Desert Heat

Chapter 2: ENTITLED

"Mother, for the millionth time, can you relax?" Lily told her mother, who seemed too excited, that her daughter was finally taking some time off. Her mother smiled at her and placed her hand below Lily's chin. She looked into her daughter's eyes, and she was thrilled that she had raised such a beautiful daughter.

"Your father would have been so proud of you." Her mother told her and those few words sent a sharp pain through Lily's heart. Her father had died when she was just a little girl, and her mother had to endure living life as a widow, but in between raising Lily and working, she had managed to beat the odds.

Lily moved her face away from her mother and she began placing the last of her belongings into her suitcase. Anything at this point would have been better than looking at her mother and reliving the past. Her father had simply walked out of the house to go to work, and just like that, he had not come back home.

Some said he had been shot by some armed robbers with nothing better to do, but the police dismissed those claims as nothing was taken from him. Some even speculated that he had owed someone drug money and the person had caught up with him, but anyone who knew Bryan Robinson knew that he was a good man.

From the corner of her eye, Lily watched as her mother walked over to her bed, and she sat at the edge of the bed with both her hands on her lap. Lily knew what was about to come; her mother would begin one of her long talks about how life goes on, and today Lily was in no mood to hear of it.

"It has been twenty years, Lily," her mother pointed out, and this simply irritated Lily more. She could not figure out how her mother would treat her father's death as nothing more than an accident, even though Lily knew that there was more surrounding her father's death.

"Mother, I don't think it's best to speak about this." She told her mother, hoping that it would end the discussion.

"Okay," her mother replied, and this reply shook Lily so much that she turned her head to look at her mother, making sure that it was truly her mother letting go of an opportunity to advise her on the skill of letting go of the past.

"Are you for real?" She asked her mother, who then smiled at her.

"Yes, you are going to a distant country, and the last thing I want to do is argue with you over some trivial matter," her mother responded to her. Lily was lost for words, so she simply went back to packing her bag. For a moment, Lily was lost in her thoughts, thinking of no one other than her father.

"I hope you fall in love," her mother told her. This statement snapped Lily out of her thoughts. She could not believe that at a time like this, her mother would want her to fall in love, but then again, she did love her mother, so she simply smiled.

"Mother, I am going to the Middle East to do a job, not to find love," Lily responded to her mother, who waved her off.

"It's true, you have been so focused on your career lately that you hardly have time for fun." Her mother complained, and Lily rolled her eyes. This had become their daily routine. Her mother had complained countless times that she was not getting any younger, and it was about time that Lily gave her grandchildren.

"Mother, for the last time, I will find a man, but I still have time," she told her mother, who stopped folding her clothes and looked straight at her daughter.

"Lily, my daughter, you will be turning twenty-nine years old soon. I must warn you that those eggs of yours will not wait until you are ready." Her mother warned her, and truly, this time, Lily had had it.

"Mother, can we please hurry? I have to be at the airport in two hours' time," she informed her mother, who then looked at her watch and had a scare.

"This is your fault, Lily; you could have packed yesterday when you came home." Her mother scolded her, and Lily had her own reasons too.

"Mother, you know that I was in a state of shock." Lily tried to explain herself, but again, her mother did not have any of it. Without any warning, Lily watched as her mother threw all her clothing into her suitcase without a care in the world and shut it. She stared at her mother as though she had just lost her mind.

"What?" Her mother asked her, as though she had done nothing wrong by throwing all of Lily's belongings into the suitcase without folding them.

"Mother, you could have folded them." She reprimanded her mother, who simply walked over to the window to look at more of their noisy neighbors.

"There is no time left; we need to hurry and get to the airport before you miss your flight," her mother told her, and in more ways than one, Lily knew that her mother was right. Lily packed the last of her bags, and she now knew that she was almost ready for her trip.

"It is good that we are done packing now. Let's get you going." Her mother told her, and Lily found her mother's excitement a bit suspicious.

"Wow, mother, you seem excited to see me go. I cannot help but wonder why." she jokingly asked her mother, who smiled back at her.

"Well, you being gone will mean that I can finally bring my boyfriend home." Her mother informed her, and this left Lily speechless. For as long as she could remember, after her father's death, her mother had never dated, so this must simply be a joke.

Lily paid no attention to her mother as the two of them walked down the steps and out of the house to the cab, patiently awaiting their arrival.

