Page 81 of Earned Husband

“I’ve been practicing,” I admitted. “I now know enough to accidentally insult someone’s grandmother and make it sound like I mean it.”

She laughed. “Well, as long as that grandmother isn’t Nanna, you should be able to escape with your life.”

“Yeah, I still panic every time while I’m waiting for someone to respond to me. One of these days, I’m going to get slapped.”

“I’ll kiss it better for you,” she said, then burst out laughing again when I arched an eyebrow at her.

“That’d make getting slapped worth it. Quick, call the waitress back over here. I need to try and insult her grandmother.”

A slight, pinkish blush crept onto her cheeks, but she didn’t back down, teasing me for a little while as she tried to teach me how to insult people in Masri, but eventually, we moved on. When the food finally arrived, it was yet another feast fit for a king. I was starting to think that the Egyptian people knewsomething about the enjoyment of food that the rest of the world hadn’t been alerted to yet, and once again, it looked absolutely amazing.

“I think your grandmother would approve,” I said.

“Only if you finish everything.”

“I walked right into that.”

She smiled. “You really did.”

We picked together from the platters, talking and laughing nonstop while we ate. Despite how many times I’d imagined what it might be like when we finally got to have dinner together, I’d seriously underestimated how easy it would be to spend time together like this again.

For the last couple weeks, I’d even been doubting my memories of that day I’d shown her around Chicago, figuring that I was making it into something it hadn’t been, but tonight was proving me wrong. With the whirlwind around us finally dissipating for a night, it was exactly like it had been that day, just the two of us and not an awkward silence to speak of.

After dinner, Deja lifted the strap of a bag that’d been hanging over her chair. I’d assumed it was her purse, but when she set it down on the table between us, I recognized it as the camera I’d sent her.

“I’ve been waiting to use this again since we got here,” she said. “It really is the nicest gift anyone has ever given me, so I figured we should take it for a spin together.”

“I’m in. What did you have in mind?”

She nodded toward the beach. “Let’s go for a walk?”

“Is that safe?” I asked. “What if Ashanti and Khaled are out there?”

“Rami, Jasmine, or Tarek are much more likely to have left the house, but if we see them, I’ll either threaten them into silence or we’ll hide.”

“Hide?”

“Yep.” She grinned.

After I’d paid our check, she stood and held her hand out toward me. “Come on. I have enough blackmail material on all of them that the threats should work. We’ll only have to hide if things go extremely sideways.”

I knew I should probably say no and tell her it was getting late, but instead, I took her hand and let her pull me up. We’d been waiting for this for so long that I wasn’t keen on going back to the house just yet.

We left the restaurant holding hands, only the last sliver of sun still hanging on the horizon as we strolled down the beach. We kicked off our shoes on the sand and I carried them in one hand, but it wasn’t long before I lost Deja.

She was still only a few feet away, but mentally, she seemed to have disappeared into another realm, her camera clicking away as she crouched to photograph shells or the fishing boats bobbing offshore. While I happily tagged along behind her, she took pictures of a dilapidated wooden jetty and a stray cat weaving around between overturned boats.

Eventually, I sat down on the sand with one knee propped up, just watching her work. She looked genuinely happy like this, pausing to study something before she’d lift the camera, smiling like she’d found exactly what she was looking for every single time.

After a while, the sun had dipped all the way behind the horizon and she finally lowered the camera, looking up at me instead. “You know, you’re making this very difficult.”

“How?” I asked. “I’m just sitting here.”

“You keep ending up in the frame.”

I laughed. “Do you want me to move?”

“No.” She started walking toward me. “I’ve decided that having you in the background makes the picture better.” She lifted the camera again. “Don’t smile.” The shutter clicked andshe pulled the camera away a little to look at the picture she’d just taken. Then it clicked again. “Stop trying not to smile.”