I nearly spit soju out through my nose. "Not right now."
She squints. "You're very good looking. Eden is not as handsome because he is always scowling. But he has had lots of girlfriends."
I laugh. "Are you calling him easy?"
"Perhaps." She nods, looking me over again.
My whole body is hot now, like I'm under a heat lamp, or in an interrogation room surrounded by a bunch of detectives that know every little thing about me and are trying all their tactics to catch me out.
"What do you do with yourself?"
This I can handle. "Surf… usually. For almost as far back as I can remember I was in the water. Sometimes I feel like it's the only thing I'm good at."
She gives me a small, genuine smile. "I can tell. You look healthy. Nice and lean. Not like Tek-ah who spends too much time at the gym."
Tek snorts. "Thanks, Omma."
"You're welcome." She leans back in her chair. "Can you surf here, Carey?"
"In Broadrock, no. It's too deep in The Sound. But there are beaches in Washington that get decent enough waves."
"Even in the winter?"
"Yeah. Sometimes winter waves are the best."
"Will you go?"
"I'd like to—"
"But my son won't give you the time off?"
"God, Omma. It's only been a couple weeks."
"Aigo," she flaps her hand in Tek's direction to hush him. "You need to go. If it's what makes you happy, you need to do it."
"Always so loving to everyone else, aren't you, Omma?"
She dismisses Tek with another wave of her hand.
I look at him and he rolls his eyes. He downs the rest of the soju in his glass then scoots his chair further away from his mother. "She didn't want me going to art school. And she most definitely didn't want me to open a tattoo shop."
The tension rises, and I have a feeling if my brother was here she wouldn't be holding her tongue.
"I'd love to go surfing," I say, desperate to fill the air. "I'm just a little too isolated. I don't have a car—but that might change. Depending on how long I end up staying."
Tek's mother turns to him and he raises his hand as if to sayseriously, don't start with me. I'm not in the mood, and I won't be polite.
It gets quiet after that.
Tek's father makes a short appearance then excuses himself.
His mom puts on some Korean music and the tension dissipates, but the conversation doesn't really pick up again.
"Why don't you head back downstairs? Show Carey where he will sleep."
Tek takes his mother's invitation a little too readily, and there's a harsh squeak as his chair slips off the rug and scratches across the floor.
Tek leads me back to the basement, and when we're half way down the stairs he turns back to me. "She likes you."
