Chapter 33
ISAAC
Edfu was extraordinary, the history here so alive that walking through it felt like living through it. This had once been an ancient settlement. Centuries before I’d even existed, people had spent one hundred and eighty years building this place. It absolutely blew my mind.
When Jasmine had insisted we come on this cruise, I hadn’t been sure why, but now I had to give her credit.
She knew me well. Better than I had expected.
Because all these old buildings and temples needed to be seen in person to get the full effect.
More than just nerding out, I was achieving full nerdgasm on this trip.
Until Jane called.
Any other day, I would have spent the better part of the morning pestering our guide with questions, but today, my head was in the clouds. It was all I could do to stay present and actually try to absorb anything at all.
Meanwhile, Bossy Daytime Jasmine was out in full force, arguing with the guide over where our group was going to have lunch.
She’d also insisted on private cars for transport from the docks to the temple instead of the more traditional horse-drawn carriages used by most tour companies.
The group was in good hands with her taking charge.
As we navigated the little market outside the temple complex, she greeted shopkeepers in Arabic, pausing to inspect their wares or ask about restaurant recommendations. At one point, she smacked Joseph’s hand away from a carved wooden statuette of a falcon-headed dude.
“Don’t touch Horus unless you’re going to buy him.”
Joseph blinked hard and let out an exasperated sigh. “He’s the god of the sky, war, and kinship. I was going to get him for Isaac as a souvenir from me.”
“Don’t,” Jasmine snapped, rolling her eyes. “He doesn’t need a souvenir. He can come back and buy Horus himself when he visits again.”
Zara chuckled. “My, my. You really do become a dictator when you’re hungry.”
“I’m more of a benevolent ruler.” Jasmine smiled innocently. “Dictators don’t usually go out of their way to ensure tourists don’t eat somewhere dreadful, and I’ve done that.”
“To be fair, I don’t think benevolent rulers do that either,” Zara said, pushing her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose. “Either way, this isn’t the place to buy souvenirs or anything else. The prices are ridiculous and that’s coming from me. I never say stuff like that.”
“Neither do I, but it’s true.” Jasmine took her arm, waving for us to follow before disappearing into the crowd, chatting animatedly with Zara beside her.
I stared after them, watching Jasmine’s lithe frame weave effortlessly through the packed market, every movement graceful despite the extreme heat and hundreds of people around her. In the meantime, here I was, feeling like I was standing on a ledge. One tiny push and I’d fall.
No doubt about it.
Joseph nudged my shoulder once they were gone, wearing a small, knowing smile. “You’ve really got it bad. I mean, you barely even looked at the temple.”
I scoffed. “Of course, I looked at the temple. It was amazing. I’ve just got some other stuff on my mind and not for nothing, but if we don’t go after them right now, we’re going to lose them in this crowd.”
He nodded and fell into step beside me, but apparently, he was intent on talking me off the cliff I was on today. “So, uh, are you staying in Egypt?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know how to make something like that work.”
He frowned as we side-stepped a stall right in the middle of the aisle, mercifully catching sight of Jasmine and Zara up ahead. “What do you mean?”
“Aside from you, Basel is my only connection in this entire country. He’s the only person who even knows my name on a professional level.
Everything else I’ve built is back in Chicago, including my reputation, and I haven’t done anything here that’s allowed me to extend my network, so I’m shit out of luck unless Basel gives me a project and his board doesn’t seem likely to let him do that. ”
“For now,” Joseph agreed mildly. “We could still do it, though, start our own firm. I know some people who might give us a chance.”
“Might,” I repeated. “Starting over in another country sounds great until you actually have to start over. I don’t want you feeling responsible for me.”
“Okay, but Basel might still come through,” he said after thinking it over for a moment. “I know he’s your only contact here, but as far as contacts go, he’s a damn good one.”
“Yeah.” I raked my fingers through my hair, keeping a close eye on the girls to make sure we were still moving in the right direction.
“Look, he brought me here for something and it didn’t work out.
I can live with that. No harm, no foul, you know?
I can’t live with you throwing your lot in with mine and failing. ”
Joseph sighed. “You’re assuming we’d fail.”
“No, I’m just hedging my bets. But listen, I know you’ve got a good thing going with GlobalStar, but you could always come work with me.”
“In Chicago?” His eyes widened. “I’ve never even been there. Talk about having no connections.”
“Over there, I am the connection,” I said. “We could work together at Thayer, designing warehouses and manufacturing facilities.”
“Wow.” He winced. “You really know how to sell the dream.”
I chuckled. “I’ve got to work with what I have, and that’s what I have right now. Or if we were to start our own firm, I have plenty of contacts over there.”
He paused for a beat, slowing his footsteps as he looked over at me. “Are you seriously offering me a job?”
I shrugged. “Why not? It wouldn’t be a bad life and we can always keep our eyes open for the kind of projects we actually want to do.”
It was exactly the kind of future I’d been staring down when Basel had walked into my office that day, safe and predictable. Generally speaking, not my cup my tea, but it was what it was. At least both Joseph and I would be earning a paycheck.
He was quiet for a few steps before he spoke again, his voice softer now. “Does Jasmine know you’re in love with her?”
“Wow, man, that was a hard pivot.” A bark of dry laughter escaped me. “It doesn’t matter how I feel about her. I can’t give her the kind of life she deserves or the lifestyle she’s used to.”
“How can you say that?”
I inclined my chin ahead, to where she’d stopped outside a little restaurant, already deep in conversation with the owner. She laughed at something he said before gesturing toward the river, completely at ease in a world where everyone knew her name—and where she could pay her own way.
