Mar is standing now and her hands are on her hips. She has the expression she uses on her kids. “No, Cassia.” Oh, she used my real name. She’s not pleased. “You know how I feel about it. If I was single, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I already made my choice. And I love him more than anything.”
The words make me smile. Underneath it all, Mar is just as romantic as me. “You’re right. Sorry. I’m just…” I wave my hand in the air, helpless to it. “I’m just emotionally all over the place. I’ve got to sit with this for a while.”
“What did Halmoni say? I bet she was over the moon.”
“Actually…I haven’t told them yet.” It’s something I thought about my entire drive home. When to tell them and how to share this news. I know I should be bursting at the seams to tell them I’ve finally found Daniel.
“What? Why not?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, I need to sit with it. It’s just so much expectation.”
“A decade’s worth,” Mar says. She gets it. She always does. When she goes home, I wash my sheets. The scent of Ellis lingers.
18
A week later, I choose one of my favorite lunch spots for the big reveal—a swanky yet understated restaurant tucked into the back of a West Hollywood hotel that is so full of covert celebrities, the entire restaurant is made up of dark booths so people can remain incognito.
The Park women all turn on their phone flashlights to read the menu. I start by ordering French fries and a bottle of champagne for all of us and Sunny raises an eyebrow. “Cause for celebration?”
“I think so.” Even though I’ve had a week to process this, I’m still feeling nervous. Once I tell them, there’s no turning back. The Park women are just as—if not more—invested in this as I am. And even though this is what I’ve wanted, now that it’s here, the no-turning-back part feels daunting.
They all stare at me expectantly. Halmoni has her hands folded on the table in front of her, nails perfectly manicured a shell-pink. I look at each of them a second, feeling the bigness of the moment.
“I found Daniel.”
Emoni bursts into tears immediately. Sunny slouches back with relief, and Halmoni stays exactly where she is, not moving a muscle.
This is when our fries and champagne arrive, of course, and theserver reads the mood immediately and disappears as soon as the last fizzy glass is poured.
“Tell us everything right this instant,” Sunny says as she picks up her champagne flute.
I take a sip of the bone-dry drink, not even bothering with a “cheers.” The glass is cold and my lip sticks to the edge for a brief second before I speak. “Well, in a weird twist of, er,fate, he’s actually Ellis’s boss.”
Halmoni finally speaks. “How did you meet hisboss?” She is so damn sharp. I have never been able to get away with anything.
“I dropped him off at work one morning.” I let that hang there, making Halmoni sit in the discomfort of the revelation. Looking at her with a slight challenge.
Emoni clutches her chest. “Omo. Uh-oh.”
“I need more than one drink to get through this,” Sunny mutters.
“Okay, that’s not important,” Emoni barks, waving her hand. “Tell us about him!”
I take a golden fry and swirl it in the ramekin of ketchup. “He’s around my age or older, and he owns a landscape architecture firm. He’s adopted and grew up in England. He’s very attractive and athletic and, so far, exactly the kind of guy I have imagined myself being with.”
“Wait, how do you know all this about him already?” Sunny asks, also not one to miss anything.
“Because I happened to bump into their entire firm while they were on a work retreat. They stayed in the same exact location as me in Joshua Tree last week.”
“Lastweek?” Sunny asks. “You’ve been sitting on this information for one week?”
“Also, interesting how youhappenedto go to the exact same location,” Halmoni murmurs. “Nothing is a coincidence.”
“I am aware,” I say, eating another handful of fries. They are salty and delicious. “Anyway, I haven’t seen him again, but I thought I should let you all know.”
“What about Ellis?” Emoni asks. “Was he on that retreat, too?”
Being raised in a complete matriarchy humbles a person. “Yes. I made it clear that there was no future for us.”
