Their Save-the-Date Charade, page 5
Inside, the restaurant was quiet and warm. Too quiet. Confused, Lulu looked beyond the empty host podium facing the entrance to the open space of empty tables on the first floor. Alwan had said his parents were expecting them, and it was their restaurant, but they weren’t anywhere to be seen.
Soft music played on the speakers, so she figured someone had to be in the building, and she soon heard the sound of heels clacking over the colorfully vibrant Moroccan tiles toward them.
A smiling young woman was tying on a half apron as she walked, smoothing her hands over the front of it where the restaurant’s name, Al-Nuri, was printed in yellow-gold lettering.
“Ms. Sadiq?” she asked, her cheeks dimpling when Lulu nodded. “You and your parents are expected upstairs. If you’ll follow me.” Leading them deeper into the restaurant, she directed them into an elevator but didn’t follow them in.
Alwan’s parents were waiting as soon as the lift doors opened, and the second Lulu stepped out, she found herself wrapped in his mother’s perfumed embrace while his father smiled broadly at her.
It was a warmer reception than the one Alwan had gotten from her parents. But her stomach still swooped nervously when Alwan’s parents ushered them to a table in the far corner with views of Lake Ontario from the window walls. And once they were all seated, Alwan’s mother, Ayaan, and father, Omer, on one end and Lulu tucked between her parents on the U-shaped majlis sofa on the other side, she tensed as all their focus landed on her.
Meeting each of their intent gazes, she smiled weakly, suddenly struck by the realization she was all alone.
So she was on her own when his mother, hand keenly outstretched, asked, “Oh! Is that the engagement ring?”
Embarrassed, Lulu had no choice but to flash her new accessory to everyone. While they showered her with compliments, she cast a furtive glance at the elevator, her hope flagging when Alwan was still nowhere in sight. She quietly despaired, figuring no one had noticed.
But Ayaan squeezed her hand with a silvery laugh and smile. “Don’t worry, Luula. He texted a minute ago that he found a parking spot farther away and that he’d be with us any moment.”
Lulu blushed and bowed her head when all the parents laughed then.
And her cheeks still felt hot to the touch when Alwan finally made his reappearance.
Never had Lulu been more relieved to hear the sound of an elevator ding. Her relief was quickly undercut by her annoyance with him for leaving her in the first place. She glared as he strode over in his gleaming Italian leather shoes, his charcoal-gray suit jacket hooked over one of his arms, his hands adjusting his tie before smoothing over the front of his white-and-gray-striped dress shirt. It only irritated her more that he looked so breathtakingly handsome and impeccably put-together.
“Sorry, I’m late,” he panted softly when he reached their table, his tawny brown cheeks flushed red.
Hearing his breathlessness sanded off Lulu’s frustration with him. It was difficult to hold on to her irritation when she envisioned him running here from wherever he’d parked his car.
Greeting his parents, Alwan gripped his dad on the shoulder and touched his lips to his mother’s forehead. “Salaam, Abu. Yumma. I hope I didn’t miss anything,” he said before squeezing in between his folks and catching Lulu’s eyes across the table.
They were now facing each other, and beneath the table she felt the toe of his shoes bump her low, slingback heels. At first she didn’t think anything of it, but then he did it again.
Above the table, his lips tilted up in a small smile and he raised an eyebrow at her in silent question.
Touched that he was checking in on her, she smiled back, mollified for the time being.
“You haven’t missed anything, Alwan,” her mother said and wrapped an arm around Lulu’s shoulders. “We have just been wondering how this happened, and since Luula won’t tell us, maybe you can. How did you and our Luula fall in love?”
Love? If only they knew…
The only commonality to love that she shared with Alwan was his love for his career and hers for her RV and the solace and peace it had given her during a rough patch in her life. There wouldn’t be—couldn’t be—anything else between them. Not simply because it would ruin their plans, but also because romance and a happy-ever-after were crossed out of her heart and head forever. And even if she was interested, which Lulu most certainly was not, Alwan, with his big ego and fixation on his profession, appeared to be the last person who would have time for a relationship.
