Adored in Oman (Book 2 in Teach Me, Love Me Series): Interracial Romance (9 page)

Abdulla dropped Shan off at her hotel, so she could check-in. They had been delayed at the entry point, due to lots of travelers on this holiday driving into the United Arab Emirates from Oman. They played Words with Friends, while they waited. Abdulla finally beat Shan, after three games! He obviously could not gloat in the boisterous manner he would like, because no one creates a spectacle at a border checkpoint. Just sit quietly, get your passport stamped, and move on about your business. He promised to return in a few hours and collect her for the family’s evening meal.

Upon entering her room, she sent her mother a message on WhatsApp, to let her know she had arrived safely in Al Ain. She also sent some of her friends who were currently in Al Ain as contractors for the local hospital a message to let them know she would meet them for breakfast in the morning, if her schedule allowed it. Having alerted all the people who needed to know, she prepared to unpack her belongings, when there was a knock at the door. Curious, she answered with the chain on and saw a hospitality hostess.

Opening the door, she asked, “Yes?”

“Hello madam, I am sorry to disturb you. There was an upgrade on your reservation. Please follow me to your new room,” the hostess said in a lovely sing song voice.

“That is a surprise, but a happy one,” Shan responded and opened the door more widely.

A bellman, sharply uniformed, stepped inside and collected her luggage. Shan followed them to the elevators and across the property to a villa. When she entered, she was stunned. The living area looked like something out of a Better Homes and Gardens spread. It was luxurious. Leather furnishings, rich carpets, glass topped tables, recessed lighting, artwork and an enormous television in a wooden entertainment center. She was astounded by the beauty of the room; she had to ask the bellman to explain how to use the tablet that ran the room, twice. Wow! This was definitely an upgrade. She loved this space. Of course, now she would be spoiled and want this type of room every time she traveled. Sigh…

After the butler service was explained and she had her bags unpacked by her very own butler, she was reclining with her feet up, reading a salacious new urban story by one of her favorite authors and sipping a cup of tea. Just as the story got to the juicy part and all heck was breaking loose, her phone rang.

“Hello?” Shan answered.

“Hello, habbibti,” Abdulla’s deep voice sounded over the landline.

“Hey! You will never guess; I received a free upgrade! I am living high on the hog. I have a two bedroom villa with a truly marvelous tub. I will be soaking in it tonight,” she shared with obvious excitement.

Abdulla smiled; pleased she was happy with the surprise he had planned for her. No need to tell her, she would come to learn over time that her comfort was high on his list of priorities.

“That is great!” he agreed. “Look, our family will be eating around 7:00, so I will be there for you at 6:30. Get some rest, maybe check out the pool and Lari claims she is going to come and crash your pad. I am not sure what this means, but I think she is going to visit you there.”

Laughing, Shan explained, “It means she is going to visit without calling first. Tell her if I am not at the room, to check the pool. I plan to get some Vitamin D while I read.”

“I will tell her, I am so glad you are pleased with your upgrade. Enjoy your afternoon and I will see you this evening,” were Abdulla’s final words as they exchanged goodbyes and disconnected the call.

Having spoken with her host, she changed into a swimsuit and headed for the pool. She was just as pleased with the pool as she had been with the room. It was enormous, beautiful and there were plenty of chairs for sunbathing. There were two bars! She made a mental note to come back and visit her friends here, again. She doubted she would be able to take advantage of the facilities here as much as she would like during this visit. She had looked through the guide for places of interest and intended to tell Abdulla she wanted to go to a camel race. She had heard about them, but never managed to attend one. Making a mental note to ask him about that later; she continued her reading after ordering a watermelon juice.

She fell asleep fifteen minutes after she started the story. The warm sun, the cold juice and the early rising followed by a long trip had her feeling drowsy and she gave in to the pull of the sandman. About thirty minutes later, the feel of cool water dripping over her shoulders roused her from a nap. Upon opening her eyes, she saw Lari standing over her, grinning. She had two fruit juices and was wearing a big floppy hat to match the orange, striped sundress that was visible beneath her fashionable open abaya.

With a happy shout, Shan hopped up and gave her friend a big hug. An alert attendant had already pulled up a chair and was motioning for two others to bring a table with umbrella from a short distance away to where they were.

“Ah, the perks of having a Sheikh for a father-in-law,” Shan teased.

“I know, girl. It’s still funny to me, sometimes. I’m always surprised at how quickly things happen, before I even have time to ask,” Lari agreed with a laugh.

“Now that we have chairs, have a seat and let’s catch up, sister! What has been going on with you? Are you enjoying married life? How is Mohammed—your boo love? How are your parents?” Shan asked in a rush of questions.

“Dive right in, why don’t you!” Lari mocked.

“To be honest, so much has happened in so little time. Let me see, I am still working as a teacher. I work in a private school that teaches children of the various GCC royal families. It is just easier, because of the security needs.”

