Page 118 of Absolute Certainty
She offered hima small smile, but the discomfort was written all over her face—in her entire posture.
Fuck fuck fuck.
Eloise jumped down from his grip and turned. Spotting an unfamiliar face, she looked back at Jay. He leveled himself with her. “Can you say ‘hi’ to my friend Sahar?”
Eloise shifted back shyly. “Hi,” she waved, her voice low.
“Hi!” Sahar waved back, a bright smile on her face.Damn, the woman masked her discomfort well.The rising panic he’d seen in her eyes had momentarily vanished.
“She’s pretty,” Eloise whispered in his ear.
The ghost of a smile rose along his lips. “I know.”
At that moment, Maya walked back into the room. “Hi, sorry. I actually thought I was going to die for like five minutes there, so that was fun.”
Eloise gasped.
“I’m exaggerating, mija. Don’t worry.” With the living room wall right at her peripheral, Maya clearly hadn’t seen Sahar yet, so she turned to Jay. “Why do you look so shocked to see us?”
Jay tilted his head toward the kitchen. Maya inched forward and followed his gaze to where Sahar stood. “Oh shit! I’m so sorry.”
She ambled over to Sahar, her arms wide open. “Hi, I’m Maya. Eloise’s mom. You must be Sahar?”
He was so fucking thankful that Maya was one of the friendliest people he knew.
Sahar smiled and hugged her back. “It’s so nice to meet you,” she said.
After they parted, Maya pivoted her attention back to Jay. “Did Lex not text you? My phone’s been dead all morning because the stupid plug stopped working, and I didn’t notice. I told her to let you know we’d be coming in early.”
He shook his head to respond.
“Watch, she probably wrote it but forgot to press send. Ugh, I’m so sorry!”
“How’d you two even get here from the train station?” he asked.
“I drove Alex’s car, so we’re going to have to pick her up. Anyway, now that I’ve gone to the bathroom, Ellie and I could drive down to your mom’s and hang out with her, so you two can be alone.”
Sahar countered. “He was about to take me to the train station, actually. I should get home now that the rain’s finally slowed a bit.”
“Were you really? I hope it’s not because of us,” Maya added.
“Not at all,” Sahar affirmed, grabbing her bag from one of the chairs at the kitchen table.
“I’ll be back in a few,” Jay said.
Maya smiled. “Sounds good. It was so nice to meet you, Sahar,” she said.
“Likewise!”
Jay knew Sahar’s tells well enough to decipher that both her tone and smile were real.
Then, Maya turned to their daughter, who’d been rummaging in her backpack for something. “Wanna show me all the things you drew for art class?”
“Yeah!” Eloise said, forgetting her task at hand. She waved a shy goodbye at Sahar and ran off, dragging Maya with her.
Jay placed his hand on the small of Sahar’s back as they walked out the door. “You okay?”
She nodded.
