Later while she was in Nadim’s bed, waiting for him to finish brushing his teeth, her text tone filled the room with the rousing sound of Highland pipes.

Amira: I have been instructed to invite you and Nadim to our house Friday night to hang out with your best friends before we go to the Galahads on Saturday for your little film shoot.

Reena: I’ll have to ask Nadim. Why?

Amira: Duncan insists that he must meet the man away from the chaos at his parents’ place. You know how protective he is.

Reena: How charmingly patriarchal.

Amira: I know. His knight of the round table shtick is getting old. But come early anyway. We’ll let the boys thump their chests and assert their manliness while we catch up.

Reena smiled. Clearly Duncan wasn’t the only one who needed to meet Nadim to make sure Reena’s heart was safe. But she felt fine about their meddling. Truly. Friends who cared enough to meddle were hardly something to complain about.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Reena spent the next few days shopping and researching for their video shoot at the farm. After a few phone calls to her mother and various extended family members, she had a vague recipe that she perfected with Nadim on Wednesday evening. The egg curry was a simple dish, but without any meat or strongly flavored vegetables, the quality of the spices became paramount. And one taste of her sample curry immediately confirmed that the trip to the store that roasted and ground their own spices had been worth it. Nadim proclaimed Reena’s curry to be better than his nani’s version, probably because of the bread she made to go with it—a large stack of parathas, heavy with ghee between flaky layers.

The next morning, Reena was on her way to a job interview when her phone rang. She hit the hands-free button on her steering wheel.

“Hello?”

“Were you planning to tell me you’ve acquired a fiancé to make maani with?”

Crap. Her brother. “Hi, Khizar! Great to hear from you! How’s Nafissa?”

“That’s it? Hi, Khizar? No ‘sorry big brother, I meant to tell you about my engagement.’ ”

“I’m not really engaged.”

“I figured as much. The bio on the FoodTV site says you’ve been engaged for six months, and I know that guy has only been working for Dad a month or so. What are you playing at, Reena?”

This wasn’t good. If her brother knew, who else could have seen the video? “Since when do you pay attention to the FoodTV website?”

“Nafissa is nesting. She was looking for freezer meals for after the babies are born.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary! I’m coming right after the birth—I’ll cook for you. What kind of stuff—”

“Don’t change the subject—are you and Dad’s new project manager together? Because Nafissa’s comment after seeing the video was ‘humina humina, nudge nudge wink wink.’ That’s exactly what she said.”

Reena snorted. She missed her sister-in-law. “No, we’re only pretending to be engaged for the contest. Don’t tell Mum and Dad.”