Chapter Nineteen #2
Esa shrugged his shoulders. “The only reason Andy asked you is because he thinks you have some sway over Tom. I think he’s right about that.
You two give me the ick. In a good way,” he hastened to add, noting her frown.
“My advice is to find your man and just lay it all out. What’s the worst that could happen?
It’s not like he’s really your boyfriend.
If he gets pissed and never talks to you again, then at least you warned him. ”
Sameera stared at her brother, surprised by his insight.
He wasn’t just a goofball who liked to play pranks—Esa was growing up to be a wise young man, someone who could get to the heart of things.
In this case, he was also right. The easy, cowardly way out was to try to work both angles.
But in this situation, there was only one way forward, and that was to tell Tom the truth.
“Thanks for listening,” Sameera said.
Esa jumped up, his cheerful expression instantly back in place. “Anytime. I can’t believe old people have problems, too.”
“I’m not that old!” Sameera protested.
Esa looked solemn. “You’re almost thirty,” he said. “One foot in the grave.” He danced away before she could pinch him, calling over his shoulder, “Cal got us a dozen doughnuts, but he’s already eaten half. Hurry up!”
Grinning, she followed him. They both had a sweet tooth, and she knew that if she didn’t hurry, he would eat the other half dozen doughnuts immediately.
As she walked, she reflected how good it felt to be close to her younger sibling again.
When they returned to Atlanta, maybe they could hang out, on their own or even with their parents.
At the thought of Tahsin and Naveed, Sameera stumbled for a second. As good as it felt to get close to Esa again, she knew that it wasn’t enough. She needed to talk to her parents, too. Doing anything else would be a betrayal of the person she was trying desperately hard to become.
The rest of their party had gathered around the food stalls by the time she joined them, and the doughnuts were indeed as delicious as Cal had promised, though as she feared, the boys had claimed the box for themselves.
Luckily, Andy ordered another dozen, along with a tray of coffee to distribute.
As they ate, Naveed shared that he had bumped into Abu Isra at the market.
“He invited us for dinner tonight at his restaurant,” Naveed said. “I accepted, of course. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
While their group shared plans for the rest of the day, Andy bumped against Sameera. She felt him press a folded piece of paper into her palm. While her parents asked Tom for other food stall suggestions, she surreptitiously looked at Andy’s note.
He had written an astronomical number, and her eyes widened. Beside the number, he had written: Starting salary, not including bonuses.
She shoved the note in her pocket. It felt as if it were burning her hands.
That was a lot of money, more than enough for her to pay off all her debts and buy out her mortgage, with some left over for a proper vacation.
She wanted to be the sort of person who wasn’t tempted by a bunch of zeroes, but .
. . She met Andy’s gaze, then interrupted her parents’ conversation.
“Tom, you promised we could check out that stall you were telling me about,” she said. From the corner of her eye, she saw Andy smile to himself. He really was a ruthlessly charming man, and she hated that he always seemed to get what he wanted.
Tom appeared momentarily confused, but then caught on. “Right, of course. Shall we?” He offered her his arm. They all made plans to meet at Abu Isra’s restaurant in a few hours for dinner.
“Have fun, you two,” Andy said, smiling broadly at Sameera.
“Watch your back, bruh.” Esa’s comment was bland, but Sameera noticed him narrowing his eyes at Andy.
Clearly, he no longer thought of Andy as a friend or mentor.
Part of Sameera was relieved. At least her little brother wasn’t as easily won over.
Then again, Esa still lived at home and hadn’t had his heart, and finances, destroyed by a dishonest ex.
She hoped he never would be forced to weigh his moral integrity against making his mortgage payments.
They walked back in the direction of Main Street, which by now felt almost as familiar to Sameera as her own neighborhood.
“Couldn’t wait to get me alone, huh?” he asked, breaking her reverie. Charming Tom was back, and for a moment, she was distracted from her dark thoughts.
“You know it,” she said weakly. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“You’re not leaving me for Andy, are you?
” he joked, but there was a thread of worry in his voice.
She stared at him, and he continued, “Your mom seems quite keen. I know it would be easier, since Andy is Muslim, or at least he was raised in a Muslim family. He’s not observant, either, which might work in your favor, I guess. ”
She had nearly forgotten about Tom’s reaction to them on the ice, too consumed by Andy’s outlandish request to betray her fake boyfriend, but she recalled it now.