Lari continued, “I am enjoying being married. It is very different– I never imagined myself being so far from home. The phone bill is not sky high because I use Magic Jack. I call home often because I am leaning on my mother to help me tighten up my kitchen skills. I don’t want a hungry husband. I am also calling my ‘mother-in-love’ a lot! I am learning to prepare traditional dishes also, so there will be something familiar for him at every meal.”

Shan laughed, “So, you are learning to cook like a local. Good for you! How is your Arabic coming along?”

“Hush, girl,” Lari chastised. “You can’t add to the questions you have already asked if I haven’t finished answering. Now, where was I? Yes, my boo love. My boo love is great. He is very happy and likes to tell me what to do every day. Sometimes I listen. Sometimes, I have to manage his list. These bossy men are something else!”

“Don’t I know?” Shan agreed. “Abdulla upgraded my room from a standard room to a two bedroom villa. He thinks I don’t know he did it, but of course he did it. He is so sweet for doing that.”

“Yes, I have heard about you and Abdulla spending time together,” Lari said with a knowing look on her face.

“I thought you weren’t dating right now? What happened to all that celebrating your single season chatter?” Lari asked.

“Now you are teasing me! What can I say? Abdulla happened. I like him. Please believe, no one is more surprised than me!” was Shan’s exasperated comeback.

“Hey, I am on your team! It is past time for you to date someone who is a contender that won’t let you run them off from your heart,” Lari encouraged her friend. “The question is; are you being ‘Sweet Shannon’ or ‘Get the Hell On Shannon’?”

Gasping, Shan said, “First of all, don’t use my whole name, like we are in school. Secondly, of course I am being sweet. How can I not? I will say this, we are having some really…revealing, is the best word to describe it, conversations. I have told him everything, if you can believe it.”

It was Lari’s turn to gasp and lean back.

“What?! You told him about ‘The Unmentionable Event’? Wow. This
is
serious. You never talk about your marriage and how it ended. I have known you for years and heard you mention it exactly once. Good for you, hon! What did he say?”

“You know,” Shan started, “he was really very mellow about the whole story. He didn’t respond like it was the most tragic thing he had ever heard and he didn’t give me a lot of pacifying talk. He actually challenged me to forgive myself. For a moment, I was about to get upset and be like,
Excuse me
?”

Lari kept listening, she was intrigued.

“But then,” Shan continued, “he explained that if I was still refusing to even consider a life partner, I was only punishing myself. If I was punishing myself, then there had to be a reason. I was like, hmph. That bears some thought.”

Slowly, fully aware that this was potentially treacherous ground, Lari asked her friend, “So have you?”

Laughing and sniffling at the same time, Shan’s response was, “You know sister friend, I really think I have. I mean, I really believe I have forgiven myself. I think for a long time I judged that younger Shan and felt she was stupid or blind or in some way to blame for not noticing what was happening with her husband. I was just a young woman married to a man who was going through something. The younger version of me was not stupid or blind. She was just lied to. That’s all. It was very freeing.”

There was a pause while Shan gathered herself and Lari tried not to join in the tears. They both knew this was a big deal. Shan was moving on with her life. Maybe with Abdulla, maybe not, but she was opening a door of possibility. Shan was feeling hopeful, relieved and light in her spirit. Lari was feeling happiness for her friend who seemed to have finally worked out her hurt. After that, by mutual, unspoken agreement they moved on to lighter topics.

Lari shared about the hilarious missteps of living with a man for the first time. Shan laughed out loud hearing some of the stories. Lari’s new nickname for Mohammed Sultan was The Crumbler. Every time Lari went in the kitchen, she could tell if he had gotten a snack because there were always crumbs all over the counter. Mohammed insisted that if she would let them have a live-in maid, this would not be a problem. Lari was old school. They could have a lady come daily and clean, but the only woman living in the house with her husband would be
her
or one of their mothers! Plus, she thought it was kind of funny.

“So, does he have a nickname for you?” asked Shan.

Rolling her eyes, Lari said, “Yes. He calls me his Slippery Sweetie. He says it is because when I get out of the tub and oil my body down, he can barely hold on to me.”

Shan had a good laugh at that, Lari was the queen of grease. She stayed coated down in some kind of oil, sweet almond oil with peppermint oil, avocado oil infused with lemon, or olive oil with lavender and then had the nerve to top it all off with whipped shea butter. Yep, Slippery Sweetie was a perfect name.

Over an hour and a half later, they both took note of the dipping sun and with exclamations, hugs, and two cheek kisses they took their leave. Of course, they would be together again shortly, but the whole family would be there and they had needed this sister friend time to themselves.

Longview, Texas

Jack was feeling pressed. A mistake he made a decade ago was threatening to ruin his very peaceful and happy present. He looked back with shame at the ungrateful young man he had been then. He had forgiven himself and moved on after the debacle of his first attempt at marriage, but he still hated the way he had wasted a great love.

