“Promise me you won’t let me fail.”The words like a distant echo.
“Wait, did you? Did we? Yesterday? At the playground?” Hazy memories were starting to take clearer shape in Julia’s head.
“Okay, we got everything we need. Let’s hurry so we’re not late for church.” Halmoni carried a brown paper bag and handed it to Tae to carry. “Tae, you’ll drop us off there and then take Julia back to her car?” her grandmother asked.
Julia was too embarrassed to ride alone with Tae, the hazy memories of a drunken conversation on a swing set just starting to come back to her.
“No, um, I mean, why don’t you just take us all home, and I’ll drive you ladies to church from there. You must be verybusy, Tae. And anyways, it’s my turn for a good deed.” Julia handed her credit card over to Mr. Choi to pay for the herbs and looked anywhere and everywhere except at Tae.
“Sure, whatever you want, Julia,” Tae said. “And I’ll call you later to discuss when and where we start our coaching,” he whispered into her ear.
“Um, okay, I look forward to it,” she said back, uncertain what she’d just gotten herself into.
5
Brunch
Julia
“Oh no, Julia. I’m so sorry, honey. It’ll all be okay,” Sonia offered in her kind, gentle way.
Julia, Sonia, and Rachel were sitting at their regular table facing the ocean at Water Grill for Sunday brunch, a tradition they’d started once they graduated from college and had paychecks to afford the luxury. Even if luxury initially meant meeting up at IHOP in the early days.
It had been a week since her grandmother dropped the bomb on her about her illness. Halmoni’s next appointment wasn’t for a few weeks, so Julia was left with her worst fears taking root in her head. Her inclination was to bury herself under her covers and hide from the world. But her friends would not allow it.
“Julia, don’t invite worry. Everything is still unknown right now. No use in fretting over something that might not even be the worst-case scenario,” Rachel said in her contrasting no-nonsense way.
It was what Julia was so grateful for about her two best friends. Sonia approached everything with the utmost care and concern. Rachel was all logic and practicality. She needed to hear both sides today.
“Thanks, guys. I’m trying to be strong for my halmoni, but...” Julia stopped and pressed her lips together to push back the swell of emotion “. . . I’m scared.”
“I bet your halmoni is taking the news like a baller. Unfazed, amiright?” Rachel asked.
“Well, she’s definitely trying to take care of all her unfinished business,” Julia agreed.
“What do you mean?” Sonia asked.
“Well, the way she told me she was sick was by saying that it was her dying wish for me to find the love of my life.” Julia let out a huff.
“Whoa,” Sonia whispered.
“I hate to say it, but whether imminently dying or one-day dying, it’s just like a Korean halmoni to use the news to lay on the guilt trip,” Rachel said.
“Rachel! Don’t say something like that.” Sonia swatted at Rachel’s arm just as she was putting the olive from her Bloody Mary into her mouth.
“Hey, easy. Choking hazard here. I’m not trying to be heartless. I’m just sayin’...”
“It’s fine. Rachel’s right,” Julia said. “But that’s not all. I was in such a haze after she dropped the bomb that I immediately turned around and asked my family to help set me up. To find me eligible bachelors to date to find a partner.”
“Oh shit, you sold your soul,” Rachel gasped.
“I mean, I limited it to three dates. I won’t be put through the torture forever. But I panicked.”
From the moment her grandmother had dropped the bomb, Julia had fretted, a tennis match of stress volleying back and forth between worrying about her grandmother’s health and worrying about the health of her dating life. Obviously the two did not compare, but the combination did a number on Julia’s acid reflux.
“I can’t believe you finally did it. You agreed to let yourfamily set you up.” Sonia’s voice carried an alarming amount of glee. “I don’t actually think it’s the worst idea, to be honest. Julia, you haven’t had the best luck with men. No offense,” she added, patting Julia on the shoulder. “What could it hurt, right? It’s only three dates.”
“Sure, but just because she’s not doing the choosing, she still has to be the one to go on these dates. And that’s where it gets tricky for our tortured heroine.” Rachel looked from Julia to Sonia. “Oh, I’m supposed to addno offensehere, right?”
