Page 62 of The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties

The expression on Kristofer’s face is basically the teeth-gritted, cringe emoji. “I—it was from behind, and—you’re lying,” he hisses at Abi. “It was Julia, I know it was, because she had this green silk scarf on.”

“Oh, ah.” Abi grins sheepishly. “That might have been my fault. I might have borrowed the scarf from Julia Child to give to my beautiful Enjelin.”

“Hanh!” Big Aunt booms. “You. I knew you were a thug. You gave my sister a stolen scarf?”

Abi’s head whips to face Big Aunt, his eyes wide with fear. “Um. I didn’t have any money at the time. We were all just trying to survive, and I wanted to give her something nice.”

“I mean, it’s kind of romantic, if you think about it,” Fourth Aunt mutters.

“Romantic?” Big Aunt hisses. “This is very bad behavior. I was right about you all along.”

“You bastard,” Kristofer says, his face taken over by cold, deadly anger. He takes a step toward Abi, and it’s all I can doto stop myself from running away, because every inch of Kristofer is oozing quiet rage. I can easily picture him killing Abi with his bare hands right now. “You—”

The rest of his words are drowned out by a terrific noise from the sky, an endless staccato of rapid gusts of wind. We all look up, and my mouth drops open. A helicopter is flying toward us, the noise swelling exponentially as it nears, the wind whipping our hair up. It’s hard to breathe, the air slamming into my face, and I raise a hand to shield my eyes from the glare as the helicopter lands in the middle of Kristofer’s expansive front lawn. I’ve never seen a helicopter in real life before, and it’s jarring to be so close to one now, to see just how huge it really is, how impossibly large the wingspan is, and above all, how deafening it is, a continuous roar so loud that I can’t hear my own thoughts. The door opens, and all thought leaves my mind, because it’s her. Julia Child, wearing an expression as murderous asKristofer’s.

19

A man jumps out of the helicopter and holds out a hand to help Julia Child down, but she swats it away like an irritating fly. Halfway down, she turns and shouts something at the pilot, and the chopper is turned off. We all breathe a sigh of relief as the buffeting winds die down and the overwhelming noise recedes. Julia Child strides across the lawn toward us, her expression still one of complete and utter ire.

When she’s a few steps away from me and Kristofer, she stops and crosses her arms in front of herself. “Well?”

Kristofer gapes at her, and I honestly can’t decipher the expression on his face. Awe? Terror? Admiration? Love? All of the above?

He doesn’t seem ready to start speaking anytime soon, so I rush to fill the silence. “Ah, uh, thank you for coming, Tante Julia.” I look at everyone and add, “I called her. When I was upstairs. I told her to come quickly because—uh—”

She barely spares me a glance. “You said you had something deadly important to tell me. What is it?”

“I—uh—” I’d had it in mind to do this big, dramatic reveal:He loved you!But now, faced with Julia Child in the flesh, the connection between my brain and my mouth is severed, reducing me to a stammering mess. How do I convince her? How do I bridge this gap that has spanned over thirty years? Whom did I think I was breaking the news to—

“Aiya!” comes a familiar shout. Ma is flapping her hands wildly. “He in love with you!” As usual, Ma probably thinks she’s speaking in a normal voice, but in truth, it’s loud enough to be heard across the lawn.

“What?” Julia Child and Kristofer say at the same time.

“Aduh, all this time,” Ma continues, “from when you two are teenager, Kristofer in love with you. Even while marry to wife.”

“I loved my wife very much,” Kristofer roars.

“No one’s saying you didn’t love your wife, dude,” Fourth Aunt pipes up with a roll of her eyes. “It’s possible to love more than one person at a time. Ask me how I know.”

“Hanh!” Ma snorts. “Is because you hussy.”

Oh god. “Um, not that we’re calling you a hussy, obviously,” I quickly say.

“No, of course not,” Ma says. “You two just in love with each other, but then Kristofer get jealous of you and Abi.”

“Even though nothing happened between us,” Abi calls out. “Because I only ever had eyes for my beautiful Enjelin.” He gazes with naked adoration at Second Aunt, who blushes prettily, grinning hard.

Kristofer looks back and forth between Second Aunt and Abi before finally turning to face Julia Child. His expressionis unreadable, but his jaw is working like he’s grinding his teeth.

Julia Child shakes her head. “You let your jealousy get in between us.”

He drops his gaze. “You were spending so much time with him, and...” His voice trails away and he shakes his head. “No, you’re right. I have no excuse. I was a jealous, insecure kid. You were the most beautiful, the most intelligent person I have ever known, and I didn’t understand why someone like you would give me the time of day. I didn’t think I was worthy of you, and so I assumed—”

“But is also his fault,” Big Aunt adds, “because he steal Julia’s scarf. If he not do that, then you not think that Enjelin is Julia.”

Second Aunt glares at Big Aunt.

Kristofer clears his throat. “To be fair, I was already paranoid and jealous even before that. If it hadn’t been the scarf, it would’ve been something else. I see it now.” He turns back to Julia Child, his voice softening, becoming hoarse with emotion. “I was the one who ruined everything. I accused you of cheating. I lashed out at you, at everyone. I was alone for years. I was in my twenties when I met Marjie, and I would’ve ruined that, too, except by then, I was a little bit more mature. We worked through my issues together. She made us go to counseling, and I learned to be a better partner. I—I thought of you, sometimes, but I was determined to be the best possible husband to Marjie. I never knew that she was aware of—” His voice cracks. “Of my feelings for you.”

---