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Uncle Daar shifted toward her. “Would you happen to know when he’s free?”
“No, but I can find out,” she said slowly.
Okay, this kind of sucked.
She’d wanted Dad and Uncle Daar to be interested in Harper, but at this rate that was all they were going to talk about. It shouldn’t sting, but it did. No questions about how she was, what her plans were other than work. It wasn’t new that her only worth to the family was what she did for them, but every now and then it still hurt.
Yes, Uncle Daar might value her intelligence, but at the end of the day she knew she couldn’t trust him. And Dad would always do what was in his best interest.
Robin grabbed a pastry off the platter in the middle of the table and proceeded to nibble on it. Dad and Uncle Daar talked back and forth, switching from English to Arabic without warning. The longer it went on, the more animated they became, rehashing stories from their youth and old conflicts they’d never quite given up.
It was as if no one else existed.
Even Saaina joined them for about ten minutes then left. No one even spoke to her.
Things shouldn’t be this way.
Robin and Saaina should be able to bond over this. Not for the first time Robin wondered what it was her stepmother had against her.
With the banter showing no signs of stopping, Robin excused herself from the table. Her inner balance was off, but that wasn’t unexpected. Uncle Daar had that effect on her. He was the only family member who treated her with respect, but she couldn’t ignore that he wasn’t necessarily a good man. Then there were her suspicions.
She wanted answers.
Robin retreated to the office and settled in for more routine analysis. Neither Dad nor Saaina were very good with keeping track of their money. Which was why it had come as no surprise to Robin when she’d figured out at least three former employees had stolen from the family. While she was unhappy with the former employees, a large portion of the blame stayed with Dad and Saaina. If they treated people better and weren’t so careless, these things wouldn’t happen. But changing Dad would be like trying to change the seasons.
Her phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts and all the numbers.
Robin glimpsed the name on the display and smiled. Of course it wasn’t until she clicked the green button that she remembered her own failings.
“Hey,” she said in far too high of a pitch.
“It has been three days! Three! When were you supposed to call me?”
Robin groaned and leaned on the desk. “Tuesday. I’m so sorry, Jessica.”
“Is he there?” Jessica whispered.
Robin glanced at the doors leading into the office. “Yeah.”
“Oh my God. Okay. Well, what’s happened?”
“Nothing.”
Jessica groaned and Robin could picture her flopping back. Onto a bed. Onto a chair. Jessica was an expert flopper to the point that Robin had bought her a floppy-eared bunny their junior year.
They shouldn’t have been friends.
Jessica was bright, bubbly, never went to class. Almost Robin’s complete opposite. And yet, they’d bonded. Come to find out, Jessica was something of a genius. She hadn’t gone to class because she rarely needed to if a teacher was just going by the book. On top of that, Jessica was one of the best people Robin knew.
“Do you have anything for me? Anything at all?” Jessica pleaded.
“No.”
“Phone numbers? Emails? Give me something!”
“I told you I’d try, but no promises.”
“Can you at least tell me his flight information? I can work off that.”
