim. Anyway, I asked Rish to ask her cousin if Nadim had a shady past. But Rish couldn’t give me an answer because apparently she and her cousin had this huge fight.”

“Why?”

“Because Rish called her cousin out on their family WhatsApp for being obsessed with this socialite wannabe and her thirst traps. Rish is a bit dramatic sometimes. God, I’m glad Mum hasn’t learned how to use WhatsApp yet. Can you imagine—”

“Wait,” Reena interrupted. “Whose thirst traps? The cousin’s?”

“No, someone else’s. Rish says her cousin is obsessed with her.”

This was why Reena usually avoided gossip. She had no clue what the hell was going on. “Does any of this mean you found out something about Nadim?”

“No, I got nothing at all about him. But I did learn that Rish is even pettier than I thought she was. I don’t know how Ashraf lives with her.”

Fuck. All that, and nothing?

She looked at the picture again. Nadim, with that terrible beard, artfully disheveled hair, and popped-collar lavender shirt. It was so incongruous with the man she had spent most of the weekend with. The man who loved Monty Python and kissed her neck while she kneaded bread. How could it be the same person?

But if he really wanted to put that lifestyle behind him, she was happy to play a part in this transformation. She was doing the world a service and ridding it of one more bro-flake.

“You haven’t told Dad about all this, have you?”

“Of course not, Reena. No one needs Dad’s lectures about the face you show the world.”

Hallelujah for that.

“So,” Saira said, putting her phone down, “I’m only doing the appetizer section now to pitch to the publishing people, but if they bite, can you help with my mains? I don’t want to go completely meat-free, but primarily plant-based—”

Reena put her hand up. “Saira, wait.” They’d been pretty honest with each other today, probably more than they ever had. Maybe now while Saira’s lips were loose, it was time to ask the question that Reena had been avoiding for months.

“One question. Is this wise? I mean with your problems, with you know, your—”