Page 37 of Sapphire Spring

It had taken seven knocks to get Pari to come to the doorand even then, she’d done so right as Naser had been preparing to open it withhis universal key. Hair in a wrap, generous curves hugged by a sarong of herown design, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, everything about Pari looked beachyand casual save for her perfect coating of dark fuchsia lipstick.

“I’m here about the smoking,” Naser lied.

He was there because he feared his sister’s business was introuble, but with someone of Pari’s ego, he knew he’d have to sneak up on thetopic gently.

She sighed, turned from the door, and granted him entrancewith a weak hand wave. Every room at Sapphire Cove had an ocean view, butConnor had given her one of the best, a fourth-floor deluxe king with a sittingarea, spacious balcony, and a view south down the coast.

“Whatever. I put it out hours ago. Some guy yelled at mefrom another balcony. He was all like, ‘What do you think this is, 1986?’ And Iwas like, ‘Would you prefer it was weed,’causethat’swhat the rest of California smells like now.’”

He followed her through the open sliding glass door. Shesettled into the lounger next to a half-empty mimosa in a champagne flute. “Iknow this is about the party. Can you yell at me tomorrow? I’m tired.”

Naser leaned against the balcony’s concrete wall. “Thatmakes two of us.”

“Yes, I know. I’m so exhausting.”

“It’s not you, Pari. It’s not always about you.”

Instead of anger, he saw puzzlement on his sister’s face.“What happened?”

“I ran into someone from my past.”

“What past, Naser? You barely leave the house.”

He sank into the empty chair next to the lounger. “I knowyou think my life is boring because I’m not driving up to some Hollywoodpremiere every week, but I actually do go places and do things.”

“No. I just think you wantmylife to be boring.”

“I want your life to have a budget. There’s a difference.”

Pari took a hard slug of mimosa. “You’re mad about the fortune-tellers.”

“And you never care if I’m mad, so what does it matter?”

She nodded as if she was considering this, then anuncomfortable silence fell. Uncomfortable, Naser realized, because his sisterseemed on the verge of making a candid admission. Possibly a vulnerable one.And that’s not how they worked with each other. For most of their lives, they’daddressed each other in boastful declarations and outright threats. He had asmuch of a part in that dynamic as she did, but the older he got, the more hewanted it to change. “Connor gave me a million discounts, and I still came upshort.Sowhen it came to the wine, I had to getcreative.”

“That’s all?”

Pari sighed and slouched. “Maman didn’t come.”

“Is that what the Googoosh thing was about, trying to gether to come?” He figured it was probably about trying to draw all the potentialwealthy Persian investors in Orange County, but he kept this to himself.

She shrugged. “It wasn’t the only thing. I thought SapphireCove would help. And you, Naser-joon. Why doyou think I practically bankrupted myself to have the party here? She adores you,and now that you work here, this place is all about you in her mind.”

“Well, sorry I wasn’t enough of a draw.”

“Oh, that’s not it, and you know it. She and Baba both. Youwere always their perfect child. Persepolis. The model you made. For school.Remember it?”

Naser’s skin crawled. “Junior year. Yeah, it’s coming up alot lately.”

“She knew you were being bullied. She called me five timesthat morning. She thought the other kids at school would break it. I had tostop her from following you to class that day.”

He was stunned. He’d spent that morning assuming his motherhad wanted to horn in on his presentation when the truth was she’d been asafraid of his walk to class as he’d been. Even today, he’d never told her aboutthe bullying. After his father had died, he’d been determined to be strong forhis family in the only way he knew how. Crunching numbers, planning, advising, warning.

Or, as his sister put it, nagging.

If he couldn’t be the best little boy in the hallways and onthe playing fields of Laguna Mesa High, he’d have to score his touchdowns withQuicken. He’d put a foundation under his grief-stricken family the only way heknew how.

To hide how stunned he was by this revelation, he said,“Persepolis turned out fine.”

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