Reena:I’ll have to ask Nadim. Why?
Amira:Duncan insists that he must meet the man away from the chaos at his parents’ place. You know how protective he is.
Reena:How charmingly patriarchal.
Amira:I know. His knight of the round table shtick is getting old. But come early anyway. We’ll let the boys thump their chests and assert their manliness while we catch up.
Reena smiled. Clearly Duncan wasn’t the only one who needed to meet Nadim to make sure Reena’s heart was safe. But she felt fine about their meddling. Truly. Friends who cared enough to meddle were hardly something to complain about.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Reena spent the next few days shopping and researching for their video shoot at the farm. After a few phone calls to her mother and various extended family members, she had a vague recipe that she perfected with Nadim on Wednesday evening. The egg curry was a simple dish, but without any meat or strongly flavored vegetables, the quality of the spices became paramount. And one taste of her sample curry immediately confirmed that the trip to the store that roasted and ground their own spices had been worth it. Nadim proclaimed Reena’s curry to be better than his nani’s version, probably because of the bread she made to go with it—a large stack of parathas, heavy with ghee between flaky layers.
The next morning, Reena was on her way to a job interview when her phone rang. She hit the hands-free button on her steering wheel.
“Hello?”
“Were you planning to tell me you’ve acquired a fiancé to make maani with?”
Crap. Her brother. “Hi, Khizar! Great to hear from you! How’s Nafissa?”
“That’s it? Hi, Khizar? No ‘sorry big brother, I meant to tell you about my engagement.’”
“I’m not really engaged.”
“I figured as much. The bio on the FoodTV site says you’ve been engaged for six months, and I know that guy has only been working for Dad a month or so. What are you playing at, Reena?”
This wasn’t good. If her brother knew, who else could have seen the video? “Since when doyoupay attention to the FoodTV website?”
“Nafissa is nesting. She was looking for freezer meals for after the babies are born.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary! I’m coming right after the birth—I’ll cook for you. What kind of stuff—”
“Don’t change the subject—are you and Dad’s new project managertogether? Because Nafissa’s comment after seeing the video was ‘humina humina, nudge nudge wink wink.’ That’s exactly what she said.”
Reena snorted. She missed her sister-in-law. “No, we’re only pretending to be engaged for the contest. Don’t tell Mum and Dad.”
“Yeah, of course I won’t. So you’re pretending to be engaged…but youareactually nudge nudging, right? Because there was a lot of chemistry in that clip, and you don’t lie that well.”
It was really impossible to keep anything from Khizar, even with 450 kilometers between them. And she was fine with that—her brother always had her back. She wished he still lived in town.
“Yeah.” She sighed. “We’re dating. Just casually, though.”
“And Mum and Dad don’t know?”
“No, of course not. They still want me to marry him.” Her brother would understand. “Look, Khizar. Can we finish this later? I’m about to get on the highway.”
“Where you going?”
“Oh…just an off-site meeting. I’ll call you tonight.”
She disconnected the call before he could ask her about work, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her unemployed status from him. Khizar would keep her secret about the contest and fake engagement, no question, but it would be harder to get him to agree not to let the family know she was unemployed. Because he’d want to help her. He was supportive and amazing, and she was always happy to hear from him, but he was still her big brother, and also prone to meddling like the rest of the family.
The whole conversation just increased her anxiety, which was already pretty high, thanks to the job interview. If Khizar, who wasn’t at all into food, saw the video, then others could have seen it, too. Would she and Nadim have to take their fake engagementpublic? They hadn’t even taken their real relationship out in the world yet.
But Reena needed to put it all out of her mind for now. She was on her way to an important interview. This was the secret food-industry job that Abigail had hinted about—and Reena had full-on squealed when she heard more about it. It was for a financial analyst position at the corporate office of Top Crust, a bakery chain. Reena spent the rest of the drive practicing interview answers in her head.
After parking at the building that held a Top Crust bakery on the main floor, and their corporate offices above it, she squared her shoulders and took a cleansing breath. She’d been to the bakery many times—for a chain bakery, they produced a decent crusty loaf, if a bit overproofed. Their soups and sandwiches were tasty, too, with unique and innovative combinations. This job was perfect for her. She needed to nail this interview.
