Page 32

Dina slammed the door and scrambled for her hijab, which she must have tossed to the floor last night. Seriously, what had happened after she ran outside Aunty’s Diner? She flung open the door again to find a sheepish-looking Lucky sitting up, his hair a mess of curls, massaging a crick in his shoulder. She glared at him.

“What the hell happened last night?” she demanded. “Where am I?”

“Deepak’s place,” Lucky said, apologetic now. “You don’t remember? You refused to leave.”

“What!” she exclaimed. Dina would never.

“I didn’t want to leave you here alone. Deepak’s mom offered me the futon in the basement, but I was worried you might freak out when you woke up, so I made myself comfortable outside your door.” He indicated with his chin the nest of blankets and pillows on the floor.

Dina shook her head. “I don’t understand why I didn’t want to leave,” she said.

Lucky looked embarrassed. “That might have something to do with the candy you accepted from the Americans. Henry offered you a gummy, to cheer you up or something.”

A memory sparked in Dina’s mind now—Henry handing her a bright-red gummy, telling her it would make her feel better. Dina had never done drugs before, even though cannabis was legal in Canada. She had never even tried to vape. What had possessed her to accept the gummy last night? She looked down at Lucky’s face and thought she might know the reason why.

“. . . And then you took two more,” Lucky added, clearly uncomfortable. “Hassan told Henry to stop messing with you, but it was too late.”

“What did I do?” Dina asked. The memories were coming back now, in disjointed flashes. “Nothing embarrassing or illegal, I hope.”

Lucky shook his head. “Mostly you just laughed at everyone’s jokes, insisted on covering everyone’s bill, then ordered three dosas to go, which you ate here. Oh, and you beat Hassan’s FIFA record. He didn’t like that.”

Dina slumped against the doorjamb in relief. That didn’t sound too bad.

“Um, you also, sort of, asked Hassan, Chris, and then Deepak to marry you. Don’t worry, they turned you down, and you were super cool about it,” he added, his lips twitching now. Was he laughing at her? “Good thing too. Bigamy is illegal in Canada,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her. “Arun would not be impressed.”

Dina groaned and covered her face. “I am never eating fun gummies again.”

Lucky got to his feet. “It was cute, actually,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m glad you took my advice to go for it.”

Their conversation was coming back to her now, and she blushed. Then something else occurred to her. Arshad, who was notorious for running late, said that he had been banging on her door for fifteen minutes. “What time is it?”

Lucky checked his phone. “Almost ten a.m.”

Dina shrieked, ran back inside the room to grab her phone, vaulted over Lucky’s prone form, and charged downstairs, ignoring his expression of surprise. Hania had been clear that she wanted the bridal party at the banquet hall at 10:00 a.m. to meet the camera crew from Vogue Arabia. And here she was, still in Deepak’s house, dressed in yesterday’s clothes. Her family would be furious. Her sister was going to murder her. And Arshad was sure to be suspicious once he realized she hadn’t spent the night at her parents’ like she said. What a disaster.

“I’m late to meet Hania and the bridal party at the hall,” she said when Lucky joined her at the front door a minute later. Why had she decided on pretty sandals with fiddly straps? She gave up on the buckles, scooped up her shoes and bag, and reached for the door. “Why are you holding that?” she asked, indicating the navy-blue garment bag over his arm.

“No time to go back to the Airbnb and change, so I borrowed a formal outfit from Deepak. I was supposed to meet Samir at the hotel at nine a.m., in case he got cold feet and needed me to hire an escape helicopter.” He met Dina’s eyes. “I was given strict instructions to talk him out of it,” he reassured her.

Dina ran outside, calling a hurried goodbye to Deepak’s mother, who was watching them with amusement, cup of chai in her hands. Lucky was close on her heels.

“Hey, wait, can you slow down a second?” Lucky called, out of breath.

She couldn’t. She was late, and she would let everyone down. They were all counting on her. Dina’s anxiety ratcheted up to ten by the time she got to the visitors’ parking lot, barefoot and frantic.

Her car was gone. She whirled on Lucky, who cursed.

“I think your car was towed,” Lucky said. “Deepak must have forgotten to register it last night.”

The stream of blue profanity that came out of Dina’s mouth made Lucky’s eyebrows rise. “I’ll drive you to your parents’ home.”

“I need to change into my nikah outfit and be at the banquet hall, like, an hour ago,” she said. She knew she sounded like a petulant child, but she had a throbbing headache, her mouth felt like she had spent the night chewing sandpaper, and she was pretty sure the gummies had not yet left the building, because her limbs felt like jelly.

She also had a feeling she had confided things in Lucky, and that she was suffering pre-embarrassment. Once she remembered what she had told him, another wave of embarrassment would have her completely submerged. She needed to get back to her home, where she could shower, recalibrate, and try to enjoy her baby sister’s special day. Without thinking about everything that had happened between her and Lucky over these last forty-eight hours.

Bonus points if she could halt the realization edging from the corners of her mind and attempting to hijack center stage: that she still had feelings for Lucky.

What absolutely rotten timing.