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“Do you stay in contact? Talk to her on the phone?”
“I do not have a telephone. I have not been able to speak with her for almost two years.”
“Would you like to use mine?” Piper said impulsively.
She heard Faiza’s sharp intake of breath. “You would let me do that?”
“Sure.” Piper already had so many money troubles, what did a few more dollars on her cell bill matter? “Do you know her number?”
“Oh, yes. I have memorized it. But if anybody knew . . .”
“They’re not going to find out from me.” She tossed her cell in the backseat and told Faiza how to use it.
The aunt must have answered, because a joyous, rapid-fire conversation in what Piper assumed was Urdu followed. As the conversation went on, the traffic finally began to move, and by the time Faiza returned her phone, they were back on the Eisenhower.
“My khala has been so worried about me.” Faiza’s voice was choked wit
h tears. “She dreams that I can come to live with her, but I have no money, no way to get there.”
Piper’s cell rang. She wasn’t supposed to take personal calls when she was driving, but she couldn’t ignore this one, and she put it on speaker.
“Interesting,” a familiar male voice said. “Here I am sitting in my office waiting for a meeting that was supposed to start ten minutes ago, yet I’m still alone.”
“I’m stuck in traffic.” Before he could upbraid her, she went on the offensive. “If you hadn’t refused to give me your cell number, I would have called.”
“Stuck in traffic is not an excuse. It’s a sign of bad planning.”
“I’ll send that to Oprah as an inspirational quote.”
“I liked it better when you were pretending to be in love with me.”
“My meds kicked in.”
He snorted.
She gnawed at her bottom lip and looked at the clock on the dashboard. “If I’d had your cell number—”
“I told you. If you need me, call my agent.”
“I thought you were being sarcastic.”
“I’m never sarcastic.”
“Not exactly true, but . . . I’ll be there in thirty-five minutes.”
“At which time I’ll be at the gym.” The call went dead.
As Piper disconnected, Faiza spoke up, clearly incredulous. “You were talking to your employer, the American football player? So disrespectfully?”
“He annoyed me.”
“But surely you will be punished.”
Almost certainly. But not in the way Faiza meant. “Employers here can’t do anything but fire you.”
“This is a very strange, very wonderful country.” Faiza radiated goodness in a way Piper could only admire, and the wistfulness in her voice was heartwrenching.
They finally reached the hotel. Faiza touched Piper’s shoulder. “Thank you for what you have done, my friend. I shall pray for you every night.”