Naturally, she had a visceral reaction at the word love used in the same sentence with her and Alwan.
Lulu cringed audibly enough for her mom to kiss her teeth.
“What?” her mother asked sharply. “We can’t be curious?”
“I know I am!” his mother chimed in with another warm, tinkling laugh.
Their fathers were more silent, but they too nodded in agreement with their wives.
Since the question wasn’t posed to her, Lulu sat back and watched Alwan like everyone else. She already knew what he would say, having rehearsed their story enough times over the past few days. All she had to do was nod and smile at the appropriate times, which was an easy enough task.
At least it was easy until Alwan said, “I knew Luula had been wanting me to propose, so I figured it was time. Why make either of us wait? I didn’t want her pining for me anymore…”
Wanting? Pining!
Since when did they agree on that narrative?
Shock wearing away quickly, Lulu nudged his foot under the table. Okay, maybe nudged wasn’t the right verb. More like she stepped on him. Hard. Right on those stupid toes of his in those stupid expensive shoes and watched him jolt in his seat mid-explanation and bite his lip and stifle a pained grunt.
“Alwan, are you all right, habibi?” his mother wondered.
Quietly, he waved off the concern both sets of parents showed.
Serves him right.
But not fully satisfied, and still out for blood, she grabbed the opening to speak her mind. “But that was after Alwan cried and told me he couldn’t live without me—”
Alwan’s hissing intake of air cut her off, but his wide, shocked eyes gave her an unexpected thrill. Childish though it was, and perhaps a little dangerous when he narrowed his eyes at her, Lulu couldn’t help goading him with a grin. She held back the urge to stick her tongue out at him. Two can play at that game.
“Cried? Really?” his mom repeated softly, touching his arm.
Alwan smiled down at his mother, but his stare bored through Lulu as he gruffly said, “I forgot that part, but if Luula says it happened—”
“It did,” she interjected.
“Then I suppose it did,” he assented, his eyes unreadable but his mouth lifting with a smile. He could’ve outed her. But then, she knew, that he’d be outing himself.
After that Alwan answered more faithfully to their practiced script, leaving Lulu with the impression that he’d learned his lesson and wouldn’t play with her like that again. Brunch was eventually served, and Alwan’s parents helped their staff with the setup, which thankfully pressed Pause on the questioning. Meanwhile Lulu noted her mother and father were chatting more amiably with Alwan. From the look of things, no one suspected they were lying, so she and Alwan were in the clear.
But just when she thought she could let down her guard, a sudden clenching sensation seized her lower belly. It felt like a fist was slowly but firmly squeezing her insides. Lulu tightened her lips on a pained moan and pressed her hands just below her stomach, where the dull ache was centered.
She hoped it was hunger.
Unfortunately, after an hour flew by and most their plates were cleared, Lulu was still quietly suffering, only now the gnawing discomfort dropped lower and seemed more familiar. Not that knowing it was her period made it any better. Her cycles were never regular, so she wasn’t surprised that she was caught off guard now.
Her parents were busy chatting with Alwan’s mother and father, and Alwan himself was distracted scrolling through his phone. It was the perfect time to excuse herself without an awkward explanation, and having visited his parents’ restaurant before, she knew where to find the restroom.
On the way there, and desperate to get her mind off her pain, Lulu admired the African-inspired touches to the restaurant’s interior design. Woven shades covered the pendant lights hanging over the gleaming handcrafted wooden tables and chairs, the walls were painted a soft, earthy beige, and colorfully vibrant rugs hung in recessed alcoves. The cultural touches in the decor were as well-thought-out as the flavorful Sudanese and Somali dishes they’d just enjoyed.
It was easy to see that his parents had poured their love into making this restaurant feel like a second home.
Her smile turned into a grimace when another pulsating wave of torment struck.
