“I should go,” Saira said, seeming to understand Reena wasn’t ready to move on from this. “You keep the food. I’ll try and re-create it all later. Thanks for your help, Reena. I really do appreciate it.”

And with that, Saira walked out the door. And Reena was left with a kitchenful of dips, crackers, and a bitter taste in her mouth.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Saira left Reena with plenty of leftovers from their attempt to perfect homemade crackers and dips, a bonus, because probably for the first time in her life, Reena didn’t feel like cooking. She did defrost some lentil soup that she’d stashed last month when she thought some upcoming work projects might mean she’d be too tired to cook in the coming weeks (ha!).

She couldn’t stop replaying that conversation with her sister. Should she have let it all go? Just … not brought up the blog and the cookbook? Maybe they could have forged a decent relationship without working through the bitterness.

But she knew it wouldn’t be right. Like a perfect loaf of bread without any salt—nice on the surface but tastes off.

For now, all she could do was push past the uneasy feeling and prepare for an evening with her boyfriend and friends.

Boyfriend.

Her heart skipped a bit every time that word passed through her mind. He wanted her to call him that. Already. She wanted it, too. After learning nothing useful from Saira’s fact-finding expedition, she was confident that this just-for-fun, only-in-the-present, supportive relationship was worth any fallout that might happen in the future. She’d survived plenty of family implosions, and Nadim was definitely worth risking another.

He came over straight after work, still wearing his suit, a box in one hand and a wrapped plate in the other. He left them on the breakfast bar, then pulled Reena in for a long and leisurely kiss.

“I’ve been thinking about doing that all day,” he whispered into her neck after he had released her lips. Reena hummed with appreciation.

“What did you bring?” she asked as he sucked the soft spot below her ear. She shivered.

He stepped back and grinned, still holding her waist. “We’re still trying to finalize the café for the Diamond building. Met with a guy who owns a few franchises of a lunch counter–type place. He may be interested in opening one in the building. He wants us to put up some capital and be silent partners, but his terms seem far from fair to us. Anyway, he gave me some baked goods to sample. I’m sure they’re nowhere near as good as yours, but … ” He kissed her again, long and deep, tongues tangling and hands clutching. Nadim was an aggressive, all-or-nothing kisser. Reena’s favorite kind.

“What was I saying?” he said when they finally broke free.

She giggled. “You were extolling the virtues of my baking.”

“Yes. And I’ll extol it more when I eat it later. Oh, and this.” He pointed to the plastic-bag-wrapped plate he had placed on the counter. “This is proof that your mother likes me. Maybe not as much as you like me, but it’s a start.”