“She’s Jasmine Saad, Joseph,” I said finally. “I know how this game works and so do you. Eventually, she’ll make a match with someone who’s good for Basel’s family, and I’m at the bottom of the totem pole.”
“Basel loves you.”
“Sure, but I’m a foreign engineer whose biggest career achievement so far has been getting my P.E. and landing on the cover of ENR. That’s not enough. There’s nothing I can offer him that would even get me a seat at the table when he’s negotiating for Jasmine’s hand.”
“What about Thayer?”
“He’s already merging a part of his business with a part of ours. All he needed was a partnership that would ease White Water Lily’s transition into the American market, so he married Deja off to Colin. It’s done.”
Joseph glanced at me but didn’t say anything else as we reached the girls. The way his jaw had tightened let me know that he didn’t necessarily agree with what I’d said, however.
Zara grabbed his arm as soon as we joined them, pulling him down next to her at the table and informing him that she was taking him shopping when we were finished eating. It didn’t sound optional and Joseph seemed to realize that too.
Lunch was fantastic, and afterward, Joseph dutifully rose when Zara grabbed her bag. By some unspoken agreement, they disappeared and we stayed behind instead of following, exchanging amused glances before I leaned back in my chair. “I suppose it’s just us, then.”
She smiled. “I can’t say I mind that.”
“Neither do I.” I looked around the restaurant she’d chosen, ceiling fans turning lazily overhead while the scent of grilled meat and spices wafted through the air.
It was on a corner overlooking one of the narrow streets leading to the river, peaceful compared to the throngs of tourists at the temple and the bustling activity of the market.
I reached for her hand under the table and stroked my thumb along her palm, enjoying the silence of the moment until a table of elderly Egyptian women nearby began whispering loudly.
One of them pointed at me and another marched right over to us, her eyes intent on Jasmine’s. I glanced at her, frowning as I wondered what the hell was going on now. “Should I be nervous? She looks serious.”
Jasmine smiled serenely. “She probably is. Just let me handle it.”
My frown deepened. “Are foreigners not supposed to be in this restaurant or something?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not that.”
The woman shot me a half-smile when she reached us, but then she launched into rapid-fire Arabic and Jasmine answered her with a grin.
The woman laughed, another of her friends joining in.
Within seconds, all four of them were enthusiastically talking over one another while Jasmine tried to get a word in edgewise.
It didn’t look like they were very keen on letting her speak, though. One threw her hands into the air while another poked Jasmine’s shoulder, making it look like she was scolding her about something. When Jasmine finally responded, the women all groaned in disappointment.
I had the distinct feeling that this was all about me. When the first women suddenly turned and smiled warmly, patting my cheek like I was a well-behaved golden retriever, I sighed. “What’s happening right now?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Jasmine said as the women went back to arguing in Arabic.
Eventually, after what had felt like an entire committee meeting, they returned to their table, still shaking their heads at Jasmine as they sat down, and I arched an eyebrow at her. “What was that all about?”
“They were just complimenting you,” she said without meeting my gaze.
I laughed. “I don’t believe you for a second.”
She sniffed. “They were, I promise. They saw us together and congratulated you for bagging an Egyptian woman.”
I nearly choked on my next breath. “I beg your pardon?”
“They said I was beautiful and that we make a very attractive couple, but when they found out you were actually single…” She trailed off, her teeth sinking into her lower lip as she shook her head.
“They decided I was wasting a perfectly good man and informed me that if I wasn’t going to marry you, they were coming back with their granddaughters. ”
My lips parted, but I couldn’t come up with a single thing to say, caught so off guard that at first, I could only laugh. “I cannot believe little old ladies are trying to set me up.”
Jasmine lit up as she turned to face me. “That’s what little old ladies do. Although this group was particularly passionate about it.”
As she said it, I realized she wasn’t wrong and I suddenly wondered if I was thinking too deeply about this. All over the world, elders tried to set up their kids—or grandkids—on a daily basis. Just because Basel might make a match for Jasmine didn’t mean she had to accept it.
Maybe she wouldn’t. Knowing her, she definitely wouldn’t.
She stood up, still smiling, and slung her bag over her shoulder. “We should leave now. Before they make good on their promise. I don’t want to have to fight a bunch of girls for you.”
I chuckled. “You would fight for me?”
“You’re mine on this cruise, pal.”
It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders as we walked back toward the ship. Jasmine was handling Basel—just like she’d handled those women—and while I still didn’t think we would have a future together, I also wasn’t going to simply accept defeat anymore.
Jasmine and I wandered slowly along the river, talking about nothing important as the cruise liner came into view. When we rounded the last corner toward the gangway, however, she suddenly grabbed my forearm.
“Stop.”
“What?” I asked.
She pointed at the corner of the dock, where Joseph had Zara backed against one of the mooring posts, kissing her like his world would end if he had to stop. “I don’t think we should interrupt them.”
“Yeah, let’s give them a moment,” I agreed, suppressing a laugh.
We hurried onto the ship before they realized we were there. Although we hadn’t talked about it, we headed back to her suite together, and the moment I shut the door behind us, she turned to face me. “So, what did you think about Edfu?”
I slipped my arms around her waist and tugged her into me. “I think I’ve had enough of the outside world right about now.”
She smiled before rising up on her toes to kiss me, only lifting her mouth away from mine after wrapping her arms securely around my neck. “So come to bed, Isaac. I’m pretty sure I’ve had enough of the outside world myself for today.”