Chapter 14
JASMINE
The family estate in Sharm El-Sheikh was mercifully quieter now than it had been the last time we were here. It had been a full house for Deja and Colin’s engagement, but now, it was only Nanna, Mom, and me.
My mother had flown in yesterday for a meeting and she was working now too, which meant that when I arrived, she was tucked away in her office and Nanna had immediately dragged me to the market. Under her watchful eye, we’d picked up some vegetables and spices, but I felt strangely restless.
Even back at the house, with the sea breeze drifting through the open courtyards and palm fronds rustling lazily overhead, I couldn’t relax. I sat outside under a pergola, watching the waves roll onto the beach while complaining to my sister about my sudden change of plans for the day.
“Can you believe he chose Dad over me?” I asked, beyond frustrated no matter how much I loved the scent of salt and jasmine wafting through the air of Nanna’s gardens. “I mean, that’s just ridiculous, right?”
“No, it’s not actually,” she said, chuckling. “Why do you sound so grumpy about the fact that he has to work?”
“I’m not grumpy.”
“You sound like you fought a lemon and lost,” she said. “That’s what Isaac is there for, Jasmine. You can’t be surprised that he had to go see the site they’re going to be spending the next year developing. It’s literally what he went to Egypt to do.”
“Dad stole him,” I countered. “We were supposed to go sightseeing today.”
She laughed. “Dad didn’t steal him. He’s paying him a significant amount of money to engineer a state-of-the-art industrial complex in an ancient city. It’s so important to him that he’s been recruiting people from all over the world and Isaac is one of them. Why are you so upset about that?”
Because I thought we’d be spending the day together and I’ve really been looking forward to it. “Stop with your crazy logic. I just thought I was going to get to show him around, is all.”
“And as soon as he’s done doing his actual job, you will,” she said with an annoying hint of patient big sister in her tone. “He didn’t choose Dad over you. You know as well as I do that there wasn’t really a choice.”
I sighed, but the irritating thing was that I already knew all of this. The way I was feeling honestly wasn’t logical, and yet, I felt it anyway. How am I supposed to explain that I enjoy his company and that I’m disappointed not to have it while fully understanding that he has to work?
“You’re right. I know. Maybe I’m just bored.” I stared out at the sparkling blue sea before letting my eyes slide shut. “I’ll just go do some exploring on my own. That’ll probably help.”
“That’s what I thought you’d be doing already,” she said. “It’s not like you to sit around sulking just because you have to go out alone. You usually even prefer that.”
“I know. I just don’t like it when Dad sabotages my plans.”
She laughed again. “All of these were his plans, my dear sister. You’re just along for the ride. The sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Gee, thanks for your support. You know what? I have to go. I suddenly remembered I’m busy.”
“With what?”
I glanced at the basket of tomatoes I was supposed to be bringing inside for Nanna before I’d decided to sit down and call my not-so-understanding sister. “Fruit. I’m busy with fruit.”
“Let me guess, the fruit is suddenly demanding every ounce of your attention?”
“Exactly.”
She burst out laughing. “I love you, but you really need to stop pouting now. Isaac will be back as soon as he can, and you can have your playdate then.”
I rolled my eyes despite the warmth rising to my cheeks. “It’s not a playdate. I just wanted to do my job and here, that’s being his tour guide. The sooner he gets inspiration, the faster I can go home.”
“Uh-huh,” she said with a smile in her voice. “If that was all it was, you wouldn’t have called to tell me about it. Just admit it. Dad stole your friend and it hurt your feelings that he didn’t stand up for you.”
“I don’t have feelings where Isaac is concerned,” I said crisply. “I’m just annoyed because Dad made me come out here for nothing.”
“Sure.” She chuckled again, but then her voice became a little gentler. “I hope he doesn’t have to work too late tonight. At least that way, you can still make him buy you dinner. Good luck with the fruit.”
She hung up before I could remind her that I didn’t want to have dinner with Isaac, but as I lowered my phone slowly from my ear, I wondered what the hell I was supposed to do now. Outside of bringing those tomatoes inside before Nanna noticed I hadn’t done it yet.