**

"I am sorry, sir, but there is nothing we can do right now." Those were the words that Aziz dreaded to hear most in his life; he was never one to use his royal title, but now he would not have minded that.

He had left his penthouse early in the morning to get to the airport, but now the message conveyed was that his private jet would only be ready in the next twenty minutes. For the average person, the twenty-minute delay on a private plane was nothing, but for Aziz, time was something he dared not play with.

Aziz was now beyond furious, but he also knew that he could not change the circumstances, so he dismissed Fahd. Sitting by himself no longer seemed to work, leaving Aziz no other option but to stand from the seat, walk to the kiosk, and get himself a cup of coffee.

"I would like a coffee, please," he told the cashier, keeping his voice neutral and concealing his frustration. His order was now placed, and as he handed over his credit card, the cashier looked nervous.

"I am so sorry, sir, but the card machine is not working at the moment. Do you not perhaps have any cash on you?" The young woman asked him. Aziz stared at her in disbelief, and his anger was quickly rising.

"Please explain to me how it is possible that your card machine is not working because I do not have cash on me, so does that mean I won't be having my coffee?" Aziz asked the young woman, knowing quite well that he would not be having coffee this morning.

"I guess so," the young woman answered, her voice low as though she were a tiny mouse running away from the big, scary cat.

"Do you even hear yourself? Do you know who—"

"It is okay; get him a cup of coffee, and I will pay for it." Someone interrupted him. Aziz turned around, and there stood a beautiful African American woman, probably in her mid-fifties. She had a smile on her face, and Aziz knew that he had not met her before, and if he had, he would not have forgotten her infectious smile.

The older woman walked over to the counter and handed the young woman the note, and she took it. Within seconds, his coffee was ready. Aziz took the coffee from the counter, embarrassed that a commoner had brought him something as though he were too poor to afford it for himself. As embarrassing as it was, Aziz faced the older woman, and he smiled at her.

"Thank you; I really appreciate your kind gesture." He told her, and he meant every word of it. The older woman smiled, but she waved it off.

"I hope you learned your lesson." She asked him, but Aziz did not quite understand her.

"What lesson?" He asked the older woman.

"Always bring along money, not those cards that you young people use." She told him. Aziz could not make out what it was about this woman, but she had a positive energy about her.

"Thank you; I will remember that." He smiled back at her.

"What is your name, if you do not mind me asking?" The older woman asked, and this caused the wheels in Aziz's head to spin. He knew that he could not tell her that he was Prince Aziz Hassan.

"My name is Ryan, and yours?" Aziz asked her. The older woman extended her hand, and Aziz took it.

"My name is Sally, Sally Robinson," the older woman replied.

"You have a lovely name, by the way," Aziz complimented her, and the older woman's smile grew wider.

"Oh, stop flattering me," she joked.

"But I am not; you really have a lovely name," Aziz told her, and he meant it.

"Well, thank you; however, I must leave you now; my daughter is travelling and I have to find her; she has been gone too long." Sally told Aziz. She said her last goodbye and walked away. Aziz could not help but smile at himself for having such an encounter with Sally; she was like no other woman he had met before.

"I guess there are still good people in the world." Aziz told himself as he turned on his heel to go and check his flight.

"Hey!" Both Aziz and Lily yelled out; they had both knocked into each other, sending Aziz's cup of coffee into the air and staining both Aziz and Lily's clothes.

"Can't you watch where you are going?" Aziz yelled at Lily, who stared at him in utter disbelief.

"I am sorry, sir, but I believe this is your fault; the least you can do is take responsibility for ruining my jacket," Lily spat back at him. Aziz looked at the woman, who was now yelling at him rather than apologizing for knocking into him. She was beautiful, and he could not fault her for that. In the end, she had ruined his shirt, and he could not forgive her for that.

"Are you seriously kidding me, your jacket? If I told you how much my shirt cost, I would bet that even if you worked the entire year, you would not be able to afford it," Aziz spat out. Aziz knew how privileged he was, and in a fit of rage, he used his nobility against someone else.

Lily's eyes grew wider, not believing that this man would dare have the guts to belittle her at the airport and in front of a crowd gathered to see the commotion.

"You know what, mister, I don't know who you think you are, but I suggest you shove your important self where the sun does not shine because you are a nobody." Lily responded to him, and that left Aziz feeling humiliated.

If there ever was a time when Aziz wanted to flaunt his wealth, this would be it, but to protect himself from the negative publicity that he would receive, he kept his mouth shut.