Tom was jealous—and she wanted to laugh.
Even if he was right, that Andy was the easier, if not the better choice in her family’s eyes, Sameera had zero romantic interest in Andy, and not only because of his complete disregard for his BFF’s family legacy, and willingness to throw Tom under the bus. She simply didn’t see Andy that way.
Sameera put a hand on Tom’s arm and turned to face him. “Your friend has charisma,” she said truthfully. “He’s rich, and my parents are entirely charmed. But I’m not interested.”
Tom rubbed the back of his head and looked sheepish.
“I know we’re not . . . that you’re not .
. . I know what we are, I mean. You can like whoever you like.
Just . . . watching the two of you skate together, I guess I felt a certain kind of way.
But Andy’s a solid guy. I know he wouldn’t try anything underhanded. Forget I said anything.”
Don’t be so sure about that. Sameera wanted to cry, to tell Tom that actually, he should be worried. That his best friend had just asked his fake girlfriend to try to use her wiles to help him get his way. Tom’s words had only strengthened her resolve to tell him the truth.
But before she could reveal all, Tom continued, “It’s just that lately, things have felt different between me and Andy.”
Sameera paused. Tom clearly wanted to talk this out with her, and after Esa had so graciously allowed her to vent, she felt obliged to pay it forward.
She also wanted to know what Tom thought was going on before she spoke any further.
“That comment you made earlier, about him visiting Alaska without you. It made me wonder,” she said now.
“Of course you noticed that,” Tom said, smiling down at her. “You never miss a thing. I bet you’re hell in the courtroom.”
Her heart warmed at his compliment, and she raised her eyebrow, encouraging him to continue.
“Barb told me Andy has visited a few times in the past year or two,” he said, shrugging as if it were no big deal. Or that he was convincing himself it wasn’t. “I thought it strange he never mentioned it to me.”
That was because the reason he had visited was to try to convince Rob to sell Cooke Place, right from under Tom’s nose, Sameera thought grimly. Or maybe Tom wouldn’t mind?
“That does sound strange,” she said, trying to keep her voice impassive. “What did Barb say about it?”
“Just that Andy had been in the state and asked to drop by. He’s visited a few times with me over the years, so it’s not like he’s a complete stranger to the area.” Tom’s tone was casual, but she could tell that he was willing it to mean nothing while knowing on some level that it did.
Sameera thought quickly. “I thought you were estranged from your dad. That he cut you off when you dropped out of school.”
Tom nodded. “He did. We weren’t in touch for nearly a year. Gradually, we started talking again, though things weren’t the same. Mostly, I find out what’s up through Barb. We text, and she calls to invite me home for the holidays. Andy came with me a few times. Rob loves him, of course.”
Likely because Andy had gone out of his way to charm Rob. “Does Andy like it here? He made a joke about buying Cooke Place,” she said cautiously. She wasn’t sure what she was doing.
Tom laughed, shaking his head. “He makes that joke every time he visits. Tells my dad how much he loves the house, the property. Andy falls in love with places, but he soon moves on. That’s why he has four houses. Or maybe six.”
“You don’t think he’s serious about buying Cooke Place?” Sameera pressed.
“It wouldn’t matter if he was,” Tom said. “My dad would never sell.”
“Because he wants to pass it on to you. Except you don’t want to move back to Alaska. Do you?”
Tom seemed startled at the suggestion. “You know I don’t,” he said. He seemed troubled by the idea. “Do you think Andy was serious?”
Yes! she wanted to yell. Your friend is hella sus, as Esa would say. “What do you think?”
Tom’s clouded expression brightened. “Here we are,” he said.
Sameera had been so intent on the conversation that she hadn’t noticed where they were walking. Tom opened the door to Hilda’s Bakery, ushering Sameera inside.
“What are we doing here?” she asked. She wanted to continue their conversation, but Tom seemed content to let the matter drop, for now.
“I asked Hilda if we could make use of her kitchen this afternoon,” Tom said, and he sounded almost shy. “To make another video. Would that be okay?”
They could continue their conversation in between filming, she reasoned. Besides, he was adorable when he was trying to tamp down his excitement. “Yes, you dork,” she said fondly. “Let’s cook.”