Page 34 of The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties

This time, we both dissolve into peals of wild laughter. “Idon’t blame him. I’m terrified of Big Aunt. I mean, I admire her, of course, but I wouldn’t dare cross her. Ever.”

“Wise.” I sigh and sag against Nathan, putting my head on his muscular shoulder. I close my eyes and inhale the freshly soaped scent of him, and it feels as though every muscle in my body is finally unknotting. “I was so worried,” I murmur.

“I know.” He puts an arm around me and strokes my hair with heartbreaking gentleness. “But for what it’s worth, I was never afraid, not even for a moment.”

“Really?” I lift my head so I can look him in the eyes.

“Yeah.” He puts a hand under my chin and gazes down at me. “Because I knew you’d do whatever it took to come get me.”

Even now, even after we’ve been together for over a year, and are married, he still manages to make me blush. Warmth oozes from the pit of my belly and into every part of me. “Aww, that’s so s—”

Then he adds, “Well, and your mom and your aunts. I knew they’d rain hellfire down on the world to save me.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “So when you said I was your hero, you really meant Ma and the aunties?”

“Well, I mean, am I wrong? You said they literally wrestled the title deed off some poor teen. I’m guessing you didn’t join in the fray.”

“And assault a teenage girl? No, of course I didn’t.”

Nathan holds up his hands and shrugs. “Okay, so I stand corrected; the only knights in shining armor here are Ma and the aunties.”

I turn away so he doesn’t see the little twitch of a smile on my face. Every time I hear him referring to Ma as “Ma” instead of “your mom” or even “your ma,” it sends a jolt of affectionstraight into my heart. Honestly, could I love this guy any more than I already do?

But I shouldn’t let myself get carried away. There are important things to take care of now. Like getting the hell out of here. With a sigh, I turn back to Nathan. “Anyway, I don’t like the mess we’ve gotten caught up in. I don’t like that we had people like Abi and Julia Child and this Kristofer guy involved.”

“Can I just take a moment to revel in the glory of their names?” Nathan grins. “Although, hang on, why aren’t any of them named after great Indonesian or Chinese people?”

“Oh, they’ll have Chinese names honoring great Chinese heroes too. But yeah, when it comes to Anglicized names, people here tend to go for famous white people. It’s a whole thing. Can we focus? As much as I’d love to discuss the deep and complicated ways that colonization has affected Indonesia, I think we should concentrate on getting out of here. These people—they’re not people we should be involved with.”

“Yes, but technically, we’re no longer involved with them. The matter has been resolved, and we can all move on—” His voice trails off and he looks up at the ceiling. Then he sighs. “Never mind, even as I say that, I realize how naive I sound.” He squeezes my hand. “You’re right. It’s definitely not great that we’ve crossed paths with people this powerful. When I was at Julia Child’s house, she and I chatted a bit, and I definitely got the feeling that she’s not someone to be crossed.”

I can’t stop the shiver that runs up my spine. “What do you mean by that? Did she tell you things? What does she do when someone crosses her? Gunshot to the head? Dismemberment? Acid bath?”

“Uh. None of the above. Jesus, Meddy, you’ve been watching too muchSquid Game.”

I flap my arms up and down, like an angry chicken. “You just said in this really ominous tone that she’s not someone to be crossed. What in the world am I supposed to take from that? Obviously it’s something sinister.”

“No, I just meant like, she’d go out of her way to take down her business rivals.”

“Yeah, by killing them.”

“No! Just—you know, by buying their businesses and then taking them apart, that sort of thing.” He hesitates, thinking. “I guess some people might argue that it’s a kind of death. But a business death, not the kind that comes about from a machete to the head.”

“Oh. Well, why didn’t you just say so?”

“Because I thought you were a normal person and would jump to the normal conclusion?” Nathan shakes his head, smiling at me, but the smile doesn’t stay long on his face. “You’re really worried, huh?”

“You don’t get it, do you? When you were held up in her house—that was one of the worst moments of my life. I know this sounds really cliché, but I wouldn’t know what to do if something had happened to you.”

“Meddy.” Nathan pulls me close, his fingers tangling in my hair. He sighs and kisses my forehead. “Okay, let’s do this. Let’s catch an earlier flight.”

My rib cage seems to loosen and I take a deep breath. “Thank you.” I can’t believe it was this easy to convince Nathan. I guess I’m just used to Ma, who would argue with me endlessly before telling me to wait while she consulted with the aunties, and each auntie would undoubtedly have conflicting opinions that they would need to thrash out with one another in the loudest possible way. The thought of Ma and the auntiesmakes my chest tighten again. “Now we just need to convince Ma and the aunties.”

Nathan winces. “Oof, yeah, I’m gonna let you handle that—” He laughs when I punch his arm. “Just kidding! Come on, let’s go talk to them together.”

•••

“Hanh?” Ma squawks. “What you say?”

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