An Invitation to the House of Ishq

By Kelly Papyrus

Valentina Ortiz-Walker has a satisfying career that she built from the ground up, as the founder of a community center and meal service for her beloved but struggling neighborhood, the South Side of Chicago. But she's never stopped wondering what happened to the friend and lover, Al, she met at a volunteer camp years ago, and why he disappeared from all contact. So when he suddenly reaches out with a startling invitation to his wedding, she's determined not to give him the satisfaction of responding.

But there's a catch: "Al" is actually Khalil Al-Ishq, the prince of a faraway, exotic sultanate — and if she agrees to attend his wedding, her community center could win the million-dollar grant the sultan is offering for worthy charities. Khalil knows it's a long shot, but he also knows Tina can't turn down that amount of help for her charity. And he'll take any chance he can get to explain who he really is, why he lied about it during their romantic week all those years ago... and, most importantly, how he still feels about her.

Can he convince Tina of the truth, and can she give him the perspective he needs to forge his own path instead of the one the sultan has laid out for him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Shorts
• Release date: Jun 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094417417

Kelly Papyrus

Kelly Papyrus is a writer whose stories feature diverse characters and people of color. She loves learning about new cultures and writing about them. She lives in Florida and loves dogs.

Book preview

Chapter One

Tinaaaa!

She rolled her eyes, though she didn’t mean it. The South Side Positivity Project and Community Center couldn’t run for five minutes without her and she knew it. Truth be told, she liked it. Every five minutes someone was calling her to fix a problem, put out a fire, or make a decision that had no clear right answer. She got up from her desk to look down the hallway and saw her best friend and administrative assistant walking slowly and deliberately toward her, a US mail bin in her arms with a tower of mail and packages.

What is that? Did you steal that stuff from the bin at the post office, or has the whole city gone mad? she asked, backing into her office. Ariana smiled at her over the stack, which threatened to topple with every step she took through the doorway.

It’s definitely unexpected, but who knows? Maybe people have actually learned that the needy are in need every month of the year, not just around Christmas, she said, finally setting the box down on the desk.

Yup, and maybe I’ll remember to buy a lottery ticket this week and hit the jackpot, Tina grumbled. Years of working with underserved communities had taught her that the homeless, hungry children, and the mentally ill weren’t on most people’s radar the way they were on hers. If people did drop off items to the building in the first freezing weeks of January, they were usually leftover holiday items that were hard to use. People who didn’t have a kitchen didn’t have can openers to eat cranberry sauce or stovetops to make stuffing. Ariana gave her a smirk and started sorting through the stack, tossing the building’s utility bills and a couple of other things her way.

There’s a grocery-store gift card from Barnes Chiropractic, Ariana said, holding up a greeting card with flowers on the front. Card says, ‘Good luck with your noble mission this year.’ Tina made a face but took the card and looked it over. When she’d first opened the center, the chiropractic office had given them the cold shoulder, pissed off that they brought an undesirable crowd to the block. Over the years though, she’d noticed the doctor starting to soften, his nurses bringing over leftover pizza and day-old cookies to the people waiting in line for meal service.

That was nice of them, she grudgingly admitted, tossing the greeting card into the recycling and putting the gift card in a drawer. They could use it to buy perishable products that no one ever seemed to donate but that were constantly going up in price, like milk and ground beef.

Ooh, this one’s pretty. Your name looks so fancy, Ariana said, holding up a powder-blue envelope with gold calligraphy swirls on the front. Tina plucked it from her hand and examined it, surprised at how heavy it was. Her full name, Valentina Ortiz-Walker, was on the front, carefully printed in fancy handwritten letters. But there was no return address on the back.

This better not be a preapproved credit card offer, wasting my time, she mumbled, sliding her finger under a space in the flap and ripping the envelope open. The room instantly filled with an aroma that tingled her nose, citrus and pepper and something distinct that she couldn’t place. The scent made her brain tingle. It was familiar, but from where? [Elizabeth1]She slid the contents out of the envelope, sharing a glance with Ariana, who looked just as confused as she was.

Who is Prince Khalil Al-Ishq? she asked Ariana, who whipped out her phone, typed something, and turned the screen to her.

This guy. He’s cute. Does he look familiar?

