Well, that’s a story, I thought, but it’s a shame I can’t use it.
As Khalid took a sip of water, Mai came into the room.
“Ah, and here she is,” he beamed.
“Have you been talking about me?”
“Only in the most glowing of terms, of course,” Khalid assured her.
“I wonder!” Mai said with a smile at her father and walked over to put her arms around him from behind his chair.
“Tonight your father has spoken about many things,” I said.
“I thought of joining you, but I wasn’t sure I should. Mr. Alrefai prefers that I don’t,” she told her father.
Khalid looked up and behind him and smiled warmly at his daughter. “Anyway, you already know everything, and you can read the novel before it’s published,” he said.
“It’s up to your father, of course,” I said. “But we all have our own secrets that w
