“Surprise me.”
He wrinkled his brow a little as he thought about what he could cook. “I think I can come up with something you’ll like.”
“Amani, I’ve tasted nothing you’ve cooked that I haven’t loved. You’re an amazing chef. I can’t wait for you to open your own restaurant.”
“From your mouth to Allah’s ears?”
“Well…”
“No worries, I need to get a move on, too. Also, if there’s anyone else you want to invite over tonight, do so. You know me, I don’t know how to cook for small groups. Chalk that up to being raised in a large Jordanian household. Growing up with myJaddiandJaddati, parents, and six siblings, nothing was ever small.”
“And I thought growing up with two siblings and my parents made a crowded house…and we all had our own rooms.”
“There’s a reason I flew to America and studied up in Hyde Park for four years. I love my family. But right now, I love them on the other side of the ocean.”
“Don’t you miss them?”
“Of course, I do, but we talk multiple times a week with Zoom and FaceTime.”
“How often do you fly home?”
“Once or twice a year. It’s an eleven-hour flight on Royal Jordanian Airlines. The flight is direct from JFK into Amman, Jordan, where I grew up.”
“Wow, I thought the five-hour flight to Des Moines took forever.”
We hugged goodbye, and I walked into the building. The lobby was quiet. A young couple I knew lived in the other tower talked to the security guard, so I nodded and went right to the elevator bank. On the door was a taped sign that read,Down for Maintenance.
I let out a groan and headed to the staircase. At least I didn’t have groceries with me. The metal door banged behind me, and I looked up the concrete staircase. Well, time to get my workout for the week. I climbed. Now, I’m in pretty good shape. Sure, I’m not one of those crazy Broadway stars who takes eighteen dance lessons at the Broadway Dance Center every week, but the complex has a nice gym. And I even use it when I’m feeling particularly adventurous or bored. Okay, so maybe I should have seen inside the gym a few more days in the past couple of years than I have, but I’m not entirely hopeless.
On the tenth floor, I started feeling it in my calves. I was cursing the man who invented high-rise apartments by the fifteenth floor. And let’s face it, we know it was a man. No woman in her right mind would need to build a giant phallic symbol for people to live in.
By the twentieth floor, I cursed my existence and had an existential crisis of faith. Part of me wanted to lie down on the stairs and hope someone would take pity on me and call an ambulance. I passed a few people on the stairs, so I could have reached out for help and begged for mercy. But no, I was a glutton for punishment, so I pressed on.
When I rounded the 25thfloor, I prayed to every deity I could think of. Whoever spared me this indignance, I would convert and become a follower right then and there. “I’ll even shave my head,” I groused between gasps.
“I’d recommend against that,” a voice said from behind me.
I turned to yell at the voice, and Kirk stood below me with a goofy grin. His school bag was slung over his shoulder. His brown hair was in a messy mop. He had a little shine of sweat, but nothing like I imagined the cascading waterfall of sweat pouring off my body at that moment looked like. I was so startled I put my left foot down and missed a step. I lurched forward and practically threw myself at Kirk.
I screamed in terror, thinking I was about to plummet to my death and take Kirk with me, but his strong arms grabbed and steadied me.
“Easy there, tiger,” he said.
When I finally got my balance back, I put weight on my left foot and grimaced.
“You, okay?”
“I think I twisted my ankle when I threw myself at you.”
“Oh, so that’s your version of throwing yourself at a guy?” I wanted to snap, but his lopsided grin stopped me. Besides, I was still leaning on him for support.
“No worries, I can make it up the last couple flights of stairs.”
“Not on that ankle, you’re not. If it’s more than a simple sprain, you could do some real damage.”
“Well, I can’t sit here in the stairwell all night long.”
“I can carry you?” I looked at him with a gaze that must have been a mix of ‘are you a creep’ and ‘are you for real.’ “I carry Carissra upstairs all the time. I promise I’m not some creepy guy trying to get his hands on you.”
