“Help yourself. I made a lot. I was on my way up to Marley’s for wine, but something came up and she left.”

“I don’t have wine but there’s a full case of this special bitter. Is beer and bread appropriate?”

“Why not? The olives will pair well with the bitter brew.”

He smiled widely, a small dribble of beer leaking from his mouth. As he wiped it with his left forearm, Reena noticed a small tattoo just past his wrist. Looked like an African baobab tree.

He stood and went to the fridge. “I’ve got some beef sausages and a block of cheese. And a couple of apples—oh, and I forgot. My boss’s wife, who you definitely don’t know, sent some dhokla for me. It’s a strange dinner, but shall we feast?”

Reena smirked as she curled one leg under her. She had nowhere else to go, so why shouldn’t she get to know Nadim? She did have to live across the hall from him. They could be friends. She could pretend he didn’t work for her father.

And she damn well didn’t have to marry the man.

But eating fougasse and cheese of questionable origin with a new neighbor while enjoying some of his delightful microbrew couldn’t hurt. And looking at those arms while listening to that voice certainly wasn’t torture either. And if she found herself growing too attracted to the mystery English/East African man, she could just eat a bite of her mother’s dhokla as a reminder that any involvement with this man would always include her parents. Whether she wanted it to or not.

CHAPTER FIVE

Reena woke Wednesday morning with a serious case of the sniffles and a massive sinus headache. Figured. All that sneezing yesterday had blossomed to a full-on head cold. She had reports due by the end of the workday, so she didn’t want to call in sick. She phoned her boss, Tina, to ask if she could work from home.

“There’s an important meeting I need you for this afternoon.” Tina sounded annoyed.

“I can videoconference in—I don’t want to get anyone sick.” She would have thought Tina would be more enthusiastic about Reena putting the health of the team first while still getting the reports in.

“Okay,” Tina said. “I’ll email you the link.”

After taking two twelve-hour sinus pills, Reena booted up her laptop.

The pills worked their magic, and she was chin deep in numbers all morning, making progress on the sales reports. It was almost the end of the day when she logged into Tina’s “important” meeting, and Reena knew the moment the camera turned on that something was amiss at Railside Clothing Inc.

The meeting was strangely in the executive boardroom. Tina was there, looking exhausted and maybe … sad? Next to her was the normally stoic HR rep, except her smile was unnaturally chipper and most definitely fake. There were two strangers there, too, both wearing the easy-wear, yet formal clothing of a consultant. And a large stack of cardboard file boxes in the corner—the kind they give you to clean out your cubicle. Those were presumably for the unlucky sods who had to attend these meetings in person.