Hena blinked. This couldn’t be right. Lulu said the wedding was tomorrow. Didn’t she?
Thumbing through the binder, the events were not limited to formal wedding festivities. A million optional ones were packed into each day as well. Spa days. Art deco tours. An on-site class on towel art. A fortune teller reading. A video booth was set up in the business center, and guests were encouraged to record messages for the bride and groom.
And—Hena flipped back to the main festivities and stared at the addresses printed beneath each invitation—the wedding events were here. Every single one took place at this resort.
“See you in a little while,” Reza told her.
She managed a limp wave as he headed toward the elevators. A collective burst of laughter echoed from the dininghall. Hena now noticed the edge of orange and yellow flowers peeking out from around the corner. The faint hint of music. They were there. Her family. Her community. She understood now that Lulu wasn’t giving her a reprieve from the chaos by putting her up here. She was delivering her straight into it.
“Hi, Hena.”
Lulu. She walked toward Hena from the dining hall, and in an instant Hena’s frustration was replaced by a lump growing in her throat. Gone were the blue locks and oversized bangs, replaced by her natural dark hair, curled and falling past her shoulders. Her golden kamiz skimmed the floor, a matching veil draped to the side. Her arms were filled with glittering bangles. Lulu was all grown up, but when Hena looked in her eyes, there she was. Her baby sister. As irritated as Hena felt, god, she’d missed her so much.
As Lulu grew closer, instinct kicked in. Hena pulled her into a hug. She pretended not to notice how Lulu’s body tensed. How she patted Hena politely before pulling away.
“Thanks for coming,” she said.
Hena pointed to the binder of events. “You told me the wedding was tomorrow.”
“The weddingbeginstomorrow. You knew this was a desi wedding, right?”
“I booked my return flight for Sunday morning.”
“Change it.”
“Lulu, I have work. Clients. You can’t just spring this on me last minute.”
“If I told you this wedding was a weeklong situation, would you have come?” She leveled Hena with a cool look. “Exactly. I really think you can manage to be around us for that long. I’m sure the yoga studio or whatever you’re designing can wait.”
Hena’s gaze swept over her sister. Her folded arms. Her distant demeanor. It was one thing to hear Lulu’s tone over the phone, another to experience it in the flesh. The new Lulu. More like her mother than Hena cared to stomach. As with her mother, Hena saw there was no arguing with Lulu. Hena rarely ever rescheduled; hopefully her clients would understand.
Searching for a neutral topic, she pointed to the indoor lagoon.
“I can’t believe you have real swans here.”
“Flown in from Scandinavia,” she said. “A bit silly, but they came with the property.”
“They’re beautiful.” Hena glanced around. “This resort is…wow. It’s gorgeous.”
Lulu smiled. “Thanks. I wanted something tasteful but tucked away. The wedding will be stressful enough.”
“It’s definitely your vibe.” Hena looked up at the glowing pendant lights. “Reminds me of a vacation we took to Morocco. You were so little.”
She remembered hoisting three-year-old Lulu on her back as their family walked down cobbled alleys, the heat beating down on them, Lulu humming songs while Hena prayed their father would not turn and snap at her. Their joy was so often a trigger for him.
“I remember that trip. It’s what inspired the theme.” Lulu paused. “This is my resort.”
“Yours?” Hena balked. “What happened to culinary school? Opening a restaurant was your dream.”
“Dreams change. Besides, this was important. Hotels are part of our DNA.”
Hena shifted. If hotels were part of their DNA, it was their father’s half—the part of herself she wished she could scrub away.
“I’ve been studying hotel management, waiting for the right property to hit the market,” Lulu continued. “When this went on sale a few months ago, it was like kismet. It feels like a way to keep Abu’s memory alive, you know?”
Hena couldn’t blame Lulu for wanting to follow in their father’s footsteps. Not when she didn’t know who he truly was. Ammi had taken great pains to keep Lulu in the dark. It’s why she’d liquidated every last property shortly after—
Nope.Hena shivered.Not going there.