Misfit in Love (Saints and Misfits #2) - S. K. Ali Page 0,77
like a “star” with the towel-niqab deal she has going on right now. “So I was wondering if you could, you know, do a short boost for him? On Instagram and Snapchat? And TikTok and YouTube? Everywhere?”
“Well, I’d have to listen to him sing first. Come to my own conclusions, you know?” She leans left this time and pulls her laptop onto her lap. “I haven’t been keeping up with the competition.”
“Check it out, please? We’d really appreciate it.” I turn the phone to Haytham so Sausun can see him again.
“Thanks, I really appreciate it.” He nods again. The tips of his ears are red.
“I know. I just appreciate you considering it,” Haytham says solemnly.
She shrugs. “Assalamu alaikum. Janna, are you there?”
I turn the phone to me. “Yup.”
“Are we done now? I’m going to look at this Muslim Voice thing, and then I gotta get ready. For your brother’s wedding, remember?”
“Yeah, we’re done.” I think of something. “Hey, any chance you could give someone a ride here from Eastspring? A friend of mine and her grandmother? She was supposed to drive but isn’t feeling well.”
“Text me the info. Muslim?”
“No.”
“Okay, then prep them. About my niqab. Don’t want Grandma freaking out that a niqabi’s driving her.”
I nod, though I know Ms. Kolbinsky will be totally okay with it.
Right before I hang up, I turn the phone quickly to Haytham again as a joke. Just to make him squirm at the sight of Sausun once more. He looks at me, stricken.
“I can’t believe you just did that. You actually asked her.” He puts his fingers through his hair.
I laugh and follow Tats, who’s pulling the suitcase down the stairs to my room. “Hey, I just want you to win.”
* * *
Before I shower and change, I check Sausun’s accounts and see not a peep about anything related to the Muslim Voice. She’s probably still researching.
I’ll check in again later.
When I open the suitcase, there’s only Tats’s and my clothes.
Where are Mom’s? I try calling her but don’t get an answer.
I call Linda.
“Your mom went back to the hotel to change. She thought it would be less crowded. She hadn’t known that the boys were also using the bathrooms here,” Linda explains. “But she’s coming back earlier to get her makeup done. So meet in my bedroom around five, okay? Tats, too.”
I hang up and stare at my dress in the clear plastic dress bag.
In my head, I imagined Mom and me and Tats getting ready together, helping each other zip up our dresses and stuff.
I wanted Mom to zip me up. Like she had when we’d tried the dress on at home. When she’d lifted my hair and twisted it in a bun and stood next to me, looking in the mirror, declaring me “stunningly beautiful,” and even if I hadn’t believed her, I’d still felt a glow from how much she meant the words.
Is she zipping Dania’s and Lamya’s dresses up?
I pick my dress up by the hanger from the suitcase and lay it on the bed. Tats is still in the shower, so I sit beside my dress and, without thinking, start tapping on my phone.
What are you guys up to?
There’s typing happening on Dania’s end.
Getting ready
Just you guys?
No
Typing happening.
We’re in Khadija’s room, helping her.
Zayneb’s there? And my mom? There. Slide it in like that so there’s no notice of my insecurity.
Typing.
Typing.
Typing. Still?
Zayneb’s with her fiancé and brother. They got ready early so they already left. I think she promised Sarah she’d do something for her so look for her there. And Adam, her fiancé. We’ll be over soon too.
She didn’t say anything about Mom.
My mom?
I thought she was with you?
I smile. Unconsciously.
* * *
“Tats?” I say when she emerges from my bathroom in my bathrobe, a towel around her head. “Is it okay if we drive to the hotel? To go get ready with Mom? Haytham said we can use his car.”
“Now? Is there enough time?”
“If we leave this minute, there is.”
“Okay,” she says, sliding into my yellow flip-flops. “Let’s go!”
“Like that? You’re in my bathrobe.”
She opens the door. “Janna, do you know me or not?”
I pull the suitcase, and we go out the door, down the stairs, and out into the day.
Chapter Thirty-Three
When Mom opens the hotel room door in her bathrobe, Tats wheels in the suitcase and beelines for the bathroom. We worked out that she’d change first.