Page 19 of Even If the Sky is Falling
Maya took another mouthful of food. She didn’t want conversation to stray closer to their families or their competing sandwiches, and she definitely didn’t want to talk about the end of the world, so she asked him his favorite movie genre. Seemed a safe question. But his answer surprised her again.
She laughed. “You’re kidding. Your favorite movies areromances?”
He shook his head.“Rom-coms.”
“The rom part is right there, buddy. Adding a bit of comedy doesn’t make it less of a romance.”
He smiled. “Okay, fine. I love romances.”
Maya shook her head, laughing. “You’re a unicorn, you know that? You used to like adventure movies.” She remembered watchingThe Mummyseveral times together with their siblings as kids. Although now that she thought about it,The Mummywas totally a romance.
“I like those, too, but a good rom-com is so stress relieving. Why am I a unicorn?”
“Because most men in my life don’t like rom-coms. My ex-boyfriend used to take them out of my Netflix queue because he said they were rotting my brain. And he hated me reading romance novels.”
Tarek cringed. “Ugh. Bad boyfriend.”
Maya snorted. “Horribleboyfriend. I’m embarrassed it took me so long to figure that out.” She took a long sip of her ice water. She was completely over Ben, but still incredibly angry at herself for staying so long.
Tarek was looking at her curiously when she put her water down. “Seems like a rough breakup,” he said.
She huffed a laugh. “Yeah. I had to upend everything and move back home. I love not living with an asshole anymore, though.” She took another bite of her food. She didn’t want to talk about Ben right now.
But something about what she’d said caught Tarek’s interest. “You lived with the guy? Your parents didn’t care?”
Maya raised her eyebrow. “I’m twenty-nine—I don’t need my parents’ permission anymore.” Maya’s parents weren’t the stereotyped strict Pakistani parents. So long as Maya was happy, they didn’t question her lifestyle. They were fine when she’d moved out, but they were happier when she moved back. But that was because Ben was bad for her, not because she’d been living in sin. They accepted Maya as she was.
“Lucky.”
Clearly, this was a sore spot for him. Maya was curious, but she also didn’t want to pry. They weren’t supposed to talk about family. After a few moments of awkward silence in the small truck, Maya asked another question so she wasn’t obsessing about every sound she heard. “You ever read romancebooks?”
He shook his head.
“You should.”
“Why?”
“Because romance novels are amazing. That is if you’re a reader.”
“I do read, but I wouldn’t know where to start with romance. Hey, when we get out of this market, pick one for me and I’ll read it,” he said with a grin.
“If,”she corrected.
“When,”he said again.
He seemed so sure that they’d all be fine, but the longer they were here, the more Maya worried they’d never leave. She looked toward the front of the truck, hoping he didn’t see the fear in her eyes. Suddenly there was a hand on hers on the stainless steel counter. He squeezed.
“I’m sorry,” she said, blinking away a tear. “We just...we have no idea what’s going on out there. I’m worried about my family.” She shook her head. “My therapist would be telling me to focus on my three positives of this situation.”
“What are they?” he asked, his hand still on hers.
Maya counted them off on the fingers of her other hand. “One, there is a cat here with us.”
“Seriously?Percy?”
“Cats are always a positive. Two, I’m alive and well. And three,” she wasn’t sure she should say the last one. He might misunderstand. “And three, I’m not alone.”
Tarek didn’t say anything, just looked at her curiously for several moments. But they were so close together. His hand was on hers. He’d pushed up the sleeve of his yellow chef’s jacket and she could see the corded muscle and smooth skin of his forearm. She swallowed.
