“Hola,” a woman greeted me warmly as I walked up to the hut. There was a counter, and I could smell food cooking in the back.
I smiled and waved. “Hola.” Then I glanced around to see if there was a menu.
Catching my searching expression, the woman said, “No menu here. We cook what we have!”
Sniffing the air, I was down to eat whatever they were serving. “Okay, sounds good.” She told me to seat myself, and I sat down at the table closest to the ocean. There were some people in the water. It seemed like you could plop down at the beach here and eat or just hang out.
The setting was perfect and quiet and peaceful. And yet… the antsiness I’d woken up to was still there. I pulled my mom’s iPad out of my backpack, slipping it from its designer leather sleeve. I really wanted to see what was going on with the KoBra.
Opening up the browser, I planned on stalking the Twitteraccount first, but my mom’s e-mail popped up. I was about to close out of it until I noticed a folder labeledCLARAon the sidebar.
Probably all of our e-mail correspondence archived. Oh boy, there would definitely be some hilarious gems in there—like the epic diary entries I’d sent her in middle school when I hated all my friends. I clicked on it, excited to go down memory lane.
But the e-mails weren’t from me. They were from Pai.
What? Were these, like, child-custody-related e-mails? I knew I shouldn’t, but I clicked on the latest one, which was from a few weeks ago.
July 24
To: Juliana Choi
From: Adrian Shin
Jules,
Does Clara know this Tulum trip is for work? She seems to think it’s just a vacation for you two. Mind clearing that up so she’s not so pissed about not being able to go?
-Adrian
I frowned. Okay, clearly my dad was waiting for my mom to tell me. Which she never had. I scrolled down and skimmed the e-mail subjects. My dad had been sending them regularly for years, it seemed. I clicked one from six months ago, in February.
February 10
To: Juliana Choi
From: Adrian Shin
Jules,
Clara’s sad about her breakup with that loser whatshisname. Thought she could use some Mom time when Valentine’s Day comes around. Probably less awkward than me talking to her. Give her a call, okay?
-Adrian
Whatshisname. My dad’s least favorite boyfriend of mine, Leo, he of the no teeth-brushing. He always called my dad “bro.” Although he wasn’t the love of my life, I had been pretty bummed when we broke it off. So it was nice when my mom called. We had Skyped while watching the least romantic movie we could think of on Valentine’s Day. (Blackfish—nothing kills romance like a documentary about animal cruelty!) I had chalked up the timing to Mom instincts.
I went even further back, to two years ago.
September 3
To: Juliana Choi
From: Adrian Shin
Jules,
Hey, I didn’t hear back about whether or not you can make it to Clara’s birthday this year. Here’s the wish list I promisedof things she wants. She’s going through a spectacular phase in puberty of hating everything, so this was a serious undertaking.
•The Bell Jarby Sylvia Plath
