Sadia nods. ‘I know I shouldn’t have, as his boss and everything, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m a romantic and when I see a match, I want more than anything for it to work out.’
‘When did you tell him this?’
‘After I approved your date proposal for Akash and Samira, when Salman had suggested the idea of the flower arranging. It wasn’t an appropriate workshop idea for the two of them but I was intrigued and thought I could use it for future clients. But really, I just wanted to know what was happening between the two of you. It was like watching a series on telly!’
I don’t fight the chuckle that escapes me. It’s endearing to see how invested she is in our relationship.
‘And so I told him,’ she says simply, smiling. ‘So I think I can boast that I had a hand in you two becoming an item – again.’
She definitely did, just not in the way she thinks.
‘Can I ask you something?’ I say, suddenly feeling brave.
Sadia nods.
‘I’ve been trying to figure this out all summer but .?.?.’ I pause, wondering how to phrase my question. ‘How do you choose who you take on as a client and who you don’t? Like, what are the actual criteria? I mean, I know we have the intake forms but how do you whittle it down from the stack of applications you get?’
Sadia tilts her head to the side, her eyes lit with a glow. ‘It’s quite easy, actually.’
‘It is?’
Sadia nods. ‘We work with people who are genuinely looking for love.’
‘That’s it?’ I ask, amazed.
‘It might sound like an easy criterion, but it’s not as common to find as you’d think. But the clients whoaretruly looking for love? It’s as clear as day on their applications.’
‘Huh,’ I mumble to myself. If I had just given Ma an application form, not taken the job at the agency, she could have been accepted then. I briefly wonder if that means my summer was for nothing, but I quickly shake that off – I know it absolutely wasn’t. Maybe it was meant to be that I spent my summer at Eternally Yours or else I wouldn’t have reunited with Salman and our parents wouldn’t have ended their feud. Lipi missed that one in the cards.
‘Can I ask another question? I promise it will be my last one.’
‘You can ask all the questions you want,’ Sadia responds with a laugh.
‘Did you mean what you said, before the meeting with Habib .?.?.’
‘About you working at Eternally Yours in the future?’ Sadiafinishes for me.
I nod, wringing my hands.
Sadia lays her hands flat on her desk as she leans forward. ‘Absolutely. Poppy, I’ve seen first-hand the passion you have for our clients. That’s not something you see in every employee, and you bet I’ll keep hold of you if I can.’
‘You’ll be my first call after I graduate from events management at Edinburgh University,’ I say, my voice so full of emotion I can barely speak.
Sadia’s face splits into a wide smile. ‘I can’t wait for the day that happens.’
Epilogue
‘Are you sure this is the right dress?’ Ma asks me for the tenth time. She can’t stop twisting and turning, assessing her reflection from every angle. ‘Don’t you think the burnt orange washes me out? Or makes me look like a pumpkin?’
‘Ma, you donotlook like a pumpkin. Do you really think I would send you off on your first date looking like a vegetable?’
‘Do you want me to answer that honestly?’ Ma teases. I don’t even take offence, because if she’s joking at least then she’s not stressing.
And trust me, Ma has been stressing fordays. Sadia stuck to her word when she said she was going to prioritise Ma, because she rang her only two weeks later to tell her that she had found a suitable match. Funnily enough, it was someone Ma had on the cards all along: Omar.
It turns out that Omar was the man Hira Auntie and Azad Uncle had tried to set up Ma with more than six months ago, but she was too afraid to meet him. The Omar who had joined Eternally Yours, only to pull out right before the matching stage. The Omar who rejoined a few days after Ma did. I was chuffed to see it, and could hardly believe that I had found Ma’s match early on and I just didn’t know it.
Sadia was right all along: sometimes people just need a little time to re-evaluate their circumstances.
