Flower of Destiny by M. L. Buchman

Author:M. L. Buchman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Buchman Bookworks, Inc.

7

“You know each other?” Herman looked up at the woman in the food truck.

The colorful sari was a distraction. But once he looked past it, he realized that he was looking at an older, nearly as lovely, version of Nadia.

“Your mother?” He asked it softly.

“My mother,” she whispered back. She sounded as if he was talking about algae and fungi again. Dry.

Her mother waved them aboard. In moments, he was being introduced to an aunt and two cousins of Nadia. He’d told her all about his family and their small law firm in nearby Alexandria. It wasn’t until this moment that he realized that he knew nothing about hers. Nadia must have done it on purpose? He wondered why. Then he wondered how much trouble he was in for having led her to her own family.

“Here, you two sit here.” She escorted them to the driver and front passenger seats. “Tonight, I will serve you the best. The goat biryani is incredibly good. And the chicken tikka masala. Yes, that will be good. Here. Here.” She served them each a tall iced tea.

Nadia looked as if she’d been frozen. Her face was expressionless. It wasn’t a look he was used to seeing on her. The cautious runner—carefree only when she wasn’t aware of being watched. The fierce Secret Service agent who had showed up that first evening. And the shy woman who kissed like he didn’t know what, but he never wanted her to stop.

“Are you okay?” Herman kept his voice low.

“Of course, she’s okay. Aren’t you, my little Bebo?” Her sharp-eared mother delivered a paper plate of samosas. “Bay shrimp.” And she was gone again.

“Bebo?” Herman tried not to laugh. If ever there was a name that didn’t fit this woman, her mother had found it.

“Death!” Nadia’s eyes made it clear what would happen if he ever used it again.

“Beer.” He bit into the samosa and the flavor exploded in his mouth.

“Food trucks can’t serve alcohol in DC.”

“No, Beer is my embarrassing nickname. My little sister started it. Herman was too much for her as a kid. My middle name is Lieber. The L was tough as well, so she hit me with Beer and it stuck. Most of my family call me that.”

“Well, Bebo is off the table.” Nadia’s tone left no doubt, but she relaxed enough to offer him a smile.

“How is that?” Nadia’s mother delivered a plate of tofu tikka skewers. “I’m Reena, since my daughter is too rude to introduce us.”

“I’m Herman. Finegold.”

“Herman? What sort of name is Herman?”

“Jewish.”

“Ah,” and she was gone again. He could see her back at the order-taking station at this end of the truck, but she was clearly listening hard to them and barely paying attention to the customers.

“Should I make up a fantastic story when she—”

Reena swept back in and handed a plate of plain chicken stripped from the bone to Nadia. Nadia, in turn, set it in front of Toni where she’d curled up in the footwell—on his feet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.