Aziz’s eyes widened and he straightened up, taking her in as though he’d seen her for the first time.
“You created those beautiful works of art?”
“Indeed, it was I,” she said sarcastically.
“You are angry with me, and I am not certain why. They are truly amazing. You are an artist as well as a business woman.” Aziz shrugged. “I am a businessman, but no artist. It is natural to admire what you cannot do.”
“I’m not…” Laine shook her head. “I’m just a designer. I’ve never worked as an artist.”
“You create art. This is all that is needed to be an artist.”
“Maybe. But it doesn’t pay, and it’s not practical. Emma has her acting career, and dad had a hard time making ends meet for a while. Right out of school, I had to be the practical one.”
Aziz pursed his lips and nodded. “A practical artist.”
Laine crooked her mouth to the side.
“I say we get cleaned up and take our artist out to get inspired.” He touched her hair gently.
“What, you suddenly have time to take me out?”
“Yes. I came home early because a meeting was canceled. It is that way sometimes. My time is not always my own.” Aziz pressed a kiss to a paint-free spot on Laine’s forehead. “But when it is, I am all yours.”
“We’ll see about that.”
***
It was uncanny walking through the malls in Bahrain. They were a bit like the ones Laine had grown accustomed to back home. There were shops located closely together, but the structure of the mall was different, somehow. The look and feel of it was different. It felt like they’d taken a bazaar and stuck it inside. More natural light lit the spaces. More open space allowed easier movement. Laine couldn’t quite put her finger on the biggest difference, though, and she mused on it as she and Aziz strolled through the broad common area.
“The ads!” she exclaimed suddenly.
Aziz tilted his dark sunglasses down and looked at her. “Pardon?”
“The advertisements. They aren’t littered everywhere.” She looked up and around the space. Men and women streamed past them on either side, chattering on about their own business.
“This is not a bad thing.” He brushed a hand over the front of another bicolored shirt. Even without the suit, he looked as though he expected to see the king any moment.
“No, it isn’t. I’m just noticing…In America, we’re bombarded with advertisements practically from birth. They’re everywhere. Malls, airports, schools. They even slip them into television shows. You’re watching some teen drama and suddenly people all have superpowers based on the chewing gum they’re trying to sell.” Laine raised one hand holding an invisible drink. “Enjoy a cool, refreshing Cherry Snork.”
“That cannot be effective. You must stop noticing them after a while.”
“Oh, we do. So they get more aggressive. But the thing you have to know about selling to people these days is that it’s less about the product and more about everything else you’re selling them.”
“As in other products?”
“No. As in the experience. As in the lifestyle. Clothing stores name their lines after the type of woman their customers want to be seen as. It seems weird outside of Western culture, but people’s tastes are shaped by the idea that they can select who they are through their purchases.”
Aziz nodded and frowned seriously as they passed a clothing store. “So what lifestyle is being sold when the ad has a scantily clad woman eating a burger while washing a car?”
Laine opened her mouth and tilted her head to the side. “Um, hedonism, I suppose.”
“The burger would get soap in it. You would get sick,” Aziz said with an earnest smile.
Laine laughed. “I wouldn’t take any lessons in dining from burger commercials.”
They spent a little more time looking around, but as nice as it was and as much as Laine liked the graceful architecture of the shopping center, it wasn’t showing her quite what she needed. Aziz signaled to Faruq, and their car came around to meet them at the exit. Twenty minutes later, they strolled together through the city’s souk.
The outer wall of the market was almost impeccably white, but when they stepped inside, colors inundated Laine. Flags were strung above their heads between each side of the street. Each shop was crammed up against the next, spilling over with clothes, jewelry, pots, rugs, and other goods.
Very quickly, Laine noticed the difference in how Aziz held himself. He was much less relaxed, and he moved in close to her. She raked her eyes over the crowd. The people didn’t seem so different from those at the mall, but Faruq made himself visible as he followed them. It was an interesting shift, definitely.