Jana put her face in her hands. This was a disaster.
“I don’t understand how you determine who is an aunty or an uncle,” Yuriko asked. “I think it’s different in Japanese culture.”
“Everyone at least fifteen years older than you is an aunty or uncle,” Nicole explained. “It simultaneously makes everything very simple and incredibly confusing.”
“It’s Lopez!” Kamila said suddenly, holding her phone up in the air. “I texted Rohan! His name is Samuel Lopez, and he’s the director of an aid organization!” She frowned at her phone. “The cell service out here is phenomenal.”
Jana let out an audible groan.
“I don’t understand why this is a bad thing,” Kamila said. “He’s really cool. If you get a chance to talk, I’m sure he’ll hire you. This is good!”
Jana shook her head. “No. It’s not. This trip is two weeks! I can’t be, like…job interviewnice for that long.” Jana put her face back in her hands. She needed this job, but how could Dr. Lopez hire his ex-wife’s sister’s son’s fiancée’s bridesmaid? Wouldn’t he be accused of nepotism? Besides, now he’d have a front-row seat to discover Jana was the furthest thing from the vibrant team player he wanted. She was a usually frazzled single mother with drool in her hair who was annoyed to be traveling with her child’s father, and whose mother was clearly ashamed of her.
“You’re a delight,” Asha said. “He’ll love you even more after spending time with you.”
Jana doubted that. “But Momliedto him and his ex-wife.”
“What did your mother say?” Kamila asked.
Jana sighed and lifted her head. “She told them I was divorced because…”
“She didn’t want them to know your child is illegitimate?” Shelina asked. Kamila slapped her on the arm.
Asha cringed. “Ugh. Parents. I’m not surprised. You know my grandmother tells everyone Nicole is a man?”
“That’s horrible, Asha,” Jana said, giving Nicole a sympathetic look. Nicole’s expression was blank.
Asha shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like I’m ever running into those people in India, anyway. I don’t care. And it’s just my grandmother who’s not accepting—it would be worse if it were mymother.”
Jana sighed. She hadn’t really thought about it that way. Her own mother didn’t accept her.
Mom had always been delighted to tell everyone how proud she was of her successful daughter. Jana tried not to let it bother her too much that her mother had never really toldJanathat she was proud of her.
When all the kids were young, Mom always joined in with the aunties and uncles as they one-upped each other with their children’s grades, their scholarships, their Ivy League schools, their fellowships, and their advanced degrees. As the kids grew, the boasting was about jobs, promotions, and the important work they all did in the world. As a highly educated development professional with a PhD, Jana gave her mother plenty to boast about. That is, until the boasting turned to things like engagement rings, proposals, weddings, houses in the suburbs, and finally, babies.
Jana was a thirty-two-year-old unwed mother living at home.
Divorce was more accepted in their South Asian Muslim community than it used to be—but having a baby out of wedlock wasn’t. Jana knew that Mom used to tell people that Jana had once been married, but she had no idea her mother was still saying it—or that her closest aunties and uncles were in on the deception.
“Who cares if you weren’t married when you had Imani?” Kamila asked. “This isn’t Jane Austen or anything.”
“I know,” Jana said. “Mom lied, not me. Apparently, your dad and Rohan’s parents are in on it.”
Kamila shrugged. “So, I’ll correct them. It’s not a big deal.”
Jana shook her head. “No. Please don’t.” She sighed. She needed more time to think this through before Kamila put her butt into the situation. “This job will be competitive. I’m worried that telling Dr. Lopez the truth now will make me stand out…and not in a good way. What if he thinks all Mom’s boasting was to influence his decision? Or that Mom lied because I was trying to hide from my past? And if he discovers thewholetruth about Imani’s birth, he may not approve. I mean, it’s one thing that Anil and I weren’t married to each other, but I would rather he didn’t know that Anilwasmarried to someone else when Imani was conceived.”
Jana didn’t have an issue admitting that she hadn’t been married to Imani’s father, but she didn’t exactly broadcast that Anil was technically an adulterer.
“Why should any of that matter at all for your job?” Kamila asked.
“Did you forget that I was oncefiredfrom a job because itdidmatter to someone?” Jana reminded Kamila.
Nicole cringed. “You’re kidding. Youlosta job because of who you had a child with? That’s puritanical nonsense.”
“Sam Uncle isn’t like that, though,” Kamila said.
“Do you know that for a fact? And like I said, development jobs are competitive. I have no doubt there are plenty of amazing non-home-wrecker applicants for this role. He could pick someone else over me for the tiniest reason.” Jana paused, thinking. “The bigger issue is that he’s going to discover that I’m not exactly the social team player he wants in his department. And my mother is going to bemortifiedif I correct her lie. I can’t ruin her trip. The last time she came to Africa she was with my dad.”
