“I feel like I could bring him around to not hating me if he let me get a crack at them. I’m sure of it.”
Their laughter was interrupted by the door swinging open, as the other members of their little study group filed in. Yuri’s daughter, Mai, with Kenta’s girlfriend, Ava. A kitsune from one of the developments and her two teenages daughters, a fox shifter, and two orcs who were planning a trip to Japan the following spring.
“Welcome back, friends.”
Sumi grinned, forcing herself to focus. Yuriko’s ability to voice switch was uncanny, her normal bossy vulgarity replaced with a serene intonation, as if she were a 23-year-old aesthetician with a trust fund, practicing professional mindfulness.
“This week our focus is on the chakin. The cloth we will use to wipe out our chawan, the tea bowl. We ask ourselves how something so seemingly insignificant and small can be so vital to our ceremony? But the smallest object is a venerated tool when part of the whole. We will be learning how to appropriately fold our chakin and when to use it, as we prepare our tea.”
The Nippon Club met twice a month for their general meetings, but the members who had registered had been meeting for tea ceremony weekly, with the goal of hosting their own informal novice ceremony at the end of summer. They would be encouraged to invite friends and loved ones, practicing the main tenet of the tea ceremony — that the time enjoyed in each other’s company was singular and should be cherished, a moment that could never be replicated again.
She wished she could invite Ranar and that he would say yes. She had envisioned it more than a hundred times by then. Bowing low before him, preparing his tea, sharing a moment together that could never be replicated, one of many she wanted to share.
She could invite ChaoticConcertina to this, Sumi realized. After all, he was the only one who fully understood how important it was to her, how much it meant. He would appreciate the underlying meaning of the ceremony, had practically voiced the exact same thing to her, in reference to the time with his daughter. He knew better than anyone, and would have been her first choice to invite to such an event, before she’d moved to Cambric Creek.And maybe you still can.First, though, she wanted to fix things with him. Fixing things with Ranar was her only priority, and she would take whatever opening she could find.
It was on a shelf at the supercenter in Bridgeton, of all places, that she found that opening.
Between Bridgeton and Cambric Creek, the superstore catered mostly to humans, and while that didn’t especially matter to her, for she had grown completely comfortable shopping at the Food Gryphon, the selection did. Aisles upon aisles of choices, more choices than any one person needed to make over breakfast cereal or brand of cheese, but sometimes the plethora of choices was comfortable, and comfort was what she was seeking that rainy day, once she left the coffee shop.
Sumi was buying Hedda a new tumbler, for the model the troll brought into work every day had a faulty seal, and after the third leak of coffee had been mopped up from the design room floor, Sumi decided she’d had enough. She found a version on the shelf, the same size and color as the version Hedda owned currently, when she caught the flash of pink from the corner of her eye, at the back of a crowded row of blue cups emblazoned with dancing avocados. White with candy pink bows, the pink handle reminiscent of the medication one took for an upset stomach.Perfect.
If it was true that things came into one’s life for a reason, there could be no mistaking what this reason was.It’s your perfect opening. You’re not going to get a better one. Searching the aisle, Sumi eventually found a pink heart silicone straw topper that would suffice, adding the peace offering to her cart.He might not see it that way. But even if he doesn’t, he has an adorable little girl who will.
Sumi was aware that she had a fantastic amount of nerve returning to The Perfect Petal third time against his wishes. She could only hope that that moment they’d shared in the rain carried through long enough for her to make amends.You’re going to butter up his kid. Make him forgive you. Swallow his cock and suck his soul out. And then marry him. In that order.
The familiar bell jangled above the door, and her stomach twisted at the thought of it being silenced forever.
“Good morning! Welcome to The Perfect Petal.” Her dark eyebrows rose in recognition, smile stretching. “Oh, hi!”
Good, that’s a good reaction. She’s happy to see you. He hasn’t poisoned her against you.Sumi half expected Ranar to have photos of her at his register, warning his family members from being polite to her, likely with instructions to call the police the second she stepped foot over the threshold.
That morning, his budding fashionista wore a pink dress with balloon sleeves, and behind her, Sumi could see a white cardigan tossed on the counter. Her hair was plaited in the sort of intricate braid one learned from watching step-by-step videos on social media over and over again, and the pleated skirt of her dress swished gracefully over her violet tail as she undulated in place.
“My dad’s not here.”
“That’s okay, I’m not here to see him. And you look high key adorable, as always. That dress is not leaving a crumb. It’s giving cupcake and it ate the whole thing.”
The tiny Naga beamed, eyes crinkling with her smile as her shoulders came up adorably. “Thank you! It’s my favorite.”
Ruma. That’s what he called her.“But I don’t want to be a weirdo, so do you need to let your grandma know that someone’s here?”
“Oh, it’s okay, I know how to ring customers out.”
Maybe when you’re her stepmom, she can work at Pink Blossom. She’ll fit right in with the aesthetic. Her dad can make us pancakes for breakfast after he’s fucked me within an inch of my life, and we’ll go to work while he makes chili. And then later we’ll all do something together, like a real family.
The therapist she used to see in the city had loved delving into her hidden desire for a family, completely at odds with her choice not to have children. She had never wanted to be pregnant, had never loved anyone enough to be willing tohave them in her life forever due to a shared child, and the thought of sleepless nights and potty training made her a bit queasy . . . but the daydream of having a unit of her own and the security that came with it was one that she had never been able to shake. It was because she felt unconnected to her actual family, the therapist had said, replaced by her stepsisters. Sumi hadn’t disagreed, knowing that it was actually only part of her loneliness. Cut off from half of what she was and isolated, and then replaced by her stepsisters. Her father had done his best and she couldn’t have asked for a sweeter stepmother, but it had never mattered.
Here, though, she could be whole. She was positive.
She had always loved the idea of having a family unit of her own, simply wanting to skip ahead six or seven years past the messy pregnancy and baby stage, and Ranar and his daughter would fit perfectly into her little dreamworld.
“Are you still fighting with my dad?”
Sumi paused.He told you she was perceptive, more perceptive than him.He hadn’t been lying.
“I hope not. I’m trying to make up with him. Maybe you can give me some tips, I’m sure you know him better than anyone. But actually, I brought something for you. I saw it this morning while I was shopping and I knew you probably wouldn’t get a chance to find it before you go home.”
If the girl had thought to question why Sumi seemed to know so much about her, it was washed away in the excitement in her eyes when the tumbler was placed on the counter, shrieking in excitement.
