Dina turned to glare at her husband. ‘What’s stopping me? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I have a full-time job, a toddler, a household to manage, a husband who works long hours and no family close enough to help me? Not to mention the fact that I’m pregnant. Are those good enough reasons for you?’ Dina’s voice got louder and more high-pitched, her usually pale complexion turning pinker as she continued. ‘Oh and let’s not forget that my body is already wrecked after carrying a ten-pound baby, an emergency C-section and then breastfeeding for two years. And I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in years!’
Mohammed fell silent and I looked between them, feeling a little panicked. Maybe everything wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. I reached over and clasped Dina’s hand.
‘I honestly don’t know how you do it,’ I said to her, as her eyes filled with tears. ‘But I’m here for you, Dina. We’re only three stops away on the Tube. If you ever need someone to watch Sami, call me! Or come round to mine and we’ll go for a run together while my parents watch him. They’d be happy to. Or I’ll come and look after him while you sleep!’
The tears Dina was struggling to hold in spilt over then, silently and I got up and gave her a hug. Mohammed, I noticed, hadn’t said a word.
After dinner, I cleared the table and washed the dishes while Dina dried and put them away. Mohammed had a night shift at the hospital and I was glad to have some one-on-one time with her.
‘Are you OK?’ I asked her as I washed the last dish and Dina put the kettle on.
‘Sort of,’ she said quietly. ‘No one ever really tells you how hard it is, you know? I’m lucky, I’ve married one of the good ones and he does as much as he can to pull his weight. But his hours are crazy and it’s not his fault he’s not around a lot. I feel so alone. Like my parents abandoned me.’
Dina’s parents had moved to Australia to live with her brother shortly after Sami was born. I couldn’t imagine having a child with no one around to help me. A wave of guilt hit me. I should have been there for her more, instead of selfishly focusing on my own life and resenting her for not having enough time for me. I was a terrible friend.
‘You’re not alone, you have me,’ I told her. ‘Now you go and sit down, let me make the tea.’
I was at Dina’s house so late that in the end, I decided to stay over and she made me a makeshift bed in Sami’s room. We spoke about it all: motherhood, marriage, family. I told her about Zakariya, my career plans, everything.
‘My parents think I need to give Zakariya another chance and so does Malik. Apparently, one meeting isn’t enough to tell that I don’t want a future with him.’
‘I agree,’ she said simply. My jaw dropped open so wide that you could have fitted a golf ball in it.
‘What? Why? You heard what he said at the class!’
‘I know,’ she shrugged. ‘But people say silly things sometimes when they’re nervous. He probably wanted to chat you up and it all went wrong. I mean, the first time I met Mohammed, I thought he was a right loser.’
‘What did he say to you?’
‘He asked me if my green eyes were real or if I was wearing contact lenses like a fake!’
‘Woah. Stupid thing to say but he was what, eighteen? Nineteen?’
‘Nineteen,’ she smiled fondly at the memory, the way only someone truly in love could. ‘But imagine if I judged him based on that one encounter. I wouldn’t be here right now.’
‘Hey, you were crying a minute ago,’ I teased.
‘I know,’ she smiled ruefully back at me. ‘Life can be bloody hard. But anything that’s worth it is difficult, habibti.’
Chapter Thirteen
‘You can’t give up already,’ Lucy said during the first lunch we’d had together in a while. Things always started getting busier in November, as the end of the year approached. We had so many contracts to check and cross-reference that we ended up eating lunch at our desks.
‘I’m not giving up, I just took a break,’ I replied, taking a bite out of my sandwich. It had been a while since I had attempted to check off another item from Noah’s list. After the disastrous naked man event and with the distraction of the dekha dekhi thing, I didn’t have the courage – or the inclination – to see what was up next.
‘Come on,’ she persisted. ‘Let’s have a look before Sheila gets back.’
From the steely glint in her eye, I knew that she wasn’t going to stop harping on about it, so I retrieved the notebook from my bag and handed it over to her. I watched as she flicked through the pages, hoping it wasn’t anything dangerous like ‘join a cult’.
‘Ah, this is easy and cute,’ she exclaimed. ‘And totally achievable.’
‘Cute? Please don’t tell me I have to adopt a stray cat. My mum would kill me. She has a phobia of litter trays.’
‘Nope, guess again,’ she teased, closing the notebook. I snatched it from her and looked inside:
7. VISIT LONDON’S 10 MAIN MUSEUMS 
British, Natural History, Science, V&A, Greenwich, Imperial War, Museum of London, London Transport, Design, Bank of England.
Fave – Natural History and the T-rex. Least fave – BoE. Boring.
‘Oh,’ I said, almost surprised at how easy it was. ‘This is easy. And fun. And I’ve only visited half of those, mostly in primary school.’
‘Time to visit them again and inject yourself with some culture. I wouldn’t mind coming with you to some of them. We could make a day of it.’
‘Let’s do it! When are you free?’
‘Not for a couple of weeks,’ Lucy murmured as she browsed her calendar. ‘OK, here we go. Weekend after next?’
‘Sure. I can’t believe I’m only on number seven. I thought I had done a lot more.’