Beautiful and talented painter, Selma Halpern + charismatic architect husband, Jamal Halpern + bubbly baby boy, Rae Halpern. The stars had finally aligned in Selma's favor.
But by the strike of midnight on a fateful day in April, it seemed like the...
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11.
Sami's words hung in the air as the couple sat in silence, weighing the pros and cons of telling him that Brad Dolan had stayed with them for a night. They exchanged a look, knowing the cons outweighed the pros by just one point — Sami would murder Jamal.
The table they were seated at was quiet and so was the diner itself, if not for the occasional clink of coins or the sound of the cash register. Jamal directed his gaze to Rae, who was chewing on his toy, and then Sami whose lips were in a straight line.
"For the love of God, Sel, you aren't mute," he added again.
Selma huffed at her brother, placing her coffee mug back into the table. "Shut up, Sami. I don't know, okay? Our Uber is here if I'm not mistaken."
Through the window on Selma's side, Jamal spotted the driver standing by his car. He stood up to help Rae into his stroller, while Selma hugged her brother goodbye. They were muttering something to each other that Jamal couldn't catch, but he did hear Selma's low "I promise".
Selma's previously pale cheeks had regained their color back, and her lips had stopped quivering. Jamal felt satisfied that he had run under the rain to Target when he did, although getting nothing for himself had to be the second dumbest decision he had made that day; the first being when he walked out of breakfast yet again.
The sun was beginning to peek from behind the clouds, and a ray bounced off the diner's glass door when Jamal pulled it open. He let Selma walk past him to their ride with Rae's stroller, while he stood by the side with Sami, looking like a drenched rat.
"Take care of my nephew," the blond said, "and my sister. I won't hesitate to castrate you if she comes crying to me, okay?"
He shook his head and ruffled Sami's curls with a laugh. "You seem to forget I can take you anytime, even in my sleep, you twig." Sami swatted Jamal's hand off with a scowl. "But I promise. They're my whole life, you know?"
His brother-in-law's face scrunched up like he was going to cry as he pretended to wipe a tear from his cheek. "Is this how you managed to win over my sister? Because you just won me over too!" He made to hug him with a wide grin, but Jamal dodged his arms and shoved him.
"Too bad, I'm taken." Jamal glanced over his shoulder at Selma who was settled into the backseat with Rae on her laps, cooing something at him with a wide grin. He turned back to Sami and said, "They're waiting. See you later, man."
Sami gave him a goodbye punch, and he rushed away into the car. One more minute under that cold, and he would freeze up. His wet shirt clung to his body, letting cold seep into his chest. Not wanting to alarm Selma that he was coming down with a fever, he held a threatening cough in and focused on staring out the window.
