Farzan
The lights were on in the Trans’ place when Farzan pulled up to Shiraz Bistro.
The salon had been gutted, everything gone but the sinks. AFOR SALEsign still hung in the window. And inside, Farzan recognized their agent, showing around a couple of folks, who were nodding along with whatever she was saying.
What did it matter, anyway? He’d never be able to get a loan, never be able to make an offer. He could only hope his new neighbors wouldn’t be assholes.
Farzan let himself in and headed to the kitchen. Chase had the week off—spending time with his family in the Ozarks—so Farzan was on rice duty. At least that was one thing he couldn’t fuck up. He got the tahdig started and headed to his office, where he found the papers from the Trans’ real estate agent on his desk. For all the good they would do.
There was a knock on his door frame. “Hey, boss?” Elmira asked.
“Huh? Sorry.” Farzan tossed the papers in the blue bin under his desk. “What’s up?”
Elmira’s lips twisted back and forth. “Uh… is everything okay?”
No, it wasn’t, but he wasn’t going to unload on the staff. “Yeah. Why?”
“Well, usually my paychecks go through overnight on Tuesdays, so they’re in my account by Wednesday, but this morning there wasn’t anything, and it still hasn’t posted.”
That was odd. Everyone who got direct deposit was, indeed, supposed to get paid Tuesday night.
“It definitely should’ve gone through… let me do some checking?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
Farzan held in a sigh. The last thing he needed was a payroll problem. Everything was supposed to be automated, as long as he filled out all the forms Monday night and signed them and—
Fuck. Fuck!
He looked through his emails for the usual confirmation that payroll was being processed. It was always filtered and sorted without him doing much more than glance at it, but this time… nothing.
He’d fucked up. Big time.
It was his own fault. He’d been out running errands Monday and had accidentally driven right by Aspire. It wasn’t like he could see inside, but that hadn’t stopped heartache from consuming him the rest of the day. Plus the family group chat had been blowing up about Maheen’s first ultrasound. And Ramin and Todd were asking about hosting everyone for Friendsmas, and that’s just what Farzan needed, to look at a happy and successful couple as they cuddled and kissed and celebrated another holiday together while Farzan was alone. Again.
God. He really was a fuckup.
And now he had to get to the bank before they closed, so he could get them to run some checks for him. And oh how fun that would be, showing up asking them to help him fix his fuckup, as if they needed any more confirmation they’d been right to deny him a loan.
He grabbed his coat and keys and stepped out into the kitchen—only to be greeted by the scent of burning rice.
His tahdig!
He ran to the stove, killed the heat, grabbed a towel, and took thepot over to the sink to run it under cool water. As if that could undo the disaster.
There was no saving burned tahdig. There might not even be any saving of the pot itself. He didn’t have time for this. He left the pot in the sink, hollered at Spencer to hold down the fort, and ran for his car.
The sky was a bright, uniform gray, and a light sleet was coming down, catching in his eyelashes, landing cold against the back of his neck where his hair used to protect him. He would need to invest in a hat until his hair grew back out. Or maybe it would all fall out from the stress and he’d be bald like Arya.
He shut himself in the car and turned it on to get the defroster going. He gripped the steering wheel and clenched his teeth, but he couldn’t keep the sob in any longer.
Somehow the rice was the last straw. Because even when he’d been a total fuckup at everything else, he’d always been good at cooking. And now he’d ruined that, too.
His shoulders shook. Sadness swelled in his chest like a balloon that was finally about to burst. He wanted to break down, hug himself, hide in the car, and never show his face again. But he had a restaurant full of people counting on him.
He couldn’t.
So he sniffled, and wiped his face, and pulled out of the parking lot.
