8. Nina
CHAPTER 8
NINA
R ashad was being strangely quiet. Nina had just returned from her nap, which had done wonders for her health — she must have been really exhausted. Now, she was ready to get to work, even if that meant an end to the pleasant vacation atmosphere she had been enjoying so far. Yet, for some reason, Rashad didn’t seem as eager to get down to business as she did.
“Rashad?” Nina prompted.
“Sorry. I was just thinking that it doesn’t really make sense to start work now. It’s almost lunchtime. Let’s have something to eat and see where we are.”
“All right, that sounds good to me.” Nina grinned. “I am feeling hungry.”
“Perfect.” Something sparkled behind Rashad’s dark brown eyes, though Nina couldn’t quite put her finger on the emotion. “I’m not sure how hungry Kate and Miles are, though. They had a lot of snacks this morning.”
“No, we didn’t,” Miles said, looking up at Nina with plaintive blue eyes.
Nina chuckled. “Even if you did, it’s still lunchtime and you can have more to eat if you feel hungry.”
“I hope I didn’t give them too many snacks,” Rashad said as they climbed up to the dining area. “They seemed hungry, and I wasn’t sure how much preschoolers eat.”
“Since they’re little and growing, they need more snacks than we do,” Nina said. “I’m sure you did great. Um… you didn’t play Uno, did you?”
“No. They asked about it, but I don’t have a deck on board. Why?”
“No reason.” Nina tossed her braid over her shoulder. “I really appreciate you watching them.”
“It was my pleasure, really. Now, I don’t have much staff here, so it’s on us to prepare lunch. I’ve set aside some pasta, fish, and vegetables if that works for you.”
“That would be great. I’ll help you cook.”
“You don’t have to. Rest, if you’re still feeling sick.”
“I’m much better now, really. Just tell me what you’d like me to do.”
“We’ll help too,” Kate put in.
“Can kids their age help with cooking?” Rashad asked. He looked skeptical.
“Sure, if we give them an age-appropriate job.”
Within a few minutes, they were all in the yacht’s spacious kitchen. Rashad prepared the fish while Nina worked on the pasta. Meanwhile, Miles snapped green beans, and Kate cut a zucchini with a safety knife.
“If you don’t have a chef onboard, does that mean you prepared the meal last night?” Nina asked as she tossed a handful of Miles’s green beans into a pan with a little oil.
“I did.”
“I’m impressed.” Nina glanced at him. “It was delicious.”
“You sound surprised.” Rashad grinned at her, a more playful grin than Nina had seen from him before. “Is it because I’m a sheikh or because I’m a guy that you think I can’t cook?”
“Neither. Mostly I assumed you couldn’t cook because you’re a businessman,” Nina said. “Most of the CEOs and other executives I know employ chefs, because they feel their time is better spent working than cooking.”
“At home, I have a chef, too,” Rashad admitted. “But I try to cook for myself at least once or twice a week. I find it relaxing.” He laid the fish in his pan, where it sizzled and gave off a delicious scent.
“I like cooking, too,” Nina told him. “Before I had kids, it was a nice, relaxing activity for me. Now, it’s a little more stressful, since I know I need to have dinner on the table every day, so I tend to rely on simple, kid-friendly meals more than I used to.”
“That makes sense. It seems like your kids eat a lot of food that isn’t completely kid-friendly, though.”
“They’re good eaters.” Nina added the zucchini to the pan with a little salt. “It was important to me to make sure that my kids always try new foods, even if it was just a bite or two. It also helps when they do some cooking — they’re more likely to eat the food when they’ve been involved in the whole process. Miles, what’s your favorite food?”
“Sushi,” Miles said. He handed Nina the last green bean. “Can I go look at the waves now?”
“Sure. Just stay where I can see you. Kate, how about you? What’s your favorite food?”
“I like mac and cheese.” Kate grinned a toothy grin. “And I like broccoli. Can I go with Miles?”
“Of course. You stay where I can see you, too.” Nina turned back to Rashad. “There are a few things that they still don’t like, but most things have turned out to be good.”
“I don’t think I was that adventurous at their age. When I was a kid, I loved nothing better than American fast food.”
“Really?” Nina added the pasta and sauce to the pan with the vegetables, along with some fresh basil, a few twists of pepper, and dried herbs. “Does Al Soub not have good food?”
“Actually, we have some of the best food in the world. Fresh seafood, delicious lamb dishes, great stewed rice, strong coffee with cream — even our salad, which is made with pomegranate seeds and oranges as well as fresh veggies, is very tasty. As a kid, it was hard to appreciate, though.”
