Sequoia Valley: Risk (Free Preview)

6

When they returned, just as they’d been forewarned, ’‘ishah called them into the kitchen to help her with the meal, setting Waleed to work on making the salad, assigning Jâsim the task of washing and taking apart the chicken, and then set to work on the rice. As expected, Waleed grumbled and muttered under his breath until their mother sent him a warning look that immediately silenced the sounds. Jâsim somehow managed not to laugh. 

A little over an hour later, a large meal of rice, chicken, and salad was ready, and Waleed and Jâsim were dismissed from the kitchen after helping clean up to shower and change before the rest of the family arrived. 

“That was torture,” Waleed mumbled as they walked through the hallway together in the direction of their separate bedrooms. 

“Everything that isn’t a game is torture to you,” Jâsim replied. “Try living in the real world once in a while and enjoying the moment. It wasn’t as bad as you make it seem. Cooking can be fun if you have the right attitude.”

Waleed smirked. “You’ll make a great house husband.”

Jâsim didn’t rise to the bait. He knew Waleed was trying to be aggravating. He usually succeeded with Sumayyah, but Jâsim wasn’t so easily annoyed. “I know,” he said with a grin. “My wife will just absolutely adore me. She won’t be able to cope without me.”

Waleed rolled his eyes before disappearing into his bedroom. 

Jâsim grinned and entered his own to find a change of clothes before heading to the shower. As was the usual, Waleed took his time in getting ready, so Jâsim reached the bathroom before his brother. Ten minutes later, he was showered and dressed. When he left, carrying his dirty clothes, toward the laundry room, he peered into his brother’s room and found him sitting on the bed playing on a video game device. 

“I’m done,” he announced. “Better hurry.”

Waleed glanced up. “Okay.”

Jâsim left, dropped the clothes in the laundry room, which was in the basement, and then joined his parents in the den, where they were quietly talking as they waited for Badr, Fâtimah, and Sumayyah to arrive with the children. Instead of joining his parents’ conversation, Jâsim plucked a book off the bookshelf and sat down on the loveseat to read. 

He’d barely passed the first page when the doorbell rang. Waleed wasn’t even out of the shower yet, assuming he’d put down his video game and gone to take one in the first place. It wouldn’t be the first time the fifteen-year-old lost himself so thoroughly in a game he forgot everything else. 

When Zakarîyâ answered the door, the three adults entered the house, giving their salâm, followed by the gang of excited children, who were eager to head to the playroom Jâsim’s parents had set up for their grandchildren in the house. Said playroom had once been Badr’s bedroom, but he and Fâtimah had married before high school graduation and had taken an apartment soon after. Within seconds, the entrance hall had emptied as the children rushed to the playroom and only the adults remained. 

The group, except for Waleed who had yet to appear, settled in the den. With his assistance, ’‘ishah brought out trays of hibiscus tea, coconut-covered date balls, and chocolate chip cookies, setting them on the coffee table. Badr, who had a sweet tooth more than anyone else in the family, was the first to reach for a cookie. 

“How’s work going for you?” Badr asked Jâsim as he crunched on his cookie. 

“It’s tiring,” Jâsim admitted. “But fulfilling, too.”

Badr nodded. “It will be.” He was the closest to Jâsim in his field of work as a psychologist, though he didn’t work the long hours Jâsim was.