Page 144 of Sapphire Spring

Tonight, the main event would be inside the DolphinBallroom, which she’d transformed into a stark white landscape of minimalistcurtains and taffeta screens designed to rival the biggest runway shows inParis and Milan.

Tonight, Pari wouldn’t be forced to improvise a catwalk withwhirling dervishes as crowd control and a spotlight snuck onto the hotel’sroof.

And this time, Mason, sober for almost eight months, wouldrememberevery lastdetail.

Mason took his seat next to Mahin, Pete, and Shirley. Butwhen Naser saw only one empty chair, he remained standing and scanned the room.“What about Connor and Logan and Jonas?”

Mason averted his eyes and pretended to dust lint off hislap. “They’re working. It’s fine. Take a seat.”

“Pari doesn’t want them working, she wants them watching.”

Mason reached out and took Naser’s hand. “Don’t worry.There’s something they need to take care of.” Mason cursed his loose tongue assoon as the words left his mouth.

“What something? Pari brought in her own team.”

Mahin reached out, took her son’s other hand, and yanked himdown into his chair. “Naser-joon, maybe giveup control somewhere besides the bedroom, huh?”

“Maman!”

Pete and Shirley laughed into their fists.

Persian pop music pumped through the speakers.

The show began.

Mason didn’t know the first thing about women’s fashion, butit gave him a deep sense of pride that he’d been able to make this colorfulparade possible. That no matter the pain and twisted motives that led up to it,a choice he’d made had allowed Pari Kazemi to give life to a pure, strutting,and glittering version of her aesthetic and vision.

When the show was over, Pari took the stage to a standingovation. As soon as she finished a few words of thanks, she extended one handin the direction of their seats. Mahin nudged Mason with her elbow. No doubtshe assumed Pari wanted to thank him for his investment. But Mason had beenbriefed about this part of the evening. When Mason shook his head and gesturedfor her to accept her daughter’s invitation, Mahin Kazemi blinked and lookedfrom Mason to her daughter and back again.

For a few seconds, the woman pretended to be overwhelmed by therequest, then she burst up onto the catwalk and began smiling and nodding atfriends in the audience with a politician’s poise that made clear Pari hadinherited her love of the spotlight from her mother.

“As many of you know, we are members of an immigrant community,and the circumstances by which many of us came to America are painful andcomplicated. But what happens in communities like ours is that our eldersbecome the keepers of our history, and sometimes those of us who are younger,we forget the value in this, and we mistake what they try to share with us asconfining or limiting.”

Pari took her mother’s hand, and for a second, the two womenstared at each other as if seeing each other for the first time. “I have neverseen Iran,” Pari said, with a catch in her voice. “But I have seen what livesof it inside my mother, and I do the work that I do so that you all will seethat too. So that you will see her the way that I see her. And so tonight, theshow, my new collection, it is dedicated to you,Maman-joon.”

Mahin Kazemi did what she always did when she was about tocry—she turned her head to one side and waved her hands quickly in front of herface as if trying to rid herself of an irksome fly. Pari brought her into afierce, tight hug.

As the applause surged, Mason caught sight of Jonas staringat him through the cracked doors across the ballroom. A short nod indicatedeverything was ready.

Mason’s heart raced.

After they’d congratulated Pari and left her to a crowd ofadmirers, Mason took Naser’s hand and started pulling him toward the ballroomdoors. “Where are we going?” Naser asked.

“The afterparty.”

When they started down the hallway toward the double doorsleading to the ocean-facing lawn, Naser said, “The afterparty’s out by thepool.”

“This one’s just for us.”

At the top of the wooden steps that descended to the littlecrescent of beach far below, Mason saw the tent had gone up right where they’dplanned it, and a soft glow within was pushing at the cracks in the flaps.“Mason…”

“Come on.”

At the base of the steps, he made them take off their dressshoes and socks, then they plodded barefoot across the sand.

When they were within a stone’s throw of the tent, Masonheard a rustling sound, followed by a curse, which suggested either Connor orLogan had tripped while trying to quickly evacuate out of the other side beforetheir arrival. But when Mason pulled back the entrance flap, giving Naser aview of everything within, he saw it had all come together perfectly.

Naser gasped and froze.

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