Chapter 7 #2
“Bunny!”
“Go on,” Maheen relented. “Stay where I can see you.”
Once the girl had darted off, Maheen pulled Hena to the side. Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. Two suitors in twenty-four hours!”
Two suitors? Hena snuck a quick glance at Reza. He was scrolling through his phone. Hopefully he hadn’t heard.
“Maheen, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but—”
“Nothing bad. Weddings are the perfect place to find someone. You know Auntie Hanifa wanted to introduce Haris to her daughter? She’s graduating from pharmacy school and they’re on the prowl.
She was complaining that he was chatting with you an awful lot,” Maheen teased her.
“And look, I heard Courtney and Reza were flirting at the breakfast bar, but you’re the one he’s having breakfast with, right?
My take is they’re both cute, so you can’t go wrong. ”
Maheen had arrived this morning and already was up to date on the gossip.
“There’s nothing going on, Maheen. Really.”
“Well, just so you know, Auntie Gudi cornered Reza yesterday to inquire about his situation. Don’t worry—he’s definitely single.
As for Haris, I’m sure he’s over his ex by now, though emotional baggage is always a risk when you’re talking about the end of a long-term situation.
Did you know she cheated on him with a partner at his law firm?
He found their text messages. Poor guy. He was devastated. ”
Maheen continued talking as Hena exhaled slowly. The note left in her purse made more sense now. Someone thought she was involved with not one, but two men in the span of barely twenty-four hours.
“Don’t worry about Haris’s mom,” Maheen added. “She can be pissed all she wants. That’s how moms are. You know she threw a party when his divorce was finalized? Can you imagine? That woman would do anything for her precious son.”
“Auntie Nipa doesn’t need to worry,” Hena said, hoping the words might somehow travel back to her. “We’re old friends. That’s all.”
Old friends who had kissed once. But that was a lifetime ago. Besides, he was Nasir’s best friend. Just as critically, he was from this community she desperately wanted to leave behind her. Which meant the door had to stay firmly shut.
“Yeah?” Maheen looked mildly disappointed. “For the record, if I had to choose, I’d pick Reza. He is hot. Want me to get some intel for you? I can be subtle.”
“Definitely not,” Hena said quickly. “I do not want you to—”
Too late. Maheen was already walking over to him.
Hena watched helplessly as her cousin leaned on the table.
“I hear you’re single,” she said to Reza. “So tell me, who let you get away and why?”
Hena buried her face in her hands. Mortified. She was officially mortified. At least Reza seemed amused.
She needed an exit. Any exit.
“I’ll go check on Inaya,” she muttered, backing away.
The sun was shrouded in clouds when Hena spotted the girl on the boardwalk, crouched low. Her attention fixed on something across from her.
“Did you find the bunny?” Hena called.
No answer. Inaya didn’t move.
“Inaya?”
The girl’s eyes lifted to Hena’s. Her lower lip trembled.
“Auntie,” she whimpered. “Help.”
Hena’s eyes followed the girl’s finger. Her stomach dropped.
Time slowed.
She was seeing things. She had to be.
Except this was real.
There was the bunny. Or rather—there had been. An enormous python was currently devouring it in slow, slurping gulps.
And it wasn’t alone. Five others slithered nearby. The largest of them—coiled and thick as an old tree trunk—lay inches from Inaya’s feet.
Hena’s skin prickled. She forced her demeanor as calm as she could make it. “Inaya. Stay still. I’ll be there in a second.”
She inched closer to the boardwalk across the damp, spongelike ground. Her heels sank deeper with each step. From the corner of her eye she spotted another python slithering in the muck.
The little girl saw it and whimpered louder. She turned toward Hena.
“Inaya—no!” Hena cried out as the heel of the girl’s shoe grazed the reptile’s tan and black scales.
The creature didn’t move.
Not yet.
Hena’s pulse skittered. She needed to run forward.
Grab Inaya off the boardwalk to safety. Instead, she was frozen in place.
Pythons were strong. Their grip tight enough to take down crocodiles without missing a beat.
Any wrong move could trigger the snake. If it wrapped itself around Inaya, constricting her body, it was over.
Behind her, footsteps.
Maheen.
“Honey! Let’s get you showered. Your dad said the shuttle will be here any minute now, and I have to get ready for my airboat ride.”
The footsteps slowed. Maheen drew to Hena’s side and stumbled to a stop. Her shoes squished as they sank into the ground.
Her scream ripped through the air.
The snake snapped its head toward the sound. The other snakes stirred.
“Mommy!” The girl broke into a sob and rushed toward her, her foot clipping the snake’s side.
There was no time to think.
Hena leapt onto the boardwalk. In one swift motion, she yanked Inaya off, stumbling onto the muck at the base of the walkway. Maheen gathered her daughter into her arms and held her tight, burying her face in Inaya’s neck.
“Oh my god,” she whimpered. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
People flooded the lawn, drawn by Maheen’s scream. Aunties and uncles. Courtney. Mansur. Whispers rose to gasps. Reza was there too, his face lined with concern. He took a step forward when Lulu’s voice rang out.
“Is everything all right?”
She pushed through the crowd and hurried toward them. Coming closer, she stopped cold. She yanked out her phone and typed furiously.
“Everyone, please go inside,” Lulu said sharply. “I’m calling wildlife control. For your safety, return to the hotel now.”
The lobby was cool when Hena stepped inside with Reza. Outside, the commotion about the snakes was only growing louder.
“Hate on Orlando all you want,” Reza said, running a hand through his hair, “but I’ve never seen pythons lounging around there.”
“That wasn’t normal. I mean, yes, pythons are definitely a problem around here, but I’ve never seen so many in one spot.”
He pointed to Inaya sitting across the lobby, now playing with Maheen’s phone and swinging her legs from a bench. “She seems to have recovered quickly.”
“It’s nice to be young, isn’t it?” Hena said. “When you don’t know all the things that can hurt you.”
When they reached the elevators, Reza shot her a sidelong look. “Just so I understand, you’re terrified of alligators, but pythons? Totally cool with those.”
“You must have missed how I froze up. Every second counts in a situation like that. I was petrified, Reza.”
It had been sheer luck the snake hadn’t wrapped itself around Inaya. Sheer luck Hena got her away in time.
The elevator dinged and she stepped in. Reza put out a hand to stop the doors from closing. When he spoke again, his teasing tone was gone.
“Petrified or not, you did what you needed to do. She’s safe because of you. You were incredible out there, Hena. Really.”
She held his gaze until the doors shut. Only then did she release the breath she’d been holding.
What was it about Reza? It wasn’t like she’d sworn off men after Nasir.
She’d been on her share of dates in San Francisco.
Nice dinners at the best spots in the city.
Outings to the de Young Museum or the SFMOMA.
But even with the neurologist she’d dated for nearly four months last year, going as far as meeting his parents at their Ugly Christmas Sweater party, she hadn’t felt the way she did around Reza since the moment they met: butterflies.
It’s nothing, Hena firmly told herself. Reza was fun to flirt with. Easy to talk to. Nice to look at. He was also one of the few people here who didn’t see her as the enemy.
Reza was a much-needed distraction during a week when she desperately needed one.
Nothing more.