Sameera looked at Tom. “Alaska?”
Chapter Five
Despite his Southern charm and manners, Sameera was shocked to learn that Tom Cooke wasn’t a native of Georgia. Rather, he hailed from a small town in Alaska, where he had spent his formative years before moving south for college, he explained while serving dessert—a delicate French vanilla ice cream. Sameera was so intrigued, she turned off her timer and listened as Tom explained that he didn’t return home after dropping out of college. But after catering her family’s Eid party, he realized how much he missed home—and decided to accept his family’s invitation to visit over the holidays.
As an added bonus, his agent was excited by the idea of Tom making content in a new locale; his viewers would love a glimpse inside the small town where he had grown up, and where his family had lived for generations. He would be gone for only a few days, and when he returned, they would start filming. Tom promised to put in a good word with Andy while in Alaska, and Sameera could pitch him right after Christmas.
They shook on it, and Sameera felt more hopeful than she had in months. Maybe there was hope for her after all.
The next day she went to work, a lightness to her steps and a big smile for everyone—even Blake. She had a plan, and it was a good one. With any luck, Sameera would return to work in the new year hauling a whale behind her. It made the long hours in her office fly by, and hergood mood lasted until she returned to her condo late that night to find her parents waiting in the lobby, tension and worry clear on their faces.
Her heart sank, even as she pasted a big smile on her face and welcomed them to her unit. The one thing she had forgotten to account for was her parents’ suspicious nature. Her family never visited, not without calling ahead. They weren’t back to the casual drop-in phase of their relationship yet. She had a feeling she was well and truly cooked.
As if anticipating her worry, Naveed hastened to reassure her. “Everyone is fine,beta.” He turned to his wife. “I told you we would only worry her by showing up like this.”
They settled on the cream leather couch in front of the television. Her condo was small but homey; she was grateful she had been able to keep it after Hunter left. For a few weeks following his abrupt departure, she was sure she would have to sell the condo to pay off the debts he had left behind, but she managed to cobble together a patchwork of loans and keep her home. Yet another reason why she needed to impress Andy Shaikh—she couldn’t afford to get behind on her payments.
Her mother began with no preamble, and Sameera was relieved. She hated small talk almost as much as Tahsin did. “Lubna Aunty sent me the video you made with Tom,” Tahsin said. “Iknewyou were dating. You never want to cook biryani with me.”
Sameera exhaled slowly. Of course, she had known something like this was likely to happen. Her parents had a lot of friends, and many of those friends loved nothing more than to gossip. She wouldn’t be surprised if Lubna Aunty had a Google Alert for all the black-sheep children of her closest friends.
But Sameera had a plan: She was going to tell her parents the truth. While she had agreed to fake date for the internet, as she’d explained to Tom last night, she was done lying about her relationships—or, in this case, the lack of—to her family. Tom had agreed, of course.
“Tom and I are not together, and we’re not dating,” Sameera said now. “I would have told you if we were.”
There was a long, awkward moment of silence as her parents looked at each other; clearly, they didn’t believe her. She inwardly cursed. Of course they didn’t—she had kept Hunter a secret from them for years. He wasn’t the first boyfriend she had hidden from them, either. It made sense that they would suspect Tom was merely the latest. Her parents’ lack of trust hurt; she thought they had made progress in the months since their reconciliation.
Hunter had never liked her family. This had worked out in her favor, because she hadn’t been eager to introduce them. By the time he had shown up in her life, she was used to code-switching between dutiful, Brown Muslim daughter in front of her family to the nonobservant person who just wanted to fit in with everyone else. It felt normal to keep the two parts of her life separate.
He hadn’t understood why she needed to visit home so frequently or why her parents called so often. Hunter’s family did not figure into his future plans at all, while she knew she would return to Georgia to settle after law school. He had followed her after finishing his MBA, and at first, Sameera was flattered by this loyalty. She later realized he had become used to having her do things for him, from finding them an apartment to doing all the grocery shopping, organizing their social plans, and making sure their bills were paid once they’d moved in together. All while she had kept their relationship a secret from her family.
“He’s acting like he’s your bored husband already,” Nadiya had once complained. Her sister was the only one in her family who knew about Hunter from the start. Sameera always confided in her older sister, and though Nadiya didn’t always approve of her secret relationships, she had never betrayed her trust.
Hunter’s influence had been subtle. Every time she made plans to visit her parents, he would make comments.That outfit doesn’t look comfortable,he would say when she reached for the newsalwar kameezher mother had bought for her. Or:You never return from your parents’ place in a good mood.He would complain the food she brought home was too spicy or made him sick. He would point out that his parents never expected him to call or visit as often as hers did, that they werecontent their son was living his life. One time, after a minor argument over yet another invitation to a family party, he called her parents “controlling.”Why are you the only one who makes an effort, Sameera?
She would push back, argue that he didn’t understand the dynamics of a first-generation South Asian immigrant family, that he preferred to view everything from his own perspective.
But over time, his words were a slow poison.
She started visiting her parents less often, which became easier as she grew busier with work. She returned their calls after longer and longer intervals. When her parents finally found out about Hunter and confronted her about her deception, the blowup that followed was the worst ever. They hurled accusations and cruel remarks at one another, the eruption of emotions that had been bottled up for years. They questioned her judgment, her competency, even her sanity in choosing a man like Hunter. Both Tahsin and Naveed said Hunter was clearly using her. She shot back that they had never trusted or supported her, that their lack of faith had messed with her sense of self, and she was tired of living according to their impossible expectations.
The fight echoed long after she stormed out of the house, vowing never to return; the estrangement that followed had lasted more than three years. If she were being honest, her father’s long silence had rankled the most. In the past, he had played peacemaker, but not this time.
Their frosty cold war ended only when Hunter was no longer in the picture, and after Nadiya forced the issue with an intervention organized at a local café. By then, Sameera missed her family so much, she was ready to swallow her pride and pretend their fight had never happened. Tahsin and Naveed had done the same. But here they were again, immediately jumping into the role of accuser and defense, all because of a harmless social media video.
“Beta, we’re worried about you,” her father said now, and his words brought her back to the present, and the excruciating conversation in her living room. “You’re always working. You showed up late to our party, you never seem happy, and you’re stressed all the time.”
“I’m a lawyer. That’s just how we are!” Sameera protested. She didn’t want to alarm them by sharing what was really happening at work. That would only add to their worry.
“I understand work is stressful. But you don’t need to hide your boyfriend from us as well,” Tahsin said. There was a pinch of disapproval around her lips that made Sameera want to shrivel up.
Sameera took a deep breath. It was time for the truth. “Tom and I are not together. We’re not dating. We’re ... faking it.”
This made her parents blink. “What?”
“It’s a fake relationship. Like a showmance?” Off their confused expressions, she explained, “Tom and I are only pretending to be in a relationship. He got a lot of views and comments for the video we filmed at your house over the weekend. He asked me to help him out by filming more videos, and by pretending to be his girlfriend, in return for ... some help with my job.”
“But he’s a chef, and you’re a lawyer. How could he possibly help you?” Naveed asked.