Hurrying into the washroom, Lulu discovered that she’d forgotten to toss painkillers in her tiny, decorative handheld purse. She set her teeth against the now-nauseating waves of pain and shuffled out into the well-lit hallway. How was it that even walking was hurting her?
God.
She’d barely taken two steps back the way she had come when Alwan’s low drawl came from behind her.
“There you are.”
Letting out a short squeal, Lulu spun around and gasped, “Alwan!” Irritation surging through her almost immediately, she snapped, “Why do you keep scaring me like that? I’m seriously going to strap a bell to you if you don’t stop. Honestly, you’re worse than my cat. Even he has the decency to meow and let me know he’s there.”
He chuckled and slid his hands in his trouser pockets. “Hey, don’t blame me if you were too distracted to hear or see me. This isn’t exactly an ideal hiding spot.”
Not ready to admit that she was preoccupied, Lulu settled on quietly glaring at his smiling features. “I’m leaving,” she said, but before she could turn away, yet another cresting pain gripped her insides. It was like a white-hot band of agony constricting her middle. And it wouldn’t let her go. She hunched over slightly, her arms instinctively wrapping over the front of her. Lulu might’ve been humiliated that Alwan was still with her, but she was hurting far too much to care.
“Lulu, are you okay?” he asked, his warm, solid presence by her side in a flash.
She shook her head jerkily, focusing on deep breathing through the physical assault on her body.
Hearing Alwan curse under his breath, she closed her eyes and waited for him to panic and rush off to get help from his mother or hers. If he was anything like her ex-husband, Mohamed, that was what he’d have done.
So she was taken aback then when Alwan not only stuck with her but even crouched down low so she could see him.
Once he made eye contact, he asked, “Can you walk?”
Still busy with her belly-breathing exercise, Lulu gave him a curt nod.
The furrows in his brow lessened, his relief sweeping over his handsome face in a bright smile. “All right. That’s good news. Though, just so you know, I was fully prepared to carry you if it came down to that.”
Lulu snorted. “Duly noted.”
Eyes twinkling merrily, Alwan moved toward the end of the hall and stopped when she didn’t follow.
“I don’t want to go out there yet.” She leaned her head back against the wall, straightening her posture and feeling a reprieve from the shooting pain. Worrying everybody else wouldn’t make her feel better. “I just need time. Oh, and ibuprofen.”
Alwan looked long and hard at her for a beat before he nodded in understanding. “Then we’ll go to the office.”
* * *
“Why the office?” Lulu asked him.
“If I know my parents, they should have some pain reliever there,” Alwan explained, looking back to make sure she was following him.
Leading her down the hall past the restrooms for their guests and beyond the Employees Only sign, Alwan stopped at the door at the end that read Office.
He pulled his keys out of his pocket to unlock the door.
“You carry a key to your parents’ office?”
Alwan laughed at the unconcealed suspicion in her tone. “Normally I wouldn’t, but my father misplaced his spare once. My parents decided that, given I don’t live with them, it was best that I keep the extra key.”
“I suppose,” she said, rousing another amused chuckle from him.
Inside the small but neatly maintained office, Alwan headed straight for the nondescript desk in the middle and opened its drawers. “The first aid kit should be here somewhere,” he mumbled to himself. After opening the first two drawers, he finally struck gold. “Aha. I knew it was here.”
Eagerly retrieving the pain reliever from the first aid kit, he raised his head to find Lulu still standing closer to the door. She faced the wall and stared at the few framed photos of his family and his parents’ staff members hanging there.
Closing his fist around the bottle in his grasp, Alwan walked over with leaden limbs, keeping his eyes on her. Knowing what the photos already showed, he didn’t regard them.
“Luula?”
At the sound of her name, she turned her head to him and noted the bottle in his open palm.
“Let me get you water.”
He strode over to the corner of the office where a watercooler was stationed. Filling a small paper cup for her, Alwan walked it back to where she stood. Murmuring her gratitude, her features momentarily twisted into a pained grimace before she opened the bottle, took a pill and washed it down.