The problem now, was that Carmen had apparently named him as someone who could potentially have a STD as a past sexual partner. He knew he did not have any damn STD! She was just trying to stir up some old crap. She wanted him to tell her where his ex was now living.

For reasons he could not understand, she did not believe that he had no idea where she was at this point. No matter how many times he had told her, via email and registered letter, she did not honestly believe the last time he had seen his ex was the day she caught him screwing around with Carmen.

Now, she was threatening to lie to his current wife and tell her they had resumed their affair. Not only resumed, but he was at risk of an STD. He wasn’t hiding anything and he knew enough about marriage at this point to know he needed to tell his wife about the past month of harassment. Still, it was embarrassing. Carmen had definitely been a part of his first marriage failing, which he long ago willingly admitted was more his fault than anyone else’s. Still, she wasn’t going to come close to causing even the most remote ripple in the calm surface of their home sea. His wife, Alera, entered their home and approached him for a kiss.

After they had greeted one another, she asked him, “So, what is on your mind? You sounded stressed when we spoke earlier.”

Without hesitation, he told her about the first contact Carmen had made over a month ago. His response had been to ignore her message and to block her. She had then sent him a direct message on Chatter. He had ignored and blocked that message. The next step was she sent him an email, he assumed she remembered it from years ago. He had a more recent email he used for job hunting and professional correspondence, but he also checked the email he had been using since college very regularly.

At that point, he realized she was not going to be ignored and responded with one sentence. “I don’t know.”

At this point, his wife interrupted, “What does she want to know?”

“She asked where Shan is living,” he answered.

“You know, when you told me all about how that whole thing went down years ago, I told you something was wrong with this Carmen. I knew that whole thing wasn’t really about you! From what you have told me, after it all blew up, she was always complaining about how Shan never acknowledged her or spoke with her about the situation. Even after we started dating, two years later, she would send you messages asking about her.”

Nodding, Jack listened, trying to understand where his wife was going with this.

“I think you need to reach out to Shan’s mother and let her know this woman has popped back up and is looking for her daughter. Something is wrong with her. Why would she want to speak with her?”

Jack agreed, “I know babe. I genuinely don’t know where Shan is, all I know is she left Texas. Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell Carmen. The two of us hurt her plenty; there is absolutely no reason for me to have anything to do with bringing old ugliness to the present. From what I hear through her friends at Homecoming and various weddings, she is happy.”

Then, leaning back in her seat and giving her husband a narrow eyed look, “So, what are you going to do about this Carmen silliness?”

“I’ve sent her a second registered letter reiterating my previous statement with the additional comment that any further attempt to contact me would be considered harassment and I will seek an order of protection.”

“Good for you, now let’s see what she does next. You know this is not finished. She is mentally ill,” Alera said as she headed for the kitchen to prepare their evening meal while he left to go get the children.

En route to the afterschool care facility he and Alera used, Jack put a call through to his former mother-in-law. He kept in touch yearly with her. He never asked about Shan, he knew that was off limits, but he had become a grown up under this woman’s guidance and she was always glad to hear about his children and get an update on his life. She stayed neutral when he and Shan broke up, the only thing she had ever really said was, “Oh Jack, it is so over. I can’t help you at all. I am very, very sad and disappointed for you both.”

That was back when he had still thought if he could just talk to Shan; he would be able to convince her to change her mind. Years later, when he first met his new wife and had shared the story of his failed marriage, she had not been surprised by how Shan responded.

“What you did wasn’t something she heard about or that you confessed to. She walked in on a wife’s worst nightmare. She would never be able to see you in the same way ever again. You’ve grown since then, right?”

He was glad to say, he most definitely had grown. He was grateful he had a second chance at a happy family and wished the same for Shan. The least he could do was warn her that Carmen was back and trying to start up some trouble.

“Hey there young fella,” Katy sang into the phone.

Smiling, “Hey there Miss Katy,” Jack replied.

“To what happy circumstance do I owe this call? I usually hear from you at Thanksgiving,” she teased.

“Actually, it is not a happy circumstance. It may be nothing, but my wife thought I should call and warn you that Carmen has been harassing me for a little over a month. I finally sent her a registered letter demanding she stop contacting me or I will file a protective order against her,” Jack explained.

An exasperated sigh came across the line.

“What does
she want
?” demanded Katy.

“I don’t know what her game is, but she keeps asking where Shan is living. I told her I didn’t know, but she doesn’t believe me. It seems creepy. I wanted you to know so you could warn Shan. I know she will be home this Christmas, I don’t want either of you taken by surprise,” he said.

There was silence for a moment. That never boded well. A silent woman is planning.

Finally, “Thank you for this Jack. I know it is awkward for you to have this conversation with me. I will warn Shan,” Katy said quietly, already obviously planning.

They disconnected and Jack went on his way, having done his duty and hopeful it would all turn out to be much ado about nothing. A twinge in the back of his neck told him he was being much too hopeful.