“Oh, I don’t know. I hear finance can be very exciting.”
Steph laughed. “Hardly. Maybe if I had gone into investment, like my dad, it might have been exciting, but I have no interest in any of it, really.”
“Then what are you interested in, Steph?”
“Fashion. I love designing clothes, and I would love to run my own line someday.”
“Why don’t you?”
Steph hesitated. She hadn’t even asked herself that question. It had always just seemed so impossible.
“After the market crashed and we lost everything, my parents didn’t have the money to put me through school. They didn’t want me to get into loads of debt, so my dad finagled the bank position as a way for me to take care of myself until I could settle down. I guess the truth is that I don’t have the education for it.”
“How many actors go to college for acting? How many professional surfers go to college for surfing? It is not always necessary, if you have the talent.”
“Perhaps,” Steph said, not entirely believing that.
Mehdi placed a hand on top of hers, his eyes intent. “Steph, an arranged marriage is not the only answer for you. You could open up a boutique here in El Farah. Fashion is huge here! The women adore couture.”
Steph grinned at his enthusiasm. “You haven’t even seen anything I’ve designed. That’s quite a bit of confidence you have there.”
“I have perfect faith that you are the most talented designer the world has yet to know. You simply need to take a chance on yourself.”
Mehdi sat back, removing his hand from hers. They ate in silence for a moment, and Steph thought about how she had gotten there.
“The truth is, the only reason I agreed to the marriage was to have an adventure,” she said, her voice small.
“Don’t you think you could make your own adventure?” he asked.
Steph looked up from the table and into his eyes. Even with the sun setting next to them, she could still catch those sprinkles of green. He was the perfect man…who had shown up at the wrong time.
Wasn’t that always the case?
When she didn’t answer him, Mehdi cleared his throat. Their meal finished, he looked out at the sunset. Steph looked out, too, thinking about her parents. They were probably beside themselves with worry. And what about her fiancé? Even though he didn’t know her, he had to have been a little worried when she didn’t show up. What must he think of her? She needed a chance to explain herself. There was so much she had to atone for, even though she would never for a second regret it.
“Shall we get our feet wet one more time?” Mehdi asked, and Steph nodded; the longer she could prolong this perfect fantasy, the better.
They stood and stepped into the gently lapping waves, the water the perfect temperature in contrast to the air around it. The sun melted into the shimmering water, causing the sky to bloom with purples, pinks, and oranges as a cool breeze came in off the sea. Steph shivered.
Noticing this, Mehdi turned her to him, rubbing along her arms to warm her up. She gazed up at him, and he stopped his hands along hers. Unable to resist, he lowered his head that forbidden distance, claiming her lips in a kiss.
It was wonderful and terrible all at once. Mehdi’s lips fit perfectly against hers, like a missing puzzle piece at long last found, but Steph’s mind spun with guilt as she thought about everything she needed to get back to.
When Mehdi lifted his head, ending the kiss, he ran a thumb along her chin, his eyes concerned.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Steph did her best to memorize every detail of his face in that moment. He looked so deeply concerned, so caring. So handsome. Mehdi was everything a man ought to be, which made it all the more terrible that she had to leave him behind.
“My family,” she said. “I have to get back to them, Mehdi. It wasn’t right, what I did. I’ll never regret these last few days, but I have to go make things right with them.”
Mehdi nodded. “Of course you do. I would never hold you back from doing what you feel is right.”