By the time she made her way downstairs, the girls were already making a dent in their pancakes. Minh stood by the kitchen sink, deep in thought, a look of sadness marring her features. She walked up to Minh, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze.
“Morning,” Gia said. She knew that faraway look by now. Minh was thinking about her late husband. “You okay?” she whispered, careful to keep her voice low so the girls wouldn’t hear her.
Minh sniffled, nodding and wiping away the tears that escaped. “I’m fine,” she said, her arm coming up to grip Gia’s forearm. “He would have loved to be here to see all of this, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.” Gia squeezed her sister closer to her. Ken hadn’t been a part of their family long, but during the brief time he was, he brought joy into their lives. Three years ago, Ken was driving home from a double shift at the hospital when a drunk driver going the wrong direction collided with his car. The police said he’d died on impact and that it was a blessing, but nobody could find it in them to be thankful that a father was gone, a wife had lost her husband, and two little girls would never get to see their father again.
It was a cruel twist of fate for the Lien’s to lose both Thao and Ken.
The summer that changed all of their lives.
Minh breathed deeply before patting Gia on her arm. “Anyway, you should get going.”
“Going where?” Gia took a step back.
Minh turned around, her smile back, but now edged with sadness. “Jake needs you down at the community center.”
“Right now? Why?” She glanced at the clock on the microwave. It wasn’t even nine a.m. yet.
“He has a surprise for you. You should go before it’s too late.” Minh made a shooing motion with her hands. “I’ll come by with the girls after they eat breakfast. Mom and Dad will be there around lunchtime with food. Oh, and maybe wear that pink top with the daisies on it.”
“What’s wrong with my shirt?” She looked down at the oversized black T-shirt she had on.
“Just trust me, okay?” Minh’s hands came up to cup her face.
Gia scanned Minh’s earnest expression, sensing something big was going to happen but not knowing what. “Okay.” She nodded, deciding to trust her sister.
She changed and was out the door in under five minutes. The sound of everyone yelling their goodbyes as she shut the door left a small smile on her face.
Whatever the surprise was, it was clear everyone was in on it.
They won’t let anything bad happen to me.
Within minutes, she was staring at the community center. The parking lot was nearly full.
What the hell is going on?she wondered, getting out of the car. She spied Jake’s car parked near the front entrance.
As she made her way to the front doors, she was intercepted by Diem, who stopped her and pulled her around back, saying it wasn’t quite ready for her yet.
Diem ignored her questions about what was happening, only answering by saying Gia would see soon and everything was going to be fine. They had it all covered.
Have what covered?Why is everyone acting so weird?
When Diem led her around back, she saw Luke with an animal cage in each hand. By the loud meowing coming from the containers, she would guess they were cats.
“Hey, Gia! This was a fantastic idea. Thank you for helping the clinic,” Luke said as he passed by her.
“Helping the clinic?” she asked, bewildered.
“Yeah, it really was a great idea. Oh, look, there’s Jake!” Diem pointed to where Jake was standing with arms crossed, listening intently to Marley.
Gia gestured with a thumb to Jake. “I’m gonna go?—”
“I’ll see you soon!” Diem was gone before she knew it.
She watched Marley and Jake with their heads together like they were in the middle of a huddle.
“Um, hey,” she said, waving awkwardly before letting her hand drop to her side. “Can one of you guys tell me what’s going on here?”