Finally standing, I wrapped my fingers around the wicker basket and carried her ingredients to the kitchen. I found her humming to herself behind the stove, the fragrant aroma of dinner in the making already filling the air.
“Finally,” she said without even looking to check that it was me. “I was starting to think you forgot. Score those for me, will you?”
“I didn’t forget. I just got sidetracked.”
“That’s no excuse,” she said, tilting her silver-gray head toward the block of knives of the counter. “Score them while you tell me how Deja is doing.”
“How did you know I talked to her?”
She finally turned away from the stove to face me, her wise, black eyes locking on mine and a knowing smile on her face. “I saw you on the phone outside and I’ve known you since before you were born. Whenever you don’t get your way, you turn to your sister. That’s how it’s always been.”
I exhaled a heavy breath through my nostrils and folded my arms. “That’s not what it was about.”
Her head tilted and the deep laugh lines at the corners of her eyes crinkled. “You didn’t call Deja to complain about your father?”
“No, I called her to complain about her brother-in-law,” I said, then started backing toward the doorway. “I’m going out, but I’ll be back later.”
“We just got back from being out,” she said. “You can’t possibly be that bored already.”
“Oh, but I am.”
“So score the tomatoes.”
“Can’t.” I offered her a slight smile. “You’re so much better at it than me.”
With that, I spun and fled from the kitchen. Her cackling laughter followed me down the hall. “I was just trying to give you something to do that would keep you out of trouble.”
“I know!” I called back. “That’s why I’m not doing it.”
“Enjoy your adventure!” she yelled just before I pulled the front door shut behind me and took off to the streets of Sharm.
With no real destination in mind, I wandered past open-air shops and little galleries, wishing the day would stop feeling like it was missing someone. The city was beautiful, with tourists milling about with cameras around their necks and children chasing pigeons.
I should’ve been perfectly content with this, just strolling down the streets and ducking into markets, but instead, I kept wondering what Isaac was doing and whether they would be finishing up soon.
Even as I stopped to admire pottery and woven baskets, I thought about him standing on some dusty construction site, probably arguing about courtyards and cement mixtures instead of immersing himself in the culture of the city with me.
Just as I was about to surrender and ask my father when they would be done, I heard a familiar, unwelcome voice behind me, the slight accent in it confirming that I absolutely was not wrong about who it belonged to.
“Jasmine! Fancy meeting you here.”
I grimaced and drew in a deep breath, reaching into the very deepest recesses of my soul for some patience. After the day I’d had, that was in very short supply, but I forced a polite smile to my lips and turned.
“David.”
He stood only a few yards away, dressed like he’d walked straight out of an advert for one of the luxury resorts down the beach. It was the typical tourist outfit of cargo shorts, a loose-fitting, patterned, designer button-down, and leather sandals on his feet.
He was with three other men roughly his age, all of them wearing expensive watches and mirrored sunglasses.
I’d never met the others, but immediately, I could tell they were all exactly like him.
They were the very embodiment of too much confidence and money, but not nearly enough personality to justify either.
Trust fund babies.
David gave me that smile that always made me want to check if my wallet was still in my bag. “This is such a pleasant surprise.”
For one of us. “I would imagine so.”
His friends chuckled, but David ignored them, acting, as always, as if he knew me much better than he really did. While it was true that it had been years since we’d first met, we’d never actually spent much time getting to know each other and I had no interest in changing that.
The guy was sleazy as hell. In a money-hungry kind of way, which was wild since his family already had so much of it.
To say that I wasn’t a fan of his was an understatement. Even now, he was making me feel like I needed to watch the cash I was carrying.
“Where have you been hiding?” he asked warmly, taking a few steps closer.
I inched back, holding his gaze but mostly only to keep an eye on his hands in my periphery. “I haven’t been hiding. Just working hard.”
“Well, all work and no play makes Jasmine a dull girl,” he said in a tone I was sure was meant to be seductive, but it just sounded creepy. “We’re having a party tonight at the villa where we’re staying. You should come.”
