Sameera flushed. “I didn’t mean to criticize,” she said, but Barb waved her words away.
“No offense taken, my dear. Would you believe me if I told you that I married Robdespitethe large house and his stature in the community?”
Sameera could understand that. “It would intimidate anyone,” she agreed gamely.
Barb fixed herself a cup of coffee and took the stool next to Sameera. “I wasn’t intimidated, exactly,” she started, looking around at her domain. “I just understood the sort of legacy Rob carries, the history and responsibility. I know the toll it can have on a person. My mother started her own business back in the seventies, supplying uniforms for schools in Philadelphia. By the time she retired, she had a mini empire, built from the ground up. She ended up employing half of her friends and most of the family, too. It can cause a lot of friction when everything rests on your shoulders. Rob and I had that in common.” Barb sighed and, reaching for a cloth, wiped down the spotless counter.
“Is that why you don’t want to talk about how you and Rob met?” Sameera ventured. Thinking about her encounter with Tom last night, and the way he’d seemed to shut down at the end, her curiosity was piqued. She wanted to know more about him, and Barb was far more approachable than the prickly Rob.
Barb smiled. “You don’t miss a thing, do you? The truth is, Tom wasn’t always my biggest fan. I used to think his relationship with Rob soured when I arrived in the picture, but I soon realized they had their own issues well before. Tom is more like Pamela, may she rest in peace. Rob just about fell apart when she passed. By the time he got his life back together, the damage to him and Tom’s relationship was done. It doesn’t help that Rob’s a stubborn old ass, and refuses to accept Tom for who he really is. Don’t think I haven’t told him so a dozen times.”
“And who is Tom?” Sameera asked, careful to keep her voice neutral, but Barb wasn’t fooled.
“One of the most promising young chefs in the southern United States,” she said. “But of course, you know that.”
Sameera didn’t try to hide her surprise. “You never talk about his career.”
Barb’s smile was sad. “I don’t think Tom would like it, not when his father doesn’t say a word. I loved that cooking series he did, and of course, the videos he’s done with you. The one about chai you posted yesterday was fun. It’s been obvious from the start that he is absolutely smitten, and no wonder.”
Sameera ducked her head in acknowledgment of the compliment, and tried not to wince at their ongoing deception. Still, she had promised she wouldn’t say anything to Tom’s parents about the real status of their relationship, not unless they specifically asked. And things were getting more and more complicated between them, in any case. “You said he doesn’t cook when he’s here,” she said.
Barb sighed. “Believe me, I’ve tried to encourage it. Before you, he hadn’t come home in a long time. Last time he was here, he tried to talk to his dad about what he had built in Atlanta, but Rob wasn’t ready to listen, and I think that really hurt him. I think Tom decided that if his father wasn’t curious about his life and the things he was passionate about, then he wouldn’t bother sharing. Which is why I’m grateful to you, Sameera.” Barb’s face was earnest, and Sameera’s stomach dropped.Not this again.
“I’ve never seen Tom this relaxed, and it’s all due to you. This family was broken, so badly I wasn’t sure we would ever heal. But now that you’re in his life, our son is coming back to us. Rob has never been happier.”
Sameera didn’t know what to say. Everything had felt so simple when she and Tom first struck their bargain. It was supposed to be a mutual arrangement that hurt no one. She hadn’t signed up for this. Before she could respond, they heard the sound of a powerful engine, and they looked at each other.
“Is there a plane in your backyard?” Sameera joked, and Barb’s face lit up. She pulled on her boots and disappeared outside. Mystified, Sameera followed her, then abruptly halted.
There was a plane in the Cooke backyard. A small two-seater propellor plane, neatly parked two dozen yards away from the guesthouse, as casual as the pickup trucks in the driveway. Esa, alerted by the racket, ran up to her, and Sameera watched Tom join his stepmother, along with Rob. Barb’s face was wreathed in smiles.
“What’s going on?” Esa asked, and she shrugged, though she was pretty sure she knew who had finally turned up at the Cooke residence in such spectacular fashion:Andy Shaikh.
This was it. The reason she had agreed to the bargain with Tom. Her entire future rested on Andy’s response to her pitch. Her palms instantly felt clammy. Esa ran ahead to question his hosts, while Sameera took a moment to steel her nerves. This man held the key to her continued employment, and her future. She walked up to Tom.
“Did Andy tell you he would arrive this morning?” she asked him. What she really wanted to ask was if he had spent the rest of last night thinking about her the way she had about him. Part of her regretted not inviting him to join her in her room, while the more rational part applauded her caution. Not to mention that her parents would have been scandalized.
Still, it was hard to resist the temptation to lean against him and soak up his warmth.
“We expected Andy today or tomorrow,” Tom said, and she noted the slight coolness to his tone. Was he not happy to see his friend? “He tends to come and go as he pleases.” There was an amused exasperation in his voice now; she must have imagined the coolness. Tom had called Andy his brother, after all.
Though she was currently not on speaking terms with one of her siblings.
The man in question opened the door and popped out with a flourish. Andy Shaikh was a handsome man, Sameera considered, as he climbed down the stairs, already in animated conversation with a thrilled Esa. A few inches shorter than Tom, Andy had sharp features and thick, dark hair, a wiry build that reminded Sameera of a coiled spring. He held a small leather backpack in his arms, and after they watched Esa excitedly introduce himself, Andy motioned for her brother to follow him to the—trunk? Did planes have trunks? Esa’s excitement was clear as he took in whatever Andy had just shown him.
“I hope he didn’t go overboard again,” Barb said, affection clear in her voice. “He always brings treats when he visits, though we keep insisting we don’t need anything.”
Grinning, Andy approached his welcome party with arms outstretched. Behind him, Esa was entirely dwarfed by a giant box that contained a one-hundred-inch flat-screen television. Sameera willed him not to trip.
“You must be Tom’s mysterious new girlfriend,” Andy said. Her gaze had been fixed on Esa, but now she focused on the man of the hour, and her sudden nerves made her breaths shallow.
Andy’s eyes were so dark, they almost looked black, and fringed with thick eyelashes, eyebrows a bold slash across light-brown skin. Though his smile was easy, his gaze missed nothing. This was a man who wore his friendliness like a razor, using it to slice inside whoever had caught his interest. Which right now seemed to be her.
“Sameera Malik,” she said, offering her hand to shake. She smiled in what she hoped was an open, friendly manner while inside she triedto tamp down a rising nervousness. What if she forgot her carefully prepared pitch? What if he didn’t respond, or—a horrifying thought occurred to her—Andy thought she was taking advantage of Tom? Sameera tried to keep her rising panic from her features, but Nadiya had always said she had zero poker face.
His grin widened, and he came in for a hug. “I hope you’re treating my boy like the prince he is,” he said once he had let her go. “He’s the best person I know.”
Sameera tried not to flinch. Of course Andy didn’t know about the truth behind their relationship. Would it help or hurt to tell him? She had promised to keep quiet in front of Tom’s parents, who stood nearby. She settled on an awkward smile, and watched as Tom pulled Andy into one of those one-armed, back-slapping bro embraces. Tom whispered something in Andy’s ear. Throwing her another swift glance, Andy nodded before turning to greet his hosts.