Tina remembered one day in the third grade when she was goofing around in the backyard with her brother and he’d thrown a baseball a little too fast at her head, the sting and impact of it hitting her forehead. How dizzy she’d felt the moment after the impact. It was the closest thing she could remember to the feeling she had now, looking at the picture of a face she hadn’t thought she’d ever see again. The face she’d longed so badly to see and, in the next moment, wished to never cross paths with again. Al’s broadly smiling face was peeking out from under a Middle Eastern head covering, the white scarf revealing just a glimpse of his dark hair and contrasting with his skin, the color of desert sand on a hot day. Deep-brown almond-shaped eyes, a sharp, angular nose, and perfectly white teeth stared out at her from the tiny screen. He definitely looked familiar, even after not seeing him for so long. Four years? Almost five? My god, I need to download Tinder and get back out there.

She realized that Ariana was still waiting for an answer and moved her head up and down slowly, trying to force her lips to say the words forming in her brain. She couldn’t say them, because they didn’t make sense. But the picture…

It’s him, Ari. It’s Al, she said, and she heard Ari take in a shocked, deep breath as she realized what Tina was saying. If anyone knew how many hours she’d spent thinking about him, wondering what had made him suddenly disappear when she’d thought they had a real connection, it was Ari. They stared at each other as they each tried to process the news, Ari’s face a mirror of Tina’s confusion. At the same moment, before either of them could speak, they heard a loud knock at the front door.

Chicago PD, she heard a voice boom through the door, and she hurried to put the invitation and the rest of the papers in the envelope, shoved it in a drawer, and got up to open the door.

We’ll talk about it later, she said to Ari, who followed her to the door and stood just behind her as she opened it. Everyone in the neighborhood knew them, knew they were doing good work in the community, and it afforded her a sort of protection from local criminals. But it was still the South Side of Chicago, dark had fallen early, as it always did in January, and you just never knew whether it really was a police officer out there or a setup to get you to open the door wide enough to get a gun shoved in your face. She slid open the three locks, undid the chain, and opened it to see Officer Plante.

Can I help you?

Good evening to you too, Tina. Looking for Gregor Pullman, you seen him around lately?

You know I don’t allow active drug addicts around this place, she said.

I know that’s your official policy, but I also know you have a soft heart, he shot back. She tried to keep her face as innocent as possible, though she knew he had her number. Gregor was a harmless old man who had been dealt a terrible hand in life. He’d turned to drugs to take away the memories of serving in the military that kept him from sleeping, and though he was now a full-blown addict, he was harmless to her and Ari. If he showed up on a winter night when it was below freezing, she’d at least let him come in to warm up.

I see the people I serve as real people, not just street scum and criminals, she said. That’s why I have a heart for them.

I see them as people too, but I know what people are capable of. I see it every day, he said. Please call me if he comes by?

He probably won’t. He knows the rules, and I won’t break them in front of the other people we serve, or the whole place will be chaos, she said, and she was surprised to hear the conviction in her own voice. She had to set boundaries, or she wouldn’t be able to help anyone. That was what she told herself when she had to shut down meal service with hungry people still waiting outside. Shit, speaking of hungry people, she thought as she peered into the main dining room and saw it starting to fill up.

I’m going to start meal service, can you run up to Lou’s and grab the day-old bread? she asked Ari. She was dying to get answers about Al, now that they were so close within her reach. But running the center meant putting others’ needs in front of her own, so she reached for some rubber gloves and headed into the little kitchen.

section break

By the time meal service was done, Tina realized she had a headache, most likely due to being so busy feeding everyone else she hadn’t fed herself. She made sure that everyone had enough, kids getting leftovers before adults, and headed back to her office to grab a Kind bar. Slumping down in her chair, she was rooting around the bottom drawer when she heard Ari’s voice.

I swear, if you eat one of those stale-ass granola bars, she said, holding up a box. Tina recognized the logo for Luigi’s Pizza and smiled at the smell. Lou sent these for you.

Tina flipped the box open and discovered two large slices of pepperoni pizza. The smell intensified, filling the room, and she nodded for Ari to shut the door as she pulled some old fast-food napkins out of her desk drawer. They each grabbed a slice and Tina took her first bite, relieved that Ari had resisted the urge