“Oh, but I really shouldn’t.”
His smile didn’t even flicker. “Don’t say no before you even hear the details. The house is right on the beach and it’s got a spectacular view.”
“So does mine.”
One of his friends laughed, but David shot him a warning look before returning his attention to me, his head slowly cocking and a strange tic starting up in his jaw. “Is this about your father’s new American friend?”
I folded my arms. “Excuse me?”
“You know who I’m talking about. The engineer who’s supposedly going to transform Sharm into an industrial hub.”
So he does know about Isaac.
“Supposedly?” I asked, eyebrows hiking up. “That American friend who’s supposedly going to transform Sharm is a literal genius. I’d be careful how I talk about him.”
David smirked, sizing me up for a moment before he nodded. “Of course. I’ll see you tonight, Jasmine.”
“Like hell.”
His friends burst out laughing again, but David simply inclined his chin and muttered as he started walking away. “We’ll see.”
The four of them took off down the street, David back to smiling like he’d just secured a date for his party. I sighed, watching them disappear around the corner before I chose to head in the completely opposite direction.
Any encounter with David made me feel like I needed a shower, but today, there was something else too, a nagging discomfort about the way he’d made a point of bringing up Isaac.
While I tried to shake it off, I ventured into a jewelry store and browsed for a while.
Then I grabbed an iced coffee and sat at a little cafe, reorganizing the list of things I wanted to show Isaac when my father finally gave him some time off.
Eventually, once I’d managed to put the whole thing with David fully behind me, I headed back to the house, walking in just as the afternoon sun began to cast long shadows down the street.
I followed the voices drifting in from the terrace, surprised when I nearly walked straight into Isaac in the hallway.
They’d clearly just returned from the site, his boots and clothing still dusty and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
Somehow, he’d also managed to acquire a faint streak of dirt across his jaw, his blond hair no longer neatly styled like it had been on the plane.
Instead, a lock of it had fallen across his forehead.
His eyes looked slightly tired and his skin was sun-warmed.
Unfortunately, he looked ridiculously handsome like this, and when he smiled as soon as his gaze met mine, my heart did another little leap.
“Hey,” he said. “Did you have a good day in the end?”
I glanced at the dust covering his shoulders and shoes. “Well, I don’t look like I hugged a construction site, so yeah. I’d say it was probably better than yours.”
He chuckled. “At least it hugged me back.”
“As long as you were productive, I suppose.”
A spark of something lit in his eyes and he nodded. “It was amazing. You should see the coastline the complex is going to overlook, Jasmine. There’s no way a glass and steel monstrosity would’ve worked. I’ve had so many more ideas of how to change our original plans now that I’ve seen it.”
“Are you still busy discussing those plans with my father?” I asked. “Or are you finally ready to start your grand tour?”
Isaac glanced toward the terrace. “Now?”
“There’s no time like the present, right?”
He turned back to me, smiling. “As it happens, your father is pretty distracted with Nanna right now. Something about not eating enough. Give me ten minutes to shower and I’ll meet you outside?”
Warmth spread through my chest. He actually said yes this time.
“Fine, but if you’re not there in ten, you can find yourself a new tour guide.”
He grinned, already starting to back toward the hallway. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Just let me get cleaned up, or else you’re going to spend the whole night complaining about the way I smell.”
I laughed. “What makes you think I’m not going to do that anyway?”
“I might’ve borrowed one of the fragrances your sister sent my brother.
” He winked. “So if you have any issues, you can take it up with White Water Lily, but until then, I have nine minutes left, which means I need to get going. There’s no way I’d be able to find a tour guide half as good as the one who’ll ditch me if I’m late. ”
Without another word, he spun and disappeared toward his bedroom, and I buried my face in my hands to keep from squealing out loud. I was finally going to get to show him around, and not only that, but he’d definitely just complimented me.
On purpose, this time.
I had no idea why that excited me as much as it did, but I couldn’t stop smiling as I headed back to the front door. Isaac Thayer was turning out to be one surprise after another, and I was suddenly really looking forward to what I was about to learn next.