“Wait until you taste them.” She closed the tin and checked her phone. “Car’s here.”
Once they were buckled in the back seat, Rashid turned to look at her with an unreadable expression. “I had an eventful day,” he said.
Ruby nodded. “Buying a Christmas sweater… easily a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Dr. Christmas-Hating Rash. Did you feel the earth move when you paid for it?”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I have news.”
“Oh?” Ruby wondered why he hadn’t saidgoodorbadnews. Justnews.
“Jasmine and I usually go to the UK between Christmas and New Year’s,” he explained, “to spend the time with Mom, Dad, and Ayesha. But Derek has refused to allow Jasmine to take the girls out of the country. So, my parents and sister Ayesha decided to fly here instead. They’ll be here December twenty-sixth.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Ruby said, smiling. But she wasn’t sure if thiswasactually good news—at least for her. Ruby’s ticket to London was for January 1, and her last day of work was December 27. She’d hoped she and Rashid could spend her last few days in Toronto together. But now he was probably going to spend it with his family.
She was being selfish. It was great that he could see them. Maybe this would be good for her, too. She could ween herself off Rashid instead of going cold turkey.
“There’s more,” Rashid said. He looked a little nervous. “I… I know that we talked about this, and we’re supposed to be no-strings-attached, and you didn’t want me to ask my father to hire you, but Jasmine mentioned your UK plans to Dad and Ayesha. They want to meet you while you’re here.”
“Oh.” Ruby exhaled. Was that the only reason they wanted to meet her? “Do they, you know, know about us?”
He shook his head. “My parents don’t know we’re having a fling. Jasmine, Ayesha, and I have had a pact forever never to tell Mom and Dad about one another’s love lives. You know how South Asian parents are. If they found out I even held your hand, they’d be planning our wedding.”
Ruby chuckled. She did know—tangentially, of course—how wedding obsessed South Asian parents could be. That wasone good thing about not having close family: She didn’t have to deal with anyone else’s expectations for her own life.
“But they know we’re friends,” Rashid continued, watching the road in front of him. He was clearly uncomfortable. “They know the girls adore you, so they want to take you out to dinner. Dad asked me if he thought you’d be suited for the hotel industry, and I said yes, you’d be fantastic, and you’re very committed to your work and goals. He said he wanted to talk to you about your plans and see how they can help.”
Ruby exhaled. She didn’t know how she felt about this. On one hand, all she wanted a few weeks ago was to get an introduction to the Hakim family. But now, things were different. Ruby didn’t want to complicate this relationship, even if it was supposed to be only a temporary fling. Mixing business and pleasure was always a bad idea. If something went wrong in either area, it could affect the other. She couldn’t jeopardize her and her mother’s lifelong dream like that.
She glanced at Rashid. There was a lot of uncertainty on his face, too—like he also wasn’t sure this news of his was a good thing. Maybe he was afraid that his family wouldn’t like Ruby, and it would mean the end of their fling.
But this wasjusta fling, and it always had an end date, anyway. There was no end date to her goal, and her goal should mean more to her than a three-day-old relationship with someone she’d known for a month.
And at the end of the day, it was pretty amazing that Rashid said those things to his father about her. That had been the whole point of Ruby getting close to this man—to show him that she was capable and responsible enough to work inhis family’s business. Before, he’d said she was too impulsive, too irresponsible for him to refer her to his family’s business in good conscience. This meant she’d succeeded. He respected her now.
She smiled, put her hand on his, and squeezed. She saw the moment that content smile sneaked onto his face.
“Thank you,” she said. “I really appreciate you saying that. I know you wouldn’t have referred me if you didn’t think I could do it, and I’m grateful. I’m so happy I met you.” There was no other way to say it.
He turned his hand over and lifted hers so he could kiss the back of it.
As expected, Marley and Shayne’s party was chic and stylish, with a vintage midcentury vibe to coordinate with the movieCarol. Marley was even wearing a teal dress with a fitted skirt and shawl collar almost exactly like the one that Cate Blanchett wore in the film.
“You look fantastic,” Ruby said, kissing Marley on both cheeks.
“Of course she looks fantastic,” Shayne said behind her. “You knowCarolwas nominated for best costume design at the Academy Awards, right?” He smiled at Rashid. “Nice to see you again, Doctor. And if you’d like to change out of that…thing, I have more reproduction costumes from the movie upstairs. Perhaps a beret might redeem that sweater? Some pearls?”
“Shayne, shush,” Ruby said, handing him her coat. “He’skeeping the Christmas vest.” Shayne was also wearing a vest—a black one over a button-up shirt with thin yellow and gray stripes. Also, a thin black tie and a red Santa hat. Most people would think this outfit was odd, but it was almost exactly what Rooney Mara wore in the first scene ofCarol.
“Let’s get you two some cocktails,” Shayne said. “Put your presents under the tree.”
After they each got martinis with big pimento-stuffed olives, Ruby started introducing Rashid to the people he hadn’t met yet. He was surprisingly friendly and chatty with everyone. If someone had told Ruby a month ago that she’d be bringing the surly Dr. Rash to Marley’s holiday party, and that he would be charming and personable, she would have laughed her face off. It wasn’t a huge party—only about thirty people were squeezed into Marley and Shayne’s house. Ruby had thought that Rashid’s grump came out in big crowds, but apparently this crowd wasn’t too big for him. He was like a whole different person.
And people seemed to genuinely like Rashid, too, which warmed Ruby’s heart. He got along particularly well with Duncan, the red-bearded partner of one of Marley and Reena’s old friends Amira, who lived about an hour out of town. It made sense—Duncan was a huge hockey fan. At one point Ruby came out of the bathroom, and Rashid wasn’t where she’d left him on Marley’s orange sofa. Ruby found Shayne in the dining room and asked if he knew where Rashid went.
Shayne rolled his eyes. “He went to look at Anderson’s newcar. Duncan and Nik went, too.” Shayne suddenly handed Ruby the tin of peppermint burfi. “Ruby, these are evil. Take them before I eat them all. You need to screen your boyfriendsbetter—the last thing we need in this group is another car bro. Who cares about cars!”
Ruby’s father was literally a mechanic, and Ruby herself was a bit of a car bro. “Rashid isn’t my boyfriend, and he isn’t a car bro, either.”
“What do you mean, he’s not your boyfriend. I thought you two were a thing now?” Shayne asked.
