Page 114 of How to Win a Breakup
I chuckled. “She can’t seem to get past level one.” Which made sense. It was created for ages fourteen and up. Yasmin was six. Her little brow was furrowed as she focused on the screen.
“She’s smart. Give her some time. When do we need to head to your parents’ to help with dinner?”
I checked my watch. “Soon. Mom wants you to make brownies for dessert.”
He chuckled. “I swear, she only invites me to Sunday dinner so I’ll make dessert.”
I laughed. He knew that wasn’t true. My parentsadoredDaniel—which didn’t surprise me. He was very likable. They did ask him what his parents did for a living when they met, but they weren’t judgmental at all about the answer. And they didn’t care that Daniel wasn’t an academic student—as long as he was driven to follow his own dreams. Sunday dinners at the Janmohammad house were big, noisy affairs lately, with not only Tahira’s boyfriend but now Daniel having open invitations. Also, sometimes Daniel’s mother came, too. Mom said she wanted to spend as much time as possible with us all together since I’d be leaving in a few months.
I had been accepted into the computational mathematics program at University of Waterloo, and Daniel had been accepted into a pastry arts program at a different college also in Waterloo. We were both going to be living on campus at our own schools.
Daniel hadn’t planned on going to a school outside Toronto—he’d wanted to stay in town to save money by living at his uncle’s house. And he didn’t want to leave his mother alone. But though things were somewhat better for him at his uncle’s, he still wasn’t completely comfortable there. And when his mom realized that he was only staying in town for her, she held an intervention—she told him she was fine, and she needed him to do what he felt was right forhislife, instead of hers. So he applied to the excellent pastry arts program at a community college near my university. Andre and Muniba found him some grants and scholarships, and he lined up a job in the campus food services.
Even though I knew we’d both be so busy that we probably wouldn’t see each other as much as we did now, I was happy we’d still be in the same city. I felt better knowing he would be near me.
“I asked Mom to get lemons, too,” I said. “I want lemon squares.” Daniel had once said that like chocolate and lemon squares, he and I didn’t fit together. He was wrong, though. I happened to think the two flavors went together beautifully.
Daniel tightened his arm around me and rested his chin on my shoulder. His lips grazed my neck, which even after all these months sent shivers down my spine. “Lemon squares remind me of our parameters. I’m glad we stomped all over those.”
I made a happy noise as I held his hands around me. “Best thing we ever did. Our new ones are so much better.”
“There are no parameters, anymore,” he whispered. “Just endless happiness. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Daniel.”