“Did you want to sit down?” he asked her when she compressed her lips and squeezed her eyes closed in quiet suffering.
A feeling of helplessness crept over him. He didn’t know why he did it, but he flung a glance at the photos on the wall, one in particular sticking out from the collection. Looking away before the darkness clawed into him, Alwan looked back at Lulu and gave her his full attention.
“Actually, I could use fresh air more.”
He tossed another quick look at the framed photos. Fresh air sounded good to him right about then too.
Locking up the office, they walked back to where their parents were seated. Before they reached the table, Lulu tapped his arm.
It was a light touch. There and gone. Certainly nothing that should have had him responding instantly by stiffening all over, his body wired tight, his attention at her command.
“Can you not tell them I’m not feeling well?” She looked from their table back to him, rewarding him with a smile when he nodded.
“Where did you two go?” his mother asked him as soon as they were within earshot.
“I was showing Luula around the restaurant, and now we’re just going out for some air.”
His father pulled his glasses off and furrowed his bushy brows. “It isn’t the first time she’s been here, Alwan. What were you showing her exactly?”
“Uh, just some family photos in the office.”
“Let them go,” Lulu’s mother, Huda, said kindly. “They’re young, in love—”
“And hopefully soon-to-be-wedded,” Mahad, Lulu’s father, finished with a stern look at Alwan in particular.
Since he wasn’t about to argue with her father, Alwan promised, “We’ll be right out there on the balcony,” and pointed to the long wall of windows letting in a wash of natural light into the restaurant.
With their blessing, Alwan led Lulu away, and folding open the glass doors, he walked her outdoors.
“How are you not dying of embarrassment?” Lulu groaned the instant they were alone.
He grinned and walked with her to the edge of the balcony. “Who says I’m not?”
She appraised him with a sniff. “You look pretty calm to me.”
“It’s practice,” he said, spinning around and leaning against the balcony’s guardrail. “When I’m in the courtroom, I have to put on a poker face, even if I know my chances of winning for my client are not in my favor.” Alwan nudged his chin toward where their parents were sneaking peeks at them. “It doesn’t mean I’m not more than a little worried that they’ll try and marry us off sooner.”
“Great. Now you’re scaring me too,” Lulu griped, making him laugh.
Grasping the balcony handrail, she looked out at the shimmering lake and the Toronto Islands, the chain of well-frequented islands near the city’s shores.
“Wow,” she uttered quietly.
Having seen it so many times wore off the charm, but he tried to place himself in her shoes and turned back around to cast his gaze over the rippling lake glimmering with the bright white sunlight. The longer he stared the more Alwan began to feel the stirring of a lost appreciation for the cloudless blue sky, the nippy lake-scented breeze brushing his face, and the steady drone of the city he loved all around them.
“I know I’ve been here before, but I always forget how peaceful it is.”
He hummed his agreement, knowing he couldn’t add anything since she’d said it so perfectly.
“This is where you and your family took that picture together, isn’t it?”
Any serenity Alwan had felt blasted away. Just like that he was back in the office, the photo he’d avoided in there filtering into his mind.
Not now. Not here with her.
He clamped his hands around the railing and, feeling Lulu’s eyes on him, forced himself to grit out, “Yeah.”
“You all looked so happy. When was it taken?”
Alwan clenched his teeth and a muscle leaped along his jaw.
He knew it wasn’t her fault for asking innocent questions. It wasn’t like Lulu understood that she was poking at a wound and peeling back a scab that had never fully healed despite years having passed since he’d first gotten the injury. Since Hashim left.
Since his big brother walked out of the reputable, private rehabilitation facility their parents had shelled out big money to send him to receive the help he wasn’t getting anywhere else. Not the hospitals, self-help groups or the interventions they’d tried staging as a family. Rehab had been their last-ditch effort to drag Hashim out of what they believed was a deep, dark pit of his own making.
