Halmoni’s unfazed. “Cassia knows her fate.” Then she frowns. “Wait, who is this young guy? That handsome boy who came into the office the other day?”
Marcella almost drops her rib. “Wait,what?”
Cousins start shooting questions at me and I pour wine directly down my throat, barely tasting it along the way.
“Ooh,” says Mica gleefully. Logan reaches over and covers his mouth with this hand, his face holding back laughter.
“What guy?” he asks, glancing at Marcella.
Marcella leans forward. “The guy who helped Cass after the bike accident. Ellis.”
“Ellis-euh?” Halabuji’s accent comes out full force.
“He came into the office?” Marcella prods, looking at Halmoni.
She nods. “Yes, they went out together. But, of course, I thought nothing of it because he looks like a baby.”
“You wentouttogether?” Marcella’s voice is at a pitch that would summon Betty the bird from her cage in Mount Washington. Everyone starts squealing.
“Calm down, please. He showed up yesterday making sure I was okay. Somehow he found out I work at One & Only since I’mpractically invisible online. Anyway, I took him out for a coffee, no big deal.” I pause. “Well, I wanted to take him, but he ended up paying.”
Everyone looks smug, even Ozzie.
“Okay, okay. So, he’s into you. I knew it. He wassoconcerned when all you did was scrape your knee.” Marcella waves a finger in the air. The sign of drunk authority.
“Excuse me? I thought everyone here was concerned that I was going todie.”
Marcella waves more aggressively. “You were fine, but Ellis was at your side like you were a Victorian maiden. How old is he, did you find out?”
“It doesn’t matter because we won’t see each other again.” I reach for the kimchi. Everyone just stares at me, waiting. “He’s twenty-eight.”
A few gasps. Wes bellows, “Noice!” Baby Wally next to him screeches and throws a corncob into the middle of the table.
I laugh. “Exactly. So, let’s all just drop it.”
“Why? Twenty-eight is nothing,” Marcella says.
Logan nods. “Yeah, a man your age wouldn’t blink twice at dating a twenty-eight-year-old.”
Marcella looks at him with fondness. “Good answer.” He tilts his head to the side, and she plants a kiss on his cheek. That familiar tug in my chest.
“None of this matters, okay? He’s not Daniel, he’s too young, et cetera, et cetera.”
“Since when does that stop you from having fun, though?” Marcella asks.
I think about it for a second. “I think turning forty is since when.”
Logan nods. “I see that.”
Marcella swats his arm. “No! Wrong answer. Forty isnothing.”
“You just gave a huge toast about how forty means letting your boobs sag in the wild,” I shoot back.
“Literallywhendid I say that?” Marcella ignores all the giggling children. The souls of the men at the table have left Earth. “I said forty is when you stop caring about what other people think. Which is what dating Ellis would be. Halmoni, don’t ‘at’ me.”
Halmoni shrugs as she eats a spoonful of rice dotted with purple beans. “Whatever that is, I won’t. Cassia knows her fate. I will say nothing else.”
Sunny and Stu exchange a glance that I catch because I notice everything. When you’re a face reader, you learn to pay attention to the most minute movements in the face. Sunny looks at me then. “If he’s cute, go for it. You’re not forty forever. When you’re sixty-six, you’re going to wonder what the hell you were so hung up about.”
