Marrying Ameera Read Free Page B

you, Amie. It’s just a possible explanation.’ Then she smiled. ‘How about we check out the shoes in David Jones?’
    I nodded and finished my coffee. Maybe Raniya was right about Mum. It was easier for her as both her parents thought the same about everything. Mum had tried not to let her world-view influence Riaz and me, but it was impossible not to see the flickers of disbelief that crossed her face at times. It had been much easier when I was younger, when life simply involved following Papa’s rules. It was Mum’s Christianity that had seemed harder then. ‘All you have to do is believe,’ she’d tried to explain to me one day—one of the few times she’d ever discussed her faith. ‘Even the believing is a gift. Just be yourself—the special person God made you to be.’ Papa said it was important to follow the rules, then we’d have a chance of paradise. Mum acted as though she already knew that was where she was going.
    Shoes were usually my passion, but it was difficult to find the enthusiasm today. Raniya was deciding between a pair of black or red high heels when I heard a squeal. ‘Amie!’ It was Maryam. With her were Seema and Natasha. I looked behind them to see if anyone else was there and realised Papa may have a point. If I wasn’t allowed out at night I would never have met Maryam’s brother.
    ‘Let’s have coffee,’ Maryam said.
    Raniya and I looked at each other and shrugged. We could have said we’d just had one but that would have disappointed Maryam.
    Off to Billy Baxter’s we went. Natasha was telling us about her latest trip to the beach with her boyfriend when I saw Tariq in the café too. He sat apart from us but had the air of an older brother told to keep an eye onhis sister and her friends. When I looked at him again I found his gaze on me. He smiled gently. I glanced at Raniya; she was listening to Natasha’s story. When I looked up again Tariq was walking away. This time Raniya caught me staring. She followed my gaze, then raised her eyebrows at me. I could imagine what she was thinking: Muslim girls don’t acknowledge a guy’s attention. My problem was that I wanted to acknowledge Tariq. I wanted to speak to him, to find out what he was like, to talk about normal things as I had done with boys when I was younger. Would Tariq want to talk to me though? He must have been twenty-two at least, even older than Riaz. He was doing his Masters at uni, Maryam had said, in social work. At least at uni, people of any age could meet as equals, I thought. My stomach did a flip at the idea of sitting in the café with Tariq and discussing our studies. I had the feeling Tariq would be a free spirit. One of Raniya’s brothers would never have smiled at me, they were much too predictable.
    ‘What do you think, Ameera?’
    ‘Pardon?’ I missed what Maryam was asking me. Raniya was still watching me.
    ‘Let’s go to the movies,’ Maryam said. ‘Tariq can come back with us on the train to keep us safe.’ She laughed and I thought how life seemed so simple for her.
    ‘I’m in,’ Natasha said.
    ‘Cool, me too,’ said Seema, who always managed to do whatever Natasha did. She even bleached her hair and wore blue contacts. Probably the kids at school had no idea her parents were Pakistani.
    ‘I’m not sure,’ I murmured.
    I glanced at Raniya; she too was weighing up the pros and cons. Then suddenly I knew I wanted to go. Why shouldn’t I see a movie with my friends? No point asking Papa. In Pakistan, good girls didn’t go to movie theatres. I rang Mum instead.
    Mum was hesitant. Years of asking Papa everything had taken its toll. ‘I wonder what your father would say.’
    I knew what he would say. ‘What about you, Mum?’
    She sighed. ‘What movie is it?’
    Papa only liked me watching old movies on DVD or ones from Bollywood. He didn’t realise there was a sex scene in The Go-Between.
    ‘Which movie?’ I asked Maryam.
    She shrugged. ‘The cleanest and most