“I guess that’s true for a lot of kids. When I was little, I always wished we could eat out, but as an adult, I miss the food my mom cooked for us. And my aunt. She was a wonderful chef, though I didn’t always recognize it back then.” Thinking about her aunt made Nina’s heart ache, so she quickly changed the subject. “It looks like lunch is almost ready.”
“You’re right.” Rashad used his spatula to cut the fish and serve it onto four plates, while Nina dished out the pasta. “Thanks for helping me cook.”
“It was my pleasure, and it was the least I could do after you watched my kids all morning.” They carried the plates to the dining area, while Rashad went back to the kitchen to get four glasses and a pitcher of water. Nina called Kate and Miles to the table and got them seated with the food. As Rashad joined them and everyone began to eat, Nina had the strange feeling that they must look like a family to a casual observer. They could easily have been two parents and two kids, all enjoying dinner together.
Nina quickly shook the feeling off. No matter what they looked like, she knew the truth, and she wasn’t about to get distracted.
“So, Nina, what’s your favorite thing to cook?” Rashad asked.
“Nowadays, make-your-own pizza is a hit,” Nina said. “I make some dough, and everyone can choose their own toppings.”
“I always put lots of olives,” Miles said, raising his eyebrows to punctuate “lots.”
“I used to enjoy making Chinese food, though,” Nina continued. “I still make some, but it’s a bit too time-consuming to do very often.”
“What kind of Chinese food?”
“Lots of things. I like to make fried rice, steamed buns, and some veggie dishes. I have a cookbook with lots of great recipes that are pretty authentic.”
“Recipes?” Rashad raised his eyebrows. “I’m surprised you use recipes instead of cooking by feel.”
“Do you cook by feel?” Nina raised her eyebrows back. “You seem like the kind of guy who likes to have things under his control. I would have imagined that you were in the kitchen measuring each seasoning with a teaspoon and a level.”
“No way. Cooking is a time to let go and use your instincts.” Rashad took a sip of his water. “Following recipes limits your creativity.”
“Maybe, but when I follow a recipe, I always know that the final dish will taste good. No surprises.”
“No surprises.” Rashad shook his head. “That sounds like a sad way to live.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “If you had two kids and ran a business, I’m sure you’d feel the same way. Even now, do you really have a lot of surprises in your life?”
Rashad seemed to consider, then he raised his waterglass to Nina. “Perhaps not. Touché.”
“Plus, when you’re cooking for kids, you always want to know that the food will be nothing but net.” Nina mimed tossing a basketball through a hoop.
“I like basketball,” Miles announced. He and Kate had been eating quietly, but sensing a change of topic to sports, he jumped enthusiastically on the opportunity to participate.
“I like bunnies,” Kate countered, clearly not wanting to be left out. “I want seven bunnies.”
“Mommy, Kate can’t have seven bunnies, can she?”
“Mommy, can I please have seven bunnies?”
Nina smiled at her children. “Kate, seven bunnies would be a lot. How about, after lunch, you draw me a picture of the bunnies you’d like to have and tell me all about them? Then we can pretend that we already have seven bunnies.”
“I want seven real bunnies,” Kate said sadly.
“I know, and if I could wave a magic wand and get you seven bunnies, I would.”
“Okay. I’ll draw the bunnies now.” Kate kicked her small legs. “Can I be excused please?”
“Yes, honey. Take your plate to the kitchen and then you can start drawing the bunnies.”
“Miles, you come with me?”
“Yeah. Can I be excused?”
“Of course.”
The twins carried their plates to the kitchen while Rashad turned to Nina.
“Has she always wanted seven bunnies?”
“No, and she probably doesn’t even want seven bunnies now. She just likes the idea.” Nina shrugged. “She’ll forget about it by evening, or she won’t, in which case I’ll end up buying her seven toy bunnies for her next birthday. It’ll all work out.”
“It’s amazing how well you know them.”
“We do spend a lot of time together.” Nina finished the last of her food and got to her feet. “Can I take your plate for you? I should check on the kids anyway.”
“Thanks.”
In the kitchen, the twins were talking in low voices about where they might find cookies. Nina helped them put their plates in the small dishwasher and shooed them back onto the deck before she loaded her plate and Rashad’s. When she returned, the twins were back at the table and Rashad was showing them what looked like a large wooden game board.
“What’s this?” Nina leaned against the table to get a better view of the board.
“It’s a traditional Al Soubi game called Kish-Kish,” Rashad explained. “It’s been around for thousands of years — the oldest versions were found buried in a sunken city off the coast. It’s hard to know if we follow the same rules today as they did then, but it’s still amazing to think about. Miles found this one on the bookshelf.”
