Chapter 45
COLIN
Ilined up my putt, took a deep breath, and sent the ball flying. Isaac and I watched it go, and then drop, very decisively, not nearly as far away as I’d meant for it to. I sighed. “I hate this game.”
Isaac chuckled. “You’ve said that every time we’ve played in the last few months.”
“That’s because every time we’ve played the last few months, I’ve been absolute shit. I have no idea what went wrong.”
Isaac arched his eyebrows at me, inclining his head toward where Deja was ripping around in our golf cart. She was driving it like she stole it, leaning on the horn and not even because anyone was in her way, but because she seemed to find honking hello to strangers entertaining.
“Do you think it’s maybe because you’ve been a little bit distracted for the last few months?
” He laughed when she waved enthusiastically at the groundskeeper when she passed him.
“Not that I blame you. I’d happily sacrifice my golf game if it meant I could be distracted by someone who looks like that. ”
I shot him a warning glare. “You can stop now. Thank you.”
He laughed. “Hey, man. I was just saying. Your fiancée is hot. You should take it as a compliment.”
I sighed, watching as she stopped beside two older women walking along the path. Thirty seconds later, all three of them were laughing like they’d been friends for years. Isaac squinted at them. “Does she know them?”
“I doubt it.”
“How is it that she just makes friends absolutely everywhere?”
“I honestly don’t know. It’s a talent, but it happens a lot.”
As we watched, she picked up her camera and started showing the women some pictures on it, all of them in hysterics moments later. I smiled and warmth flooded my chest as it occurred to me, once again, that I was marrying that girl.
Fuck me.
“She’s really fun,” Isaac said. “Is her whole family like that, or is it just a Deja thing?”
“Man, you have no idea,” I replied absently, then managed to tear my gaze away from her to look at my brother. “You’ll find out soon, though. I mean, all of you are coming to Cairo for the wedding next month. I’d buckle up if I was you. The Saad brothers are going to be keeping you real busy.”
He thought it over for a beat before he grinned. “Or, instead of waiting until next month, I could fly out there with you two in a few days.”
“You wouldn’t be sorry. Egypt is one of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen. You’d be missing out on the Thanksgiving vibe here, though.”
Thanksgiving wasn’t really a thing in Deja’s culture, but since we were getting married in November, the whole family and most of the Westwoods were still taking some time off. The only difference was that instead of gathering around a turkey, our families would be gathering at a wedding.
As far as I was concerned, we’d gotten the better deal. I’d trade stuffing for Cairo any day.
Isaac rocked his head from side to side, considering it before he half-jumped when Deja threw the golf cart into reverse and came speeding toward us. She slammed on the brakes halfway to speak to an older couple who’d waved her down.
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “You know, I think America and its people are growing on her. She’s spoken to more folks today than I have in the last month.”
“Yeah, well, I think she’s embracing it.
” I lifted my cap off my head to smooth my hair back, then put it on again.
“It was her decision to settle in Chicago and run the White Water Lily operations here going forward. The initial plan that was that she’d get everything off the ground here and then commute back and forth but appoint someone to actually run the American division. ”
“So she’s changed her mind?”
“Yep.” Deep down, I believed she was using it as an opportunity to get a bit of breathing room from her family.
As much as she loved them, I had a feeling she was looking forward to laying down roots and making her own way for a change.
“I think she’s excited to take on a new challenge and build something a little independent of her family.
I mean, it’s still the company they started, but she’ll get to choose their direction here and grow this branch from the ground up. ”
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “It must be a bit of a relief to you, huh? Knowing you can stay on as CFO.”
“Well, yeah.” I shrugged. “I love my job, but I’ll still be doing a fair amount of travel between here and Egypt for at least the next few years business-wise, and after that, Deja and I will probably still be visiting pretty often.”
“You poor thing,” he joked. “Living in an ultra-luxurious high-rise while jetting back and forth on GlobalStar’s plane. What a tragedy.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “We’ll be living in the townhouse, actually. Deja likes it better.”
“So what about the condo?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “We’ll either sell it or her family can use it when they’re over here, which will be often outside of the few months a year Deja and I will be in Egypt.”
He let out a low whistle between his teeth, but then Deja called my name and blew me a kiss across the fairway, drawing the attention of half the golfers on the course.
Despite the onlookers, I pretended to catch it and slide it into my pocket.
Then I blew one right back at her, grinning from ear to ear.
Isaac let out a dramatic groan. “I hate seeing you two together. It’s sickening, but also, I like her for you, man. She’s good for you.”
I pretended I was about to shove him and he howled with laughter as Deja came speeding up. After ten minutes of racing around with her, they finally came back to pick me up and we headed home.
On the drive back to the townhouse, she had her nose pressed to the window, suddenly yelling, “Stop!”
I slammed on the brakes, startled, but pulled over next to a little roadside nursery. She turned to grin at me. “That tiny cactus looks so lonely.”
She raced inside to rescue her lonely little cactus, and we were barely on the road again when she sucked in a sudden gasp. “Oh, look at that. It’s gorgeous. I need to take a picture.”
Dutifully, I parked next to the old church, where one picture of the stained-glass windows turned into two dozen. Even I had to admit that those windows were beautiful enough to warrant the detour, though.
Eventually, we were back on our way, stopping only once more for dinner.
We got cheap, Chinese takeout, and the cactus got given a place of pride right at the center of our kitchen island.
I eyed it suspiciously, unsure if that was the safest place for it to be.
“We reach across here all the time and that thing has needles.”
“You just don’t know him yet. He’ll behave.”
“He?” I asked as Isaac set the takeout down and started opening containers.
Naturally, my brother didn’t share my reservations. “I, for one, welcome Spike to the family.”
I groaned. “You named our cactus?”
