“What job?”

Right. She forgot Khizar didn’t know about her employment woes. There was no point in keeping things secret now, so she told him about losing her job at Railside, and about how much she wanted the one at Top Crust.

“Oh, that sucks, Reena. I’m sorry. That bakery job would have been perfect. What are you going to do now?”

A question for eternity: What the hell was she going to do now? She knew what she wanted to do with her life: she wanted to be working at Top Crust, and she wanted to be building a real relationship with the man she thought Nadim was.

There was no chance of winning the scholarship now, even if they did make it to the finals in the contest. There was no way they would make that last video. So, no bread course to fulfill her dreams and help break the monotony of her life, either.

Everything would go back to how it had been before. She would work somewhere dull during the day and bake bread in the evenings. Live in her father’s apartment building. Visit Amira on weekends. Sunday brunches listening to Mum sing the praises of the newest eligible Muslim bachelor. Maybe she’d even find another superficial relationship with a man who didn’t buy her a starter jar or rub her feet.

Reena looked at her bare fingers on the hard table. Never in her life had she accepted the magnitude of her loneliness.

She couldn’t break down again. She needed to hold herself together.

“I don’t know, Khizar. I don’t know what to do.”

He was silent a while before he spoke again. “What did Nadim say when you confronted him about this?”

“I haven’t seen him.”

“At all? Did you find out whether he really did work for Salim Shah? You might find that out by googling.”

“I haven’t looked. And before you say anything, I know. I just—”

“Reena, I know it’s a mess, and I get it that it hurts, but you always deal with problems by pretending they’re not there. I’m not saying you have to forgive the guy—I certainly wouldn’t. But you can’t live with your head in the sand all the time. You can’t breathe in there, and you know it.”

Evil, evil big brother.

“I wish you were here, Khizar. When are you coming home next?”

He snorted. “Nafissa can’t sit for more than forty minutes without looking for a bathroom, so it’ll be after the babies are born. But you’re still coming for the birth, right? It’s only four months away.”

“Of course I am. You’re going to be a daddy.” She smiled. He was going to be an amazing father.

He laughed. “I know. It’s surreal. Things are changing, Reena. We want you and Saira to be in their lives as much as we can swing it. Those girls are insanely lucky to have such kick-ass aunties.”

Reena bit her lip. “Yeah, they are. I’ll call you tomorrow, Khizar. Give Nafissa a hug from me.”