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“Oh, I didn’t. Dad sent me to boarding school. Saaina arrived a week after I left. They got married, and I only came home for a week here and there. Which is somehow my fault, by the way.” She chuckled, but it was a frustrated sound.
Now wasn’t the time to trot out those stories.
It had been unique growing up in a meshed household like theirs. Mom came from Southern Baptist roots while Dad was Muslim. Neither had practiced much, at least that was what Mom had said. Robin’s birth had changed that somehow. But when she went to boarding school, all of that fell away.
Harper didn’t say anything for a moment.
Had Robin said too much?
Shit.
She was still formulating her plan and here she was possibly screwing it up before she’d begun. Maybe she needed to go home, get away from Harper, and hope this all blew over.
Then again, home wasn’t really where she wanted to be right now.
“That’s a lot to process,” Harper said. He swung their joined hands a bit, adding a bit of playfulness to the moment she didn’t know how to respond to. “That had to be incredibly difficult to go through.”
“It was,” she admitted.
Harper stopped and turned her to face him. “Hey? What do you say we get out of here? Want to go dance? Get some drinks?”
Inwardly she cringed. She didn’t do much of either.
He frowned suddenly and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his phone, and she did her best not to look at the screen. But she needn’t have bothered. Harper turned it to face her.
“This your uncle?” he asked.
Robin stared at the screen a moment.
That was Uncle Daar’s number. How’d he get Harper’s contact information so fast?
“Uh… Yeah,” she said.
“I guess he was serious about chatting sometime. Huh.” He pocketed the phone then looked at her. His brows drew down, and a deep line marred his cheeks. “I don’t know how to bring this up, but I speak Arabic. Didn’t seem like the moment to tell your dad that when…”
Robin’s cheeks heated. She didn’t speak any Arabic worth mentioning, but she was used t the snide comments said around her. What had he heard? “Oh my God… I’m so sorry.”
Harper merely laughed. “I think I can handle being called an idiot. But, I should probably volunteer that information at some point. Also…”
His lips twisted into a grimace.
Damn, but what might he overhear if he never told Dad and Uncle Daar?
“I don’t like this whole business, pretending you aren’t there. Is it always like that?”
Robin swallowed and damn if her insides didn’t bubble over with happiness just a bit. “No, thankfully. It’s only like this when Uncle Daar is around, and only when he and Dad are together.”
“I see,” Harper mumbled.
“Sorry, maybe I should head home,” she said under her breath. “I’m out of sorts. Usually, I’m a little better prepared for these visits…”
“No.” Harper edged closer. “I don’t like leaving things this way. Let’s have a drink, or go back to my place? Not for any funny business, just… Whatever makes you feel better.”
Robin looked up into Harper’s eyes. He was being serious for a change and she quite liked this side of him.
He was the tool she needed. Her plan had come together over dinner while watching how he melded with the two other men in her life. Of course, the idea had struck her yesterday, but it wasn’t until she’d seen Harper with Dad and Uncle Daar that she’d really got the vision.
She would never be welcomed into the private chats she wanted to be part of. But Harper could. And he had no qualms talking to her about them.
