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Softly, she said, “I’m not a mean person, Sophie.”
I rolled onto my side to face her fully. “I know you’re not. I know that.”
“It’s just that Rashida is so…”
“Like a puppy?” I suggested.
“Yes! And I’m more like—”
“A cat?”
She arched an eyebrow. “I was going to say I’m more like a porcupine.”
“A porcupine?” I could relate. “Let me guess. Because you’re guarded, even prickly, but if someone gets close enough, they can see how cute you are eating one of those little pumpkins?”
Amal’s pained expression was much more familiar than her hurt-feelings face. “I think that got away from you at the end.”
“It really did”
“But you’re not totally wrong,” she went on. “If you’d stopped before the pumpkin bit, you’d have gotten it. It’s not that I want to be rude or blunt or push people away. I just do it because it’s in my nature. And I don’t know why. I’ve had a marvelous childhood; Mama dotes on us and I know that Baba is so strict because he worries. Nothing made me like this. Like the porcupine, I was just born with natural defenses that I’m wary about surrendering.”
“I am not unfamiliar with that.” I frowned. “Is it because of the broken home thing? Granted, your parents got divorced, and mine never married—”
“I don’t consider our home broken. Our parents’ relationship changed, not their relationship to us.” She seemed a little offended at the implications of my terminology.
“Sorry. It’s an archaic term, I guess. But that’s a great way to look at it.” A wistful ache swelled beneath my ribs. “I wish I would have had you as a friend back when I was a teenager. I could have used some of that perspective.”
Amal nodded. “Molly told me what happened with your father. It must have been difficult for you.”
It had been, but it didn’t seem fair to dump those issues on a teenager. “You and Molly are getting along, then?”
“Yeah,” she said quickly, pulling her sunglasses down. “Your sister is pretty cool.”
“She gets that from me. It’s genetic.”
Amal shook her head vigorously. “No. You got that from Becky. From what Molly has to say, the less you got from your dad, the better.”
“What?” I sat up straight.
“Oh, it just sounds like he was kind of...not a super great dad.” She quickly added, “He didn’t hit them or anything! He just wasn’t as interested in the girls as he was in all the forestry and conservation stuff he was into.”
It struck me then that Amal knew more about my father than I did. That was not a top-five all-time feeling.
So, I changed the subject. “Well, anyway, I’m glad Molly will have a friend in New York when she comes back for school.”
“About...that.” Amal cleared her throat and fidgeted with the edge of her plush towel. “What would you say if I told you Molly and I were...heading toward more than friends?” She shrank back a little, clearly bracing herself for the worst.
My jaw dropped, and I laughed in disbelief. “Amal! Are you going to ask your aunt out?”
“She is not my aunt,” Amal protested. “You’re not my—”
“I’m kidding!” I raised my hand. “I think it’s kind of cute. Do you want me to see if she likes you?”
“Oh, um.” She cleared her throat. “I already know she likes me. She’s the one who...made the first move.”
Flashing red lights and klaxon sirens went off in my brain. “What kind of moves are we talking about here?”
“Sophie, please. Do you think I’m going to hop into bed with a girl I only met a week ago? On a family vacation with my parental figures?” Amal clucked her tongue. “You could think better of me, you know.”
“Excuse me, but I’m a young, modern woman,” I argued. “I don’t care about your sexual activities. I just care about my sister’s sexual activities. Preventing them, I mean. And not because I’m a prude. I’m just in charge of her while she’s here and everything in our puritanical culture insists that the most important thing to protect is her virtue.”
“I just thought that before my crush on your sister gets any worse, I should...ask for your blessing? I’m not sure. I’ve never had a girlfriend before.” Her voice sounded so small and helpless, for a moment, I thought maybe I’d stumbled over the wrong Amal by accident.
“If you were looking for advice on the matter, always tell each other exactly what you’re feeling. Especially if they aren’t nice feelings.” I’d had to learn that lesson over and over again, and it still hadn’t stuck, so maybe I wasn’t the one to be giving that advice.
“Therein lies the problem.” She sighed. “Porcupine.”
I leaned back in my chair, chewing my bottom lip in thought. Though Amal had stayed behind to be alone, she seemed chatty now. And it was rare in the extreme that we bonded at all. Maybe it was pushing it to extend the offer, but I had to. “I was thinking about having a massage at the spa while the rest of them were away. Wanna join me?”