“He looks like a Spike, don’t you think?”
Deja nodded approvingly. “Spike, it is.”
I sighed but accepted that after years of living alone, my houseplants were now going to start introducing themselves.
Working together, the three of us spread cartons across the kitchen island instead of bothering with plates, and Deja sat cross-legged on one of the barstools, sliding my notebook closer to herself as she chewed her sweet and sour chicken.
After glancing at the first page, she looked up again and pointed her chopsticks at me. “Have you got your passport?”
“Yes. Why do you have my packing checklist?”
She made a tick next to the first item on the page and waggled her eyebrows. “I come from a family of micromanagers, remember? Travel adapters?”
“Check,” I sighed, smiling as I watched her tackle my list. “I’ve got a laptop charger too.”
Isaac glanced between the two of us before he grinned at me. “Look at that, you’re the one being audited for a change.”
When I sighed, he nearly inhaled a noodle laughing, but a knock from the front door had him standing up instead of continuing with his judgment. “I’ll get it.”
As he crossed the room, still chuckling, Deja circled an item on the list. “We’ll need to get you some lighter shirts.”
“I have shirts.”
“No, you have accountant shirts. I’m talking about normal, long-sleeved T-shirts.”
“Long-sleeved?” I frowned. “We’re going to Egypt.”
“Yes, and it’s going to be late fall when we get back there. We’ll be there for winter too.”
“Winter, but in Egypt,” I said slowly. “Okay, and the surrounding Mediterranean countries for our honeymoon, but still. It’s hardly winter over there.”
She smiled sweetly. “That’s why I said you needed light long-sleeves, but you’d be surprised. It can get pretty cold in some parts.”
Before I could remind her that pretty cold would be a walk in the park for someone who’d grown up in Chicago, Issac opened the door and Jasmine swept into the townhouse like a tropical storm.
He even stumbled back a few steps to make room when she threw her arms out to her sides, her eyes wide with exasperation.
“The family thinks you’ve eloped. Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
Deja blinked a few times. “What? I don’t even know where it is right now. Why do they think I eloped?”
“Because you took off to America without telling anyone anything. I had to find out from Khaled where you’d gone.
The horror.” She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and grabbed a carton of dumplings as she sat down in the chair Isaac had vacated.
“Mama called Nanna, then Nanna called Dad, then Dad called Khaled, and he called me. Rami and Tarek are sulking because they think they’ve missed out on Colin’s bachelor party. It’s a mess.”
“We didn’t elope,” I said slowly, not even trying to get my head wrapped around the fact that Jasmine had burst in here, thousands of miles from where she should’ve been, as if we were just upstairs at their house.
“I promise. You can tell Rami and Tarek I don’t need a bachelor party anyway, though. ”
Jasmine snorted. “Tell them yourself, but good luck with that. They’re furious. I’d call them if I was you.”
“We’re going to be back there in just a few days.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. They’re devastated. Call them.”
I sighed, desperately thinking of a way to diffuse the situation before the rest of the family jumped on a plane behind her. “We haven’t run off to the courthouse and we’re not going to. Could you please just tell them all we’ll see them soon?”
“Fine. I will. Eventually.” She turned back to Deja and grinned. “If you’re only heading back in a few days, that gives us time to go shopping.”
Deja’s head fell backward. “The moment I saw you, I knew this was coming. I don’t need to go shopping.”
“Of course, you do,” Jasmine argued, but I left them to it, glancing at Isaac instead to see how my brother was taking his first taste of life with the Saads.
Only, I wasn’t sure he was listening to them at all, judging by the way he was staring at Jasmine, thoroughly checking her out. Finally, when he realized I’d caught him in the act, he cleared his throat and stepped forward.
“Jasmine, if you’re not doing anything tonight, how about I show you around the city?”
She spun to face him as if she hadn’t even noticed him before. She smiled and didn’t even hesitate to ask who he was. She just stood up. “I’d love that. Let’s go. I’ve never been here before. Thank God, someone actually wants to go out.”
Before Deja or I could protest, they were gone in a flash and we were suddenly alone again. I frowned at the door as it slammed shut behind them. “What just happened?”
“I think they left,” she said, sounding as stunned and confused as I felt. “We didn’t approve this, did we?”
“No, but I don’t think they care.”
She laughed, her head shaking before she glanced back down at her food. “Well, more for us, I guess.”
“At least dinner will be a quieter affair,” I said lightly, eventually digging back in my myself while we worked our way through my checklist.
Once we finished eating, we tossed out the empty containers and wrapped up the rest of the food to put in the fridge. Then we moved to the living room, where Deja connected her camera to my laptop. Hundreds of photos of the day appeared on my screen and we went through them together.
“You really are talented,” I murmured, an idea popping into my head for a wedding gift. “I love these.”
She bumped her shoulder into mine. “I couldn’t have taken any of them if you weren’t patient enough to stop for me to do it.”
I pressed a kiss to her lips and rested my head on her shoulder. We looked through the rest of the photos. When we’d finally worked our way through them all, we cuddled up on the couch under a blanket and put on a movie, but we were barely halfway in when she looked up at me.
As soon as I glanced at her, I was gone, bringing my lips to hers for a kiss I’d been longing for all day. She smiled against my mouth and kissed me back, finally ending up on my lap as explosions and music came from the TV.
I honestly didn’t even know what movie we were supposed to be watching anymore. Instead of even pretending to be interested in going back to it, I picked her up, stood, and flung her over my shoulder, carrying her upstairs to our bedroom.
Soon enough, we’d be back in Egypt, fighting for even a minute of guaranteed alone time. Even tonight, Isaac would be bringing Jasmine back here—hopefully—so for now, while I had her all to myself, I intended to make the very best of whatever time we had.