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reminded her of the meals she used to eat out in the desert. “I never knew you could cook, Akbar.”
    “To survive out in the desert, a man has to know how to feed himself.” He poured out more tea for everyone.
    She looked at her watch. “Thank you, but I don’t really have time for any more. I have to get to work.”
    “How’s Ali going to get to school?” Akbar asked.
    “I’m fine, Dad. I take the number twenty bus. It stops just down the road. I don’t need to go for another thirty minutes. Mum, can I have yours?” Ali reached out for Sarah’s mug.
    Akbar looked confused, but just shrugged his shoulders.
    Sarah picked up her bag and gave Ali a kiss on the head. “Have a good day at school, love.” She turned to Akbar. “I’ll see if I can get a few days off work later in the week, but I have to go in today. Will you be okay while I’m out?”
    Akbar laughed. “I’ll be fine. I’ll go and see my friend Yacoub, and later I’ll take Ali horse riding and then we’ll play some football. Why don’t you meet us in the park? And if there’s a change of plan, we’ll make sure we leave a large note on the door!”
    “Thank you. I’ll see you both later.” Sarah walked out of the kitchen and unlocked the front door. She was just about to leave, when she felt Akbar putting his arms around her waist.
    “Maybe tonight we can be together rather than creeping around in the dark,” he said into her ear.
    Sarah turned around. “You were awake!”
    Akbar pulled her tightly against him and kissed her on the mouth. He then let go and walked back into the kitchen.
    When Sarah arrived back home that evening, she saw that Akbar had moved his things into her bedroom. She didn’t tell him to take them back out.
     

Chapter 9
     
    For the next few days, Sarah, Akbar and Ali acted as a family. Akbar not only took Ali horse riding and played football with him, but he also took Ali to the zoo (Akbar complained bitterly about how the camels were treated), showed him how to fly a kite (until Ali’s got stuck in a tree) and even taught Ali how to light a fire in the back garden (Sarah threw a fit when she saw them). Later in the evenings, Akbar took them out to restaurants, or cooked at home and one night Sarah even made a chocolate cake, which only collapsed slightly on one side. At night, Ali, exhausted and well-fed, slept better than he had done for years, while Akbar and Sarah rediscovered the passion they shared when they first met. However, Sarah knew that the little paradise they were creating couldn’t last forever. Sooner or later, they had to talk about the future. It was Ali who mentioned it first.
    They were walking back from the park one afternoon and it had just started to rain.
    “I can’t wait to get to Yazan,” Ali said, pulling up his hood. “Dad says it hardly ever rains in the desert. Only a few more weeks to go.”
    “What do you mean, Ali, only a few more weeks?” Sarah asked.
    “We’re flying to Yazan in a couple of weeks. Didn’t Dad tell you?”
    “No, he didn’t,” Sarah replied. She looked at Akbar.
    “Let’s get out of this rain, and then we’ll talk about it,” he said, walking faster along the pavement.
    Sarah grabbed him by the arm, forcing him to stop. “No, let’s talk about this now. You’re not taking my son to Yazan.” She had hidden Ali’s passport after the scare on the first day, but in her tiny house, it wouldn’t take long for someone to find it.
    “I’m not taking him. We’re all going. And you seem to forget he’s not just your son, he’s my son, too,” Akbar called out over the noise of the rain that was now pouring down on them.
    “I’m not going.” Sarah wiped a steady stream of raindrops off her nose.
    “I can’t stay here. My visa runs out in a month.” Water was pouring down Akbar’s thick, black hair.
    “We’ll get it extended.”
    “Then what? I can’t live here. I can’t sit around doing nothing all day and I can’t become a