“Can we play?” Miles asked, bouncing in his chair. Nina opened her mouth to say that she was sorry but it was time for her and Rashad to get to work, but Rashad got there first. To her surprise, though, he agreed with Miles.
“Perhaps one round. Is that all right, Nina? We have plenty of time for our business later today.”
Nina was more than happy to put off what was sure to be a high-stress meeting to have fun with the twins and Rashad, so she nodded.
“That’s fine with me. How do we play?”
Rashad handed out four small bags of tokens. Upon closer inspection, Nina saw that each token was a smooth, marbled material and that they were printed with different symbols. Hers had small moons, while Rashad’s had suns, Kate’s had stars, and Miles’s had clouds.
“The game is pretty simple,” Rashad explained. “You’re trying to get all your tokens home.” He explained how to move, how a token could be sent back, and how to win. After a moment, Kate’s eyes lit up.
“It’s like Sorry! ”
“I’m not familiar with that,” Rashad said.
“She’s right — Sorry! Is a popular American game that has similar rules.” Nina explained a few differences between the games to the twins, then they began to play. Nina was a little worried that the game would be too complicated for her young kids, but they seemed to understand for the most part what they were supposed to do. Miles took great pleasure in sending everyone’s tokens back to the start, while Kate seemed mostly interested in singing little songs about each number she rolled. Nina was deeply unlucky and stayed at the back for most of the game.
Towards the end, Rashad rolled a five. Nina’s eyes widened as she saw that he could send Miles’s leading piece back to the start, guaranteeing that Rashad would win the game. Rashad was ruthless and self-centered; she knew that. She just hoped that Miles wouldn’t be too upset that he didn’t win.
Rashad reached for his piece, hesitated, then selected a different token. Instead of sending Miles’s piece to start, he harmlessly moved a faraway token. In the next round, Miles won the game and danced for joy across the deck, grinning broadly.
Nina met Rashad’s eyes across the table.
“Good game.”
“It was fun.” He began packing up the tokens. Nina knew that she shouldn’t read too much into Rashad’s actions. Just because he’d let a three-year-old win a game didn’t mean that he was any less of a cold, ruthless businessman than she’d thought. Yet perhaps there was another side to him, a kinder side. Maybe, as well as being a ruthless businessman, he was also a caring man who was kind to children and put off work to play a game.
“Can we play again?” Kate asked.
“Why not?” Rashad stopped packing up the game.
“Yay!”
This time, Kate won, with a little help from Rashad and Nina, and celebrated with her own joyful dance. Once the game was over, Miles begged to play Red Light, Green Light again, then Kate wanted a snack, then both twins wanted to have a freeze dance competition, and before any of them knew it, it was five o’clock — the kids’ usual dinnertime.
“I’m sorry,” Nina said. “We didn’t get any work done today. After the kids eat, I can get them ready for bed and we can get some work done.”
“Don’t worry about it. We still have all day tomorrow, and it was nice to take an afternoon off.”
“It was.” Nina met his dark brown eyes and smiled. To her surprise, it was true. She’d had a lovely afternoon with Rashad — and it had been nice to have a little help with the twins since she was still feeling a little under the weather. “Anyway, I’ll whip up some dinner for the little ones. We can eat later.”
“I’m happy to help.”
“No, it’s really all right. I’ll just make some sandwiches or something.”
“All right. I’ll check in on work, and we can meet up again once the twins are asleep.”
“Perfect.”
As Nina went into the kitchen to make carrot sticks and sandwiches (Kate and Miles weren’t as excited to help this time and elected to color instead, Kate drawing her menagerie of bunnies), her thoughts kept drifting back to Rashad. He’d smiled while playing with Miles and Kate, real, genuine smiles, not the fake or unsettling kind she might have expected from a man like him. He really seemed to have enjoyed himself, even if he was also a little overwhelmed by two rambunctious kids.
Well, she could hardly blame him for being overwhelmed. Or for having fun.
The more Nina saw Rashad outside of a business setting, the more she found herself drawn to him. It was dangerous, she knew that, but without the cold and ruthless veneer, there was a lot to admire in this man. He was considerate, smart, and willing to forfeit a game so that a child could win. He could cook. He seemed amused by her twins instead of annoyed. And yes, he was handsome, with those dark eyes and hair, his height, and his athletic build. Nina had seen him lift a chair over his head while clearing a space for the freeze dancing, as easily as if it weighed nothing.
Nina sighed and put a slice of cheese on the sandwich she was making. Rashad might have a kinder side, but that didn’t mean that he was going to be anything but a businessman during their meeting tonight. She needed to keep her wits about her.
Rashad was still the enemy.